Dark Zodiac Saga Pt. 5: The Soul Unraveled and The Lord of Deception (2 of 2)
"What do you mean die?" a dumbfounded Ever asked. He had just heard Gloria Dayne say that if Exodus, a man he looked up to as a father, went off to find Gaia that he would die. He knew Fontanelle had told him this once before, but he just thought she was delirious with fever at the time.
Fontanelle launched up from her chair, "I mean dead as a doornail. Six feet under! How much more specific can I get?"
Exodus scowled at the woman, "Would this be part of that information you've been holding back from us?"
"I don't care what you think of me at the moment Exodus, but hear this! That signal is not Gaia, but a trap set by a woman named Onset. Gaia is not there at all, but instead there's a powered up Magus. And if you go you will die," Fontanelle proclaimed as a single tear rolled down her left eye.
Sighing deeply as if his world was crumbling Bennet said, "What would you have me do Gloria? Confronting Magus might actually lead to finding Onset and finding Gaia."
Slowly orange dust spilled through the crack of the kitchen door on the floor, "The solution to this is simple really. Have Exodus stay behind."
Rapidly the orange dust reformed into the Exile known as Osman. He had one of the stronger bonds with Gaia outside of Fontanelle. The two of them had been captured by Darkstar and had horrible experiments done upon them. Experiencing the same thing had bought the two together in a very tight bond of friendship.
Du Paris shot a piercing stare at Proteus, "You honestly expect me to stay and let someone else get hurt instead? Osman you surely know me better than that."
"Let some of the students come. In my vision only the main roster fought against Magus. Let some of the students come and the rest can stay with you," Fontanelle suggested.
Eagerly Harmony shouted, "We're ready for combat! Take us with you!"
"Despite his eagerness I have to agree with him Exodus. They're ready and we can't afford to have you die on us. Take a backseat role for a change," Proteus pleaded with his leader.
With a huff Bennet nodded in agreement. Smiling Tom said, "We won't let you down Exodus. No doubt about that!"
"Get the guys McGee! We're suiting up," Ever commanded as he began to prepare himself mentally for battle.
PortugalMutant Forger looked down from the top of the hill and saw Magus raging across the Portugal countryside. The time for battle drew near and the Exiles were ready for it. Thought first they were going to soften up Magus a bit. Just to make the main event quicker.
"You ready to hit this Forger?" Ever asked. His voice was pumped up and full of energy. It was an energy Forger rarely heard from the Morlock. Perhaps the seriousness of this battle was getting to the young telepath.
"Always. Tell everyone to stay while my mutants hold off Magus for a bit," Mutant Forger said as three very similar women appeared in front of him. The only difference between the sultry women was their hair color. One was blond, another brunette, and the last had violet hair.
"Whoo wee! Them are some fine women! Of course no more so than the honeys that be in Panama City," Alex exclaimed.
"Honestly Toxic we have no time to sit here and talk about women. We are doing serious business here Alex. That leaves no time for jokes. Shape up now before we get into it with Magus," Proteus demanded. Alex huffed to himself, but he knew what Proteus was saying was true.
Fontanelle walked up behind the two men and said, "I guess we'll see just how effective Mutant Forger's ladies are against Magus. When they do fall though Torrent, Chemistra, and Harmony are going to hit Magus first. Then you two will move in as the second wave. Everyone else will follow in afterward."
"Understood Gloria. Though hopefully the first wave will be enough. The combined powers and skills of the three make them a tough trio. Besides from what I've researched Magus is way out of his league trying to take us on," Proteus said.
Gloria shook her head, "Don't underestimate him Osman. There's no telling what kind of enhancements Onset might have given him."
"Which is exactly why we're here," Ricki Tan, accompanied by Nawon and F12, said.
"I can't believe these asses are here. So how bad should we beat them down?" Ever asked as he stepped up behind Fontanellle.
"Don't jump to conclusions little Morlock. The same person who kidnapped your Gaia has taken hold of the master," Ricki said.
"So that's why Sinister hasn't been stirring up junk like usual," Ever said to himself in a hushed tone.
"Look if you guys are here to help then sit back and watch till I tell you we need you," Fontanelle said sternly.
Mutant Forger's women jumped off the side of the cliff and all three of their heels rammed into the side of Magus. The techno organic being flew into and knocked down three trees. The blond hair woman flew up to Magus's face and began to pummel him with punches. Electricity flew out from the hands of the mutant woman with the violet hair. The woman with the brunette hair was turning the carbon that made the organic part of Magus into coal.
"You foolish women believe you can defeat me! Prepare to die," Magus laughed.
Three spikes launched out from the body of Magus and stabbed all three women in their abdomens. The spikes then expanded their size three fold and ripped the women in half. Mutant Forger looked on from above without the least bit of emotion. He had seen many of his creations destroyed during his lifetime and this time was no different. Perhaps if it would have been long ago he would have cared, but he had long grown cold to it.
With a wave of his finger Torrent, Chemistra, and Harmony leaped over the cliff and landed on the ground with a grace that only came with intense training. Before Magus had even time to react Torrent shot down hundreds of lightning bolts on the fiend. While his circuits were being fried Harmony was unleashing harmonic tones that would keep Magus docile so his two friends could take down this bozo without too much trouble.
