Chapter 96

Isha

My escape artifact flared up in a bright, complicated flash of demonic and magical energy, depositing me in the home of the last person I ever wanted to be, but I had no choice. I had a hole in my heart that refused to heal and was rapidly losing blood.

My options were limited.

I groaned as I pushed myself off the wooden floors, struggling to stand upright as I heard a flood of feet pattering around me. In front of me, I sensed a presence that dwarfed me in power but not in size.

"You look terrible, Isha," a diminutive voice rang out sonorously. "Strange seeing you here. Didn't you promise to rip out my throat the next time you saw me?"

"I'm bleeding out, Domina," I growled at my insufferable sister. "This is not the time for games."

Domina squatted down to my level, grabbing my jaw with her delicate fingers. She raised my face until my eyes matched hers.

"This is exactly the time."

My body wracked in pain as I glared at her. Domina had purple hair, porcelain skin that made her look deathly pale, and deep purple eyes. She was dressed in a kimono, of all things, and had an ever so slight smirk on her face.

"When else am I going to see my younger sister so humble?" she teased. "If only Corvus could see you now. It would break his heart. Done in by both brothers."

"Will you help me or not!" I said through gritted teeth, and she finally relented with a sigh and a snap of her fingers. Her attendants produced a stretcher and delicately transported me onto it. They were all dressed in black ninja attire and ferried me deeper into the Japanese-style mansion.

Domina watched me go with a smile on her face.

"Don't you worry your head, sister. I will rule New York in your absence. Going back to America should be…fun."

 "No!" I protested, but it came out weak. As my consciousness faded, the image of Domina persisted with me. She stood in a courtyard, silhouetted against a large paper wall with a bloodied print.

---

Dante

"After coming to terms with my mortality, I realized that I might've been too harsh on Charles Xavier. He was not a perfect man, but everyone deserves dignity in death. And so, it's with great remorse and contrition that I admit that I might've overplayed Charles Xavier's involvement in my personal life and career."

Dozens of hands shot up in the crowd around me as reporters fired off question after question, but 'Senator Kelly' only pointed at a redhead beside me.

She wore thick glasses, had freckles on her cheeks, and a hat to ward off the New York Sun, but anyone who'd seen her beauty up close recognized her in an instant. It was Natasha Romanoff.

"But everything that you claim did happen after Xavier's visits—the sudden change in your political positioning, your divorce, and the fact that you even barely see your daughter. Are you, in essence, saying the entire video was fabricated?"

I leaned forward with my microphone to get a clear answer from the panicked Senator. We stood in the second row of reporters outside Kelly's lawyer's office, and the powers at be had pulled out all of the stops.

The interview was being televised and recorded, and the two stars—Natasha and 'Senator Kelly' were playing things up.

"Things are not that simple. Xavier was…persistent. He saw me at odd hours of the day and night, and he refused to take no for an answer. He might've not used his mutant ability against me, but he pushed me to the brink."

More murmurs and questions pulsed through the crowd as my lips stretched into a satisfied smile.

"To be clear, your video condemning Charles Xavier, and by extension, his students, the government, and mutants worldwide, was an opinionated piece with no evidence?"

'Kelly' conceded with a begrudging "yes" but was quick to backpedal. "However, it does not invalidate what I've been saying for years. Mutants are walking, breathing weapons. In the same way, you would require a gun owner to register their firearms and gain permission from the state to use them, so should we encourage mutants to do the same for their mutation. How many millions of crimes remain unsolved worldwide every year because Law Enforcement don't have the data to target the right people?"

"You're discounting the presence of organized criminal organizations, terrorists, and the desperate state of international law enforcement, especially in the Third World," Natasha pointed out. "And you just said it yourself, Senator, you're one to let your emotion affect your opinions. Who is to say that your prejudices haven't colored your politics as well?"

'Kelly' gnashed his teeth refusing to answer as he was peppered with more relevant questions.

"Senator, what life-threatening situation did you face?"

"Are you afraid that the mutants will come for you?"

"What do you have to say to those people who say there's a deep-state conspiracy to silence you?"

'Kelly' looked back, surveying the crowd before suddenly announcing, "No further questions."

He spun around, hurrying into his lawyer's embrace as he was ferried up a flight of stairs.

Well, that went well.

Before I could say as much to Natasha, I heard Jean whisper to my mind. 'They're here.'

'Where?' I asked.

'Do you need me?'

'No, Yao has it well in hand.'

---

Yao

I stood beside my blossoming student Jean, observing the latest scheme cooked up by another student, Dante and Fury.

They had the shapeshifter, much to her and Magneto's chagrin, play Kelly to pacify the public. Meanwhile, Fury approached the government and other people affected by Charles in the background and forced their silence through mostly peaceful means.

The plan had only taken an evening to put together and execute, but we had no doubt the demons would show up and try to put an end to our plans.

After all, their entire ploy to flush out the mutants hinged on this.

I expected a veritable army of demons and had prepared as much, gathering dozens of masters from the Sanctums around the world.

What I hadn't expected was for one portal to open up in front of me. I came face-to-face with a Cambion that put even me on edge.

Her purple bob-cut hair danced in the wind. She wore a bomber jacket, a short shirt with a bloody handprint on it, and baggy jeans. If I didn't know what she was, I would've mistaken her for a teenager Jean's age.

She had the third highest death count for Master wizards and was Daughter of the Beast, the former head of The Hand organization.

"Yao," Jean whispered beside me.

"I know," I simply said. "And I'll take care of it."

A simple swipe of my hand brought me face-to-face with her. We stood on the roof of an isolated skyscraper, obscured from view by the sheer altitude.

"It's been what, 80 years, Yao?" she teased. "You don't look a day over 500."

"And you shouldn't be here," I said.

"I had to see what the excitement was all about for myself," she said. "Your new pet put a hole in my sister."

"She struck first," I said smoothly.

"I'd be surprised if she didn't," she laughed. "Still, I have to kill him and his girlfriend too. While I'm at it, I should probably wipe out the greater part of SHIELD. Without Hydra mucking about in there, they're too great a threat to leave alive."

"Belasco has finally let you off his leash."

A flickering look of irritation crossed her porcelain face before vanishing.

"We're in the final days of the war, Yao. It means I can finally have some fun."

She flicked her finger with a smirk, propelling forward a dense ball of red and black energy. The air seemed to twist around it as it rocketed forward at impossible speeds, shattering the sound barrier. The ball vanished into the mirror dimension before it reached me.

"Great catch, Yao. You still got it! I was afraid this was going to be too easy. Tell the kids I'm coming for them. Not that it would make much of a difference," she laughed and vanished into a portal.

Jean touched down beside me a second later, having levitated herself across the distance.

"Who is she?" she asked.

"Somebody I hoped to avoid until much later," I said. "Domina isn't like the others. She doesn't care about collateral damage. She will come for you when you're at your weakest. You both need to be ready."

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