"You've gone stark mad!" Nekra yelled at the floating Mistress Strange as archaic power raged around her body in maddening directions.
"If this is madness give me more of it!" Mistress Strange cried out as the power she had absorbed from the killers of her master flooded her senses.
It had only been three days since Ororo had begun her quest and hunted down all those responsible for the death of her mentor, Doctor Strange, on the Astral Plane. Munroe ultimately knew the dark warlock, Xavier, was behind the killing. At the time her power levels would have made vengeance against him futile. So to appease her black emotions she hunted down those he had enlisted to slay her trainer from childhood.
First she found Jennifer Kale in Cypress Hills Cemetery and turned her organs into pure mush while absorbing her magical abilities. Then Clea and Mordo sought refuge with the X-Men. The fools actually had the audacity to try and protect them! Their efforts were foolish and ultimately she destroyed them as well. Agatha Harkness tried to fight back against Mistress Strange, but the old woman barely stood a chance. Taking her powers proved to be the most helpful in taking down the Himalayan wizard, Calizuma. Xavier's five henchmen provided Mistress Strange with the power she needed to officially be the Sorcerer Supreme.
"She can't be reasoned with! Don't even try," Multiple Man, leader of the Defenders, snapped. Mistress Strange was never one of his favorite people, but killing Baron Mordo had turned that dislike into hate. Jamie refused to believe his adopted father had anything to do with the death of Doctor Strange. The two of them had been the closest of friends. Ororo was simply using a tragedy to try and grab herself power.
"You are blind! I will make you SEE!" Mistress Strange screamed as Madrox was lifted up into the air and flipped upside down. An unearthly cry came forth from Jamie's mouth as hundreds of tiny men flew forth from his forehead. Each of the men were stripped of their flesh and flung into the portal forming in Ororo's abdomen.
"Stop Ororo! Stop!" Nekra begged as she could only imagine what tortures the Sorcerer Supreme was inflicting on her brother-in-law.
"Wake up Strange! Wake up," Bluestreak prodded as Ororo suddenly shot up from bed.
Sweat dripping down her face Mistress Strange asked, "What time is it?"
"Pretty damn early. Something has happened in Moscow though. Something real bad from the way Clarice was looking. Are you okay?"
Ororo nodded, "I'm fine. Just a bad nightmare."
Bluestreak looked tenderly at the obviously shaken woman, "Nothing you want to talk about?"
Sighing the powerful magic user wiped the sweat off her face, "There is a reason I've always chastised you so child. In you I see the hero I always hoped to be, but now never can."
Bluestreak laughed, "Trust me. If anybody is getting back to their home I'm sure it's you."
"That's not it child. That's not it at all. Once I did something awful and I let myself lose all control. My master was slain and I let my grief turn me down a dark path. I hunted down and killed his killers, but I also stole their power. That only served to corrupt me further. So much further," Mistress Strange said hanging her head low letting her white hair fall over her face.
"Is that what you were dreaming about?" Bluestreak asked.
"I became over indulged in my power and began to endanger the world. The Defenders came after me to take me down. They failed miserably. Madrox I stripped of his very being. Nekra drowned in her own blood. Superia and Darkstar I crucified. The others…"
Bluestreak wasn't quite sure what to say. She didn't know why Mistress Strange had suddenly decided to open up to her of all people. Maybe she was just tired as hell, but either way the young woman now understood why Strange always carried such an arrogant air. It kept her from having to actually feel.
"That was the past. You've proven yourself a hero a dozen times over."
"Leave," Mistress Strange mumbled.
"Huh?" Bluestreak asked a little bit thrown off by the sudden change of attitudes.
"I said LEAVE!" Mistress Strange yelled as she lifted up a hand and flung Bluestreak out of the door.
Landing flat on her behind the daughter of Quicksilver groaned, "Feel free to send me home anytime now Timebroker. Anytime now."
Moscow (Hours Earlier)Wolverine rushed forward and leaped off a fire hydrant into the air towards Archangel. He hated the little snot nose punk since the day the kid had tried to hit Firefly over the head with a mace. The attempted attack had been a cheap one and if not for Firefly being such a sharp flier it might have worked. Logan wanted to make sure he gutted the kid while looking him in the eye. Marauders had a reputation to keep after all.
