(Uh...here's the second chapter. Thanks for the 2M reads guys. I can't tell you how much your support means to me.)
"What can we do?" I asked, legitimately curious. Things would only escalate from here with the demons. "Storming Limbo for Ilyana and Ororo is not an option as we are. I looked at Jean. "You need time to recover."
Jean tucked her hair behind her ears. "You're right about me needing to recover, but it'll take a lot less time than you think. If we had the rest of the X-Men on our side, we might have a shot with enough preparation."
"They despise us," I pointed out. "You wrecked their mansion, killed their professor, and 'corrupted' you if we went by Scott's logic."
Jean winced. "What happened was unfortunate," she said, "but they'll get onboard when they understand what's at stake. Ilyana and Ororo have to be saved. I owe both of them that much."
I understood her guilt, but I pointed out the obvious. "She might've ended up in Limbo without your interference," I said. "I think her ability is fundamentally tied to that place. It can't be a coincidence that her power brought her there."
"And what about Ororo?"
She asked, and I felt like I'd been punched in the gut. She'd been nothing but nice to me, despite my pasts, despite the rumors. "Wrong place, wrong time."
"It simply won't do," she said. "It doesn't matter if I caused this unintentionally. I don't think I'll be able to live with myself if I don't set things right."
I'd be lying if I said I felt the same way she did, but that didn't mean I felt no guilt for the lives I'd taken, regardless of the circumstances.
"Alright," I said, raising my hand in mock surrender. "You've sold me. Once I figure out how to craft, I'm sure I'll be able to whip up something that could help."
We went into further discussions about the particulars of our plans. Jean and I needed to round up the X-Men first and develop a solid plan of action, but only after putting certain things in place first. We needed money. Lots of it, which we had thanks to my pilfering and Jean's mind-wiping.
And starting from tomorrow, Yao intended for us to start training in earnest—Jean with magic and psychic control and me with internal energy manipulation and named techniques. Rin had been invited as well. She was surprised to hear of his heritage. According to her, she knew of no quarter Cambions. All Cambions born from Belasco were famously barren. That was why Corvus was so eager to create a new subrace.
I also talked to her about completing my Uber resistance skill, so to speak. I needed at least Red 75k Red Orbs—though I suspected it'd cost much more, and a few more conceptual resistances before I was ready to combine them and rid myself of the cosmic burn.
"Finding demons to kill will not be an issue," she promised.
--
Fury
I stood in front of the World Council again, two whole days after Pierce had made his threat, one member lighter.
A lot had happened after I said goodbye to Dante that night. Jean and the kid portalled in the next morning and helped us sort out the mutant threat, as well as fabricate very convincing emails and online messages from all three leaders of Hydra. Establishing a convincing physical trail had taken a great deal of effort, but we had pictures of all three leaders visiting each other on more than one occasion, but they were never together in one place.
With everything we'd already gathered, I figured it was enough.
Were I pettier, man, I would've gloated.
"We all got the call," I said, mustering as much sympathy as I could for the snake of a man. "Pierce is dead, and Shield knows why." I hit a button on my system, and a series of emails went out. "Those are encoded messages we retrieved from Pierce's private home computers. He was Hydra. He and nearly 800 members of SHIELD," I pronounced. "Most of them are being detained and removed as we speak."
There was a stretch of silence as the chair people perused the document.
"This can't be right," Councilman Yen said.
"The proof is extensive," Councilwoman Hawley said slowly, looking up. "When you say removed, what do you mean?"
"Contained until they've been fully investigated," I said. "Those that try to resist, however, will be eliminated.
Councilman Yen, ever meticulous, adjusted his glasses. "You stated here in the middle of your report that you have evidence so-called demons are responsible for this?"
I saw the looks they were all giving me, so I decided to explain.
"Extraterrestrials that have likely been here for Centuries," I said. "We only noticed the first of their kind about 20 years ago. We were formerly operating on the assumption that they were some kind of mutant, but the evidence we've gathered recently suggests otherwise."
I hit another button, sending the Dossier I have on Demons. "They are very powerful and very dangerous. The only reason we've not had extensive contact with them is because the Sorcerers have been isolating and systematically culling them without our knowledge. Their order is apparently sworn to protect the earth, and they've been doing so for centuries."
"Jesus," Rockwell spat. "Truly the end times. Goddamned demons are literarily crawling up from below, and we have sorcerers defending us! What has this world come to."
"Continue on, Director?" Hawley urged. "What changed? Why attack now?"
"We suspect it might have something to do with Xavier's death, but the attacks began even before then. One thing was clear from the intelligence our Specialist Agent and Jean Grey gathered, though. They seem to be after mutants."
"Jean Grey?" Rockwell questioned. "The girl started this mess to begin with?"
"Strucker, Pierce, and Malick had mutants in their basements and supersoldiers they saved over from World War II. They've conducted all manners of horror in their search for power, and Charles Xavier was cut from the same cloth. Jean's Grey might've killed him, but she didn't force the devils to attack them. SHE answered when she was called, and she fought hard, saving dozens of mutant lives," I said, folding my hands.
"You still don't get it, do you? Malick, Pierce, and Strucker are the core leaders of one of the most powerful secret organizations on the planet, and the demons took them out in one night because they felt like it. Their real goal is the mutants. The only class of humans that could hope to resist them. Without realizing it, the demons fucking saved our asses. Imagine how fucked we'd be if we alienated our strongest humans on earth days before we were invaded?"
Hawley was the first to speak. "We hear you, Fury, but the timing of all of this seems rather suspect…"
I made it a point to roll my eye. "The pictures are clear, and so is the evidence. Would you like to see the demon bodies as well? What more do you need?"
"Strucker still lives," Yen spoke up. "Perhaps an interview with a representative."
"I'll do you one better," I grinned. "I'll arrange a sit-in interview with a representative from each Council member. Submit all of your questions, and we'll have an agent ask them. That way, you all get the answers you're looking for, and everybody is satisfied."
The council was silent for a long time before Councilman Singh spoke up. He'd been silent this entire time, so his words came across as more impactful. "That is acceptable. India is eager to pursue action against the demon threat. Several villages have been attacked and razed. The people of my country are calling for justice."
"And they'll have it," I said with a toothy smile. "And I have just the beacon to deliver it worldwide.
-
Logan
It took my all of fucking patience and a chunk of the money I'd saved up, but I finally made it to McTaggert's place. The Mansion was in shambles when I found it, swarming with government spooks pretending to be a containment team.
We clearly hadn't won against SHIELD. And I'd even begun to fear the worst: that somebody might've died in the fight.
"I swear to God, Charles," I growled as I approached the steps. "If even one of them is hurt—Aaah!"
"Hey, Uncle Logan," Kitty's head popped from the ground. The damn kid nearly gave me a heart attack, not that it would be enough to kill me anyways.
"You're lucky I like you, Kid!" I grumbled as she popped out from below and swept me in the tightest hug. All the anger and fear I had building up inside me suddenly disappeared at that moment.
I couldn't remember the last time I felt that relaxed. I could've held her closer for longer and allowed myself to truly soak in the relief that at least one of my students was safe, but I was responsible for hundreds of them, not just the one.
"The rest of the kids, where are they? Are they safe?"
Kitty made a face. "Not quite."
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