Disclaimer: I dont own the X-men, Lauren Reilly is my property, anyone else who has a character with that name is just coincidental

The Mission of Hellfire

Chapter 12: Recovery

The Hellfire club was finished, but at a heavy price. Soldier was stripped of his armour and being towed onto a stretcher by several medics. The area around the club was now completely under S.H.I.E.L.D. control and the remaining X-men were either at ambulances with blankets on them such as Sam and Tabitha, or alone, kicking at the ground in frustration like Scott. Piotr and ray were both loaded onto a S.H.I.E.L.D. containment aircraft, along with Warpath and Juggernaut. Wolverine was fully healed and standing with Xavier, back on his wheelchair, staring at the stage where Selene had been.

"I failed Logan, I'm supposed to protect the children, how could I have protected them from this?" Xavier asked, wiping a tear in his eye.

"Only a sick mind like Selene's could have dreamed this up Charles, but Fury should be able to get something from Frost and her Hellions, if not then Cable can analyse the data his computer got from the stage" Logan said.

"Yes please ask him how that goes"

Logan walked over to Cable, who was staring intensely at the cube on his wrist.

"Please tell me you have something" Wolverine said.

"I'm sorry Logan, normally my computer receives and analyses data faster than a second, but Selene also cast a spell, magic and technology rarely mix, even if I did manage to track Fitzroy there's no telling where Selene went with the others, after all she can move through the night" Cable explained.

"The suns rising!" Hank said.

"I think it's pretty clear we can't go back to the mansion "

"Don't worry Director Fury has already made arrangements for you all to stay at a safe house in Canada" Maria Hill said, walking into the theatre with several agents. "You Magneto are coming with us for numerous crimes of metahuman terroris…"

"No he isn't!"

Those in the theatre looked to the door to see Fury walking into the room.

"You Magneto are going to come with us and repair Cerebro, so that Xavier can trace exactly where Selene is" Fury said.

Magneto nodded his head solemnly before he walked to Xavier's side.

"Your students aren't the only ones at stake in this Charles…so I will help…but know this Fury, if anything happens to my son and daughter I will place you and your organisation directly responsible for not doing what was necessary" Magneto growled and walked out of the theatre.

The X-men and the Brotherhood were in for a long and bitter recovery as they all sat in a S.H.I.E.L.D. aircraft. Kitty sat close to Lance, crying into his chest.

"Logan…will we be able to see that Soldier guy…ah would really like to thank him for saving at least most of us" Rogue said.

"I don't know Rogue, Soldier's taken a lot of punishment during the fights we were in to get to this point but somehow I don't think he'll…"

"Don't Logan!" Cable said. "We need to have faith that he'll live through this, faith is what's kept me sane for so long"

"We never even got to find out who he was" Bobby said, lowering his head.

"Shut up Bobby!" Amara and Tabitha said together.

Logan couldn't help but feel some form of comfort to be back in Canada, looking at the snow gathering round the house that they would be staying in. According to Hill the house had been formerly a boarding dorm used by the Canadian army. The aircraft landed and the X-men and Brotherhood walked out. A blonde haired man with glasses, wearing a woolly jumper stood at the front door.

"Hello, I'm Walter Langkowski, Canada's liaison with S.H.I.E.L.D." The man said, offering Logan his hand.

Logan shook the mans hand, shaking it gruffly before walking past.

"Sorry for the rudeness"

"Don't worry Mr Summers, you've been through a lot and I can understand that this has affected all of you deeply…your things have already been put in your rooms, treat this place as you would your home, we have a kitchen filled with your own individual fridges as well as a councillor, whose actually pretty good" Langkowski explained.

"Who is he?" Hank asked.

"Not he she Dr McCoy, she's not well known considering she only takes super human cases" Walter said as he walked into the house, showing everyone to their rooms.

Logan was already opening the fridge and taking out all of the beers that had been loaded in there. He walked past the other X-men and out towards the woods next to the house. One after another, the X-men retreated to their rooms. No one dared to talk for the whole day, all's they could do was remember the terrifying moments they all shared in the dungeons of the Hellfire Club. Logan sat in the kitchen, his thoughts occupied by a mixture of rage over Selene's actions, curiosity over Deathstrike, and concern for the missing children.

'Selene, when I find you, I'll rip your to shreds and that's a promise' Logan thought, squeezing the beer bottle tightly.

Elsewhere, in the ruins of the mansion, Magneto and Xavier stood on the remains of Cerebro, alongside Fury and Hill.

"The power core, the conduits, the magnets, the control system, everything that is crucial to powering the machine is gone. If I were to possess the necessary materials, without a power core I could only create a temporary tracking device that would be powered by my magnetic manipulation" Eric explained.

"So leave out the power core, that'll save some time, magnets will be easy to get our hands on as well as conduits, the control system is something you two will have to work on" Fury said.

