Title: Demonspawns: Never A Dull Moment (3/?)
Author: RahneWolfe and ShadowDrake
Disclaimer: see part one for all disclaimers and notes.
DEMONSPAWNS: NEVER A DULL MOMENT (3/?)
- Reactions and Confrontations -
"How do you want to handle this?" Tolen asked keeping an eye on Pyro who was approaching the little group with a smug look on his face.
"We hit fast an' hard... nothing fancy," Rahne replied, "they should recognize ya immediately... nah since in giving them any hint ta what ya are truly capable of."
"Yeah... why make the younger me's life more difficult then it already is?" Tolen added with a self-mocking smirk as he thought about how much of a complete idiot he was in his youth. "God, to think... I used to willingly work with these two, what WAS I thinking?" he added more to himself with a look of morbid disbelief on his face, catching Jean's questioning look out of the corner of his eye, "I used to be a bad guy when I was young and stupid." He admitted dryly, turning to look Jean straight in the eye, "but... ahm... things happened... I got my head screwed on straighter and cleaned myself up... a lot ... ... had to... or I wasn't going to have Rahney in my life." He said, "well I would have... but not in the way I wanted. She's a lot more fun to be around when she's not trying to take your head off or rip out important organs." He corrected himself, with a rueful grin, "I promise... to happily explain everything in detail back at the mansion... lets just get rid of these two nut cases first, okay?" He asked with a small hopeful grin, praying the young telepath would go along with the suggestion and keep her questions to herself for the moment.
"Ken we hold this conversation fer later?" Rahne asked in a low growl, "I would like ta get this over with an' be out of here by the time the police arrive."
"Yeah, yeah... I'm working on it," Tolen replied with a grin, "let's really mess with these two... I vote we suit up. I'm not getting my new clothes singed or shredded for these idiots." He suggested getting a wicked grin.
"Aye," Rahne grunted keeping her eyes on the approaching Sabretooth. "Ready when you are."
{Uniform on!} Jean jumped slightly at the very clear mental commands she picked up from the two adults before taking a half step backwards as Rahne and Tolen were momentarily engulfed in a bright light that seemed to originate from within them and expand outward before retreating once more. The telepath closed her eyes and shook her head once before opening her eyes once more to stare at the two in puzzlement, noting in disbelief that the two had suddenly changed clothes.
"Damn" Tolen grunted, as the form of a double-bladed battle-axe flickered in his right hand before disappearing once more, "I can call the 'armour' but not my axe," he commented more to himself then anyone else.
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At that moment: ten years into the future and on a parallel world -
A warehouse in Lower Manhattan -
"Give!!" Illyana Rasputin, known to the world as Magik of the Demonspawns, ordered as she tried to remove Tolen's battleaxe from the steel pillar it had been embedded into with a little help of her magic. Growling lowly as the stubborn weapon refused to move the blonde - clad in tight fitting black leather pants with blood red trim and a low cut deep red with black trim corset over a silky red peasant blouse that left her shoulder's bare ensuring that her bust line was made very prominent with added touches of silk here and there, leather and chain mail forearm bracers and knee-high black boots - paused in her task to give the battleaxe a dirty look, releasing a huff of air from her mouth that ruffled her bangs. "Okay... now I get rough," she sneered at the inanimate object determined to get it out of the pillar, "you are going to come out or so help me," she went on, planting one booted foot on the steel pillar and re-gripping the handle of the axe calling up more of her mystical energies to aid her in freeing the weapon. Refusing to surrender the task to someone more qualified to remove it... like her brother who had been visiting her during a rare coinciding downtime for the siblings. But was now currently standing in armoured form not far from her, patiently waiting for her to give up and let him pull it out one-handed. Well it had been a downtime for them - positively enjoyable - before Jack slipped his damn leash and some nut wanna-be mage teleported two of her team-mates to who knows where without so much of a 'screw you Demonspawns' in passing. "I will melt you down and return you to His-Majesty-Wart-the-First in the form of an astray!" she threatened using her magic to give her an extra boost just as the weapon began to flicker briefly in her hands. "What the fuck!!??" she exclaimed as the axe came free and she found herself staring down at the weapon in confusion.
"Huh?" Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch of the Demonspawns, paused in her inspection of the altar set up in the warehouse and turned to her team-mate with a frown having felt something very wrong just a moment ago. The auburn haired woman - clad in a deep scarlet red linen shirt, open at the throat to display a ruby encrusted choker, belted at the waist with a wide stylish belt, worn over leather pants and knee-high scarlet red boots, along with several rings and bracelets on her wrists, and a warm deep red cloak half of which hung drapped over her left shoulder obscuring that side of her body from view, giving mute testimony to her proud gypsy heritage and need to stay warm in very cold weather - put one hand on her hip and the other hand went to her chin where a finger tapped out a rhythm less beat on her paused lips. "Tolen tried to call his axe," she said in claim voice, knowing that a level head was needed if they were to find and return their team-mates safely. Turning her attention inward for a moment, her frown deepened as she checked the little pocket void she used to house the team's uniforms so they did not have to constantly wear them under their street clothes or carry them around in gym bags. Not only was the void useful when seconds counted and they had no time to stop and change clothes. It also enabled them to change clothes no matter where they were, be it on Earth or in a magical realm such as Asgard or Avalon, as long as the team was able to trigger the mental command - to suit up or down - they had access to their battle gear.
Aside from Illyana, who preferred the leather and silk look of her combat gear most days, and Cloak whose namesake was very much apart of him, the rest of the team routinely used the pocket void to house at least two spare uniforms when not needing them. It had taken Wanda nearly a year to design a spell that would allow her team-mates access to the void, and the clothing kept within, so they would be able to change back and forth between their battle gear and street clothes with little hassle. "Rahne and Tolen have both called their battle gear. That's odd... they have called for their summer gear... its much to cold for them to be running around in that at the moment," she noted opening her eyes once more, knowing how much Tolen detested the cold. And, while Rahne didn't feel cold as much as others, she did overheat far easier then her team-mates since she did tend to run around with a permanent fur coat most of the time, "Why the devil would they need their gear?" She wondered aloud, her eyes catching Magik's who now held the battleaxe with one hand the shaft of the powerful weapon resting against a shoulder. "I don't like this... something bad is happening here."
"Yeah... and if the Majestic Wart called for his favourite toy once... he'll do it again." Illyana added, her clear blue eyes hardening in thought, "and knowing those two... they've only suited up if they wanted to intimidate someone or something." She went on; knowing that the two hated drawing attention to themselves, especially since both had been victims of hate crimes in the past and absolutely hated being the centre of attention... even if they were saving the world and countless innocent lives at the time.
"Tolen had me put an add-on spell to both of his weapons so they would always appear in his hands or on his person when he suited up... I just renewed the wards on them last week," Wanda said to herself, "you're magic must have interfered with the transfer... so that means he has his war-hammer with him." She went on, remembering the day he approached her about creating a spell that would automatically teleport his weapons to his hands if he didn't already have them when he called for his battle gear. His time as a slave of Nova Roma and as a quest of the Shi'ar leaving their mark on his psyche to the point that he wanted to ensure his weapons were literally just a thought away from him.
"Ah huh," Illyana agreed absently her own mind turning over the problem, "okay... lets go over the facts." She said her eyes taking on a truly demonic look, "Fact one: We got a wanna-be sorcerer doing really bad impersonations of Doctor Strange over there... who is so fucked up he can't remember what he said when casting and sent two of our buddies to who knows where." She began sending a glare toward the little man currently in police custody. "I better be able to track your spell little man... or you will be given an up close and very personal tour of the little piece of HELL I love to call mine!" She threatened letting her demon half surface as her face morphed, a pair of horns extending out from under her bangs, ears becoming pointed, her left arm and shoulder becoming wrapped in an armour like material, and a three foot red devil tail protruding from the base of her spine which she allowed to lash and snap in the air behind her. Catching the little man's eyes she allowed him a brief glimpse into the fires and destruction of her realm filled with the countless demons she liked to call her 'pets'... one in particular, a giant purple brute with a cigar in its mouth, seemingly smiling at the mortal with a twisted grin welcoming him to eternal damnation.
