Chapter 46: The Gathering Pt. 1
The X-men and the gargoyles were all watching the report about Xanatos's new kid Alex, when it suddenly started to rain. As the rain fell, a bright green light formed in the clock tower and took the form of a woman.
"What the-?! Who're you?" Katerina asked as the woman stepped from. She had mint green skin, blue eyes, yellow hair and was dressed in a pair of Arabic pants, a halter top that left her midsection exposed, and some sort of headdress.
"Lady Titania." Goliath said in recognition. The Queen of fairies looked at him and nodded.
"Greetings, Goliath." Titania greeted, feeling wary as Gavin's had drifted towards Bloodfallen.
"Is there a reason why I seem to recognize you?" The boy asked carefully.
Titania looked at him and seemed to be surprised when she saw him. But simply shook her head. "No, child, you must be mistaken." She then turned back to Goliath. "Oberon is here to retrieve Puck, but we also wish to bring our new grandson, Alexander to Avalon so that he can be trained in the ways of magic. But my daughter is being uncooperative." The woman explained.
"And just how is taking the kid against his will the right answer, exactly?" Johan asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Exactly." Katerina and Chelsea snapped in unison, scales and tentacles coming to bear. Titania looked at them before blinking, like she noticed something familiar.
"You are… Mutants, correct?" Titania asked.
"Yes. Is that a problem?" Katerina asked, eldritch energy crackling around her hands.
"No. That is actually just what I need." The woman said as she conjured an image out of mist, showing Roxy in her new Harlot form, with a large prehensile Scorpion tail. "This Mutant has been attacking Oberon for the past hour, and I fear that if something is not done soon, she may harm herself or others."
"Wait, why does Roxy suddenly look like that?" Devin asked in concern.
"Oh, you know her. That should help with detaining her. As for your question, I am unsure of how she suddenly became like this…" She replied as she looked off to the side. "Though I have a strong suspicion that I may know who caused it." She finished.
"We have to do something." Devin told the others, evicting a nod from Xavier.
"Yes. We must figure out how this happened." The telepath nodded as he turned to Goliath. "Goliath, will you help us?"
"We will do what we can." He nodded, the rest of the gargoyles agreeing..
"I'll help." Katerina nodded.
"And I'll try and keep Oberon and Xanatos from throwing fists." Gavin added. "I think it's time I tested my power's limits against a god."
"Then X-men, let's move!" Scott yelled as they all got ready to stop an incoming war.
(Later)
Roxy and Oberon were still fighting, and the King of the Fairies was having to really work to avoid her new tail.
"What will it take to make you stop?!" The blue skinned man growled as he dodged another attack.
"You DIE!" Roxy yelled as she lunged at him, only to be telekinetically stopped in mid air.
"I got her!" Jean yelled in a strained voice as she held the girl in place.
"That's my cue!" Katerina said as she ran up to the struggling girl in the air. When she was in front of her, she took her Cthulhu form and channeled her power into the younger girl's mind and began getting rid of the influence present within, though not without difficulty. "Who in the world is controlling her?! Their influence is so strong!" She growled as she kept destroying said influence.
"It is the work of Un Saba Nur, the First One!" Oberon told her. "Allow me to assist you, young Eldritch one!"
"By all means! I don't think I can handle this on my own!" She replied as Oberon joined her in purging the influence of Apocalypse from her mind.
Jean unfortunately wasn't able to keep holding her, so when the Scorpion girl dropped, Devin grabbed her with his metal form, but was unfortunately at the mercy of her pheromones.
"Shit! Everyone hold your breath! She's producing pheromones!" Logan yelled. Everyone did so and held their breaths as Katerina and Oberon did their work.
"Just a little longer!" Oberon yelled before he started chanting a spell which seemed to boost both their powers. Roxy screamed as she clutched her head, but as she fell to her knees, Devin held her tightly.
"Let me go!" She yelled, struggling against him.
"No! I made a promise to you and your brothers to keep you safe, and I am going to keep it!" Devin yelled back, holding her closer. The scorpion girl kept thrashing and nearly hit Devin with her stingers a few times but still missed. "I will never let you go, not now, not ever!"
