Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here
"Wow," The Kingpin's four-armed henchman Steve whistled. "What a swanky place." He looked at the golden and crystal chandeliers, gold lined walls and huge buffet in the room.
It took all of the Kingpin's self control not to roll his eyes. "The Hellfire Club is one of the most wealthy organizations in the world, Steve. They make Donald Trump and Bill Gates look like paupers. Did you expect any less?"
"Well it didn't look this good on the outside," Steve told him.
"That's why it's called a secret organization," Sebastian Shaw told him.
"Oh," Steve said. "Can I hit the buffet?"
"Yes Steve," Kingpin sighed. "I'll join you in a moment." Steve went to the spread happy and was quickly filling each of his four hands with plates loaded with food.
Sebastian Shaw looked at him. "Let me guess, you brought him because he's a mutant in order to impress us?"
"Half right," Kingpin told him. "He was also the only one of my henchmen with more than one brain cell. I must say I am surprised you invited me to join the Hellfire Club after the fiasco with Zartan and Mystique. Which by the way was not my fault!"
"Isn't that what your lawyers said?" Shaw smirked.
"I could have handled the Misfits and the X-Men easily," Kingpin told him. "Even when Spiderman and Daredevil showed up it would not have been so catastrophic. But the Punisher and Cobra…"
"Don't get me started on Cobra!" Shaw told him. "I'm convinced they're a jinx! Believe me, I know full well that when Cobra is thrown into the mix anything can happen."
"So why did you invite me into your society?" Kingpin asked.
"The Hellfire Club is always forward thinking," Shaw told him. "We need men with vision and organization."
"Despite the fact that I'm human?" Kingpin raised an eyebrow.
"Let's just say Pierce doesn't exactly qualify as human and we could always use one or two more," Shaw grinned. "Tonight's ceremony will be the culmination of decades of preparation. You will be one of the chosen few to witness the beginning of a new era."
Emma Frost walked in wearing a white business suit. "Shaw, our 'guests' have arrived."
"Ah yes," Shaw nodded. "Kingpin I hope you pardon me for a little while. Some important business I need to attend to. Do help yourself to the buffet."
Like he needs an invitation, Emma scoffed telepathically. They made their way to the lower chambers to a small dungeon like area. Inside a cell Jean, Remy, Roberto and Xi were just waking up. They had restraining collars on and their hands were chained to the walls.
"I tell you Gambit getting real tired of always being knocked out and tied up," Remy grumbled.
"Now where are we?" Roberto groaned.
"Welcome to the Hellfire Club," Shaw grinned. "I hope you have a pleasant stay."
"I doubt it," Roberto glared at them.
"As you can see Shaw I have brought Miss Grey and her associates as you requested," Sinister walked in with Evan and a young woman in a black uniform with long black hair and strange marks around her eyes.
"Are you sure you can't stay for the Ceremony?" Emma asked. "Even though it's supposed to be for members only I'm sure we can bend the rules."
"Sadly no, I have more important places to be," Sinister sighed. "As much as I'd love to witness the dawn of a new era, thanks to the X-Men and Misfits I have much work to do. Some labs to rebuild, notes to rewrite, witnesses to kill off, you understand?"
"The Hellfire Club in bed with Sinister and Project Neverland," Jean glared at Emma. "Why am I not surprised?"
"Frost will get in bed with anyone," Remy mocked.
"I'd watch that errant tongue if I were you boy," Emma Frost glared at him. "Or else someone might cut it off!"
"What do you want with them?" Evan asked.
"We need Miss Grey for the Ceremony of Ascension," Shaw explained. "She is going to be the Host."
"The what?" Xi asked.
"The Host," Shaw explained. "Or the Oracle, whatever you prefer. Just as the Greeks had their Oracle of Delphi to speak for the will of the gods, Miss Grey will provide the voice for the Phoenix Force."
"What do you mean?" Jean felt very afraid.
"You will use your powers to draw power from the M'kann Crystal, a power known as the Phoenix Force. Through you the Phoenix Force will be used and controlled," Shaw explained. "And the Hellfire Club's power will be absolute. In Ancient Egypt the Host was revered and worshiped just as much as the Pharaoh himself."
"It's a great honor my dear," Emma explained.
"An honor I think I'd rather not have," Jean said. "If it's such an honor why don't you do it?"
"Minor law," Emma shrugged. "A member of the Hellfire Club Inner Circle can't be the Host."
"What about your students?" Remy asked.
"Let's just say out of all the candidates you were the most qualified," Shaw said.
"And if I refuse?" Jean asked.
"You won't," Shaw told her. "We'll make sure of that."
"I have a few things to prepare so later on my dear Sage will be responsible for your preparation, Jean," Emma told her. She indicated the stoic young woman. "You two should get along swimmingly. You have so much in common. You were both Xavier's students for starters."
"What?" Jean asked.
