Chapter 084 – Reasons and Truth

[2009 – August]

"How much do you know about the Externals?", Selene questioned as soon as they all had taken their seats, and while her voice and expression were calm, her mind wasn't as calm as she tried to portray.

She knew that this conversation could either result in her getting the help she needed to take down Apocalypse, or it could end with her making even more enemies for herself, this time ones that she had barely any knowledge of.

Shaking his head slightly, Elijah replied sternly: "This is not how things are going to go, Selene."

With a minute twitch at the corner of her eyes, the ancient sorceress turned towards the young mutant with a calm smile: "What do you mean, Elijah?"

"You have obviously called me here because there is something you need my help with, and I might have even done what you asked of me to repay the favor Emma owes you. But now that you have already tried to attack me, that favor is obsolete.", he answered, causing Selene almost feel regret at her actions, though she had lived too long to really be bothered by emotions such as guilt or remorse.

At some point, she had just stopped caring about everyone but herself, considering that everyone close to her had betrayed her one way or the other. It was also easier to only care about oneself when one was an immortal sorceress that lived by robbing others of their life force.

"If you want my help, then I suggest you stop fishing for information and tell us the truth, or this conversation is over.", Elijah continued calmly, causing her to sigh internally.

The young mutant was her greatest chance at dealing with Apocalypse once and for all, not because he was powerful, which he certainly was considering his ability to strip her of her magic, but because he was the lover of the Phoenix's incarnation, Jean Grey.

Selene's knowledge about the Universe was extensive. She had after all lived for thousands of years and had made deals with devils, demons, and gods to gain her knowledge. So she knew enough to realize whose power it was that Jean carried inside of her.

Even more important though was that she had searched for a being like Jean for centuries, she had even tried to create one herself – a being that could kill Apocalypse - but had failed every time.

Elijah had just been her best bet in trying to direct the young girl at her old nemesis once he had been charmed, though that ploy had obviously failed.

Knowing that she could only give in to the teen's demands if she still wanted to have any chance at killing Apocalypse with the help of the Phoenix, Selene answered truthfully, not daring to lie as she couldn't be sure about the extent of Elijah's knowledge.

…

"I invited you here because I want your help in killing another External.", the sorceress replied flatly.

Thinking about her words for a moment, I realized that she could only mean Apocalypse as he was undoubtedly the most powerful of the group of immortal mutants. Not to mention that his plans for the world were rather 'apocalyptic', and certainly not in the interest of anyone in this room.

Even I wouldn't want him to succeed as from what I remembered, Apocalypse wanted to be the sole ruler over a world dominated by mutants. And as I took my personal freedom rather seriously, that was a major no-no.

Still, I knew that Selene didn't care about this world at all, and with her power, it should have been easy to just leave Earth behind and settle down somewhere else, so there had to be more to her story that I wasn't aware of.

"I assume you are talking about Apocalypse.", I stated with a raised brow, causing Selene to nod in confirmation, her face kept carefully impassive.

"What about the other seven Externals?", I questioned, knowing that while they mostly acted independently, there had been times when they had banded together.

"I killed the last of them a decade ago.", the Dark Priestess replied, causing me to be surprised and rather shocked.

Though thankfully nothing showed on my face thanks to my Body Supremacy which allowed me to perfectly control my physical body, including involuntary muscle spasms and twitches.

Still, if Selene had truly killed all her fellow Externals except En Sabbah Nur then her current power level was hard to estimate, not to mention that Apocalypse would be out for blood as soon as he awakened from his slumber.

He might not have cared for humanity or other normal mutants, but Apocalypse had been the leader of the Externals as far as I could remember, and they had been the existence closest to him in essence, so he certainly held some form of affection for them.

Selene, having killed seven of them, would most certainly be his prime target for revenge.

But from the comics, I knew that Apocalypse might have been in hibernation but he would awaken occasionally or be woken up by his Clan. Things might have been different in this timeline though if the events here were similar to the movies.

Still, without asking Selene and hoping that she would tell the truth, I wouldn't get anywhere with my speculations. Getting an idea, I turned my palm for a moment and focused, creating an invisible ethereal barrier to surround the three of us, before I continued to question the immortal sorceress.

"How long has Apocalypse been asleep? And what happened to Clan Akkaba? They certainly wouldn't do nothing once they realized what you had done.", I voiced out my thoughts.

A peculiar look appeared in Selene's eyes for just a moment as she answered: "He has been in hibernation for nearly two thousand years, and his Clan can't awaken him since I killed them all."

"You caused him to be buried while in hibernation in a ploy to stop him from being awakened outside of your control and knowledge, didn't you? And once that was done you killed his Clan and robbed him of his power base so that no one would try to awaken him.", I guessed, drawing my conclusion from the bits and pieces of information I had from the movies and the comics.

A silver of hate and accomplishment flashing past her stark blue eyes, Selene answered: "It took me decades to manipulate the mortals he had worshipping him to betray him without him finding out. His Clan thankfully didn't share his great power and were rather easy to take care of, especially since they knew nothing about magic."

"But why do all this?", I inquired with a frown, "A sorceress with your knowledge and power, you could have gone anywhere in the Universe. Apocalypse isn't really your problem nor do you have to deal with him to live in wealth and peace on some faraway planet."

"While Apocalypse might not have been my pro-", Selene tried to answer though her words cut off abruptly even though her mouth still moved, causing a look of surprise in her eyes while Emma also looked at me questioningly.

"So Apocalypse is indeed your problem.", I stated calmly, a sharp look in my eyes as I stared at the Dark Priestess, whose eyes had widened as she looked at me with a hint of panic in her gaze.

"You might want to reconsider lying to me, as you can only speak the truth in my presence.", I added lightly, relieved that my ethereal barrier did what I wanted it to do and 'shielded' me from her lies.