Roxy screamed as light surrounded them both and engulfed them. As it died down, the girl's eyes lost their glazed look and her mind cleared, causing her to fall unconscious in Devin's arms.
Both Katerina and Oberon panted as they finished. The king of fairies used a recovery spell to bring themselves to full power.
"It is finished." He said. "Now, to finish what I started."
Gavin stood between him and Xanatos tower. "I don't think so." He said, drawing Bloodfallen out. "If you wanna steal a baby from its mother like some sort of deranged thief, then you're gonna have to go through me."
"You dare stand in my way?!" The blue skinned fairy growled as he readied his magic.
"Heh." The pseudo vampire chuckled before he charged at Oberon and started slashing at him with his sword and then used his smoke telekinesis to control it so he could fight hand to hand.
While this was going on, the X-Men went to Xanatos Tower with the gargoyles, save Chelsea, who stayed behind to help Gavin in dragon form. After they landed, Xavier went to brief Xanatos on what was happening.
"Xavier? What are you doing here?" Xanatos asked his telepathic colleague as the X-Men entered just as he put up his forcefield.
"We learned of what Oberon intends to do. We wish to help in stopping it." He replied.
"Thank you." Xanatos nodded before turning to Goliath. "And thank you, Goliath." He added gratefully.
"We will not allow your child to be taken." He replied resolutely. "For I know the transformative powers of a child's love. And I would not wish it's absence on anyone, not even my greatest enemy."
"And I do believe that is something we can both agree on." Xanatos smiled, placing a hand on Goliath's shoulder as they walked into Fox the and Xanatos's room to find that Damian and Alex were both playing together in the former's playpen. "Ah, so I see Damian has met Alex." The man smiled.
"Yes, they're getting along very well. I can already see them becoming best friends when they're older." Fox nodded with a smile of her own.
Everyone smiled happily as they watched the two play. Meanwhile with Chelsea and Gavin, the pseudo vampire was getting beaten within an inch of his life by the god of magic. His base form was powerless against Oberon, Level 3 wasn't even a challenge, Level 2 was just barely to hold up for a full thirty seconds, and now Level 1 was really struggling.
Oberon punched Gavin in the stomach, then roundhouse punched him in the face, causing him to crash into a wall, breaking several bones and causing him to cough and spit up a large amount of blood as he fell to his hands and knees before Oberon was distracted by Chelsea attacking him in her dragon form.
'He's… Too strong, I can't beat him the way I am now. My healing factor is way too taxed, if I can't stop this fight soon, I'm done for…' The boy thought, trying to think of a way to beat Oberon.
With Oberon and Chelsea, the fairy king was currently forced to wrestle with the Dragoness's jaws to keep from being eaten.
"Now I see why you are so familiar, woman. You clearly have the blood of Tiamat flowing within your veins!" He grunted as he held her maw open.
'What?! No way!' Chelsea thought as she tried to bite down on her prey.
With Gavin, the boy shakily got up as his wounds healed, before dropping to one knee. His left arm was still broken, so he couldn't use his sword to cut Oberon off from his magic with the iron in it. And his smoke techniques wouldn't work because Oberon had already figured them out. So that left only one option left.
"No choice, I have to release my final seal… But let's trick Oberon into his own grave…" He said as he slowly got up, clutching his arm. "HEY, DICK OF THE FAIRIES!" He yelled at Oberon. His words nearly caused Oberon to be eaten had he not thrown himself out of her jaws. After recovering, he glared at Gavin.
"You dare insult me in such a way?!" He yelled back angrily. Gavin held up his recovered arm after snapping it back into place and taunted the man.
"You think you've won? You do realize that I'm only using 25 percent of my full power right now, right?" The pseudo vampire taunted.
"What?!" He exclaimed in shock. "Surely you jest!" He denied.
"No, even after removing all my seals so far, they're still restricted because there's one more left and these holding me back." Gavin said as he gestured to his leg and arm weights, before unlatching them and caused them to drop, causing two sets of large holes. "You wanna win? You're gonna have to bypass my last seal and beat me then." He taunted further. "Or are you too chicken?"
That was apparently the straw that broke the camel's back. "INSOLENT MORTAL!" Oberon yelled furiously as he attacked Gavin's last seal with his magic. As it was broken, Titania felt it and her eyes widened.
