Pawns of the Kingpin
"Get in the chopper, you said," Mystique folded her arms as she sat on a bunk bed in the corner of the cell. "I've made arrangements, you said. It'll be easy, you said! WHEN THE HELL AM I GOING TO LEARN NOT TO LISTEN TO YOU?"
"Well how the hell was I supposed to know that someone else besides the Red Ninjas wanted to capture us!" Zartan shouted.
"Hello! I'm one of the world's most notorious mutant terrorists!" Mystique whirled around and snapped at him. "Who wouldn't be after me?"
"Actually I needed to acquire the both of you," The Kingpin walked up to the cell door. It was a clear cell with a mutant power dampening equipment as well as a force field for a door.
"I know you," Zartan narrowed his eyes. "You're Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin. Cobra's got a dossier on you a mile long."
"And I have an entire wing of my personal files devoted to Cobra," Kingpin told him. "I must admit, the two of you have done some very impressive work over the years."
"So why do you want us?" Mystique asked.
"I thought it was pretty obvious my dear," Kingpin spoke. "I am going to use the two of you to acquire the services of the Red Ninjas once and for all. Once they are under my employ it will prove to the Hellfire Club that I am worthy of becoming a member."
"That's what this is all about?" Zartan scoffed. "So you can be part of some fancy high society club full of dorks?"
"That fancy high society club of dorks is filled with some of the most powerful mutants on earth," Mystique told him.
"It's a shame I have to sacrifice someone so intelligent and talented," Kingpin sighed as he looked at Mystique. "But sacrifices must be made."
"Wonderful," Mystique rolled her eyes. "He's going to use us as membership dues."
"I'd make yourself comfortable if I were you," Kingpin told them as he walked away. "You're not leaving for quite a while."
"Well isn't this just great!" Mystique threw up her arms. "Once again you screw up my life! Thanks a lot Darling!"
"Calm down," Zartan told her. "I've been out of a lot worse spots than this and I wager so have you. We just need to put our heads together and think of a plan."
"Yes, and that's worked wonders for us in the past," Mystique grunted.
"Kingpin mentioned the Hellfire Club," Zartan thought. "Aren't we acquainted with the White Queen, Emma Frost?"
"Yes, but something tells me that rescuing us isn't exactly the top of her priorities list," Mystique said. "We're dead!"
"Don't count us out yet," Zartan told her. "Remember my family and the Dreadnoks are out there."
"That's what I'm worried about," Mystique groaned.
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"Who would do this?" Kurt wondered aloud. He was back at the Institute. The Misfits and X-Men were in the control room of the mansion. "Why would they kidnap my mother?"
"You got a couple of hours?" Todd grumbled under his breath.
"Don't worry Kurt," Rogue took his hand with her gloved one. "We'll find her. Any luck on Cerebro, Professor?"
"None, I'm afraid," Xavier shook his head. "It's possible that whoever abducted them has sensors that are capable of blocking Cerebro. Or they simply haven't used their powers yet."
"Or are unable to," Shipwreck frowned.
"Well I got some good news. We know who kidnapped Zartan and Mystique," Hawk walked in. "You'll never believe it."
"Who is it? The Kingpin?" Fred asked.
"Okay maybe you will believe it," Hawk sighed.
"Seriously?" Kurt gasped. "But why? What does he want with them?"
"According to my sources the Kingpin's been trying to acquire the services of the Red Ninjas ever since they broke off from Cobra for years," Hawk told him. "And since the Red Ninjas have a thing about killing off Zartan and all his male relatives…"
"No…" Kurt shrunk back in his seat.
"Kingpin's gonna hand them over to the Red Ninjas isn't he?" Rogue asked.
"Well he certainly didn't take 'em so they could play a game of Monopoly," Logan growled.
"It gets worse," Hawk said. "Rumor has it the Pride has also been courting the Red Ninjas for an alliance."
"The Pride and the Kingpin are waging a war against each other," Scott put his hand to his head. "This is bad."
"And you know the Pride isn't gonna just sit back and let the Kingpin grab any more power," Lance folded his arms.
"That's three groups of people that wanna kill Mystique besides us," Todd looked at Kurt. "Boy Fuzzy, your mom sure knows how to make friends."
"They're going to kill them aren't they?" Kurt asked, his eyes widened.
"Most likely yes, if they're not already dead," Hawk said honestly. "But don't give up hope. We were able to call in some connections. If they're alive, we'll find them."
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"Are you sure that's what happened?" One of the Members of the Pride asked. Their 12 faces were hidden in shadows on the screen of the computer.