Warren dodged Logan's claws and flew around him to grab the short man by the ankle. Spinning Logan in a circle he flung the Marauder towards the concrete road of Moscow. Hitting the ground like a sack of potatoes, Wolverine thanked Sinister for lacing his skeletal system with the indestructible metal, adamantium. Rising to his feet Logan growled wildly and leaped up towards Angel again.
Worthington side stepped Logan's right hand, but spinning his body around the left hand cut right across Angel's abdomen spilling entrails throughout the sky. Before Logan could even hit the ground he was under assault from dozens of bio-blasts from another member of the JLA.
Wasp watched as Wolverine ripped into Angel like a lion into its prey. Janet had every intention of putting Wolverine down for good. No matter whether he was a Marauder or not. All she had to do was keep up her constant barrage and she would weaken Logan down in no time at all. Making the mistake of underestimating the feral man would not be one she would make. Too many people had fallen like that. Wisdom, Drew, and Bridge just to name a few.
Working back the pain Wolverine leaped through the hail of bio-blasts and grabbed Van Dyne by the neck. He could smell the warm urine trickle down her black slacks, "Babe. That's just not cute!"
SNIKT!
Emma Frost was not liked among the forces of Sinister. Back when Sinister first began his conquests he had sent one of his squads, the Exterminators, to bring her into his fold. Chakra the Healer. Leland the Heavy. Lady Shiva the Deadly. Carrion the Wicked. Box the Strong. They had all been well known for their methods of persuasion. Upon trying to snatch her up Emma lashed out with her powers and killed them all. She wasn't going to be so lucky against this particular Marauder.
The Hulk was a beast among beast. No human army had been able to stand up to him so far and only a large collection of super beings was able to do the deed. Frost hated the fact she had to try and put him down before he did any major damage. The would be aristocrat was pouring out all of her telepathic energy into ripping apart the mind of the behemoth. It was no use. Too many personalities floated around in that monster's head. There was nowhere to start attacking.
"Hulk not like snoopers!" the green skinned brute yelled as he wrapped his hand around Emma's head and crushed it like a can.
Black Panther had been paying witness to this and landed on Hulk's back filled with rage. He quickly thrust two vibranium darts into Hulk's neck that was filled with enough sedatives to take down a herd of elephant. Hulk began to stagger but he ripped Emma's arms from her sockets and quickly swung around flinging Black Panther into the air. The Marauder used Emma's arms as boomerangs that both collided with Panther's head snapping his neck instantly. The leader of the JLA thumped to the ground dead.
"Bastard!" Hippolyta screamed as she flew through the air and slammed her fist into Hulk's chin.
"What she said," She-Hulk added as she ran forward and hit the weakened Hulk in his gut.
"HULK SMASH!" the reinvigorated Marauder screamed as he batted both women away like toys.
"What the hell ever made me want to wear heels with my uniform?" Hippolyta groaned.
"At least you're not like the Shadowcat of my world. That skank has the nerve to wear a thong in a fight. Intangible or not that's just tacky," She-Hulk replied. Both women managed to stifle a laugh before they charged into battle against the Hulk again.
Ka-Zar was once Kevin Plunder. His father had been wealthy and worked hard trying to find an ancient place he believed held dinosaurs. He spent his entire life trying to find the place, but it wasn't until Sinister showed him the way that the gate of the Savage Land was opened. The price for this discovery was the offering of a son. Kevin became a personal experiment of Sinister. His body, reflexes, and mind were enhanced and honed so that he became a deadly warrior. Eventually he was made a member of Red Skull's then unnamed team. As time went on the warriors garnered a reputation for themselves. Especially among children who called them The Big Bad Bunch in whispered stories. So The Big Bad Bunch became the official name of the team. It had been Nitro who suggested it before he was put down by Maul of the Avengers.
Now Ka-Zar stood side by side with Catwoman against a member of Weapon X. Vargas knew he would enjoy this fight if for no other reason he would be able to kill Plunder. On his world that man had soiled Vargas' reputation to no end.
"Two to one. I am quite liking those odds," Ka-Zar smiled as he pulled back his bow and unleashed arrow after arrow at Vargas. The black clad warrior cut and beat back the arrows with childlike ease. The only word to describe Vargas' actions was effortless.