"No my lord! Do not release the last seal!" She yelled before she was tackled by Chelsea. Gavin roared as his seal was bypassed and suddenly, repressed memories started to flow into his mind.
He had been tested, experimented on, and when the scientists found his power and personality too uncontrollable, he was exiled to the Savage Land by SHIELD for five years, and then everything was sealed away and this order was given to SHIELD by… Titania, in the form of Anastasia Reynard.
The pseudo vampire glowed in a murderous red aura as he glared into Oberon's soul with rage that was unparalleled by even the hulk. With an angered roar, he charged at Oberon and the two clashed.
(Elsewhere)
Roxy slowly woke up and she soon found herself in Devin's arms. "Devin…? What's going on?" She asked in confusion.
"You were brainwashed. What's the last thing you remember before you blacked out?" He asked.
"Someone put me in a sack and then that Mesmero guy shoved me into a sarcophagus in front of some weird gates." Roxy told him.
"And I'm assuming that's where you got your… current look?" He asked with a blush as he looked away.
"Yeah… Do you like it?" The girl purred flirtatiously, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling herself close to him.
"... Yes." He muttered, his blush increasing.
"Good. And, thanks, for not letting me go." She told him before she kissed him on the cheek. Devin's blush nearly turned atomic as she kissed him, but he just let her do it before continuing to let him sit in his lap.
"Hey, I hate to break up the cuddle fest you two, but we got incoming!" Brooklyn said as they saw Oberon being sent flying towards the force field around Xanatos Tower and was subsequently drained by its effects.
"What in the world? What's happening, Brooklyn?" He asked.
"Someone just punched Oberon clear across New York into the force field." The gargoyle said before his eyes widened. "And I think I know who did it."
As the white haired man fell from the force field, Gavin appeared in front of him and started wailing punches at him with incredible speed and power.
"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!" The boy yelled as he kept punching over and over.
"What the-?! How did he end up like this?!" The metal mutant gaped in shock.
"Oberon has foolishly released young Gavin's last seal." Titania said as she appeared in the room. "Had he not done so, he would have beaten the boy easily, but now, Gavin's powers are a match to my lord, so this fight is up to fate now." She added.
"I hope my brother can overpower him, then." Devin said hopefully as he watched the two fight.
"Then I hope you are willing to live with the consequences of your actions." Titania said as she disappeared.
Outside Gavin was now receiving a pummeling from Oberon, true to his wife's words, Oberon and Gavin were now on equal ground now, and it was nearly impossible to tell who would be the victor. But as the battle was taken to the skies, Gavin suddenly side-kicked the blue skinned man in the stomach so hard, he was sent flying and crashing into the Statue of Liberty.
"This boy, he is no child, he is a monster!" The king of fairies said as he watched Gavin fly up into the air on a smoke cloud and roared like a vampiric beast as the red aura around him exploded and colored the night sky red.
"I WILL MAKE YOU FEEL PAIN!" The boy roared before he blasted off towards Oberon. It was a battle of the gods now, and who would win between them, well that was anyone's guess at this point. The Gathering was just beginning.
Dragon Emperor0: Gavin just went full Broly in this chapter. There's no sugar coating it. He's gone Saiyan Level Ape shit crazy.
ThermalsniperN7: And now Devin's one step closer to winning the heart of his favorite scorpion girl, who is now free from Apocalypse's control.
Dragon Emperor0: Tune in next time for The Gathering pt. 2, and see who wins. I know it may seem like Gavin has it in the bag, but keep in mind, Oberon's also a trickster just as much as he is a powerhouse. So it could go either way at this point. Plus, you guys do realize that Gavin's only just now getting the upper hand right? All his other levels were child's play for the King of Fairies. This isn't clear cut here.
ThermalsniperN7: Exactly. There's bound to be numerous turning points here and there, so it'll literally be rocking around here.
Dragon Emperor0: Also, Chelsea's a descendant of Tiamat. Anyone else see that coming? I sure didn't.
ThermalsniperN7: That's gonna be the main subject of discussion after this is all over. Anyway, see you guys in the next chapter!