32. A Storm is coming to us all

Enforcer-5, serial number S-9876 and previously of the Canadian Army, anti-mutant division, had started its life as a stock model of Mk VI Sentinel. Built by Shaw industries Canada, it had cost thirty million US dollars and had an expected service life of 5 years. It had seen action in both official and unofficial ops and was responsible for the capture of more than 20 rogue mutants in its two years of service. It and four of its 'brothers' had been quietly sold to a 'private security agency' not long after. This agency being none other than one of the Auctioneer's many front corporations.

S-9876, now rechristened Enforcer-5 had then been put through a number of upgrades, most of which were highly illegal.

Its armour had been replaced, magically enhanced metal and ceramics replacing the regular alloys, its processing centers had been further boosted to the uttermost limits of whatever hardware could be acquired and its already impressive weapon systems augmented by a mixture of heavy mundane weaponry and magical tools. The final result was a powerful, if extremely expensive, combat machine which could reliably take on almost any kind of superpowered being.

Enforcer-5 had now only two purposes in life, to protect the Auctioneer and his interests and to destroy whatever threatened them. It was for this reason that once the enemy was detected it opened fire without hesitation.

Energy blasts incinerated a dozen mutants before anyone could ract, their flesh boiling away in an explosion of superheated gas. Enforcer-5 had yet to properly identify the Alpha-level threat its master had warned it about, so for now it would limit itself to destroying all possible enemies.

The next thing Enforcer-5 knew was that it was flying away, its outer armor heavily compromised.

Its electronic brain went into overdrive, footage from its multiple sensors, from the common visual to the esoteric magical, analyzed over and over. Hundreds of processing cycles were dedicated to this task, which finished before its back even hit the ground.

Its central chest armour, the thickest of its protective layers, had lost 60% integrity due to a high velocity impact of magical origin. Enforcer-5 instantly deviated power from secondary systems to its magical shielding as it quickly stood up, weapons ready to unleash death upon its enemy.

Before a proper target lock could be acquired another impact rattled the Sentinel, its chest armor completely giving away and partially compromising the systems it had previously protected.

Aetheric detectors flared as inner alarms boomed. Enforcer-5 would need hours to carefully revise the data to obtain a full understanding of what kind of weapon had hit it, but the incredibly strong aetheric signature and the way its armour had been completely destroyed meant it would certainly not have the time.

Quickly deciding that its chances of survival were null, Enforcer-5 sent all gathered data to its sibling units, which were quickly approaching, and changed protocols. If destruction of the threat was impossible then asset denial would do.

Powerful energy beams burst from the Sentinel's remaining emitters as its body was ripped apart by its superhuman enemy. The beams travelled at the speed of light and struck their target, not the powerful being that was destroying their wielder, but the unprotected mutants huddling inside the ruined warehouse. In the blink of an eye another dozen people were dead, their bodies destroyed utterly.

Enforcer-5's priorities meant that it could not allow an enemy to march away with its master's property. Even as its metallic body was torn apart by the furious superhuman, the sentinel was the closest to 'happy' as its kin could ever be, for it had carried out its mission at the best of its ability and then given its siblings the means to complete it.

The last thing Enforcer-5 saw was a beautifully crafted silver lance heading for its head.

---

Shalltear smiled with glee as the golem's head parted under her lance's attack. The thing had dared to strike against her, a servant of the Supreme one, during a mission and had even destroyed valuable pets her master had sent Shalltear to recover, it truly was beyond forgiveness.

During its last moments the golem had tried to strike her down, its feeble inorganic mind probably hoping to damage its destroyer with a last ditch attempt, one that Shalltear had easily evaded.

If she were to be honest Shalltear though it was past time for some congratulations. She had thus far done an outstanding job during her mission. From her securing of information while maintaining her master's orders for a low key approach, to gaining her own pawn (even if he was nothing better than an undying dog) and finally she had struck down the enemy operation and secured her objectives. While yes, some of said objectives had been sadly destroyed, Shalltear was sure that her great Lord wouldn't be bothered by the loss of a few pets.

Truly I am the only one worthy of Ainz-sama's love. Once I get these filthy humans back I'll-

"Shalltear!" Her thoughts were cut off by the sudden scream. The mutt of all people screaming her name almost desperately.

Shalltear turned back, anger in her face at the human-dog who dared interrupt her fantasies.

"What do you wan-" but her words were cut off as she saw what had alarmed him so.

Intense white hot beams of death lashed out from every corner of the compound, their targets? Shalltear charges.

The mutants screamed in terror as they died, the beams cutting through various buildings before striking the mutants, turning them into expanding hyperheated gas by the dozen.