"That doesn't look like its working that much," Selina Kyle laughed as she wrapped her whip around Vargas' wrist and pulled him to the ground finally allowing one of Ka-Zar's arrows to strike him in the shoulder.
If Vargas were in pain you wouldn't have been able to tell. He quickly turned Catwoman's weapon against her and with his own strength flung her into Ka-Zar. Their bodies smashed into each other and that's when Vargas made his move. Throwing his broad sword through the air the weapon cut through both members of the Big Bad Bunch killing them instantly.
Fantomex leaped out of the way of Elektra's Sais and Red Skull's bullets. The mutant assassin returned the gunfire and could only hope one of his bullets would be able to pierce the two's hides. He had already tried punching them out and it was like hitting a diamond. Obviously, Sinister had done some enhancing on these two on this world. Usually feeling like he could win any situation the Mexican man for once felt hopeless. The only other time he came close to feeling that way was on one Weapon X mission where they were fighting against hundred of Colossus clones. At least those guys had been mindless.
"You can feel free to die anytime now," Elektra said as she created two more Sais in her hands out of thin air.
"I tend to be the one doing the killing," Fantomex replied as he front flipped forward and kicked spiked boots in the middle of Red Skull's chest. Having implanted his feet in the Nazi's chest the white clad warrior flipped backward and sent the Skull careening into the air.
"Wrong move clown!" Elektra exclaimed as she charged at Fantomex and tried to stab him in the torso with her trademark weapons.
"When I look at my suit I tend to think badass before I think clown," Fantomex replied as he dodged her attack and hit her with a flat palm in the solar plexus.
The "clown" would never admit, but he was getting tired as hell. He had been going at it with these two for some time. He had been holding out hoping that help would come his way, but the way it was currently looking he was without aid. That gave him one of two options. Run like a coward or die like a fool. Fantomex smiled at the options. His Mom never thought he was the smartest kid of the bunch.
The two scantily clad ladies enjoyed the prospect of having to take on three men. Of course they wished it would be in a different manner, but that wasn't for them to decide.
Cannonball zoomed through the sky towards Fantasma extending his blast field more and more as he made his way to the ground. The purple haired Russian smiled as she held up her hands and went to work. Samuel was suddenly stripped for all his senses as he made his charge toward the woman. His eyes, ears, taste, and touch was all made nonexistent as he went into freefall.
Pleasure was written all over Fantasma's face as she watched Cannonball go into freefall like an out of control rocket. She didn't know who this man was and why his powers were so similar to the fallen Guthrie siblings, but she was enjoying every minute of his suffering. Like so many others she could imagine what he was going through. The disorientation, the loss of vision, and all the other uncommon sensations that were part of Fantasma's specialty. So many had fallen to the Big Bad Bunch simply because of Fantasma and her sense draining capabilities.
She was so busy in enjoying the pain she was causing others that she didn't see Darkness sneak up behind her and wrap his metallic hands around her face. With a voice that could give life to the music of Beethoven, Darkness said, "You have false magic woman. I feel it all around. Let me show you true mysticism."
Fantasma felt a cold, wet feeling rip through her innards and her eyes saw only a bright white light. Slowly black holes appeared in this white landscape and from these holes crawled forth beautiful women with the lower bodies of worms. It was a terrible sight and when these creatures their faces distorted worse than any Picasso painting. The more she watched these women scream the more of herself she felt was lost.
And this continued until the Russian woman had nothing left of her soul. Gently he descended her body to the ground and took her essence into his ancient weapon. He could feel her traveling through his body and it enriched his armor. Looking up in the sky he still saw that Cannonball was still in freefall and making his way towards a battling Marcus Pezzini and Circe.
The power of the Witchblade had extended a protective armor around Marcus and was moving forth to try and impale Circe. The witch was blasting back the crusty brown substance as much as she could, but she was being back into a corner. Moscow was a tightly built city and she didn't have much room to run before Marcus finished her off.
"You have no place to run. Surrender," Marcus commanded.
"Honestly, do you expect me to give up when I'm being attacked by runny mold? Please," Circe laughed as she made acid waves erupt from her body and burn back the material that the Witchblade had erected against her.
Much like her companion she had been paying no attention to her surrounding and never saw the kamikaze body of Cannonball coming her way. He struck her with such force that the small meat shop she had been standing in front of collapsed.
