Elsewhere

They had been on the move all day, traveling at paces to match their master. Sometimes he ambled along as though admiring the scenery; sometimes he walked with a purpose and a speed that left the dark minions scrambling in his wake. Or more technically, his soldiers' wake, since Creed wasn't about to let his fighters be outranked by a bunch of minions. They were just getting in the way, at least as far as he reasoned. Who needed minions anyhow?

If Creed was in a foul mood when he recovered from being changed, he was beyond being beyond reason now. He didn't like their pace. He didn't like the scenery. He didn't like the minions. He didn't like the fact that there were more minions than soldiers. And he made all of that known.

Valzinameku, nestled in the false security of Evan's clone, just smiled and walked on. He was thrilled with his new commanders who argued incessantly. Creed and his soldiers would openly scorn the minions and like the good, loyal followers they were, the minions would accept the abuse. Until one of the soldiers turned their attention away and received a sharp jab in the heels. A tussle would begin with as many as seven minions teaming up on one soldier, who held his own marvelously. As soon as Creed turned around, it would stop immediately, because the one thing they all shared in common was a deep rooted fear of Creed and his master. Their master.

Valzinameku led his chosen few across the countryside, reshaping it at his discretion. His chosen, not even two hundred strong, followed him like lemmings to the call of the sea. Twisted, zombie lemmings with brains like an overhyped juicer- led by a suicidal urge and steered by a homicidal, maniacal mutant who was just as likely to kill them as the sea...

It makes you wonder though, where the real danger lies... Valzinameku- happy in his world of make-believe, or Victor Creed- infinitely stronger and in a prime position to destroy to his heart's content.

Live the dream and the angels follow.

Bayville

It was tangible in a way that their surroundings were not. With the rising of the sun, the Vulgates were all but completely blinded. Even with their eyes shut and hands covering the delicate organs, light still pervaded their senses along with the intense cold that numbed everything that wasn't carefully covered. Todd and Scott stood slightly away from where the Vulgates were huddled with Evan, Kurt and Haiden. No one spoke. The time for that was gone. Now they all knew with no room for doubt that there was no way out of the valley. The Vulgates were too tired to fly and their wings were far too delicate to be in the cold like this. They had since tucked them safely out of the immediate cold, but the longer they stayed out there, the worse it would get. Kurt couldn't teleport and no one else was in much of a way to do anything either. They hadn't eaten in days, though down below the surface no one had even thought about eating. Now, above ground, subject to the cold, biting winds that whistled down the mountains, a million little problems jumped out at them. There was nothing to see but stone, nothing to feel but cold and nothing to hope for but a quick death at the hands of a predator.

"Todd, what are we going to do?" Scott sighed and reviewed the dismal landscape. "I'm all out of ideas. If we go back in the caves..."

"The others will get us. I know, I know. There's nothing we can do but find religion at this point." Todd shoved a few wispy strands of hair out of his face and pressed his hands against his eyes, trying to massage away the sharp pain that had been pounding its way through his skull for almost a day now.

"There's not really any religion I'm willing to believe at this point except one that dictates that God hates us all."

Todd didn't look up to see if Scott was joking or not. He wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"I can't help but feel it should have ended differently, though." Scott continued. "I never imagined I'd die like this. Never mind the fact that this was home at one point, and barring the fact that we've got creatures with us more twisted than ourselves, and ignoring the fact that you're with the Brotherhood... it just never came down to me dieing of starvation anywhere near a mountain."

Todd snorted. "I'll say. Whatever happened to all those stories of people eating their boots?" They both paused at that and looked down at their shoes. A pair of black Nikes, though you couldn't tell to look at them, and black... well, Todd insisted they used to be Reeboks.

"I wouldn't eat either of them, though." Scott said faintly, a note of humor actually creeping into his voice. "Plastic and all that stuff. Shoelaces maybe." He scuffed the dirt with his shoe.

"Yeah. And mine used to be white, yo."

"Yours, too? I wasn't gonna say anything."

They both were silent for a moment afterwards before laughter took over them. It ended a moment later when one of the Vulgates stirred. It was Hiva, and he was staring with sightless eyes towards something in the distance. Todd and Scott turned instantly, dropping into defense mode, though they didn't know why. Nothing could be worse than starving to death in the cold. Todd gasped. Standing high above them on a summit that was just out of climbing distance was a solitary figure, just familiar enough to evoke a spark of hope in the two leaders.

"Lucifer?" Todd stared hard for a second and then began waving to the lone figure. "Damn, it took you long enough to show up!" He yelled at him. Todd was startled out of his victory dance by Scott's hand on his shoulder.

"Think about it, Todd. We're trapped in a hole in a mountain. It probably looks like a trap to him. And Todd, we have to consider what will happen if it is. What if this demon knew we were down there and was counting on us to leave with reinforcements. The signs are all there, Todd. We have no place to go. We can't go down or up, so he sits in wait for others to show up to help us."

"A trap? Bait?" Todd repeated, not really registering what Scott was saying.

Scott's face was grim. "Yes. Lucifer can still find the other mutants and do this without us. There's no need to risk everyone's lives."

Todd stared up at the figure so high above them, nestled comfortably. He turned away slowly. Maybe this was their fate-to die here. It seemed that the Fates ruled not just the Vulgates, but humans as well.