Three Burst concentrated on my legs, and I shot forward, body flickering as Angel Evade struggled to contain the sheer energy flowing through the skill. I materialized moments before I hit Isha, prompting her to point her feathers at me, but I went intangible as I phased through her. My body whirled as I ejected three Burst from my chest, reversing my momentum.
The skill failed immediately, and I ejected another set of three from my right heel and calf, speeding up my leg to a ridiculous degree. The two impact runes in my legs went off as my leg collided with her folded arms with frightening impact. She would've blocked with her wings, but touching them now could compromise her attack and lead to an explosion that would wipe out several buildings. Thousands would die.
She made a crater on the spot she hit the ground, and I could hear Isha bitch in her mind how close she'd come to losing control of the spell. Her hands were shaking from blocking that hit, and she was sure she had multiple hairline fractures running through the length of her bones, but she was determined to win the fight.
A precision jet of wind shot at me as I fell to the ground, but I didn't bother blocking, letting my ten protection runes block the attacks.
The energy levels on my storage runes dipped, but the loss was insignificant.
"My techniques are not the only thing that has grown since we last fought, Isha," I boasted as I landed.
Suddenly wary of my attack and armor, Isha decided to entertain the conversation. Besides, she still needed more time to prepare for her attack.
"Those runes," she began, "they're like nothing I've ever seen before."
"Your father didn't destroy everything when he raided our home," I smirked, spinning up a wild tale. "They come from her home dimension, and this is only the beginning. You were right. You should've killed me when you had the chance." I took a bold step forward. "Now, it's too late."
I flared my Demonic Aura, a skill I'd often forgotten, and let it soak in my Nether Fire and Density affinities.
In Isha's sight, I'd transformed into Corvus, her brother. The blood lust and density that rolled off me told of an incomprehensible strength, something vast and all-consuming, a force powerful enough to snuff her out.
The skill stunned her, and Isha took a step back, an act that seemed to shatter her confidence and ignite her rage.
"No!" she shrieked as her skin blared white. "I will not be intimidated by a mongrel like you. You've tested me for the last time, Wastrel. I hope Hela takes your soul."
Isha was just about ready to blow, and I sensed Yao, and a few others teleport onto the edge of the battlefield. They were all supernaturally fast with their spellwork. Fast enough to raise the mirror dimension spell in time, not nearly, so I did the exact thing Jean warned me not to.
I pushed my mental link with Isha, pouring heaps of demonic energy into her mind. Her cloak of white sputtered as I spoke.
"Hela will have to get in fucking line."
"What!" Her voice cracked, stunned and confused, and the mirror dimension went up faster than she could recover. When she was ready to fire, it was too late. Storm Fire Cannon roared, and I casually stepped into ethereal, where I remained untouched, or at least I thought I'd be.
The concussive force of the attack sent me flying, and it was immediately apparent I was only weathering a fraction of its full power. Still, a fraction was enough to fracture five of the ten protection runes I'd woven into Twilight Sentinel and burn through ninety percent of the energy infused into the Protection Rune. My health was barely impacted, but it was the suddenness of the attack that threw me for a loop.
Through some bullshittery, her attack seemed to pass through dimensions. I wondered how that had even been possible until I made the connection. Mordo had said something about how several dimensional phenomena could not exist in the same place.
It was the exact reason they could not raise a mirror dimension in a place overtaken by Limbo dimensional invasion. I'm guessing tapping into Limbo while I was in the mirror dimension had not wholly stepped into the other dimension.
I blinked. It was certainly a logical leap, yet it felt…right. I could only think it was a function of my enhanced dimensional affinity.
Still, I had a villain to defeat and a city to save. I returned to the material in time to watch Isha crumble to her knee, a significant part of her wings warped by the display.
Her eyes widened when they saw me, and she began to move, but she was no match for me in her state. I flashed in front of her with Rebellion raised, packed with demonic energy, and brought it down on her head. Predictably, she raised her wings to block the attack.
A Burst Detonated in my hand as the impact runes in my gauntlets flared, and they sliced through the infernal gold alloy like cheese, raising a startled look on her face. She leaned back as my blade cut a thin line down her torso and swiped at me with her claws. My blade was faster. I called upon a technique I'd not used with Rebellion in a long while: Trillion Stabs.
My hands blurred as I parried away her weak retaliation and marked her up and down with my lightning-quick wrist. In moments, she was bloodied and stumbling back. Most of her golden metal plumage laid to the side eviscerated brutal swordsmanship. I buried my blade in her gut, making sure to miss any vital organs, and summoned up a shortsword and swiped at her wrist, taking off a hand as it came around for yet another defiant strike.
A scream ripped from her throat, and my shortsword pressed against it, forcing her to stop.
I spoke into her mind.
'That's enough of that.'
She gritted her teeth as she glared up at me.
'You were in my head from the beginning…'
'More or less,' I said. 'You should've taken my advice and dipped when I asked.'
