Disclaimer: I dont own the X-men
The Mission of Hellfire
Chapter 17: The true king
Cable wasn't concerned, for he had the perfect plan to deal with Fitzroy. Even when the man pressed a gun to his head he wasn't concerned.
"What can I say chum, it seems this is the end of the road for you…its too bad really I would have been interested in seeing if what that man claimed was true" Fitzroy said.
"What are you talking about?" Cable asked.
"The boss man made a very bold claim, and I'm not talking about Sinister before you ask" Fitzroy said.
"So someone else is in charge?" Cable presumed.
"I think I'll kill you now"
But before Fitzroy could pull the trigger, Cable used his TK to break the weapon apart. He swung round, grabbing Fitzroy by the neck and lifting the shorter man off the floor.
"All right tell me what you know" Cable growled.
"Not very much, I still think I should kill you" Fitzroy said dismissively.
Cable felt a small draining sensation, but it was only for a moment. He grinned as Fitzroy began to sweat.
"How could this be happening? That's what you're thinking right now, well here's some news for you; this metal around my arm isn't armour, it's a shell to contain all the cybernetics connected to my muscles…in translation I'm part machine, and you need someone completely organic for your abilities to work, once you activate them there's no going back, your portal needs a sacrifice and there's no body else in the room whose completely organic but you" Cable explained as Fitzroy skin began to age rapidly. "Here's an address for your portal" Cable smirked as he whispered an address into Fitzroy's ear; it would be the last thing he ever thought before his skin dissolved completely.
He threw the mans skeleton into the portal as it appeared. Then he walked out of the lab, opening the door to see Wolverine fighting some of Sinister's men. Barbarus, a four armed brown haired man, Ruckus a pink haired man wearing his usual purple and gold coat, Hair bag, who unlike the version Cable was familiar with looked like an armoured ape. There was also a more familiar looking Slab, someone Cable had wanted to slap on the head all his life. Wolverine clutched his ears as Ruckus unleashed his sonic scream. Cable rushed forward, swinging his Psimitar round and stabbing it into Ruckus's shoulder. The man subsequently fell unconscious as Cable used his Telepathy through the blade.
"Thanks for the help, sonic screams are a bitch" Wolverine said, slashing Barbarus's shoulder with his claws.
Cable slammed his cybernetic fist into Hair bag's face. He used the same arm to block a fist thrown by Slab. The X-man slapped the bald man across his head before jumping over him. Drawing his plasma pistol, Cable fired two blasts into the mans chest, knocking him to the ground. Wolverine stabbed Hair bag in the chest, then growled as Barbarus grabbed him from behind. He swung his head back, smashing it into Barbarus's nose. Wolverine then broke free and stabbed Barbarus straight in the head. Pulling his claw out, Logan gave Cable a small look before sniffing at the air.
"I smelt someone familiar down here, we need to check this place thoroughly before giving up" Wolverine said.
"We need to be careful" Cable said.
"I know that bub…lets just move along all right"
Cable nodded his head. Right now they needed to remain focused on find the children. Both men broke off into a run, following Wolverine's nose. Occasionally they would run into a Hellfire guard and without hesitation Cable would shoot the man in the head. They ran as fast as they could, searching every inch of Sinister's castle. Wolverine widened his eyes when he looked out of a window; they were in a jungle of some kind. But Cable knew all too well that they were in the savage land. He just hoped that this world's Magneto once used this place as a base. Wolverine and Cable continued to search the castle, occasionally finding one of Sinister's labs.
The man was just as sick here as he was in other worlds. Children were floating in tubes, tubes connected to their brains and spines. Some had new limbs, or multiple eyes; some were even missing body parts completely. Cable pressed his hand against one of the tubes, no thoughts, no dreams. Essentially these children were dead and just left on display. Grinding his teeth together, Cable walked out of the room.
"Found them yet?" Cable asked Wolverine.
"We're getting close, I can smell Rahne, Alex…hell I can pretty much smell everybody that's missing" Wolverine said.
They ran forward, kicking down any door in their way. After their fourth door, both Wolverine and Cable smiled. This place they were in must have been Sinister's main lab. At its centre was an operating table whilst vines and tree bark covered the walls and floor. But that wasn't what caught their attention; it was the figures tied to the walls. Jubilee, Rahne, Danielle, Alex and much to their surprise Shiro Yoshida and Josh Foley. The two X-men nodded to one another and took a step forward. But as soon as they walked into the room, the two men were faced with an unimaginable amount of pressure in their brains. They yelled out as torturous visions ran through their minds. For Logan it was his time in Weapon X, whilst for Cable it was memories of his past. The two men yelled in agony before falling to the floor.