Chemistra was using her power to concentrate on the coal that was now protruding from Magus's body. With her ability to control the chemical elements Chemistra transmuted the coal into sulfuric acid, which did not go over well with Magus. A loud scream went out from the mouth of the alien king. It resonated throughout the countryside.
"It's time for phase two Megan," Torrent said as he continued to blast Magus with lightning bolt after lightning bolt. Chemistra nodded her head and suddenly in front of Exner appeared five steel spears. Torrent then threw all five spears at such high velocities that they all stuck Magus like a pig. Yet, the Twisted King still couldn't do a thing since he was being held in a stupor by Harmony.
"TOO much pain," Magus said his every neuron and circuit on fire.
Suddenly a wave of pink energy flew out from Magus's body and all three Exiles students were lifted up into the air unable to move. Then their body was flooded with pure pain. An eerily scary simultaneous scream came from the three mutants. All of the Exiles watched from on top of the cliff with horror. It had seemed like victory was so close at hand.
"Hit him! Now!" Fontanelle yelled as everybody began to leap over the cliff and towards Magus.
Mutant Forger used all his telekinesis in him to rip apart Magus's body. He ripped it into about twelve large pieces, but all the pieces turned into a smaller Magus. Forger seeing this smashed all of them together with as much power he could muster. Suddenly a stream of orange energy wrapped itself around the mashed mass that was Magus. The blast had come from the being F12. He had a smile plastered on his pale white face and his long red hair swung into the wind.
"He's Apocalypse's and Jean's grandson," Ricki whispered to Ever.
"Sinister is one sick bastard," Ever grunted as he used his telepathy to enter the mind of Magus to find out where Gaia was. He had to crash through numerous mental defenses that came in the form of various monsters. The constant training Ever had done paid off though and broke through most of the defenses relatively easy.
"I know where Gaia-AHHH!" Ever yelled as he fell to the ground writhing in pain. Onset had tricked him with one of the defenses. Once he defeated the monster it entered his mind and began to wreak havoc. The Morlock was now experiencing the effects of that.
"Damn! Could things get any worse?" Fontanelle exclaimed as he pulled out two handguns from a belt. She let off each gun's entire clip into Magus. The bullets were lined with a very concentrated form of acid that would break down the organic portion of Magus.
"Be careful what you ask! I think we're going to have to unleash a powerful amount of energy to beat this guy. Only by combining our powers might we have a chance to defeat Magus," Ricki Tan suggested. Gloria could find no flaw in his logic so she dropped the two empty guns she had in her hands and pulled out two more new ones.
"Forger I want you to direct your telekinesis into one big blast on my mark!"
"Don't even think about it my dear," Magus exclaimed as tentacles launched out from all over his body and wrapped around Forger, F12, Ever, and Ricki Tan. The alien was just about to let out a massive psi blast that would kill all of them, but he was cut short by a powerful and abrupt mind intrusion.
Exodus flew through the air propelled by his telekinesis and with a smile he said, "I'm not too fond of F12 and Ricki Tan, but Forger and Ever are off-limits! You'll find out that soon enough!"
With his powers Bennet ripped apart Magus into a hundred little pieces and flung them into a hundred different directions over a large enough radius to make it so that Magus would have a hard time pulling himself together.
"Your head must be made of brick," Ever said as he shook his head still recovering from the psi attack he had suffered only a short while ago.
"Probably, but I thought of something as I paced across the base. Just the fact that Fontanelle told me was I was going to die changed the future. I hesitated at first seeing you were winning the fight, but once things started turning bad I had to come here," Exodus explained.
"You're the one we need to talk to," F12 said as he rose up from the ground. His black leather suit was torn. His pasty white skin contrasted strangely with the outfit he was raising. Bennet saw some of Apocalypse in this creation of Sinister's. He had the same lips, but he had Domino's cheekbones and nose. Thinking of Domino saddened Exodus some, but he knew the past would always be there and he couldn't turn from it.
"Sinister and Cortez were kidnapped by Onset just like Gaia and Davis. I know because I already read it out of Nawon's mind. His mental defenses were the easiest to get through out of the three of you."
Nawon Tan stepped forward not even fazed by Exodus's intrusion into his mind, "Then what do we do Exodus. Onset is obviously out of our league here. She batted away Sinister as if he was nothing."
Exodus took a deep breath and said; "I knew something was wrong with Sinister when I came to him with Gaia. If I had my guess I would say that Onset had been screwing with Sinister's mind for some time now. She was probably trying to figure out all his secrets before she sprang."
"Makes sense, but still what do we do?" Ricki asked. He had hoped that Exodus would be able to help them. From what Sinister told them Exodus had ripped them of all their memories and that's why they were now in the servitude of Sinister.
"We do the one thing we can do. We fight!" du Paris exclaimed.
"Yata mo chong la nagat sunn ti meed naw. S'kin delo non-ka loyola. Give me Mastermind! Give me Mastermind!"
Just as was done with Legion a prison bubble hovered above the kettle pot. The first Mastermind flew out of the pot and went straight into his maroon prison bubble.
"Welcome home Lord of Deception! I edge ever closer to my goal. Though Magus may have failed to destroy the Exiles he will bring the one I want to me. Soon all will be place!"