The man squealed like a two year old and promptly fell right on his ass as he tried to get away from those death filled eyes, whimpering and babbling the entire time. Looking down at the man with an arched eyebrow one of the officers glanced over at Magik, "Awww, cut that out Illyana," he said with a roll of his eyes, having worked with the team of mutants several times when they were still based in New York City. "You know we can't get anything straight out of him if you scare him too bad." He cautioned while trying to keep a straight face, it was an old trick between the blonde sorceress and some of the NYPD when they really needed to know something, they would just let her or Wolfsbane have a few words with them. While the two never did more then speak with the individual they always got the suspect talking... and most of the time it was accomplished by merely 'looking' at the other person. Of course since the two mutants in question did have a tendency to regard people with far less then 'human' gazes and they - and their team-mates - had reputations for rather violent and destructive tendencies, most of the populace tended to give them a wide berth and didn't want to be the centre of their undivided attention no matter what.
"Aw come on Bruno," Yana replied, not at all sorry she had terrified the man in handcuffs, her face shifting back to its regular human vestige once more as she turned toward the officer. She continued to regard Sergeant Bruno Patrillo - an old friend and honorary Demonspawn from the old days when the team fought off an alien invasion and became heroes to a world that hated them - with a semi-innocent smile. "He comes into our old stomping grounds... starts casting spells that could have taken out half the island and teleports two people I have fought and bled with... that literally stormed Hell to get my soul back...to who knows where? You don't think I'm going to take it personally when someone jumps my team-mates? No... Magik doesn't play that way!"
"Illyana," Wanda's voice seemed to calm the outraged demonic sorceress a bit, "we'll get them back." She stressed, knowing that Magik tended to be very protective of the handful of people she called 'friends'. The team had always prided themselves on having a strong bond of friendship that went deeper then blood; the bond between the blonde sorceress and the werewolf in particular seemed to run the deepest. While the two didn't always get along with one another in their younger days, they had since grown into lifetime friends forming a friendship that had been forged on the battlefield and tempered by time. Out of all the Demonspawns, Illyana Rasputin and Rahne Sinclair had one of the stranger friendships on the team their history together littered with incidents of going to the extreme for one another. Be it Rahne leading a rag tag assault on the horrors of Limbo trying to stop Illyana's evolution into the Darkchilde... and when that failed... fighting the demoness to the death for the life of a child and Yana's soul. Illyana returning the favour by being apart of the Nova Roma raid to free Rahne and Tolen from slavery and being the one to teleport them back to Magneto's island strong hold and putting them in the regeneration tanks that became their home for several months.
"Yeah," Yana grunted after a long moment, firmly pushing her anger and rage aside. 'Work the problem... get Rahne and the Wart back... then go into Limbo and destroy something... don't let the rage work you... work first, kill later, work first, kill later,' she told herself chanting the little mantra she used when trying to suppress her reflexive instincts of maim, kill, destroy. She found herself chanting that particular mantra often when she was forced to sit through the mandatory group public relations training sessions the entire team was made to go to every six months. It was during those times she really hated her job, sitting there and having to be nice to annoying ass racist dipsticks that kept mispronouncing her first name and seemed to think that Rahne was kept in a special kennel when not on duty or something equally degrading. One such encounter coming to mind where a local law enforcement officer in a backwater town in Canada made a remark about not seeing the wolf's collar and actually asking who held her leash. It took Jean psycho-kinetically holding the team back for that guy to continue breathing; although, that didn't save him for a dense fog settling into his path causing him to walk into a wall. Jack "Molecular" Power took his standing ovations from his fellow team-mates proudly having earned them for not giving into his first instinct to just 'jackhammer' the racist twit, instead merely creating a fog for the man literally to get lost in.
Smiling a bit at the fond memory, Yana shook her head getting back to the matter at hand, "Alright I'm headed for Limbo to check my scrying pool... I'm going to replay all of this," she said giving the area a dismissive wave of her hand, " see if I can pick up what the doofus was trying to cast... and start the tracking spells." She addressed Wanda deliberately keeping her gaze on her team-mate, not trusting herself to look at the little man she was seriously considering feeding to her pit demons. "You're the one that warded the Wart's battle-axe... so you should be able to put a tracing spell on it easier then me... Maybe we can send a message or something to him with it? Get his attention... ... he could always try to call his axe again... we can tie a message to the handle or something. I'll keep it with me... my magic should keep it from leaving until we want it to...although, he's going to hate I've been keeping it from him," She suggested, with devilish smirk at the thought, trying to keep her mind on getting her team-mates back and not happily gutting someone. With one last nod, she accessed her mutant talent causing a small golden disc to appear in front of her on the floor and stepped into it, sharing one last smirk with Wanda, "I'll be in touch... later." She said in parting, her devil tail returning just as she disappeared from view.
"You know... I think she's actually mellowed," Bruno Patrillo said with a straight face, unable to resist the urge to terrorize his prisoner just a bit before grabbing a fist full of the guy's shirt, "okay... lets get the rest of these guys downtown and out of the way of the 'Spawns... they got work to do." He ordered the rest of the officers, giving Wanda a friendly nod in parting glad to see some of his old friends once again, even if it was on business and under difficult circumstances.
Wanda Maximoff watched Bruno and the other officers leave with a half-smile, remembering the 'old days' as it where, when she was younger and more willing to take on the world with a cockiness only youth could provide. While she wasn't ashamed of her past and never would be, there was a part of her would have loved to known then what she knows now... especially in some of the situations that had left her wishing she had thought to bring a machine gun with a ton of extra ammunition. Shaking her head, she turned her attention to the group of people that had entered the warehouse - as the officers with their prisoners left - led by Cloak and Dagger who had been giving their statements outside. Her gaze automatically drawn to the tall redhead wearing a long black overcoat who was walking next to a silver-haired man with a neatly trimmed beard, a hard displeased look in his eyes as his gaze settled on Wanda. Before the group a heavy fog rolled in as if announcing their presence in a brooding forewarning manner with a rainbow streak darting around the room with almost nervous energy seemingly determined to check every inch of the warehouse personally.
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Elsewhere: ten years in the past of a parallel world -
Twin Oaks Shopping Centre, Bayville, NY -
"Oh well... just have to use a little of the 'blunt-force-trauma' then," Tolen said with an evil and semi-demented grin, twirling the war-hammer that had appeared in his left hand. The weapon was roughly three foot in length and made entirely of a bluish-grey metal that seemed to pulsate with an inner energy all its own. While one end of it looked similar to a modern hammerhead with a four-inch pike on the backside, the other end held a small spiked ball in the grip of a dragon's paw. From the spiked ball at one end going up was a hand tooled leather and mesh band wrapped around it covering roughly a foot and a half of the hammer's handle. Interwoven into the leather and mesh grip as well as carved into the metal itself there seemed to be several strange rune type markings on it, placed in strategic locations to bless the weapon and its user from harm. Of course, Jean and Kitty knew nothing of this, they only knew that their mysterious new friend was easily twirling what looked like a large hammer on steroids with one hand and grinning rather demonically at Pyro while doing so. Catching Jean's bewildered look out of the corner of his eye, Tolen winked at her, 'Just go with it Jeannie... I'll tell you how I did it back at the school,' he telepathically said to her, keeping his mental voice soft and directed at her, being well versed in how to communicate with a telepath even though he wasn't one. As long as he kept his thoughts focused and directed at her, he knew she would be able to pick up his thoughts since they were directed at her specifically. Unlike stray, surface thoughts of others that she could easily block out and ignore all together with a little practice and experience, ones firmly directed at her were harder to ignore especially coming from someone who knew where they were doing. And if this world's Charles Xavier was anything like the one Tolen knew and had a respect for - Jean Grey would not have been let out of the mansion without having firm shields in place to keep her from being overwhelmed by stray thoughts.