"Well well well, it seems that not even one of the best X-men can overcome a telekinetic field inside his brain, an interesting use of your abilities" Sinister said as he walked out of the shadows.
A pair of red eyes glowed in the darkness, ignoring Sinister's compliment.
"And yet you couldn't use this ability on Cable, if not for my own psychic abilities we might have had a fight on our hands" Sinister said, prodding the X-men's heads with his toe. "Now, time to begin some more experiments, I'm curious to see what that healing factor can do"
The X-men had had enough, these men working for Sinister had invaded their safe haven, wounded their friends. For Lance enough was enough, he touched Kitty's cheek; the girl was cold and barely breathing. He grinded his teeth together, glaring at Harpoon. The mans usual cocky attitude was lost as he felt the ground shake around him. Lance slammed his hands together and suddenly two pillars stuck diagonally out of the ground. The two pillars slammed into Harpoon's chest and back. Everyone heard the sickening crack that was the mans spine. Sauron widened his eyes as a boomerang flew out of the safe house window. It slammed into his neck, knocking him out of the sky. Laura jumped out of the window, landing on her feet perfectly and looked towards the Marauders. She held her hand out, grabbing the boomerang as it returned to her.
"Let me introduce you all to a concept called a trap" She said with a grin. "NOW!!!"
Scalp hunter widened his eyes as a blast flew out of the woods. He rolled to the side, dodging the yellow beam and aiming his gun at the trees. A Native American man jumped out of the trees, wearing a green and brown uniform. He ran to Lance and Kitty's side, dodging the bullets fired by Scalp Hunter. The ground shook, but this time it wasn't from Lance. A man in a white costume burst out of the ground, a red maple leaf emblazoned on his chest and energy surrounding his body. He shot both Feral and Amphibious in the chest, knocking them to the ground.
"You didn't think that I was the only guy from Alpha Flight who offered to help did you?" Sasquatch asked, running at Wild Child.
He slashed at Wild Child, who leapt over the bulky wild man. Landing on the floor, Wild Child dodged a blast from Guardian. But his eyes widened as the safe house doors opened and out came an army of Jamie's, all armed with baseball bats. They yelled as they ran at Wild Child, causing him to scream as they piled on top of him. Sauron got off the floor and took to the air again, this time he'd aim to drain them all completely. Suddenly an ice pillar shot out of the ground, slamming into his chin. He fell to the floor, landing right beside Iceman.
"Damn, I've never pushed my powers like that before…coming back from the dead is tough man" Bobby said before smacking Sauron across the head with an ice club.
Ororo and Hank smiled as they got off the floor like nothing had happened. They ran forward to join the fight.
"BUT HOW!!!" Vertigo yelled at the two X-men, using her powers to disorient them.
Suddenly a green field of energy surrounded her. Shaman floated above the floor with his legs crossed in a meditation pose.
"Its good for protecting people and shutting up super villains" He said.
"Good acting Evan, but a little less swearing next time" Ororo said, using a blast of electricity to knock out Feral.
Jamie walked away from a bloody and clearly unconscious Wild Child, joining the Blob and Toad as they threw rocks at Archangel.
"YOU PATHETIC MUTANTS! DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN BEAT ME!!" Warren yelled.
"Nope just distract you" Toad said with a grin.
Warren raised his brow in confusion, and then he turned around. A man and woman dressed in matching black and silver uniforms fired a blast at his chest, knocking him off his flight pattern. Archangel span around in midair, recovering just enough to remain feet above the ground. Gambit and Rogue picked up a stone each, using the Cajun's powers to knock Archangel out of the sky. The explosion their projectiles created sent Warren rolling across the floor.
"Sorry Warren, but we need to get you help" Scott said.
He fired a blast straight at Warren's head; it was concussive and weak but strong enough to knock Archangel out. Beast jumped upwards, kicking Amphibious so hard that he fell to the floor unconscious.
"Don't worry Lance, Michael's an amazing doctor and if he says Kitty will be fine she'll be fine, just make sure you keep those bandages on her" Laura said, patting Lance on the back.
