A/N: Summer internship just finished, and while I have exams again next week, I felt like making a bit of time for a quick snippet. This update was made in part to promote my Just In Space forum and in part because of a silly update trend that I will now break.
I was typing up a Tyke vs Hope "who's got the crappier childhood?" battle in the vein of the Shrek: The Musical song I Think I Got You Beat, but aborted it after several attempts. It may get featured in an omake if the idea still persists.
Rattenfänger von Hameln
"I'm glad no one had to get hurt."
- Scott Summers to Illyana Rasputin
It was times like this that Havok wished Captain America was leading the charge.
Eight hours ago, S.H.I.E.L.D. had finally discovered the hiding place of his brother's—of Professor Xavier's murderer. After the many times the Uncanny X-Men bested the spy agency, Maria Hill made what she thought was the wise choice of informing the Avengers.
Four hours ago, pretty much every Avenger and mutant in the world had gathered. Being the leader of the Unity Squad, Havok was chosen to take charge of the operation. With a gang of Hulks, a Thor, a Captain Marvel, a Sorcerer Supreme, a Scarlet Witch, a Storm, an Iceman, a Psylocke, and a Rachel Grey, among the army of capes that answered his call, Havok was sure that his broth- Professor Xavier's murderer would stand no match.
Two hours ago, they made contact, but not with who they wanted.
"Step aside, Illyana, and you won't get hurt." Havok commanded. Behind him, the army that had gathered tensed. "We're only here for Scott."
"You say that as if you can order me, deserter." Illyana taunted.
Havok's lips flat-lined. "Did Scott put you up to this? We all know how this will end."
There was all of them, and only one of her. No matter how powerful Magik was, she was only one mutant standing defiant against them all.
"Scott does not know you are all here, nor does he need to." Horns sprouted atop Illyana's head and the Darkchilde's eyes flickered towards the schoolteacher with a wicked gleam. "Ah, ah, ah, Miss Grey." The demonic mutant admonished. "You do not want to enter my head. Neither do you, Miss Braddock."
"What the bloody hell did she do?" Psylocke cursed. "Were you able to get in, Rachel?"
"I couldn't. This- this is just like before!" Rachel's eyes widened with a fear she couldn't shake. This was wrong.
"Is this all you brought, deserter?" Illyana asked as she turned her attention back towards the ringleader.
"Enough with your foolish posturing, demon!" Thor growled after finally at his patience's end. "If you will not stand down, I shall fulfill my prior promise and smite you where you stand! And this time, you do not have the Phoenix Force to save you! "
In Thor's hands, Mjolnir spun; above the skies, storm clouds gathered.
"Ah, silly alien." The Darkchilde shook her head as the last of her armor covered her. "If only you knew."
"Last chance, Magik." Havok gathered his power for a blast that would end this before it could get ugly. Magik's preparation throughout their conversation was not lost in him. The insane mutant actually wanted to take on his army by herself.
"Please, Illyana." Storm pleaded her former teammate. "Is Scott worth risking your life over?"
"He is my friend." Illyana calmly answered. "Not that you understand what that means."
The demon brandished her Soulsword.
"After this? Well, let's hope you have the chance to do."
Without warning, two massive bolts of lightning struck the demon just milliseconds before a wave of cosmic energy completely enveloped the landscape.
That was Havok's greatest mistake.
In an instant, those same waves of destruction slammed into the army of capes, leaving only the strong and the lucky standing. Havok's pained scream drowned in the sea of his comrade's anguish cries; not even the strongest shield Dr. Strange, Iron Man, Rachel Grey, and Psylocke created could shield them from the reflected onslaught.
Illyana was thankful such cries were short-lived. Unconsciousness and, maybe in some cases, death had such an effect.
"Is that all?" The Darkchilde asked.
"Attack!"
All the Hulks leapt at the still-grinning demon only to vanish from the battlefield. Captain Marvel was next; she had attempted to flee to the skies and regroup only to hit another of the Darkchilde's stepping discs.
"Why don't you fight us properly!" Havok managed to scream despite his struggle to stand. Behind him, his army started to recover.
"Yes, you're right." The demon admitted, unable to contain her disappointment. "This is no fun."
"We're not here to have fun!" Havok sprinted forward, throwing a shattering punch at the one-woman army. To his surprise, only his fist was transported, knocking the Scarlet Witch behind him out cold.
"Hnn!" Havok gasped as the demon's Soulsword sliced through his torso. His chest suddenly tightened painfully, and he crumpled onto the floor.
"It is unfortunate that Scott will be furious if I kill you." The Darkchilde spoke of her regret. She slammed her hooved foot against Havok's head, turning his body around so he could watch the one-sided battle despite his incapacitated stated.
"Stop this, Illyana!" Storm, having finally recovered, took to the skies and called down all manner of nature's wrath at the Queen of Limbo. "This is not you!"
"You do not know who I am."
Fear traveled down Storm's spine as she slowly turned towards the demon that whispered against her ear. The Darkchilde was there with her in the air, standing upon the light of her stepping disc.
"Begone!" Storm reflexively attacked, sending a burst of wind at her assailant. That same gust slammed into her back, throwing her into and impaling her on the demon's waiting sword.
