Chapter 79

(vote with your stones and help us rank higher)

I entered Angel Evade once more and sped toward Rin and Kurt, who were in the middle of a hushed conversation.

"We're here to get you out," Rin whispered.

"Are you with za X-Men," he asked in a thick Bavarian accent.

"SHIELD," he insisted, and Kurt took a furtive step back, a bit disturbed.

"No," he clarified. "The real one. All of this is not sanctioned by them. Hydra and Shield are different entities."

"Is zat what they told you?" Kurt demanded. "How can you know or zure? Ztrucker is a military officer, and he runs this facility."

Rin knew he was losing him, so he switched tactics immediately. "I've watched them personally eliminate three of the five leaders of Hydra. Trask has been captured, and Strucker is probably dying right now."

"What!" Kurt's golden eyes widened in surprise. I saw his muscles tense as he prepared to teleport, but I appeared in front of him and slammed him into the floor, knocking him out.

"You can't win everybody over," I said, "at least not over one conversation."

Rin looked a bit sober, staring at his downed friend. 

"Are you going to try and save this last mutant as well or…"

 "No," Rin said, "Corey is an asshole."

"No love lost there. Good to know," I said with a non-committal shrug.

We found Corey around the bend, and Rin filled me in on his particular mutation. Corey was ridiculously tough, like diamonds tough, with a dash of superstrength. He could compete with the strongest unenhanced human alive, all while being under 180 pounds.

Corey's durability was music to my ears. It meant I could cut loose a little. Corey was in the middle of a smoke break in a corner where the base camera didn't quite reach.

A Burst threw me forward, straight at him, and an Angel Evade guaranteed he did not see me coming. It was entirely too late when I manifested in front of his face and swung upwards. It sent Corey rocketing into the ceiling, hitting his head. A double-charged Burst was waiting for him on his way down, whipping his head wildly back.

Corey groaned suitably devastated, but I was not done with him yet. He caught a kick to the face as he came up at my full speed and strength. It threw him hard into the wall with a loud slap, which finally put him down.

Rin grimaced, looking at me as we hurried back to Strucker's office.

"What!" I said, defending myself. "It was either that or kill him. And it has occurred to me that the nuclear option shouldn't be your first option when you're trying to recruit new blood. Besides, why am I defending my blood lust? You're just as thirsty as I am." I threw an accusatory stare at Rin, and he looked away, embarrassed slightly.

"You're older. You should know better."

True. "I'm 19. I'm not that much older than you."

To that, Rin had no response. It wasn't long before we circled back to Strucker's office and got some face time with the main man himself just as Jean was finishing with him. The lady with claws, A.K.A. Death Strike, lay on the floor with a bullet hole in her head.

I threw a look at Natasha to ask what happened, but Jean supplied an answer.

"She got free when I was working on Strucker. Natasha had to put her down."

Strucker was on the wall, stuck in a T-pose as he scowled, blood dripping from his orifices. "Who was it? He demanded. "Who betrayed Hydra?"

I rolled my eyes, not bothering to entertain his line of questioning. I summoned Ebony, ready to put an end to the wastrel, when Natasha stopped me.

"Wait," she said. "The Director wants to speak to you."

I frowned, tapping my communicator.

"Fury, what is it?" I said.

"Kinda in the middle of something here."

"We need him," he simply said, and I didn't quite believe my ears. Didn't Natasha share with him what Rin told us about this facility?

"Like hell you do," I said, looking at Jean and Rin, who were already frowning.

"I thought you already understood how this works," he said. "We need to sell the story, or you and Jean can't walk away from any of this. They need somebody to hang and confirm Hydra's existence."

"Why not some mid-level thug?" I asked. "Strucker is too dangerous to be left alive."

"If you want to guarantee amnesty from the World Council, this is how to make it happen."