Shalltear's mind raced for an answer, her first instinct of attacking overruled by her logical side. The enemy was too far away and divided all over the complex ever a [Greater teleportation] or a [Flow acceleration] would not be fast enough to kill them all before the rest finished off her charges and with them any chances of Ainz ever trusting her again. If attack was not an option then defense would do.

"[Greater Teleportation]" in a flash of magic she was back amongst the terrified humans, who were hugging the ground as if their life depended on it. The mutt on the other had had his body turned into a charred mess, the reason evident after he jumped in front of another beam, shielding the rest of the mutants with his own flesh.

"[Force Sanctuary]!" At her words a pristine white barrier of holy energy took form, her will shaping it into an hemisphere of security around the stricken mutants.

Not a second later half a dozen beams impacted the barrier, but her Sanctuary was absolute and even the fully powered beams barely made a tick on her mana reserves.

Shalltear sighed in relief at having avoided the destruction of her master's pets. She truly had once again succeeded where others would have surely failed. Shalltear bathed in her self-made congratulations. Of course such a moment of happiness lasted only until the mutt, injuries still healing, spoke.

"Now what?" His voice was coarse, like a long time smoker or someone who had breathed too much smoke. Shalltear deducted it was probably related to his lungs being nothing more than charred husks not a minute ago.

"'Now what' what?" She answered annoyed as she pondered if she could maintain the barrier while plummeting the mutt a little.

"What I said bub. I ain't gonna complain about this thing," the mutant spoke, one thumb pointing at the bright barrier, "but how are ya gonna get these people outta here when they are still firing at us?"

Only then did Shalltear notice that the enemy beams had not abated and that the minuscule drain on her magic still continued. At this rate it would take around two days to completely drain her, but Shalltear did not have that long to wait.

Her first thought was to teleport over and tear the enemy golems to bits, but her previous problem of the mutants remained. The moment she moved away they would die, no two ways around it and due to the nature of the barrier she could not attack without lowering it first.

Evacuating the mutants was also impossible. While she could open a portal with the barrier still up, she could not maintain it long enough for all the mutants to cross and she was remiss to abandon them and thus risk Ainz's displeasure.

Shalltear was trapped, she would fail her mission.

"You ain't got a plan, do ya?" The mutant's words were calm, yet absolute. Shalltear didn't have a plan and he knew it.

"I…" words didn't come out, for she had nothing to say. The mutt's words were right, she knew not what to do.

Logan sighed, his flesh finally fully regenerated even if his clothes hadn't. For the sake of modesty Shalltear took out another change of biker clothes she had taken in the bar during their first encounter and had stashed just in case.

"Thanks," he said absentmindedly as he changed into them, "so, how long can ya maintain this thing and what's the problem with ya?"

Having decided that there was no point in keeping the limitations of her berrier from him and hoping against hope that his inferior brain could come up with an idea she answered.

Logan attentively heard her explanation as the mutants around calmed down, their whimpers quieting as they understood Shalltear's barrier was not going to fail anytime soon.

After a minute of pondering Logan finally spoke. "Can ya open ya shield a for a moment?"

Shalltear thought about it and while she technically couldn't bring down the barrier and quickly rise it up once again, she could change its shape at will.

At her nod Logan smiled, his fave taking on a predatory character.

"Then listen ta this bub, have ya ever heard of the 'fastball special'?"

---​

The Auctioneer cowered beneath his desk, his fear overriding his anger at the intruders, nevermind his monetary losses.

When he had activated his highly modified Sentinels, the Auctioneer had expected them to easily deal with the mutant terrorists attacking his compound, only for the lead one to be destroyed almost instantly. Things had gotten worse from there.

The Sentinels were controlled by highly advanced Artificial intelligences, maybe not on the level of beings like Ultron but still more than smart enough for their tasks. Sadly their intelligence had gone a little too far in interpreting their mission parameters this time.

At first the Auctioneer had been happy with their capability to make decisions on the fly, as he was no commander. After the first mutants were incinerated, and with them millions of dollars, he had quickly changed his mind.

But no matter what he did he could not stop them from killing the other mutants. While he could receive telemetry and remain informed of any further developments in their decision making, he could neither change nor stop it as a precaution in case of enemy technopaths or hackers, one that he had come to regret.

At least the Sentinels will take care of them one way or another. They aren't getting out of here with their prize. The Auctioneer adorned a cruel smile, one that didn't last.

[Enforcer-3 lost] it read on the status screen of his computer. The camera feed from the Sentinel now nothing more than static.

"What? How is this possible? They were trapped inside that shield, I was sure they were doing everything they could just to stay alive!" Now more angry than scared.