Jean jumped once more as she heard Tolen's voice in her head being a little spooked by someone other then the Professor doing that, after all she was usually the one speaking inside a person's head, not the other way around. Firmly pushing aside her shock she noted what he now wore, gone where the jeans and long-sleeved mock-turtle neck shirt in their place. He was now clad in black pants made of a leather-like material interwoven with a chain mail like crotch protector and with knee and shin guards over his black boots. He also wore a chest guard that was designed to move with him that reminded Jean of a leather and chain mail bulletproof vest that offered protection for his chest and upper torso, the side securing straps made to move and give with his very flexible torso and spine. As well as leather gloves that secured around his wrists to help protect from wrist injury, the gloves themselves were reinforced with a chain mail mesh that added protection and made for a nasty add-on to his punches and backhands. In all the clothes showed off his muscular body that had been hidden under his clothes, a direct result of years of training and working out to keep his body at peek condition to handle the punishment he put it through while saving the world in mortal combat. But it was the tattoo of a blue and silver water dragon wrapped around his upper left arm and bicep that seemed to flex and move with his muscles as if alive, that drew Jean's attention... a tattoo that had been previously hidden by his mock-turtle neck and now seemed eager to have a little fun. 'Trick of the light,' she told herself with a shake, 'nerves are getting to you... need to focus and make a break for the car.'
For her part Kitty was staring a bit slack jawed at Rahne who was now wearing a pair of well worn but sturdy looking boots, durable relaxed fit soft leather pants and leggings both of a deep rich chestnut colour that matched some of the tints and hues in her own fur when she was in her wolf forms. The pants themselves were tucked into the leggings blending in so they appeared to be one. The top of the uniform was a simple looking sleeve-less V-necked soft leather-like shirt designed to blend into and match the rest of the uniform as if it were one piece. The sides of the upper part of the uniform along the torso was designed to flex with her as she shifted forms expanding and contracting as she went from human to transitional and back again without shredding or ripping. Around her waist was a belt that was threaded through wide pants loops with a 'half-belt' like band coming off the left side of the main belt, at the end of which was a pouch secured to her leg above the knee by another detachable band that was designed to shift with her. Sticking out of her right legging was the hilt of a knife resting in a specially designed sheath in her boot. On her hands where fingerless gloves that allowed her to extend and retract her claws and ended in a one inch band that wrapped around her wrists, that allowed for flexibility and yet prevented injury. Like Tolen, she had the body of an athlete used to hard work and heavy workouts that had sculpted her body to peek physical condition; although, she didn't have an over development of muscles, Rahne was clearly a very strong young woman that did exercise regularly and for long periods of time.
"I'm in the mood ta kill somethin'," Rahne growled, her wild half moving closer to the surface as she started walking toward Sabretooth.
"Ah yeah... or in the very least put someone on life support," Tolen agreed with a wide grin starting toward Pyro in a slow walk giving his war-hammer a few last one-handed twirls.
Jean reached out and clasped Kitty's hand the two sharing a quick nod before breaking into a fast walk toward Scott's car, the smaller of the two activating her mutant talent to keep the pair phased until they got to safety. {Good luck you two... see you later} Jean telepathically said to the two adults, uncomfortable with leaving them behind but seeing the reasoning behind it. 'Get home, tell the Professor... hopefully Mr. Logan will want to set out after Sabretooth and I can lead them right back here,' she thought to herself, a small part of her pouting in the back of her mind over not being apart of the action.
Rahne reached her target first, as she smiled brightly at the larger mutant, "'Ello Victor... how's the flea condition?" she asked with a smirk. "Are ya still havin' ya flea dips like a good little pussy?" Sabretooth growled in reply as he tried to backhand her out of the way, only to come up short as she blocked his swing and instead grabbed the limb and twisted it. "Naughty, naughty little pus...nah milk fer ya tonight," Rahne cautioned, using her free hand to jab him quickly in the kidneys. As he fell to his knees she used her speed to try to deliver a roundhouse kick to his head, only to have her leg caught with an enraged growl from her opponent. With a growl of her own, she flipped out of his grasp shifting into her transitional form while doing so, to give herself a strength and speed boost. Landing in a crouch she studied her target with shining golden eyes, her enhanced hearing picking up the startled gasps and smell the terror coming off of the innocent bystanders who were witnessing the unfolding battle. Although, she didn't have time to think about that, as Sabretooth let out another growl and charged her swinging his razor sharp claws intent on tearing her heart out.
Dodging his slicing claws, Rahne let her wild half push even more forward letting the familiar haze of her natural wolf instincts take control for the moment. With a low almost sub-sonic growl the wolf circled her prey keeping Sabretooth's attention focused on her all the while studying his every move waiting for the right opening. Unlike her adversary, who was more of a butcher and a monster that revelled in killing and slaying, tending to run solely on his savage killer instincts that came from being overwhelmed by his mutant abilities... fancying himself to be a predator when all he knew was death. The wolf truly was one, even though she seemed not to be nearly as savage as Sabretooth, she was in fact far deadlier, unlike her opponent, Wolfsbane had control of her wild half and more importantly her bloodlust. She did experience the so-called 'berserk rage' where she would go after everything that posed a threat to her, she did so while retaining her ability think her way through the rage. She could improvise, adapt, and alter her attacks to suit the situation as it presented itself, something both Sabretooth and Wolverine lacked, the latter two only able to think one thing during a berserk rage... kill everything now. During the times she gave into her 'bloodlusts' - when she went into what her team-mates called 'hunt/predator mode' - she lacked only three key components to her humanity, her ability to feel remorse, compassion, and mercy for her enemy, they were meaningless concepts to a wolf and had no place on a hunt.
Rahne was merely toying with Sabretooth, using years of experience fighting him in her own world to walk all over him, not to kill him that was not the intent. She didn't have to kill him, merely keep him occupied until Jean and Kitty could make good their escape, then she would cut and run as it were, making her own before too many of the local law enforcement could arrive. With a low growl she suddenly lunged, having caught onto the pattern of his attack recognizing the rather loose martial arts he was using mixed in with brute force. He was good, she never forgot that about him, doing so would mean her life... however, she was far better, having superior control of her instincts and knowing far more about him then he did of her at the moment. Rahne caught Sabretooth in the throat with razor sharp claws cutting fast and deep, with his healing factor she knew he would be up and moving again in a matter of minutes. Growling to herself, she used her momentum to send a standing round house kick to his head to keep him off balance as she quickly moved back into position, suddenly dropping down she used her other hand to take a swipe at one of his kidneys trying to do enough damage that he would become more interested in healing then fighting.
Not far away, Tolen suddenly launched himself into the air, rotating his body so that his war-hammer was now grasped in both hands and held over his head. He grinned as he landed bring down the hammer in front of him, an almost childish gleeful look dancing in his eyes as the head of the war-hammer buried itself deep into the asphalt barely eleven inches in front of Pyro's feet. Resulting in a small aftershock being created that ripped up the asphalt in its wake as it raced toward the started mutant successfully knocking Pyro right off his feet. "Good day mate," he greeted in a really bad Australian accent, as he used one hand to rip the embedded part of his beloved hammer out of the parking lot asphalt. Reaching down with the other hand he grabbed a fist full of Pyro's shirt and lifted him up, he smirked as his prehensile tongue quickly shot out and hit the release buckle on his opponent's backpack letting Pyro's propane tank fall back to the ground, "oops... lost your spark." He taunted after his tongue retracted back into place, giving the now wide-eyed Pyro a rather sarcastic grin as confusion and recognition flickered across the other man's face. Rotating his hips a half turn and lifting with his knees, he nearly shot-put Pyro across the parking lot and right into Sabretooth who was rather unsteady from blood loss, grinning brightly as the two connected with a satisfying crunch.