"Positive," The Red Ninja nodded. "One of your own has betrayed you to the Kingpin. The Kingpin hopes that if he hands over Zartan and his mate to us, we will follow him. That is why he told us where they were and why he took them."
"So why don't you?" Another member of the Pryde asked. "I thought that was what you wanted most of all?"
"This is about honor," The Red Ninja told them. "We are not mercenaries that sell our services to the highest bidder. That would make us no better than Zartan and his ilk. We made our pact with you, and despite this…setback of yours we still intend to honor it."
"True it wasn't our fault Gelder betrayed us," Another member of the Pride grumbled. "I always thought he was an opportunistic parasite."
"We know of the Pride's reputation for honoring its promises," The Red Ninja spoke. "And of your pact with the Gibborim."
"How could you know of that?" One of the Pride shouted.
"They're ninjas Hayes," Another Pride member spoke. "Of course they'd know about something like that. Let me guess, you want to be saved along with us instead of being destroyed with the rest of the planet?"
"It is the more logical is it not?" The Red Ninja asked. "This way we will preserve our traditions and our skills through eternity."
"Fine, then we'll send you some back up," The Lead Pride said. "Unfortunately we are in the middle of some…delicate operations here. Tell Kingpin you want them alive until you meet them. Try to stall him until tomorrow night."
"It is a full moon," The Red Ninja grinned inwardly. "A perfect pretext."
"Pull some Ninja hocus pocus huh?" Another Pride nodded. "Fine, contact us when you set up the meeting. We'll send someone there. The Pride out." He shut off the communicator. The twelve people, six men and six women looked at each other.
"We so do not have time for this!" Hayes snarled. "As if we didn't have enough to worry about with the Rite of Thunder coming up! Our own children are running wild trying to take us down!"
The leader of the Pride, Geoffrey Wilder sighed. He rubbed his dark hand over his bald head. "It is quite the inconvenience isn't it? We've spent nearly twenty five years preparing for the end of the world and in less than twenty five days it all could be for nothing."
"And the real kick in the pants is that we did it all for our ungrateful brats who turned against us," Gene Hayes grunted.
"They're children Gene," Catherine Wilder glared at him. "They had no idea what the Rite of Blood was for. To be honest if I didn't know the importance of what they saw I would have probably done the same thing."
Geoffrey thought a moment. In the beginning none of them would think it was possible that they would be able to reshape the world. One minute he and his new wife were escaping the police after their first bank robbery together, the next they were transported to a secret chamber with several other unusual couples.
Geoffrey and Catherine Wilder, the thieves.
Dale and Stacy Yorkes, the time travelers.
Gene and Alice Hayes, the mutants.
Victor and Janet Stein, the scientists.
Robert and Tina Minoru, the magicians.
Frank and Leslie Dean…The actors…As well as aliens from another planet.
But that was another story.
They had been given powers and skills beyond belief by an ancient race of giants called the Gibborim. In return once a year they would sacrifice a young girl's soul for twenty-five years. At the end of the twenty-five years on the final Rite of Thunder, the Gibborim would be able to reclaim dominion of the world and destroy humanity with the exception of six of the Pride. As their children were born and grew it was decided among them that their children would inherit their places and rule the planet in their stead.
However at the last Rite of Blood something went terribly wrong.
It had been decided that the children would grow up knowing nothing about their future until they were ready. However somehow they made their way to the secret passage hidden inside the Wilder's house and saw the ritual sacrifice.
The next thing they knew the children fled and had not only managed to discover their own supernatural powers or gifts, but they had taken some rather powerful weapons as well as a very well trained dinosaur with sharp pointed teeth.
To say the parents wanted to get their children back under their control was the understatement of the year.
"What I'm impressed with is the Red Ninjas," Dale Yorkes folded his arms. "They could have just gone with the Kingpin but they chose to ally themselves with us."
"To save their own bloody skins is more like it," His wife Stacy grumbled.
"Too bad they don't know that the pact only applies to six of us," Victor Stein spoke. "Or ironically our children."
"I see no need to inform them of that," Robert Minoru folded his arms.
"As do I. Gene you and Leslie will go to New York and take care of this," Geoffrey said. "The rest of us will track down our errant children."
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Meanwhile in an alley slum in New York City…
"You've been a busy boy Gelder…" A tall man clad in a black outfit with a skull on his chest growled as he pointed a very large gun at Gelder's head. "Switched allegiances with the Pride to the Kingpin. Which makes me wonder what exactly he's up to."