I set my jaw. I could see through his bullshit, but we already had everything we needed from Strucker. No doubt Fury planned to exploit Fury's knowledge and whatever Natasha got from Trask's mainframe to come up with counters against us. I was tempted to have Jean lobotomize him before we sent him through, but I still needed Fury, and so did the mutants. We couldn't make a proper safe haven without him, not without imposing further on the Ancient one. We also needed him to liaise with the World Council. Fury was indispensable, for now.

I nodded at Jean, who'd observed our entire conversation, and with a begrudging look, let the man topple to the floor.

"What's going on?" Rin was the first to speak.

"We're turning him over to SHIELD."

"What do you mean you're returning him to SHIELD?"

I patted him on his shoulder. I knew he was looking forward to the kill, but sacrifices had to be made. "His day will come, I promise you that," I said, then I turned to Aaron.

I was about to ask him to get us out of the base when the ground suddenly started to shake. A wave of crimson energy flooded the air, and the floor below us started to stretch, break, and warp.

I anchored myself to the wall with a knife, and Rin grabbed hold of my leg to keep him steady. Jean held herself in the air with Telekinesis and managed the same for everyone else except Strucker and DeathStrike. She slipped through a particularly huge rent on the floor, and a screaming, panicked Strucker was headed for the same fate. I was tempted to let it happen until I considered the implications.

He might fall to his death or end up in Limbo as Storm and Ilyana did, which would only serve to accelerate the demons' purposes.

Demon pulled and yanked him to safety. The shaking persisted for a few more seconds before slabs of artificial earth and thick red film filled the holes. The office had grown several sizes, and a familiar reddish tint permeated the atmosphere.

"Dante, Natasha, Clint, come in!" Fury hollered. "Are you still there."

"Yeah, we are," I said.

"What happened?"

"The demons happened." They'd finally made their play, and I'd give you one guess who they were after. "And they've come for the mutants."

"Motherfucker." That was the appropriate reaction, alright.

I turned to Aaron. "You need to get Strucker out of here. He's a walking goldmine for the demons," and I turned to Rin. "You need to get your buddy and Corey before he gets snatched. If the demons get him, we'll have to go to literal hell to get him back."

Rin nodded and hustled out of the room with nary a complaint, and I got back to Fury. "You're getting Natasha and Clint back now."

I saw both agents about to raise a word of complaint, but I shut them both down. "While I appreciate your fucking candour, the demons don't play around. I've been fighting them all day; all it takes is a swing. I like you both a little too much to risk that. Rin will sub in for both of you. When the kid gets cooking, no one can compete, not even me. Trust me, it's the demons that should be afraid."

Clint nodded, admitting he was ill-suited for a fight with demons, but Natasha took longer to concede. She pointed out that she could hang behind and take potshots, and I informed her that I'd faced demons that can teleport, literarily send waves of fire at you, and manipulate metal and earth. Virtually anything could be waiting for us down there.

Fury agreed a bit quicker but added that the response team was still on their way and was picking up speed. The entire landscape around the base had been warped. Since it was just outside New York, they had ground for an extra-quick and aggressive response.

Rin came jogging in a few moments after the conversation concluded with an upright but slightly bruised Night Crawler.

"Corey?" I asked Rin, who shook his head.

"Pity," I muttered, then turned my attention to Nightcrawler, who was sizing me up.

"He zaid you can get the mutants to zafety. I will join you."

Fuckin excellent. "Glad to have you onboard, kid. I summoned a large Bowey knife I stole from Fury's armoury and chucked it at him. He caught it easily enough. "Just in case."

I turned to Aaron. "I know we don't have the best of relationships, but I really need you to stick this out for a while longer. The dream team and I will be diving down below to save those mutants, and when we come up, we need you here, ready to portal them to safety. Are you down for that?"

Aaron sighed. "I still don't like you, but this is important. I will tell the ancient one of this attack. She's likely to send you reinforcement."

I grinned. "Good man," then turned to Jean. "Ready to cut loose?"

She smiled back. "Oddly, I am."

"That's the spirit."

(Read up to Chapter 101 on Patreon.com/ArtandCreativeWriting)