His gloating was short lived as he heard a screech of tires, turning sharply he let out a string of curses as he saw a jeep blocking in the car Jean was driving. "Damn... if its not one thing its another," he grumbled to himself, twirling the war-hammer once before sliding it into its housing sheath built into the back of his chest protector. Then he was off racing toward the two vehicles accelerating as he did so, with Rahne shifting to full wolf form not far behind now that her target was unconscious as well, the two racing to deal with the new threat.
Lance Avers smirked as he pulled himself up in the driver's seat to glare at the two in Scott's car, "No leaving just yet... not when Magneto sent us to personally escort you two..." He began but was cut off by a blur suddenly coming at him and seemingly slamming into his beloved jeep. "What the..??" he got out as the front end of the jeep was suddenly lifted up off the ground, getting his bearings he looked toward the end of his hood and found the front end of his vehicle being held up by a guy in leather and something that looked a hell of a lot like a werewolf that was growling lowly back at him.
"I don't think they want to go with you... yo," Tolen growled holding up the front end of the jeep, "why don't you tell ol' Buckethead if he wants them so badly to come get them himself." He all but sneered the name, as he took comfort in the low warning growl Rahne let out beside him; although, he really didn't need her help in holding up the car it was comforting having her there and feeling her familiar growl rumbling through his body. Rahne being the only person he knew that could growl and have it felt by those around her, it made for fun when the team were trying to do normal people stuff and they had some stupid paparazzi hanging around bugging them with questions and picture taking.
"What are you waiting for?!" Lance growled at his friends, "Get them!" He ordered as he tried to scramble back into the driver seat to regain control of the vehicle. 'Who is this guy?' he wondered, 'we got Freddie in the jeep... how can he lift Freddie so easily?"
"Great... now I know where Merlin got that line from," Tolen grumbled almost to himself as Rahne gave a deep echoing rumble of a growl in added annoyance, "shall we my lady?" He asked as the two began to push the jeep out of the way with the Brotherhood in it. 'Good thing Fred isn't touching the ground or this would be a hell of a lot harder,' he thought to himself seeing the confusion in the teenager in question's face. Catching a movement in the jeep of a figure almost hidden by the Blob's extra-large form, he cursed lowly and did something he only used as the very last resort... he spit. Relaxing his salvia and mucus glands, he allowed a chemical his stomach produced on demand to build and blend into a sticky and somewhat corrosive mixture until it gelled together into a slimy mess he used to nail his younger self with before the boy could do anything foolish.
Fifteen-year-old Todd Tolensky fell back with a face full of... his own spit?!? 'What the?' he thought trying to pull the stuff off, 'that guy has my powers.' He told himself as he felt the jeep being pushed aside by some strange guy with his powers and a creature directly out of one of his nightmares.
{Get in!}
Jean's voice sounded in the back of the two adult's minds as she pulled the car forward, {we're leaving together... now!}
'Coming Mum,' Rahne thought back to the redhead, an amused smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth using the team's nickname for Jean Grey. In her proper time and reality, Jean had the affectionate name of 'Mother' a playful poke at her den mother tendencies and an actual suggestion for her official codename when the telepath was finally forced to choose one. Although, the telepath flat-out refused to be publicly known as 'Mother' to the entire known world, it didn't stop the name being used in private.
'Be right with you Mother,' dropping the front of the jeep, Tolen gave one last spit getting the last of the corrosive concoction out of his mouth, 'God... I forgot how gross that stuff is,' he thought making a face as Rahne took his hand and the two back flipped into Scott's car as Jean hit the gas and drove off. Landing flat in the backseat with Rahne's slightly larger form on top of him, Tolen felt her shift back into human form and slip onto the floorboards of the car as he scrambled up right and fished around for his seat belt giving the mental command to return to his street clothes as the sound of sirens pierced the air. "Jean...slow down... drive normal... like we didn't just cause all hell to break loose back there," he instructed his hands going to the leather band in his hair to release it so all of his hair was free and blowing in the wind. Finger combing his hair into submission with the leather strap hanging out of his mouth, he caught her eye momentarily in the rear-view mirror.
{So you're a good guy now... huh...Toad?} she asked in the back of his mind, a slight smirk tugging at her mouth as she slowed the car to the speed limit and moved into the slow lane to allow police and emergency vehicles to pass.
'Knew you'd figure it out,' he replied in her mind, a warm chuckle in his telepathic voice, 'yeah... I'm a white hat now... have to be or Rahne wouldn't give me the time of day... and I decided that you make a better friend then enemy,' He added with a mental smirk as he gathered back most of his hair and took the leather strap out of his mouth to tie it back once more, 'what can I say... I finally got the hint that I needed to change sides after you dropped that mountain on me.'
{You got a lot of explaining to do} Jean said telepathically, {especially about that 'Mother' comment.} Her eyes catching his one last time to arch an eyebrow at him as Rahne climbed off of the floorboard and into the backseat with him in her original street clothes once more.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence... you think the Professor would let me down a bottle of mouthwash before the inquisition starts? I got this really bad aftertaste in my mouth I need to get rid of." He asked aloud, causing Kitty to turn in her seat with a confused look on her face unsure of what they were talking about. She hadn't seen Tolen spitting at his younger self, her view blocked by both him and Rahne's backs while they were holding up the front end of Lance's jeep moments ago.
"Like... how do you two do that?" Kitty asked, wondering how they managed to change back into their original clothes so fast. "Oh... here's your jacket back," she said handing him back his prized duster, which he took with a bright happy grin pleased to get it back.
"Magic," Rahne replied with a straight face not missing a beat.
End Part Three.
Note:
Yes... I finally finished this part! Yay, me... didn't know how big this update was going to be, had a lot to do in it. Before I go I got two points of interest.
1} For all his immovableness and invulnerability, Blob's powers only work when he is in physical contact with the ground as in standing on it.
2} Jack Power of the Power Pack has technically only used two codenames over the years depending on which power he had at the time, "Mass Master" and "Destroyer". However, since the name Mass Master was created when he was still a pre-schooler and still very new to the hero business I do not think it is a name he should continue to use as he gets older. So I created the name "Molecular" for the now 18-year-old {in this fic} Jack Power to use while he is a member of the Demonspawns.
Last item honest -
3} No, I have not named the entire Demonspawn team nor do I plan to give a definitive list of the team members. Mainly because I want to keep it a surprise on the line up for the explosive finale of this story; however, for those of you who just have to know who is and isn't on the team, I will list the members that have been named so far. Please note, that there is no debate, the following people are very much members of the Demonspawns.
Jean Grey -she's been mentioned enough damn times she has to be a member.
Wanda Maximoff - "Scarlet Witch"
Todd "Tolen" Tolensky - "Toad"
Rahne Sinclair - "Wolfsbane"
Illyana Rasputin - "Magik"
Jack Power - "Molecular"
Tyrone Johnson - "Cloak"
Tandy Bowen - "Dagger"
Julie Power - "Lightspeed" - she was causing the rainbow effect that was darting around the warehouse.
Sergeant Bruno Patrillo - NYPD, honorary member of the Demonspawns.
The guy with the silver hair and beard is a surprise and you are going to have to read the rest of the story to learn his name.