"Yes, Eric built the machine as well as the power core, and it was I who built the control device" Xavier explained.

"Can you do it again?" Hill asked.

"Yes, but I will need several key components that should be easy enough to collect"

"Give me a list and I'll have an agent pick them up"

"And what will we be doing?" Eric asked.

"Staying here, under armed guard and Agent Hill's supervision, I have an agent to visit in the hospital"

"Please Agent Fury, tell Soldier I said thank you"

"It's not him I'm visiting" Fury said before he walked away.

Vance Astrovik awoke from his sleep, finding himself in a hospital with several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents outside the door, with one of Fury's most trusted agents Natasha Romanoff at his bedside, wearing her usual black jumpsuit.

"What happened to Angelica?" Vance asked, sitting up on the bed.

"She's okay" Natasha said.

"But what exactly happened?"

"That young man, Shiro Yoshida, it seems when he was struck over the head it affected the club's brain washing. According to Miss Jones he killed the assassins the club had sent and flew off" Natasha explained.

"And what about the X-men?"

Natasha lowered her head slightly as she explained to the young agent what had happened to the X-men. Vance lowered his head as he thought about the X-men, costumed mutants whom had partly inspired him. Fury walked into the room, stopping to check up on the wounded agent. After congratulating Vance on his effort, Fury left without another word. He got onto a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicopter and flew up towards a helicarrier, hidden in the clouds above the city.

'Time to see what our friends know' Fury thought as he walked through the corridors, towards the interrogation room.

Fury swung the door open and entered the padded cell, with walls and bars separating their prisoners. The prisoners were none other than the surviving Hellion's. Fury walked to the front of the cells, where the teens could see him, each of them wearing special restraints made to disrupt their powers.

"Marie Ange-Colbert, mother sick with Liver Disease with no insurance to cover transplant surgery. Fabian Marechel-Julbin, family all deceased from mutant hate attacks, forced into male prostitution. Buford Wilson, powers were gradually becoming unstable to the point where they caused physical pain, billionaire parents recommended him to Hellfire Club. Haroun Sallah Al-Rashid, abusive father in jail while mother is forced into prostitution" Fury read, overlooking each of the battered and mentally broken teens.

"GET TO THE POINT FURY!!!" Warpath yelled.

"James Proudstar, brother John Proudstar, former student of Xavier's and former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, currently deceased from a mission in the Balkans"

"A MISSION YOU SENT HIM ON! I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU! YOU GOT MY BROTHER KILLED!!!"

"Is that what you think, maybe your right, maybe we could have done with more planning in the mission, maybe I shouldn't have sent a heavy hitter in first…but just what are you doing, do you know how much blood is on your hands, your brother would be ashamed" Fury said, looking the boy straight in the eyes.

"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT…."

"SHUT UP AND LISTEN BOY!!" Fury yelled. "That goes for all of you, it's true you guys have lived fucked up lives, hell the courts would probably entitle you to a lesser sentence, you were manipulated, you were broken, you were victims to a corrupt society and all that bullshit…but then again, no body really knows about you guys, so, what's to stop me from just locking you up in a cell at the Raft, no trial, no chance for freedom"

"But you cant do that, we have rights!" Beef said.

"So did the people you've murdered on Frost and Shaw's behalf, those men and women had sons, daughters, wives and husbands but you tortured and killed them all anyway, why, because they were corrupt? Because they were a threat to the society your club would create, Soldier said it best, the world the Hellfire club would create isn't a society of order but a society of fear, you've murdered and now you'll receive a punishment, that's the world your Queen and King would create, no circumstance, no defence, just plain punishment"

"And what's wrong with that?" Tarot asked.

"Yeah what's wrong with that huh!" Bevaron said.

"So what if we killed, the people who wronged us deserved every second of the beating we gave them" James growled.

"Is that what Selene told you…you should have looked further down the line" Fury said.

"I'll kill you, John died because of you"

"Yeah I had some responsibility for his death, but the one to blame was the Hellfire Club"

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!!!"

"YOU FUCKING NAÏVE IDIOTS!!!" Fury yelled.

At that moment, the Hellions stopped talking and listened to the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. They memorised every word he said, and held onto it more than they had ever held onto anything that Emma or Selene had taught them.