"Yes, Sage's real name is Tessa…Something or other," Emma waved. "She was Charles' first student. Before he sent her out into the field to be his little spy she was quite an energetic pupil. But a bit too inexperienced for my power and our other telepaths."
"No…That's…It can't be…" Jean was shocked.
"But it is," Emma said. "Sage has proven to be a quite helpful ally. Once she was properly conditioned."
"Xavier will probably abandon you as he did her," Shaw couldn't resist twisting the knife.
"The Professor would never abandon us!" Jean shouted.
"He told me the same thing," Sage spoke evenly.
A tall man with dark skin, black hair and a moustache and wearing an expensive suit walked in. "You wanted to see me Shaw?" He spoke with a Spanish accent.
"YOU!" Roberto shouted.
"Roberto?" The man gasped. "What is the meaning of this?"
"That's what I'd like to know!" Roberto snapped.
"You know each other?" Evan looked at the two of them.
"He's my father," Roberto glared at him.
"Mr. Emmanuel DaCosta is the Hellfire Club's White Rook," Emma explained. "A very powerful and prominent businessman."
"He's also the jerk who dumped me and my mother so he could go social climbing," Roberto snarled.
"That's a rather simplistic view of things," Mr. DaCosta told him. "Your mother and I had our differences. We just couldn't live together. I made sure the two of you were well provided for."
"Just as long as we never bothered you," Roberto glared at him.
"I had a lot of enemies and I thought it was best not to advertise that I had a son, in order to protect you," Mr. DaCosta said.
"Really?" Emma raised an eyebrow. "You didn't seem to have a problem telling us that you had a mutant son in order to gain your position."
"Un-freaking believable," Roberto shook his head.
"I'm sorry Roberto," His father sighed. "I had hoped you wouldn't learn of this until you were older."
"These are the type of people that you're running with now, Evan?" Roberto asked. "A bunch of psychotics that want to rule the world?"
"Evan I know we've had our differences but you can't be a part of this!" Jean pleaded.
"What do you want me to do Jean?" Evan glared at her. "You have no idea what I've been through these past couple of years! Maybe some of their tactics aren't so… Who are you to judge? You guys kicked me out of the Institute? Remember? All for trying to protect the Morlocks!"
"You murdered a man Evan!" Jean snapped.
"Who was trying to kill all mutants so he could make a quick buck!" Evan countered. "Look these people were here for me when it really mattered! I mean, look at me! Sinister made me a serum so that I can walk down the street without people staring at me! I have a life again! So we bend a few laws and hurt people who are trying to kill us? The world isn't as black and white as you think it is! This is about survival! Can't you understand that?"
"Just one question," Remy's face was hard. "How many mutants died so you could look normal?"
"What?" Evan asked. "What are you talking about?"
"Think where that serum came from," Remy hissed. "How do you think Sinister perfected it? By taking a survey?"
Realization hit Evan hard. He looked at Sinister. "Is this true?"
"Of course it is," Sinister told him. "One of many I conducted at Neverland. And thank you very much X-Men for destroying it! Do know how hard it is to get subjects in such great numbers and run experiments in perfect conditions? More than half my notes were destroyed! It will take me at least a year to get to where I started from!"
"Too bad," Remy mocked.
Evan turned on Shaw. "You didn't say anything about that! You said you were going to help mutants! Not experiment on them!"
"I don't like it either," Emma's face was hard as well.
"You know as well as I sacrifices have to be made," Shaw told her. "For the greater good. You don't have to like it."
"Just don't interfere with my work," Sinister told her.
"Wanna bet?" Evan growled and popped out some spikes on his arm.
"Before you let sentimentality cloud your judgement, I want you to think very carefully," Shaw told him. "Think of what you'd be giving up. Not just the power and the prestige…As well as a high school diploma…But your life would literally be over."
"Without that serum you would return to that state which we found you," Sinister told him. "Unable to control your mutation. Rejected and hunted by human society. Only this time there would be nowhere else for you to turn."
"You can't go back to the Morlocks," Shaw said. "And obviously the X-Men wouldn't take you back. And I know the Misfits wouldn't want you. So who's left? Magneto? Oh wait, you rejected him too."
"Don't forget some of the services you've provided for the Hellfire Club," Emma added. "Without our protection you would probably end up in jail, if you were lucky."
"And what would happen to your parents?" Shaw asked.
"My parents?" Evan's face grew pale. "What about my parents?"
"Who do you think gave them that new house? Managed to pull strings for your father and get him that cushy job so they could start a new life?" Emma asked. "Are you really willing to throw their future away to help your former friends? People who didn't understand you? Your actions have consequences Evan. It's not just about you anymore."
"I know it's difficult my dear boy," Sinister put his hand on his shoulder. "But try to think of it this way, I have done many of these same experiments on myself. And most of my subjects were either willing or grateful for the procedures I had…"
"Yeah right!" Remy snarled.