"I don't understand, everything was going to our advantage before" Scalp Hunter grinded his teeth together.
"Xavier told us about your mission just hours before you got here, that gave me enough time to call Alpha Flight and a fake S.H.I.E.L.D jet, leading you into a false sense of security and tiring you out was easy…and besides did you think I only spent time healing the X-men, training is a great way for them to relieve their stress" Laura explained with a grin.
"You and Prism have two choices Scalp hunter, surrender or get your ass kicked" Evan said, popping out a pair of knuckle claws.
Scalp Hunter looked at the situation; this was one battle he couldn't win. He put his guns down and put his hands on his head. Hesitantly, Prism did the same thing.
Soldier stared at the katana style blade in his hands. His jet moved towards the Savage land, whilst he and X-23 mentally prepared for the danger. X-23 looked at her claws, remembering the way Selene had forced her to cut herself. Though she healed she'd never forget the gruesome images that Selene forced into her mind. The woman had earned no pity from X. Soldier meanwhile was merely considering every possible scenario. He had only a pistol and a sword, that was enough for him to get by.
Suddenly the alarm started blaring, Soldier sheathed the sword and grabbed the controls. He swerved to the side, dodging a flurry of missiles. X-23 growled, looking down at the Hellfire Sam batteries. Looking at his radar, Soldier remained calm as several missiles appeared. Pulling on the controls, Soldier flew upwards, four missiles flying after him. Flying further and further into the air, Soldier then moved the jet to the left and dive bombed towards the jungle below. Locking onto two Sam batteries, Soldier fired his missiles. The Batteries blew up in a cloud of fire, which Soldier flew over. One of the missiles flew into the flames, blowing up whilst the second, third and fourth flew over the cloud. X-23 typed into her computer, scrolling through the jets available weapons. Without hesitation or permission she fired the jets flares.
"You know I was saving those!" Soldier said casually.
"For what?" X-23 asked.
"The other missile being launched at us"
Once again the alarm blared, but this time Soldier didn't make any effort to manoeuvre. He instead accessed the jets eject sequence. Without her permission, Soldier ejected X-23 from the jet. Ejecting soon after, Soldier was thrown further into the air from the shockwave released by the jets explosion. Soldier took note of where X-23 landed and pulled the pin on his parachute. As he flew slowly towards the ground, Soldier looked through his binoculars. He saw a castle and a large army of Hellfire club guards, along with Death Strike, Deadpool, Tessa and a few heavy artillery, mortars, tanks and machine gun posts.
'Damn' Soldier thought as his parachute was caught in the trees.
X-23 walked out of the bushes with her hands above her head. Soldier looked around, showing no surprise as men and women dressed in animal fur and skins walked out of the bushes. They were carrying weapons mad from the trees and stones around them, battle paint spread across their faces and chests. Soldier took note of two figures behind X, a man and a woman. The man had wild blonde hair and like the other men was wearing a loincloth with paint on his cheeks; his companion a beautiful red haired woman wore animal fur across her chest and legs. Around these two (whom Soldier assumed were the leaders) was five sabre tooth tigers.
"Who are you and why are you here?" The man asked.
"You may call me Soldier, the girl is X-23, our friends have been taken by Sinister so we're here to rescue them" Soldier said, getting straight to the point.
"Well, the demon Essex did claim several new victims, your friends are lost to you…you'd best give up and call for another plane"
"I cant do that!"
"Then you will remain intruders in our jungle" The woman said.
Soldier released the straps on his parachute, landing smoothly on his feet. The tribe surrounded him, pointing their spears at his still form.
"The last person we welcomed to this island was Essex, he betrayed us, killed my parents and turned others into his slaves…we will not let that happen again"
As Alpha Flight moved the Marauders onto the prison trucks, the X-men and Brotherhood watched as Kitty was put on a stretcher and rolled onto the ambulance. Lance stayed by her side. Holding her hand as the paramedics tended to her wounds.
"So you're a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and a therapist?" Mystique asked Laura.
"So you're a terrorist and a school principle?" Laura countered.
"I think its cool yo, she's got an ultra sexy body so she can fuck with your body and your mind" Toad said.
"There's a thought" Rogue sighed in disgust.
"Hey does anyone hear that sound?" Bobby asked.