"Guess I didn't have to do much," Marcus smiled as the Witchblade returned to its original state.
Hulk wrapped his hands around the heads of Hippolyta and She-Hulk. The Marauder's palms were so large the two women were completely engulfed. Slamming his hands together the two women were rattled severely and upon releasing them his victims fell to the ground unconscious. Just as he was about to put in the finishing blows he felt two pinpricks on his back.
Turning around he saw the iron knight swooping down to attack him, but it didn't concern him in the slightest. Iron Man was worthless in the Marauder's mind and he wouldn't hesitate to finish him off permanently. In fact, he had been looking forward to it.
Iron Man unleashed two more bright orange blasts into the chest of the on looking Hulk. It was a pitiful attempt for the most part and Justin Hammer knew it. That wasn't going to stop him though. He was too determined to keep Moscow from being a burning fire pit.
Using the AI that was connected to his brain he changed the density of his armor and slammed into the green mammoth head on. It didn't affect the Hulk in the slightest and he wrapped his hand around Iron Man's head. With a tight squeeze he popped Iron Man's head. Unclenching his hand, blood and metal fell to the ground below.
Vargas could only watch in horror as his allies were quickly dwindling in number and strength. This battle was going completely wrong and Vargas had severely underestimated the power of his allies.
"You should have run when you had the chance!" Wolverine exclaimed as he landed behind Vargas and stuck his claws through the back of Weapon X's leader's head.
"Bastard!" Fantomex screamed as leaped through the air and wrapped his legs around Wolverine's neck. With incredible grace he lifted the Marauder into the air and flung him into a burnt out taxicab. Fantomex had never been in a battle this intense. On his world there had been an underground war between various government agencies. Fantomex had been a crucial part of that, but his hardest fight had been against Bullseye and Bullet Biker. Nothing even came close to the death he was seeing here.
Before he could speak anymore a hand was wrapped around his mouth. It was the hand of Electro and as the sparks began to rip through his opponent's body Max whispered, "I'm probably going to get a promotion for killing you."
"It should not have taken the aid of Mr. Freeze to take down your opponents. I'm very disappointed my son," Sinister chastised as he sat on his throne lethargically. Before him was Factor X. They were his team of brute power. When faced with a threat they were simply meant to overwhelm it. Instead they had needed the help of one of his elite to end a recent battle.
"I'm sorry Father. We had allowed ourselves to be caught unaware. Our arrogance proved our undoing," Superman apologized as he stepped forward and bowed before his father.
"You are all worthy warriors. I understand this. Just remember that growing too confident can allow an unexpected opponent to destroy you. I have seen it happen too many times. Remember what happened to Birdy in Tunisia?" Sinister asked bringing back the memories of one of his empire's greatest defeats.
Birdy had been a mutant in who he saw great promise, but she was far too arrogant and proud. Once Sinister enhanced her, those traits only grew in strength. He gave her an outpost in Tunisia to hopefully calm her and teach her the ways of war, but she only grew more arrogant. A force led by two human generals, Cameron Dalin and John Stewart utterly ruined Birdy's forces and captured her. She was paraded around as some kind of trophy for weeks before finally being killed. It had been an embarrassment for all of his empire and a strong lesson in humility.
"My Father once again we are greatly sorry for any offense that we have committed against you. I am too low to even beg for your forgiveness," Superman said pathetically as possible.
"Oh my child do not fret! A Father's anger quickly subsides. All is forgiven. I know you to be strong so go forth Factor X," Sinister replied as he rose from his throne and gave his "son" a hug.
Such a display of love for was uncommon for any of the troops to see from the High Lord. Most often the emotions he displayed ranged from annoyance to downright murderous rage. To see love from Sinister softened everyone in the room giving Prime enough courage to ask a question, "My lord where are the ones that Mr. Freeze captured?"
Sinister's grin turned devilish, "They're in the care of Joker. He will see to it that information is delivered to me. Whether it be through his knives, acids, or laughing gases I will get the information I seek. Now go all of you! I have much to ponder."
Knockout stifled an agonized scream as Joker eagerly began to push his hand through the slit in her abdomen.
Laughing manically the Marauder kissed Knockout on the cheek like a father would a daughter as he sent her off to school, "Don't try and squirm too much darling! I wouldn't want to break anything."
Insane laughter roared throughout the circular chamber.