"I ain't telling you nothing…" Gelder squealed.
"Uh, uh…" The man grabbed his throat. "As my old English teacher used to say, never use a double negative. Gelder, you know who I am. I'm the Punisher. My job is to protect the innocent from toxic scum like you by blowingyou guysaway into tiny little pieces. So unless you can give me the location of some bigger scum…" He started to squeeze his neck. He stopped and cocked his ear. "Or maybe your friend can tell me where he is."
"Actually I'm not with him," Bill spoke as he slid out of the shadows. "But I have a few questions to ask him myself if you don't mind."
"You're a popular man Gelder," The Punisher growled. He looked at Bill. "Now what is he to you?"
"The same thing he is to you, a low life to get information from," Bill growled back as he unsheathed his sword. "I need to know something about the Kingpin."
"Who doesn't?" Gelder moaned.
"He's holding two people hostage," Bill said. "They're not exactly innocent, but their unborn baby is. I've been asked by a friend to track them down and save the kid."
"I see…" The Punisher frowned. He glared at Gelder. "Well?" He cocked the gun.
"He…He's going to use them to get both the Red Ninjas and the Hellfire Club in his pocket," Gelder whimpered.
"Who the hell are the Red Ninjas?" Punisher asked.
"Friends of mine, we bump into each other when I don't go bowling," Bill retorted. "So where are Zartan and Mystique?"
"With…With the Kingpin…" Gelder gulped.
"I kind of figured that but where is the Kingpin?" Bill asked.
"I…I don't know where they are now!" Gelder whimpered.
"Now? That implies you do know where they were, or will be," The Punisher cocked his weapon again. "Which is it?"
Bill drew his sword and pointed it at Gelder's throat. "Okay you can either be shot or chopped into pieces and then shot or…"
"The Fyskov Financial Center!" Gelder shouted. "He…He's meeting with the Red Ninjas there at 11 PM! Top floor!"
"See, that wasn't so difficult now was it?" Bill pulled his sword away from Gelder's throat.
"And now that you've told me what I wanted to know," The Punisher said. "You can die in one piece."
"I can't allow that," Another voice said. They both looked up. A man clad in a red devil costume stood above them on top of the building.
"Oh great another one…" The Punisher grumbled. "What is it about nights in New York that seem to bring out all the nuts?"
"Says the man with the skull on his chest," Bill pointed out. "Okay so we don't kill him. I've gotten what I wanted. Who cares?"
"The man is scum. He dies," The Punisher said as he pointed his weapon at Gelder.
"Nobody dies on my watch," The man in the devil costume growled as he slung his baton at a seemingly superhuman speed, knocking it out of his hand. The Punisher managed to grab another gun and start shooting. As the devil man dodged it, Gelder saw his chance to escape. Unfortunately, Bill was ready for him.
"Sorry Charlie," Bill threw a small device which changed into a net, capturing Gelder. "I think you should stick around for a while. At least until the cops get here."
"Fat chance of that happening in this neighborhood," The Punisher snarled as he kept shooting at the man in the devil suit.
"I've heard about you Punisher," Bill said. "As much as I admire your attitude of let's blow up every crook in sight and let God sort it out, I kind of have to draw the line at blowing up any nut in a costume. Some of my best friends are nuts in costumes."
Before the Punisher knew what hit him, Bill sliced his gun in half. "I'm a ninja pal," Bill grinned. "Guns don't scare me."
"I don't have time for this," The Punisher grunted and fled into the night. "I have the Kingpin to deal with."
"And people think I'm obsessed," Bill grunted. "Don't bother using that baton on me, Horn Head. I have no intention of fighting you."
"I can't just let a vigilante like you go free," The man said.
"Oh and I take it what you're wearing is the latest fashion for police detectives?" Bill said sarcastically. "I've heard about you too. Daredevil right?"
"Yes, I didn't catch your name," Daredevil folded his arms.
"Didn't throw it," Bill said. "But it's Bill."
"Bill?" Daredevil asked. "A ninja named Bill?"
"Sorry it's not as catchy as yours or the Punisher but it works for me," Bill told him. "Look I want the Kingpin's hostages. You want the Kingpin. So why don't we work together and take 'em down? Unless you have a tea dance you wanna go to?"
"I work alone," Daredevil said. "However…I can't stop you if you really want to tag along."
"I thought you'd never ask," Bill grinned.
In case you haven't figured it out, I've become a big Runaways fan. You'll see more of them later! Billy's back and he's got some friends to play with. Oh boy. This is gonna be wild!