"Think about what will happen to your family," Sinister made a hideous smile. "All the members of your family."
Evan was stunned. Sinister telepathically warned him in a private exchange. "I'm sure you wouldn't want anything to happen to your daughter or her mother. Or any of the New York Morlocks. Why do you think I made sure the GRSO didn't target any of them?"
Evan was stunned. "You wouldn't…" He said softly.
"Just do as you're told and no harm will come to them," Sinister warned. "Most of them aren't worth experimenting on anyway…But do you really want to take a chance?"
"Evan, please…" Jean begged, unaware of what was going on.
"There isn't any choice," Evan said softly. He looked at the captive X-Men. "I've got nowhere else to go." He turned his back on them and walked over to the Hellions.
"That not supposed to matter," Remy told him. "What's supposed to matter is what the right thing to do is!"
"I don't know where you got this streak of morality," Sinister clucked his tongue. "You certainly didn't inherit it from me that's for sure."
"Inherit?" Xi blinked. "Wait…When I touched you…I sensed some of your DNA was familiar but…" Xi looked at Remy.
"He's…Your father?" Jean gasped. Remy hung his head in shame. "But I thought you were an orphan?"
"So did Remy," Remy growled. "All Remy remembers as a child is trying to stay alive on the streets before Remy was adopted into the Thieves Guild."
"It's a long story," Sinister waved his hand. "Here's the cliff notes version. I wanted an heir but there was…An incident at one of my labs when the boy was only four. Apparently somehow he lost his memory in the explosion but escaped. I thought he was dead and didn't learn about his adoption into the Thieves Guild until years later. I decided to leave him there, I mean what father wouldn't want his boy to learn a trade? When his powers finally revealed themselves in a rather messy affair at the church…I sought him out. I thought it was time for the boy to learn the family business."
"Remy will never be anything like you," Remy growled.
"Sadly my boy, I am starting to believe that," Sinister sighed. "Not only do you not have any scientific aptitude…Well I did state that moral streak you acquired is quite problematic. Not that I haven't tried to cure you of that."
Remy couldn't help but shudder at the memory. "That's why you sold me out to Magneto."
"Sold you? But you said…" Roberto began.
"Since when do you believe everything Gambit says?" Evan told him.
"He was telling you the truth that Magneto managed to get Gambit out of my employ into his," Sinister said. "He just neglected to tell you the details. He needed an extra mutant recruit; I needed various genetic samples and equipment. Now that I think about it, I got the better end of the deal."
"Madre Dios…" Roberto gasped.
"I don't seem so bad now do I?" Mr. DaCosta asked his son.
"Well hasn't this turned into a real father-son reunion," Shaw remarked.
"You're not going to…" Mr. DaCosta looked at Shaw.
"I told you DaCosta, your son will be spared," Shaw held up his hands. "After the ceremony he'll be given the proper attitude adjustment and join Frost's Hellions."
"The hell I will!" Roberto snapped. "Forget it!"
"Actually you'll be the one doing the forgetting," Emma told him. "With Jean's help if all goes well."
"I'll never help you!" Jean strained against her bonds.
"That's what she said too," Emma pointed at Sage.
"The other two however are expendable," Shaw looked at Remy and Xi. "We can use them as sacrifices for the ceremony."
"Remy really not liking this," Remy grumbled.
"Pity," Sinister shrugged. "I so would have enjoyed working with their DNA. But then again like I said it's a trade off."
"You can always take what's left of their bodies," Emma shrugged.
"I suggest you make yourselves comfortable," Shaw told them. "Enjoy what little time you have left. It won't be long."
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
"I can't believe we lost them again!" Scott slammed his fist into the wall.
"Scott calm down," Althea told him. The Misfits were with the X-Men at the Institute.
"How can I be calm when Jean's in trouble?" Scott whirled on her.
"Don't forget Remy and Roberto," Rogue snapped at him. "The world doesn't revolve around Jean you know?"
"And we're missing Xi," Althea added. "But we have to stay calm and think. Running around like chickens with our heads cut off won't help anyone."
"You're right," Scott sighed. "I know you're right…It's just…"
"I know how you feel, Scott," Althea said.
"Well I'm also thinking about that whole Phoenix business," Scott told her. "This could be tied to it!"
"I'm pretty sure you're right," Xavier told them. "I can't find a trace of them with Cerebro. And Forge's device is wrecked beyond salvation."
"And we can't make another without wrecking Cerebro even more," Forge explained.
"Even if we had Cerebro up and running they could still be shielded," Kitty frowned. "This is so not good."
"Yeah we don't know who has 'em or where they are!" Todd said. Just then Lockheed started to growl.
"Yeah, I smell it too boy…" Logan unsheathed his claws.
"Maybe the situation is not as hopeless as you believe it to be," Selene stepped out of the shadows. "I think I might be able to point you in the right direction."