Later.
Author: RahneWolfe and ShadowDrake
Disclaimer: see part one for all disclaimers and notes.
DEMONSPAWNS: NEVER A DULL MOMENT (3/?)
- Reactions and Confrontations -
"How do you want to handle this?" Tolen asked keeping an eye on Pyro who was approaching the little group with a smug look on his face.
"We hit fast an' hard... nothing fancy," Rahne replied, "they should recognize ya immediately... nah since in giving them any hint ta what ya are truly capable of."
"Yeah... why make the younger me's life more difficult then it already is?" Tolen added with a self-mocking smirk as he thought about how much of a complete idiot he was in his youth. "God, to think... I used to willingly work with these two, what WAS I thinking?" he added more to himself with a look of morbid disbelief on his face, catching Jean's questioning look out of the corner of his eye, "I used to be a bad guy when I was young and stupid." He admitted dryly, turning to look Jean straight in the eye, "but... ahm... things happened... I got my head screwed on straighter and cleaned myself up... a lot ... ... had to... or I wasn't going to have Rahney in my life." He said, "well I would have... but not in the way I wanted. She's a lot more fun to be around when she's not trying to take your head off or rip out important organs." He corrected himself, with a rueful grin, "I promise... to happily explain everything in detail back at the mansion... lets just get rid of these two nut cases first, okay?" He asked with a small hopeful grin, praying the young telepath would go along with the suggestion and keep her questions to herself for the moment.
"Ken we hold this conversation fer later?" Rahne asked in a low growl, "I would like ta get this over with an' be out of here by the time the police arrive."
"Yeah, yeah... I'm working on it," Tolen replied with a grin, "let's really mess with these two... I vote we suit up. I'm not getting my new clothes singed or shredded for these idiots." He suggested getting a wicked grin.
"Aye," Rahne grunted keeping her eyes on the approaching Sabretooth. "Ready when you are."
{Uniform on!} Jean jumped slightly at the very clear mental commands she picked up from the two adults before taking a half step backwards as Rahne and Tolen were momentarily engulfed in a bright light that seemed to originate from within them and expand outward before retreating once more. The telepath closed her eyes and shook her head once before opening her eyes once more to stare at the two in puzzlement, noting in disbelief that the two had suddenly changed clothes.
"Damn" Tolen grunted, as the form of a double-bladed battle-axe flickered in his right hand before disappearing once more, "I can call the 'armour' but not my axe," he commented more to himself then anyone else.
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At that moment: ten years into the future and on a parallel world -
A warehouse in Lower Manhattan -
"Give!!" Illyana Rasputin, known to the world as Magik of the Demonspawns, ordered as she tried to remove Tolen's battleaxe from the steel pillar it had been embedded into with a little help of her magic. Growling lowly as the stubborn weapon refused to move the blonde - clad in tight fitting black leather pants with blood red trim and a low cut deep red with black trim corset over a silky red peasant blouse that left her shoulder's bare ensuring that her bust line was made very prominent with added touches of silk here and there, leather and chain mail forearm bracers and knee-high black boots - paused in her task to give the battleaxe a dirty look, releasing a huff of air from her mouth that ruffled her bangs. "Okay... now I get rough," she sneered at the inanimate object determined to get it out of the pillar, "you are going to come out or so help me," she went on, planting one booted foot on the steel pillar and re-gripping the handle of the axe calling up more of her mystical energies to aid her in freeing the weapon. Refusing to surrender the task to someone more qualified to remove it... like her brother who had been visiting her during a rare coinciding downtime for the siblings. But was now currently standing in armoured form not far from her, patiently waiting for her to give up and let him pull it out one-handed. Well it had been a downtime for them - positively enjoyable - before Jack slipped his damn leash and some nut wanna-be mage teleported two of her team-mates to who knows where without so much of a 'screw you Demonspawns' in passing. "I will melt you down and return you to His-Majesty-Wart-the-First in the form of an astray!" she threatened using her magic to give her an extra boost just as the weapon began to flicker briefly in her hands. "What the fuck!!??" she exclaimed as the axe came free and she found herself staring down at the weapon in confusion.
"Huh?" Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch of the Demonspawns, paused in her inspection of the altar set up in the warehouse and turned to her team-mate with a frown having felt something very wrong just a moment ago. The auburn haired woman - clad in a deep scarlet red linen shirt, open at the throat to display a ruby encrusted choker, belted at the waist with a wide stylish belt, worn over leather pants and knee-high scarlet red boots, along with several rings and bracelets on her wrists, and a warm deep red cloak half of which hung drapped over her left shoulder obscuring that side of her body from view, giving mute testimony to her proud gypsy heritage and need to stay warm in very cold weather - put one hand on her hip and the other hand went to her chin where a finger tapped out a rhythm less beat on her paused lips. "Tolen tried to call his axe," she said in claim voice, knowing that a level head was needed if they were to find and return their team-mates safely. Turning her attention inward for a moment, her frown deepened as she checked the little pocket void she used to house the team's uniforms so they did not have to constantly wear them under their street clothes or carry them around in gym bags. Not only was the void useful when seconds counted and they had no time to stop and change clothes. It also enabled them to change clothes no matter where they were, be it on Earth or in a magical realm such as Asgard or Avalon, as long as the team was able to trigger the mental command - to suit up or down - they had access to their battle gear.
Aside from Illyana, who preferred the leather and silk look of her combat gear most days, and Cloak whose namesake was very much apart of him, the rest of the team routinely used the pocket void to house at least two spare uniforms when not needing them. It had taken Wanda nearly a year to design a spell that would allow her team-mates access to the void, and the clothing kept within, so they would be able to change back and forth between their battle gear and street clothes with little hassle. "Rahne and Tolen have both called their battle gear. That's odd... they have called for their summer gear... its much to cold for them to be running around in that at the moment," she noted opening her eyes once more, knowing how much Tolen detested the cold. And, while Rahne didn't feel cold as much as others, she did overheat far easier then her team-mates since she did tend to run around with a permanent fur coat most of the time, "Why the devil would they need their gear?" She wondered aloud, her eyes catching Magik's who now held the battleaxe with one hand the shaft of the powerful weapon resting against a shoulder. "I don't like this... something bad is happening here."
"Yeah... and if the Majestic Wart called for his favourite toy once... he'll do it again." Illyana added, her clear blue eyes hardening in thought, "and knowing those two... they've only suited up if they wanted to intimidate someone or something." She went on; knowing that the two hated drawing attention to themselves, especially since both had been victims of hate crimes in the past and absolutely hated being the centre of attention... even if they were saving the world and countless innocent lives at the time.
"Tolen had me put an add-on spell to both of his weapons so they would always appear in his hands or on his person when he suited up... I just renewed the wards on them last week," Wanda said to herself, "you're magic must have interfered with the transfer... so that means he has his war-hammer with him." She went on, remembering the day he approached her about creating a spell that would automatically teleport his weapons to his hands if he didn't already have them when he called for his battle gear. His time as a slave of Nova Roma and as a quest of the Shi'ar leaving their mark on his psyche to the point that he wanted to ensure his weapons were literally just a thought away from him.
"Ah huh," Illyana agreed absently her own mind turning over the problem, "okay... lets go over the facts." She said her eyes taking on a truly demonic look, "Fact one: We got a wanna-be sorcerer doing really bad impersonations of Doctor Strange over there... who is so fucked up he can't remember what he said when casting and sent two of our buddies to who knows where." She began sending a glare toward the little man currently in police custody. "I better be able to track your spell little man... or you will be given an up close and very personal tour of the little piece of HELL I love to call mine!" She threatened letting her demon half surface as her face morphed, a pair of horns extending out from under her bangs, ears becoming pointed, her left arm and shoulder becoming wrapped in an armour like material, and a three foot red devil tail protruding from the base of her spine which she allowed to lash and snap in the air behind her. Catching the little man's eyes she allowed him a brief glimpse into the fires and destruction of her realm filled with the countless demons she liked to call her 'pets'... one in particular, a giant purple brute with a cigar in its mouth, seemingly smiling at the mortal with a twisted grin welcoming him to eternal damnation.