"You children just believed whatever they told you didn't you, you never once thought that things were too good to be true, that they just happened to know about your suffering and be in the perfect position to bring you the ones that caused your suffering, you never questioned it, they gave you money, revenge, power and of course a good fuck, then came the killing, you never questioned it, even when they begged, even when it appeared they didn't deserve it, the truth was that they didn't deserve it" Nick Fury took a short pause and a deep breath, the Hellions couldn't see the water welling up in his eye. "A Senator Jason Nickson was thrown off a cliff, he had two sons, both of whom couldn't see their father at their school play, a thug Frank Reilly was serving the Kingpin so he could pay back debts so that his family wouldn't be punished and you people tortured him, even as he cried his lovers name….John Proudstar, another victim of the Hellfire Club's greed, he was a good soldier and a loyal man, he loved his brother and his country…but a group of Hellfire spies steal a plane full of weapons, I deploy John and his team, John dies defending his friends…he dies a heroes death, taking the bullets shot at him"

James widened his eyes at what he heard. He had always assumed that Fury had lied, that John had died because of Fury's stupidity. Never once did he stop to question Hellfire's involvement. Then Fury came to the most gruesome story of all, and it bought tears to the Hellions eyes. He told them of a girl, a girl who was desperate to get by with her child. She was forced to make a decision, when the Hellfire club gave her no choice.

For years she worked as a Hellfire club prostitute, when she had enough money she wanted out of the business. But Shaw and Selene would never let her leave. She was starting to become defiant, no longer going to work, saying that she had the money she needed and didn't want to work anymore. So Shaw orders her punished, and the Black Queens punishes her. Selene has the women beaten and bound, forced to watch as men beat her 11 year old son, beat him till she can no longer recognise his face, beat him until he can no longer beg for mercy. Then Selene rapes the boy, moaning in pleasure as she felt the boys and his mother's pain. The mother begs Selene to stop, trying to turn her head away as Selene rides and whips the boy, but she has to watch. And when she's done, she burns the lad, giving him as agonising a death as possible, right in front of the mother's eyes.

"But that aint enough for Selene, she wants people to know exactly what happens to those who defy the order of the Hellfire Club…so she cuts the woman's breasts off and destroys any chance she has of bearing children again…ask yourselves, what kind of world can be created with cruelty alone, the only mercy they show is to those who can benefit and further their dream, it's the truly great, the people who can really change the world for the better who will share their mercy with everyone, people like Charles Xavier…maybe you idiots should had tried following someone like him" Fury said before he walked out of the room.

The Hellions were left in complete silence, distraught over what they had just been told.

At the X-men and the Brotherhood's safe house, Logan was currently on his Twentieth can of beer. He threw the can into the bin, opening another can with not even a second's delay. Cable walked into the room, smiling slightly as he watched Logan drink. The alternate X-man rested his hands on his head as he walked outside. Scott was sitting at one of the trees, looking up at the sky. Cable walked over to the young man, sitting beside him.

"I suppose you either want to be alone or want to ask me a load of questions right?" Cable asked.

"I really thought that Emma was the woman I loved for a while, but now those feelings I had were always for Jean, I don't think I could take losing her…from the memories I saw you seem to have seen a lot, tell me Cable, in the other realities you visited are Jean and I always together?" Scott asked.

"Do you really want to know?"

"Please, I need something to get my mind off the grief"

"I've been to quite a few realities, and I'll tell you they're either ones that are similar, different or just plain fucked up, there's even a reality where all the X-men had their genders changed" Cable laughed.

Scott burst into laughter, picturing a few of the others in make up and skirts.

"One where Magneto formed the school and Xavier started wearing a bucket, at least two where they form the school together…although in most realities I've visited, you and Jean were, if not together at least connected in some way, sometimes you married, sometimes you both died in one another's arms before your relationship could flourish and in others your love remains just simple friendship, though a strong one at least…there was even a reality where the two of you were enemies, but despite a villains best efforts to keep you apart, even trying to manipulate you with his death in the end you chose to be with Jean, although I probably had a hand in that" Cable explained, smirking slightly.

"What about the differences in your reality?"

"Do you really want to know, some of those differences might be awkward"

"If what your memories told me where true isn't this whole moment awkward?" Scott asked.

Cable burst into laughter, having faced situations like this one with most realities he had been to.

"All right I'll tell you a little bit about it, in my reality the X-men live in Bayville, but the high school is actually Xavier's school while the Prof himself lives in the mansion with you his adopted son, there are Four times as many students and the X-men are a publicly recognised super hero team" Cable explained, pausing shortly as he remembered the happiest times of his life. "You and Jean married and had three children, Rachel, Nathan and Christopher"

"After my dad!"

"Yeah, in fact…no I don't think you wanna now"

"What is he alive in your reality?" Scott asked eagerly.

"He's turned up alive in a few realities, let's just say the stories a little colourful" Cable said, leaning his head back with a laugh.

"Me and Jean…married, wow!" Scott said, picturing the red haired beauty in a wedding gown.

"You're going to find her Scott, and I'm sure the two of you will have many happy times, and if not…then never regret what you felt for her" Cable patted Scott on the shoulder and stood up. "You should never regret love, at least true love that is"

"Thank you…Nathan" Scott said as Cable walked away.

'We'll have a happy reunion later dad, once we've gotten mom back' Nathan thought smiling as he walked away.