With but a few commands he quickly rewinded the visual feed, finding that not a minute ago the Sentinel had been firing at the mutant shield as before, only for it to flicker for a second and then nothing.

He replayed it again, this time at 1/10th the speed and then again, at 1/100th. The image showing a dark blur closing on the Sentinel before the signal was lost.

"A missile?"

Suddenly another alarm flared. Another Sentinel, this time Enforcer-1, falling to the ground, its right leg destroyed.

The last thing the Sentinel saw was a trio of shining metal blades and the snarling face of one of the most well known mutants.

It was then that the Auctioneer decided that maybe it was time to leave.

---​

Logan ran with a purpose, his gaze focused on the next Sentinel. Two were already down and soon he would take care of the others.

So far it had been easy, the first Sentinel going down at once and while he was still sore from the impact, he had to admit the girl could give Colossus a run for his money.

The second Sentinel had lasted barely a second, his claws bringing it down in three swift cuts before the robot could react and shredded its head not a second later.

Logan was still angry about the deaths of many of the mutant prisoners they had come to rescue and he was eager to show it. For this reason, when he finally reached the next Sentinel he attacked without hesitation.

Adamantium blades parted armor and myomer, quickly cutting into the delicate internals of the anti-mutant machine, before severing the mechanic appendage altogether and ending the fight with a swift hit to the head. Or at least that's how it should have gone.

When Logan jumped so did the sentinel react, pivoting on one leg to hit Logan with the side of its hand and sending him crashing against a building. Before Logan could even move it was on top of him, plummeting the defenseless mutant against the ground.

But Logan had recently become accustomed to thinking through grievous pain, so he had no trouble in gathering his wits enough to make a swipe at the enemy, cutting off three fingers and part of Logan's own thigh.

Now free from the sentinel's grasp, Logan fell back into a fighting stance. The sentinel tried to snare him once again but he quickly evaded, only to be hit by the robot's energy beam. The sickening smell of burnt fabrics, fat, and flesh overwhelmed Logan's sensitive nose but the pain was hardly noticeable. Before the sentinel could react Logan relieved it of its left arm and then it's right leg. But before he could finish the job a previously forgotten fact made itself known to Logan, that is to say the other remaining sentinel.

Logan had foolishly assumed the Sentinels would not support each other, remaining on their different positions over the camp and now he was going to pay for it.

The newly arrived mutant hunting robot grabbed Logan, its iron grip holding the mutant's arms against his body and making it impossible for him to find any leverage. Its other hand held something different and rather unexpected. A bathtub. Or to be precise, a bathtub full of water.

Logan knew this was bad.

The sentinel violently submerged Logan's head inside the bathtub, the force of the impact pushing the air out of his lungs and opening his mouth. Logan felt his lungs fill with water as the world darkened. He tried to pry himself from the sentinel's hold, but he could not escape and when the burn in his lungs became unbearable and his consciousness faint, Logan started getting desperate.

But as suddenly as it had come so did the sentinel's grip disappear. And as the water around his head drained and life giving air once again filled his lungs Logan finally noticed why.

The sentinel's hand had been severed at the elbow, its chest caved in as hydraulic fluid bled from busted pipes. The sentinel was clearly beyond saving and it knew it.

Its remaining arm rose up, its built-in rotary cannon started spinning… only to be brutally ripped off and then turned into an impromptu club to finish off the downed sentinel.

"I guess that makes us even, ain't that the case shortstuff?" Asked Logan in between violent coughs as he tried to clean his lungs from the water that had previously filled them.

"I hardly think I was ever in debt with you, dog. So maybe you should become my slave instead? It could be a good way to begin paying me for saving your pitiful life," answered Shalltear without hesitation" Though I guess that could also be considered a reward for you. Though you don't have to worry doggy, I will even get you a pretty collar as part of the deal."

"Heh, keep dreaming bub." His lungs finally free of water, Logan was back to his regular raspy tone.

Shalltear did not seem to mind, "Your loss."

At that moment, surrounded by destroyed buildings and gutted sentinels Logan felt strangely at ease. Whereas before the vampire girl had kept him at edge, he now felt relaxed. It was not only the fact that she had saved his life, nor that she had taken part in bringing down the operation of the clearly powerful mutant trafficking organization, but it was all of it. Somewhere along the way Logan had stopped considering the vampire a threat and had started to trust her. Though of course maybe it was because she was very good at doing the fastball special.

Not that he was ever going to let her know.

"Ah yes, before I forget." As she spoke Shalltear grabbed a heavy piece of the downed sentinel, a chunk of armor that had probably splintered when she struck it down.