'And go where?' she mentally barked at me. 'I asked to fight you, and besides, no true child of Belasco runs from a fight.'
I snorted. 'You should try it sometimes. You lot might live longer.'
'Don't you dare play benevolent!' she snapped. 'We were at each other's throat. You would've killed me during our first encounter if you could.'
'True, but since then, I've met your other siblings, and while you're insufferable, you're surprisingly tame compared to them. Enrique is openly sadistic, Domina is downright monstrous and manipulative, and Baptiste and Thabo talked about you like you were sub-human,' I said. 'I'm guessing it has something to do with Vergil, doesn't it?'
I narrowed my eyes as I read her mind. 'You made the mistake of trusting him, and he played you.'
'You both should've been hunted down after your parents fell,' she mentally snarled.
I twisted Rebellion, feeling a flare of anger I didn't understand. Her words shouldn't be getting to me, but they were.
'The point I am trying to make is that if you were anybody else, I would've incinerated you and moved on. Your family hates your guts. Your sister even sent you to your death. You're the most likely to hear reason among your demented lot. Tell me about your sister's plans, abilities, and the strongest among your father's children, and you don't have to die.'
"What?" she blurted out using actual words as the mirror dimension faded around us. The Ancient one stood behind me as I continued.
"We'd dump you of a portal on the other side of the galaxy and leave you to your devices. There's virtually no chance this blows back on you…or refuse me and deal with Jean Grey. I'm a halfway decent Telepath, but Jean struck fear into the heart of Charles Xavier himself."
Isha blinked at me before she burst out laughing. I frowned. I'd not expected her to accept it outright, but at the brink of death, I at least hoped she'd deliberate it, invertedly revealing more about her siblings than she initially intended.
The laugh, I quickly discovered, was not about the ridiculousness of the offer but the threat itself.
"Something is wrong with Jean," I said. "Cambion," I slowly realized. Domina had sent a Cambion to the school instead of a demon.
Isha grinned, bloody and irreverent. "Kill me and be done with it. You'll get nothing from me."
Believe me, I was tempted to give her exactly what she wanted, but she was more useful alive. I pulled my blade instead, letting her flop to the ground, grunting and bleeding.
"Go," The Ancient one said, walking up to join me. "One of the men will help you with the portal. Leave Isha Stormfire in my care."
---
Bruce Banner
The entire structure shook as loud booms went off below us, and I nervously watched the countdown of the Gamma reactor. We were still frantically monitoring the computer console as the containment system worked its magic, slowly shutting down the mini gamma reactor we'd requisitioned for our experiment.
Not two minutes into the five-minute deadline that the mind-controlling mutant had given, shit had gone from bad to worse.
The team had mobilized to back up the fighters on the ground floor, and apparently, the cocky kid had died within seconds of coming in contact with the demon.
I was slick with sweat, nervously typing away, and Betty seemed on the brink of a nervous breakdown, but we had to keep level and keep going. It was the only way we'd be safe and extracted.
In between rapid keystrokes, I eyed one of the fridges in the corner, where I'd kept the rest of the supersoldier serum batch. It was next on my list after we were done with most of the shutdown process, but I was nervous about disposing of it because of how much attention my Serum was getting. It was obvious the government would want to replace what they'd lost with Ross, and even if their top agent, this 'Dante' fellow, could retrieve it, they'd likely still want me pumping out more Serum with everything going on right now, and I couldn't blame them.
A lone demon was ripping through the building, making a bee-line for me, and even Captain America was not strong enough to stop it.
Still, I was apprehensive about handing over my new formula. I estimated it would be an increase over the Cap results, and that was putting it mildly. With gamma radiation as a power source, the sky was the limit, and that was what terrified me—that a person I helped create could become a calamity we could not hope to defend against.
In the corner of the room, the agents whispered furiously, arguing against one another before I finally said. "Sorry, Nat. I know you're Fury's favorite, but I outrank you. I'm going to check on them."
"You heard the Captain. This is our post. We're the last line of defense. Don't forget that there are still demons roaming around."
He smirked, raising his high-tech rifle. "All the more reason I should join the fight. Someone has to pull them away."
Natasha frowned.
"Jean may be compromised, we can't—
"I'll be fine, Nat," he reassured, though it was clear to the second agent and me that he would not be. "I'll hang back like I did last time. Let them wear him out while I take shots. What would've happened to Dante if I hadn't been there?"
That shut her up. She looked like she had much more to say, but he was already heading for the lab exit.
"I'll be fine," he promised. "You'll see."
Nat stood there frozen for a long moment before turning around and facing me. Her glare could've melted the Arctic.
"How much longer?" she asked.
"Not long," I answered in a low voice, returning to my computer. I had questions, but Natasha didn't seem in the mood to answer them moments before mourning the potential loss of her teammate. I took comfort in the fact that she hadn't pressed me about the Serum formula yet.
(Read ahead on Patreon.com/artandcreativewriting)