"You, I have always wanted to kill." The demon confessed longingly. "A mere mortal claiming to be a goddess? What ego must you have, when you do not even know the meaning of hell. Another pity to keep you alive." She pulled her sword away and watched the white-haired mutant's limp and gasping body fall—onto Thor's waiting arms as the thunder god charged straight at her.
"You want to fight a god, demon?" Thor shouted and swung. "Well then, have at thee!"
It missed, and Thor's empowered strike shattered the ground below, sending all the grounded capes flying.
"Boring." Shaking her head, the demon could not help but feel cheated of what should have been an exhilarating experience.
"Face us squarely, demon!" Thor shouted at the one that looked down on them.
If Havok could speak, he would have shouted at the thunder god for his arrogant taunting.
"As you wish." The Darkchilde bowed her head mockingly.
At once, all the remaining and conscious capes felt their hearts stop.
Light erupted all around the battlefield, filling the skies and the ground with a familiar, grinning demon.
"I—can I just say we're thoroughly screwed?" Spider-man felt his throat dry at the army of Darkchildes that gathered.
The lightshow hadn't ceased. After Magik's own army appeared, hellfire began spewing out of the stepping discs as demons ranging from giant wyrms to hulking humanoids to imps, charged onto the battlefield and engaged the gathered capes.
"Oh come on!" The wall-crawler whined just before even his own lights went out.
That cemented it in Havok's eyes.
They needed to retreat.
'Rachel! Betsy!' Havok thought hard with the desperate hope that the telepaths could hear him.
No such luck.
Had Havok had the ability to look, he would have found both of them with their eyes rolled back into their heads as blood painted the lower half of their faces. The backlash from putting up a TK field against that first onslaught had nearly fried their brains- had they been the only ones to put up the shield, they surely would have died.
Mad laughter filled the battlefield as the army of Illyanas joined the battle, completely massacring the intruders.
Two hours ago, Havok and his army made contact with one lone mutant with the belief that she was insane for standing against them. They so were wrong; it was the other way around. They were insane for thinking they could stand a chance against this one lone mutant.
One hour ago, Illyana Rasputin had finally grown bored slaughtering her enemies. She ended the massacre.
Now, Havok finally woke up.
He found himself still incapacitated by the effect of the demon's Soulsword, unable to do anything but stare at the familiar snow-covered clearing below him.
A clearing filled with capes that stood face-to-face with one lone, defiant mutant.
"I love time-travel." His captor spoke from where she sat on a boulder with her chin resting on the hilt of her Soulsword. "I get to enjoy every moment of the smack-down I deliver."
It was then when Havok understood the meaning of futility.
They never really had a chance against this demon.
Horrifyingly, much like the rats that followed the Pied Piper of Hamelin, they were merely dancing to their destruction to the demon's tune.
Omake: You Monster
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade."
"Yes." Illyana hissed in sync with the agreement from one of the characters on screen.
"Make life take the lemons back!"
"Yes!" She groaned.
"Get mad!"
"Oh, yes!"
"I don't want your damn lemons, what the hell am I supposed to do with all of these?"
"Yeah, take the lemons." Came the artificial intelligence's gleeful comment.
"Splatter it across his face!" Illyana gleefully added.
"Demand to see life's manager!"
"Dark lords, yes!"
"Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons! Do you know who I am? I am the man who's gonna burn your house down!"
"Oh, I like this guy." The artificial intelligence said.
"I do, too." Illyana sang her agreement while her body trembled euphorically.
"With the lemons! I'm gonna get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down!"
"Burn his house down!"
"Down to the ground!" Illyana screamed.
"Scott?" Emma began, her body shuddering as she warily eyed the gleeful Illyana. "Are you sure Illyana should be playing this?"
"Of course." Scott replied confidently. Trust Scott Summers to be oblivious to Illyana's near-orgasmic shivering. "This is the perfect material to teach Illyana more applications of her powers."
"Don't say I didn't warn you." Emma said before swiftly retreating from both Illyana's physical and mental vicinity. "Just, if you wake up one day with jumping boot strapped to your legs and a portal gun in your arms, please remember that I was right."
Several days later, Scott resolved to pay Emma's counsel more attention.
As an aside, thanks to Illyana's determination, she gained a new projectile in the form of a combustible lemon.
A/N: Unfortunately, I couldn't insert a scene where Illyana unleashes her magic. And yes, I did get the idea of the Magik army from Date A Live's best girl.
I kinda feel the mutants were nerfed in AvX. Even without the Phoenix Force, the amount of power at the disposal of the Extinction Team should have curbstomped the opposition until they weren't even grease on the pavement. Heck, Magneto, the guy that pulled that massive Breakworld bullet from the nearby galaxy, should have been able to destroy that metal-using team singlehandedly.
Then there's Magik. Then there's P5!Magik.
Really, it's no wonder Bendis felt the need to 'nerf' the Uncanny X-Men.
Lastly, many thanks to KasugaRomia for the slew of reviews! And yeah, Phoenix Force/Scott really could be the next Venom/Peter!