The man squealed like a two year old and promptly fell right on his ass as he tried to get away from those death filled eyes, whimpering and babbling the entire time. Looking down at the man with an arched eyebrow one of the officers glanced over at Magik, "Awww, cut that out Illyana," he said with a roll of his eyes, having worked with the team of mutants several times when they were still based in New York City. "You know we can't get anything straight out of him if you scare him too bad." He cautioned while trying to keep a straight face, it was an old trick between the blonde sorceress and some of the NYPD when they really needed to know something, they would just let her or Wolfsbane have a few words with them. While the two never did more then speak with the individual they always got the suspect talking... and most of the time it was accomplished by merely 'looking' at the other person. Of course since the two mutants in question did have a tendency to regard people with far less then 'human' gazes and they - and their team-mates - had reputations for rather violent and destructive tendencies, most of the populace tended to give them a wide berth and didn't want to be the centre of their undivided attention no matter what.
"Aw come on Bruno," Yana replied, not at all sorry she had terrified the man in handcuffs, her face shifting back to its regular human vestige once more as she turned toward the officer. She continued to regard Sergeant Bruno Patrillo - an old friend and honorary Demonspawn from the old days when the team fought off an alien invasion and became heroes to a world that hated them - with a semi-innocent smile. "He comes into our old stomping grounds... starts casting spells that could have taken out half the island and teleports two people I have fought and bled with... that literally stormed Hell to get my soul back...to who knows where? You don't think I'm going to take it personally when someone jumps my team-mates? No... Magik doesn't play that way!"
"Illyana," Wanda's voice seemed to calm the outraged demonic sorceress a bit, "we'll get them back." She stressed, knowing that Magik tended to be very protective of the handful of people she called 'friends'. The team had always prided themselves on having a strong bond of friendship that went deeper then blood; the bond between the blonde sorceress and the werewolf in particular seemed to run the deepest. While the two didn't always get along with one another in their younger days, they had since grown into lifetime friends forming a friendship that had been forged on the battlefield and tempered by time. Out of all the Demonspawns, Illyana Rasputin and Rahne Sinclair had one of the stranger friendships on the team their history together littered with incidents of going to the extreme for one another. Be it Rahne leading a rag tag assault on the horrors of Limbo trying to stop Illyana's evolution into the Darkchilde... and when that failed... fighting the demoness to the death for the life of a child and Yana's soul. Illyana returning the favour by being apart of the Nova Roma raid to free Rahne and Tolen from slavery and being the one to teleport them back to Magneto's island strong hold and putting them in the regeneration tanks that became their home for several months.
"Yeah," Yana grunted after a long moment, firmly pushing her anger and rage aside. 'Work the problem... get Rahne and the Wart back... then go into Limbo and destroy something... don't let the rage work you... work first, kill later, work first, kill later,' she told herself chanting the little mantra she used when trying to suppress her reflexive instincts of maim, kill, destroy. She found herself chanting that particular mantra often when she was forced to sit through the mandatory group public relations training sessions the entire team was made to go to every six months. It was during those times she really hated her job, sitting there and having to be nice to annoying ass racist dipsticks that kept mispronouncing her first name and seemed to think that Rahne was kept in a special kennel when not on duty or something equally degrading. One such encounter coming to mind where a local law enforcement officer in a backwater town in Canada made a remark about not seeing the wolf's collar and actually asking who held her leash. It took Jean psycho-kinetically holding the team back for that guy to continue breathing; although, that didn't save him for a dense fog settling into his path causing him to walk into a wall. Jack "Molecular" Power took his standing ovations from his fellow team-mates proudly having earned them for not giving into his first instinct to just 'jackhammer' the racist twit, instead merely creating a fog for the man literally to get lost in.
Smiling a bit at the fond memory, Yana shook her head getting back to the matter at hand, "Alright I'm headed for Limbo to check my scrying pool... I'm going to replay all of this," she said giving the area a dismissive wave of her hand, " see if I can pick up what the doofus was trying to cast... and start the tracking spells." She addressed Wanda deliberately keeping her gaze on her team-mate, not trusting herself to look at the little man she was seriously considering feeding to her pit demons. "You're the one that warded the Wart's battle-axe... so you should be able to put a tracing spell on it easier then me... Maybe we can send a message or something to him with it? Get his attention... ... he could always try to call his axe again... we can tie a message to the handle or something. I'll keep it with me... my magic should keep it from leaving until we want it to...although, he's going to hate I've been keeping it from him," She suggested, with devilish smirk at the thought, trying to keep her mind on getting her team-mates back and not happily gutting someone. With one last nod, she accessed her mutant talent causing a small golden disc to appear in front of her on the floor and stepped into it, sharing one last smirk with Wanda, "I'll be in touch... later." She said in parting, her devil tail returning just as she disappeared from view.
"You know... I think she's actually mellowed," Bruno Patrillo said with a straight face, unable to resist the urge to terrorize his prisoner just a bit before grabbing a fist full of the guy's shirt, "okay... lets get the rest of these guys downtown and out of the way of the 'Spawns... they got work to do." He ordered the rest of the officers, giving Wanda a friendly nod in parting glad to see some of his old friends once again, even if it was on business and under difficult circumstances.
Wanda Maximoff watched Bruno and the other officers leave with a half-smile, remembering the 'old days' as it where, when she was younger and more willing to take on the world with a cockiness only youth could provide. While she wasn't ashamed of her past and never would be, there was a part of her would have loved to known then what she knows now... especially in some of the situations that had left her wishing she had thought to bring a machine gun with a ton of extra ammunition. Shaking her head, she turned her attention to the group of people that had entered the warehouse - as the officers with their prisoners left - led by Cloak and Dagger who had been giving their statements outside. Her gaze automatically drawn to the tall redhead wearing a long black overcoat who was walking next to a silver-haired man with a neatly trimmed beard, a hard displeased look in his eyes as his gaze settled on Wanda. Before the group a heavy fog rolled in as if announcing their presence in a brooding forewarning manner with a rainbow streak darting around the room with almost nervous energy seemingly determined to check every inch of the warehouse personally.
*************************
Elsewhere: ten years in the past of a parallel world -
Twin Oaks Shopping Centre, Bayville, NY -
"Oh well... just have to use a little of the 'blunt-force-trauma' then," Tolen said with an evil and semi-demented grin, twirling the war-hammer that had appeared in his left hand. The weapon was roughly three foot in length and made entirely of a bluish-grey metal that seemed to pulsate with an inner energy all its own. While one end of it looked similar to a modern hammerhead with a four-inch pike on the backside, the other end held a small spiked ball in the grip of a dragon's paw. From the spiked ball at one end going up was a hand tooled leather and mesh band wrapped around it covering roughly a foot and a half of the hammer's handle. Interwoven into the leather and mesh grip as well as carved into the metal itself there seemed to be several strange rune type markings on it, placed in strategic locations to bless the weapon and its user from harm. Of course, Jean and Kitty knew nothing of this, they only knew that their mysterious new friend was easily twirling what looked like a large hammer on steroids with one hand and grinning rather demonically at Pyro while doing so. Catching Jean's bewildered look out of the corner of his eye, Tolen winked at her, 'Just go with it Jeannie... I'll tell you how I did it back at the school,' he telepathically said to her, keeping his mental voice soft and directed at her, being well versed in how to communicate with a telepath even though he wasn't one. As long as he kept his thoughts focused and directed at her, he knew she would be able to pick up his thoughts since they were directed at her specifically. Unlike stray, surface thoughts of others that she could easily block out and ignore all together with a little practice and experience, ones firmly directed at her were harder to ignore especially coming from someone who knew where they were doing. And if this world's Charles Xavier was anything like the one Tolen knew and had a respect for - Jean Grey would not have been let out of the mansion without having firm shields in place to keep her from being overwhelmed by stray thoughts.