Once he got inside, Cable's smile dropped as Rogue dialled a number into the phone. He walked away, not wanting to face what rogue was about to do. Rogue nervously tapped her foot against the floor. It was a hard job she was going to do but better for Amanda to hear from a member of Kurt's family than some stranger in a military uniform.

"Hello!" Amanda said.

"Hi Amanda, it's me Rogue" The southern Goth said nervously.

"Oh Kurt's friend, I heard about the mansion, is he okay?" Amanda asked.

Rogue could tell from the sound of Amanda's voice that she had been waiting days for answers. She truly was concerned for Kurt. They would both talk for hours on the phone, it was somewhat annoying yet also sweet in a small way. Rogue grinded her teeth together, she would have rather had done this face to face than on the phone.

"Kurt…Kurt is still missing…we've been through hell Amanda, but he thought about you all the time, he's still thinking about you" Rogue said, tears running down her eyes.

Silence was all that welcomed her. It was worth than the questions that she expected. She knew that right now Amanda couldn't bring herself to say anything more. Quite frankly Rogue herself couldn't say anymore as she dried her eyes. On instinct, she slammed the phone down, falling to her knees as she contained the tears.

"Wow…I gotta say that's no way to tell someone they might never see their boyfriend again" A voice said from behind Rogue.

She turned her head, glaring at a brown haired woman. The woman was rather attractive, at least in her early twenties. Rogue assumed she was the psychiatric that Langkowski talked about. She had made this judgement based on the woman's glasses, black skirt and white blouse. The woman leant against the frame of the door, a frown across her face.

"Do you have a problem with me telling Amanda the truth?" Rogue asked.

"Sometimes the truth isn't enough Rogue, sometimes leaving things be is the best bet…I'm Lauren Reilly by the way"

"Nice to meet you" Rogue said sarcastically.

"Your angry, and your perfectly entitled to be, but maybe you should try saving that anger for the people who really deserve it…Selene perhaps" Lauren said.

"At least that's something we can agree on" Rogue said.

"Let's see if we can go for something else to agree on, right now every bodies dealing with the grief on their own, but that isn't the way to go about it, especially for you Rogue"

"What are you talking about?" Rogue asked.

"You're a team, the X-men, even the Brotherhood have a bond of friendship, you should be sharing your grief, helping one another through this time…I've experienced sorrow and I know that friends can help you get through it, and I know there's someone who wants to help you through this time" Lauren said, tilting her head towards the door.

Rogue, turned around, seeing Gambit walking past. The Cajun gave her a small wave before he walked past. Rogue then turned to Lauren.

"I'm not asking you to vent all your feelings to me, just talk to one of your friends, you might be able to help each other more than you think" The woman said with a smile before she walked away.

Gambit sat on the coach in the living room, sighing as he shuffled a deck of cards. He widened his eyes in surprise as Rogue walked into the room.

"Gambit…can I talk to you for a minute?" She asked nervously, the memory of their kiss still fresh of her mind.

A smile spread across the Cajun's face as he dropped the deck.

"Sure Cheri, take a seat and old Remy will listen, he's always willing to listen" Gambit said, leaning forward, ready to comfort the girl if need be.

Lauren smiled as the girl sat down in front of the Cajun. The psychiatrics only regret was that she wouldn't be able to help Amanda recover.

Amanda cried her heart out, wishing that her parents were at home. Just when it was the perfect time for Kurt to go over to her house, this happened. She understood the danger in dating a mutant, she didn't really care. Alls Amanda wanted was to be with Kurt. The girl threw her pillow at the girl, angry, sad, even guilty over what had happened. She was angry with S.H.I.E.L.D. for letting Kurt be taken from her, she was distraught that she may never get to see Kurt's blue face again. And she was guilty over the fact that she never had the chance to show Kurt just how much he meant to her.

'I wish, I was a mutant Kurt…so that I wouldn't have to live with mom and dad, so that I could be closer to you' She thought, leaning against the wall, moaning as the tears fell off her chin.

Suddenly, Amana felt a great sense of dread. Her tears stopped and she swung her head round. Amanda gasped as her face was just inches from the nose of a beautiful but pale black haired woman. She was wearing revealing black attire, including a cloak. Amanda couldn't describe the feeling she felt from this woman. She was frightened by her sudden appearance, and yet this woman in black's aura intrigued Amanda.

"Amanda Sefton I believe, the names Selene, allow me the pleasure of inviting you as the first recruit of the New Hellfire Club" The Black Queen offered Amanda her hand and smiled as she knew that like so many others, Amanda's curiosity would overcome her innocence.

Next Chapter 13: Recruitment

I knwo it's hard to enjoy the chapter with not much going on, but please tell me what you thought, I'd greatly appreciate some reviews. Next chapter will mainly be about Selene as she recruits a few mutants into her new club.