The X-men looked up and widened their eyes as the clouds cleared, revealing a black jet. It landed just inches from the woods, opening its hatch. Several people walked out off of the ramp, followed by a white and red blur.
"Pietro!" Blob said.
"Wanda my…" But Toad was promptly hexed before he could say another word.
As the Brotherhood reunited, Kurt teleported behind the X-men with Amanda and Jean beside him. The two X-men were dressed in their uniforms whilst Amanda was wearing a vest and a pair of fatigues. Cyclops looked at Jean with wide eyes, they stood their, entranced by the sight of one another before they ran into each others arms. They pressed their lips together, moaning as they ran their hands across one another's bodies.
"Oh god…for a moment I thought I would never see you again…I'm sorry I couldn't fight Frost" Scott said.
"I'm the one who should be sorry, I did some bad things with Selene…but you saved me Scott, it took a man in a mask to pull me out of that darkness, but it was you who showed me the light"
"He saved us all, he's still saving us…we need to get to where Wolverine and that other guy went" Kurt said.
"Easier said than done" Muttered Gambit.
Just as they contemplated taking a jet, a pink portal suddenly appeared in front of them. Moments later a skeleton was thrown out of the portal. Cautiously walking up to the portal, the X-men stood ready for anything. Cyclops looked down at the skeleton, recognising the Hellfire clothing. This must have been a Hellfire guard that Wolverine and Cable had killed and sent through the portal. Cable told Scott that he had a teleportation device.
"Team, we're going in" Cyclops said.
"Forgive me but I don't exactly like the concept of stepping into the unknown, especially when a skeleton popped out of it" Gambit said.
"Shut up Remy, whatever is on the other side of that portal is where the rest of our friends are, and unknown danger or not we have to take action" Rogue said.
Cyclops nodded his head, the X-men wouldn't waver, and not even the Brotherhood would give up now. It was time for them to finish things with Sinister.
Logan awoke from his slumber and growled as he saw his hands tied to wall by vines. He tried to pop his claws out, but nothing happened. Looking to his side he saw Cable, he was tied against the wall with another vine digging into his back.
"The leeches I created make their homes in their vines Logan, so long as they are stuck to you your body will remain under my control" Sinister said as he walked out of the shadows.
Cable tried to move his arms, but not even his cybernetic arm would respond to his thoughts anymore. Gradually the other X-men awoke from their forced sleeps. Sinister traced his fingers across each one of the X-men.
"I've got some rather impressive ideas for what I could use with your DNA, especially yours Cable, your probably the most powerful mutant I've had the pleasure of examining next to Jean Grey" Sinister said.
"Go to hell Sinister" Cable growled.
Essex merely smiled as he walked away from the X-men.
"I admit I never once thought of using the X-men to destroy my allies in the club, now that Shaw and his son are out of the way I can focus on my research"
"What are you talking about Essex?" Logan asked with a glare.
"A man came to me suggesting the perfect way to get rid of Sebastian and all those loyal to him…the X-men, have them captured…I never once actually thought that you would be capable of fighting Hellfire's influence…still his plan worked out rather well, Soldier killed Sebastian and he killed Shinobi, claiming all their assets and the influence that came with them, he's gotten everything he's wanted"
"Not everything!" A voice said from the shadows.
Logan's ears twitched whilst Cable widened his eyes. The one who spoke sounded exactly like Cable. Sinister looked into the shadows in confusion, until a pair of giant blades pierced his chest. His mouth opened and his head swung around violently as foam came out of his mouth. Rahne closed her eyes as blood started to run out of Sinister's ears and nose. He let out a horrifying and agonising scream before his body went limp. Whoever stabbed him took no care with the body, ripping Sinister's flesh off in order to retrieve his wrist blade. Cable grinded his teeth together as the true mastermind behind the X-men's kidnapping walked out of the shadows. He wore a red cloak on top of his grey shoulder pads, covering his body was a suit of menacing grey armour, his gauntlets bared two blades on each one. On his head was a grey helmet, with horns of some kind on its sides and back. He stood over Sinister's body, his mouth twisting into what Logan guessed to be a glare aimed at Cable.
"Who is he?" Logan asked, knowing that Cable probably knew most of the villains they were yet to meet.
"He's not from your world, he's from mine" Cable said, narrowing his eyes as the armoured man wiped the blood off his blades. "Stryfe!"
Next Chapter 17: Rebellion!