Jean jumped once more as she heard Tolen's voice in her head being a little spooked by someone other then the Professor doing that, after all she was usually the one speaking inside a person's head, not the other way around. Firmly pushing aside her shock she noted what he now wore, gone where the jeans and long-sleeved mock-turtle neck shirt in their place. He was now clad in black pants made of a leather-like material interwoven with a chain mail like crotch protector and with knee and shin guards over his black boots. He also wore a chest guard that was designed to move with him that reminded Jean of a leather and chain mail bulletproof vest that offered protection for his chest and upper torso, the side securing straps made to move and give with his very flexible torso and spine. As well as leather gloves that secured around his wrists to help protect from wrist injury, the gloves themselves were reinforced with a chain mail mesh that added protection and made for a nasty add-on to his punches and backhands. In all the clothes showed off his muscular body that had been hidden under his clothes, a direct result of years of training and working out to keep his body at peek condition to handle the punishment he put it through while saving the world in mortal combat. But it was the tattoo of a blue and silver water dragon wrapped around his upper left arm and bicep that seemed to flex and move with his muscles as if alive, that drew Jean's attention... a tattoo that had been previously hidden by his mock-turtle neck and now seemed eager to have a little fun. 'Trick of the light,' she told herself with a shake, 'nerves are getting to you... need to focus and make a break for the car.'
For her part Kitty was staring a bit slack jawed at Rahne who was now wearing a pair of well worn but sturdy looking boots, durable relaxed fit soft leather pants and leggings both of a deep rich chestnut colour that matched some of the tints and hues in her own fur when she was in her wolf forms. The pants themselves were tucked into the leggings blending in so they appeared to be one. The top of the uniform was a simple looking sleeve-less V-necked soft leather-like shirt designed to blend into and match the rest of the uniform as if it were one piece. The sides of the upper part of the uniform along the torso was designed to flex with her as she shifted forms expanding and contracting as she went from human to transitional and back again without shredding or ripping. Around her waist was a belt that was threaded through wide pants loops with a 'half-belt' like band coming off the left side of the main belt, at the end of which was a pouch secured to her leg above the knee by another detachable band that was designed to shift with her. Sticking out of her right legging was the hilt of a knife resting in a specially designed sheath in her boot. On her hands where fingerless gloves that allowed her to extend and retract her claws and ended in a one inch band that wrapped around her wrists, that allowed for flexibility and yet prevented injury. Like Tolen, she had the body of an athlete used to hard work and heavy workouts that had sculpted her body to peek physical condition; although, she didn't have an over development of muscles, Rahne was clearly a very strong young woman that did exercise regularly and for long periods of time.
"I'm in the mood ta kill somethin'," Rahne growled, her wild half moving closer to the surface as she started walking toward Sabretooth.
"Ah yeah... or in the very least put someone on life support," Tolen agreed with a wide grin starting toward Pyro in a slow walk giving his war-hammer a few last one-handed twirls.
Jean reached out and clasped Kitty's hand the two sharing a quick nod before breaking into a fast walk toward Scott's car, the smaller of the two activating her mutant talent to keep the pair phased until they got to safety. {Good luck you two... see you later} Jean telepathically said to the two adults, uncomfortable with leaving them behind but seeing the reasoning behind it. 'Get home, tell the Professor... hopefully Mr. Logan will want to set out after Sabretooth and I can lead them right back here,' she thought to herself, a small part of her pouting in the back of her mind over not being apart of the action.
Rahne reached her target first, as she smiled brightly at the larger mutant, "'Ello Victor... how's the flea condition?" she asked with a smirk. "Are ya still havin' ya flea dips like a good little pussy?" Sabretooth growled in reply as he tried to backhand her out of the way, only to come up short as she blocked his swing and instead grabbed the limb and twisted it. "Naughty, naughty little pus...nah milk fer ya tonight," Rahne cautioned, using her free hand to jab him quickly in the kidneys. As he fell to his knees she used her speed to try to deliver a roundhouse kick to his head, only to have her leg caught with an enraged growl from her opponent. With a growl of her own, she flipped out of his grasp shifting into her transitional form while doing so, to give herself a strength and speed boost. Landing in a crouch she studied her target with shining golden eyes, her enhanced hearing picking up the startled gasps and smell the terror coming off of the innocent bystanders who were witnessing the unfolding battle. Although, she didn't have time to think about that, as Sabretooth let out another growl and charged her swinging his razor sharp claws intent on tearing her heart out.
Dodging his slicing claws, Rahne let her wild half push even more forward letting the familiar haze of her natural wolf instincts take control for the moment. With a low almost sub-sonic growl the wolf circled her prey keeping Sabretooth's attention focused on her all the while studying his every move waiting for the right opening. Unlike her adversary, who was more of a butcher and a monster that revelled in killing and slaying, tending to run solely on his savage killer instincts that came from being overwhelmed by his mutant abilities... fancying himself to be a predator when all he knew was death. The wolf truly was one, even though she seemed not to be nearly as savage as Sabretooth, she was in fact far deadlier, unlike her opponent, Wolfsbane had control of her wild half and more importantly her bloodlust. She did experience the so-called 'berserk rage' where she would go after everything that posed a threat to her, she did so while retaining her ability think her way through the rage. She could improvise, adapt, and alter her attacks to suit the situation as it presented itself, something both Sabretooth and Wolverine lacked, the latter two only able to think one thing during a berserk rage... kill everything now. During the times she gave into her 'bloodlusts' - when she went into what her team-mates called 'hunt/predator mode' - she lacked only three key components to her humanity, her ability to feel remorse, compassion, and mercy for her enemy, they were meaningless concepts to a wolf and had no place on a hunt.
Rahne was merely toying with Sabretooth, using years of experience fighting him in her own world to walk all over him, not to kill him that was not the intent. She didn't have to kill him, merely keep him occupied until Jean and Kitty could make good their escape, then she would cut and run as it were, making her own before too many of the local law enforcement could arrive. With a low growl she suddenly lunged, having caught onto the pattern of his attack recognizing the rather loose martial arts he was using mixed in with brute force. He was good, she never forgot that about him, doing so would mean her life... however, she was far better, having superior control of her instincts and knowing far more about him then he did of her at the moment. Rahne caught Sabretooth in the throat with razor sharp claws cutting fast and deep, with his healing factor she knew he would be up and moving again in a matter of minutes. Growling to herself, she used her momentum to send a standing round house kick to his head to keep him off balance as she quickly moved back into position, suddenly dropping down she used her other hand to take a swipe at one of his kidneys trying to do enough damage that he would become more interested in healing then fighting.
Not far away, Tolen suddenly launched himself into the air, rotating his body so that his war-hammer was now grasped in both hands and held over his head. He grinned as he landed bring down the hammer in front of him, an almost childish gleeful look dancing in his eyes as the head of the war-hammer buried itself deep into the asphalt barely eleven inches in front of Pyro's feet. Resulting in a small aftershock being created that ripped up the asphalt in its wake as it raced toward the started mutant successfully knocking Pyro right off his feet. "Good day mate," he greeted in a really bad Australian accent, as he used one hand to rip the embedded part of his beloved hammer out of the parking lot asphalt. Reaching down with the other hand he grabbed a fist full of Pyro's shirt and lifted him up, he smirked as his prehensile tongue quickly shot out and hit the release buckle on his opponent's backpack letting Pyro's propane tank fall back to the ground, "oops... lost your spark." He taunted after his tongue retracted back into place, giving the now wide-eyed Pyro a rather sarcastic grin as confusion and recognition flickered across the other man's face. Rotating his hips a half turn and lifting with his knees, he nearly shot-put Pyro across the parking lot and right into Sabretooth who was rather unsteady from blood loss, grinning brightly as the two connected with a satisfying crunch.
His gloating was short lived as he heard a screech of tires, turning sharply he let out a string of curses as he saw a jeep blocking in the car Jean was driving. "Damn... if its not one thing its another," he grumbled to himself, twirling the war-hammer once before sliding it into its housing sheath built into the back of his chest protector. Then he was off racing toward the two vehicles accelerating as he did so, with Rahne shifting to full wolf form not far behind now that her target was unconscious as well, the two racing to deal with the new threat.
Lance Avers smirked as he pulled himself up in the driver's seat to glare at the two in Scott's car, "No leaving just yet... not when Magneto sent us to personally escort you two..." He began but was cut off by a blur suddenly coming at him and seemingly slamming into his beloved jeep. "What the..??" he got out as the front end of the jeep was suddenly lifted up off the ground, getting his bearings he looked toward the end of his hood and found the front end of his vehicle being held up by a guy in leather and something that looked a hell of a lot like a werewolf that was growling lowly back at him.
"I don't think they want to go with you... yo," Tolen growled holding up the front end of the jeep, "why don't you tell ol' Buckethead if he wants them so badly to come get them himself." He all but sneered the name, as he took comfort in the low warning growl Rahne let out beside him; although, he really didn't need her help in holding up the car it was comforting having her there and feeling her familiar growl rumbling through his body. Rahne being the only person he knew that could growl and have it felt by those around her, it made for fun when the team were trying to do normal people stuff and they had some stupid paparazzi hanging around bugging them with questions and picture taking.
"What are you waiting for?!" Lance growled at his friends, "Get them!" He ordered as he tried to scramble back into the driver seat to regain control of the vehicle. 'Who is this guy?' he wondered, 'we got Freddie in the jeep... how can he lift Freddie so easily?"
"Great... now I know where Merlin got that line from," Tolen grumbled almost to himself as Rahne gave a deep echoing rumble of a growl in added annoyance, "shall we my lady?" He asked as the two began to push the jeep out of the way with the Brotherhood in it. 'Good thing Fred isn't touching the ground or this would be a hell of a lot harder,' he thought to himself seeing the confusion in the teenager in question's face. Catching a movement in the jeep of a figure almost hidden by the Blob's extra-large form, he cursed lowly and did something he only used as the very last resort... he spit. Relaxing his salvia and mucus glands, he allowed a chemical his stomach produced on demand to build and blend into a sticky and somewhat corrosive mixture until it gelled together into a slimy mess he used to nail his younger self with before the boy could do anything foolish.
Fifteen-year-old Todd Tolensky fell back with a face full of... his own spit?!? 'What the?' he thought trying to pull the stuff off, 'that guy has my powers.' He told himself as he felt the jeep being pushed aside by some strange guy with his powers and a creature directly out of one of his nightmares.
{Get in!}
Jean's voice sounded in the back of the two adult's minds as she pulled the car forward, {we're leaving together... now!}
'Coming Mum,' Rahne thought back to the redhead, an amused smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth using the team's nickname for Jean Grey. In her proper time and reality, Jean had the affectionate name of 'Mother' a playful poke at her den mother tendencies and an actual suggestion for her official codename when the telepath was finally forced to choose one. Although, the telepath flat-out refused to be publicly known as 'Mother' to the entire known world, it didn't stop the name being used in private.
'Be right with you Mother,' dropping the front of the jeep, Tolen gave one last spit getting the last of the corrosive concoction out of his mouth, 'God... I forgot how gross that stuff is,' he thought making a face as Rahne took his hand and the two back flipped into Scott's car as Jean hit the gas and drove off. Landing flat in the backseat with Rahne's slightly larger form on top of him, Tolen felt her shift back into human form and slip onto the floorboards of the car as he scrambled up right and fished around for his seat belt giving the mental command to return to his street clothes as the sound of sirens pierced the air. "Jean...slow down... drive normal... like we didn't just cause all hell to break loose back there," he instructed his hands going to the leather band in his hair to release it so all of his hair was free and blowing in the wind. Finger combing his hair into submission with the leather strap hanging out of his mouth, he caught her eye momentarily in the rear-view mirror.
{So you're a good guy now... huh...Toad?} she asked in the back of his mind, a slight smirk tugging at her mouth as she slowed the car to the speed limit and moved into the slow lane to allow police and emergency vehicles to pass.
'Knew you'd figure it out,' he replied in her mind, a warm chuckle in his telepathic voice, 'yeah... I'm a white hat now... have to be or Rahne wouldn't give me the time of day... and I decided that you make a better friend then enemy,' He added with a mental smirk as he gathered back most of his hair and took the leather strap out of his mouth to tie it back once more, 'what can I say... I finally got the hint that I needed to change sides after you dropped that mountain on me.'
{You got a lot of explaining to do} Jean said telepathically, {especially about that 'Mother' comment.} Her eyes catching his one last time to arch an eyebrow at him as Rahne climbed off of the floorboard and into the backseat with him in her original street clothes once more.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence... you think the Professor would let me down a bottle of mouthwash before the inquisition starts? I got this really bad aftertaste in my mouth I need to get rid of." He asked aloud, causing Kitty to turn in her seat with a confused look on her face unsure of what they were talking about. She hadn't seen Tolen spitting at his younger self, her view blocked by both him and Rahne's backs while they were holding up the front end of Lance's jeep moments ago.
"Like... how do you two do that?" Kitty asked, wondering how they managed to change back into their original clothes so fast. "Oh... here's your jacket back," she said handing him back his prized duster, which he took with a bright happy grin pleased to get it back.
"Magic," Rahne replied with a straight face not missing a beat.
End Part Three.
Note:
Yes... I finally finished this part! Yay, me... didn't know how big this update was going to be, had a lot to do in it. Before I go I got two points of interest.
1} For all his immovableness and invulnerability, Blob's powers only work when he is in physical contact with the ground as in standing on it.
2} Jack Power of the Power Pack has technically only used two codenames over the years depending on which power he had at the time, "Mass Master" and "Destroyer". However, since the name Mass Master was created when he was still a pre-schooler and still very new to the hero business I do not think it is a name he should continue to use as he gets older. So I created the name "Molecular" for the now 18-year-old {in this fic} Jack Power to use while he is a member of the Demonspawns.
Last item honest -
3} No, I have not named the entire Demonspawn team nor do I plan to give a definitive list of the team members. Mainly because I want to keep it a surprise on the line up for the explosive finale of this story; however, for those of you who just have to know who is and isn't on the team, I will list the members that have been named so far. Please note, that there is no debate, the following people are very much members of the Demonspawns.
Jean Grey -she's been mentioned enough damn times she has to be a member.
Wanda Maximoff - "Scarlet Witch"
Todd "Tolen" Tolensky - "Toad"
Rahne Sinclair - "Wolfsbane"
Illyana Rasputin - "Magik"
Jack Power - "Molecular"
Tyrone Johnson - "Cloak"
Tandy Bowen - "Dagger"
Julie Power - "Lightspeed" - she was causing the rainbow effect that was darting around the warehouse.
Sergeant Bruno Patrillo - NYPD, honorary member of the Demonspawns.
The guy with the silver hair and beard is a surprise and you are going to have to read the rest of the story to learn his name.
Later.