After passing it from hand to hand and testing its weight a few times in front of a much confused Logan Shalltear spoke."Yes, this will do."

Before Logan could ask what she was doing she threw back her arm and then threw the spear shaped chunk of metal with all her might, a point blank sonic boom exploding a second after.

The improvised javelin impacted the side of one of the few still standing buildings, the supervelocity projectile turning the brick and metal wall into so much scrap and causing the roof to cave in.

"What was that for?"

"Just taking care of the trash," answered Shalltear with a shrug.

Too tired to even ask Logan simply decided to accept the vampire's words and go along with her. After all he was pretty sure nothing would come out of it either way.

They were halfway back to where the surviving mutants were hiding when Logand asked a rather important yet so far ignored question.

"Tell me, how are we gonna move the prisoners anyway?" Shalltear's much confused reaction didn't bode well.

Not at all.

---​

At the end they had decided to 'confiscate' the compound's trucks, where the still terrified mutants had been loaded after Logan and Shalltear had somehow managed to calm them down. It had not been easy but they had somehow managed.

It was that how they now found themselves somewhere deep in the middle of nowhere, a group of almost five hundred mutants huddled together inside half a dozen trucks as they tried to keep warm in the northern climate during the middle of winter. Shalltear and Logan on the other hand stood unfazed by this, Logan due to his regenerative factor and Shalltear her undead nature.

"I guess this' goodbye, ain't it shortstuff?" Asked Logan, his face as close to smiling as he could manage.

"Don't call me that and yes doggy, it is time we part ways," her features were as refined as ever and her smile not an iota less cruel, yet something about it made it feel more warm, more real, "I can't say it's been a pleasure but at least it wasn't as bad as I feared."

"I agree." Logan's nonchalant attitude made one of Shalltear eyes twitch but she didn't say anything.

"You can't provoke me now mutt, not after I kept almost all the mutants." Shalltear's words actually managed to sting a little. The idea that the traumatized mutants found the protection of what was probably a supervillain more reassuring than the X-Men didn't sit well with Logan. Then again, having to travel all the way to the US with only Logan as protection only to then hope the US wouldn't turn them over wasn't as an attractive proposition as 'come with me to my masters great impregnable fortress by the use of a portal'. Even then the few that accepted his offer would be well cared for, Logan would make sure of it.

"Just luck," this time Logan did smile, "and short- Shalltear, I want ya to take this, in case you ever need to contact me or my people."

Logan handed her one of the X-Men's comms. Most members normally carried these in case a promising mutant, or a new ally of mutantkind, were to be discovered and they couldn't take them with them. As headmaster of the academy Logan had basically complete control over who he handed them to.

Shalltear looked at the small plastic device before taking it and throwing it inside what appeared to be a small portal of pure darkness.

"I will keep it in mind," she smiled, her teeth a little too many and a little too sharp "and you mutt, for your services to me and thus my lord are deserving of consideration. While serving my lord is more than reward enough, He says that you humans sometimes feel the need for more, so where the need to arise I will help you.

"Goodbye shorty."

"Goodbye mutt."

And with their parting words a new portal, this one big enough for a truck to pass through opened. As Logan's motorbike raced away he saw each truck disappear inside of it, then Shalltear and then nothing.

---​

Pain. The Auctioneer's world was pure unfiltered pain.

He knew not how long he had laid there, not how long he would continue to suffer so. Ever since something had struck his helicopter mid take off and he had to crawl out of the wreckage he had cried in pain and despair, hoping against hope for someone, for anyone to come save him.

"Hello." The voice was unexpected, yet familiar. It was a voice he had grown used to listening to, one that he had not expected to ever hear again.

"B-becky, i-is that you?" Hope was a great drug for a desperate man, even more so for a dying one. It was sometimes the only thing that could keep pushing them forward.

With great effort the Auctioneer turned his head, his battered body crying in protest against it.

It was Becky alright, from her neatly tied hair to her immaculate suit. Yet something was different. Her face was obscured, yet he could see her pupils were too dilated. It was his secretary, yet she felt different.

"Do you know the differences between a greater and smaller evil, Mr. Auctioneer?" Spoke Becky for the first time, yet her words came out as wrong, somehow distorted.

"I-I.. what?" His confusion was apparent, yet Becky did not seem to mind.

"You see, much like greater and lesser men, evil exists in many forms and sizes. There are small evils, petty evils and opportunity evils. Men who cheat, steal and kill not because they find pleasure in it but simply because it is convenient to do so," as she spoke Becky continued walking ever closer to where the Auctioneer laid, "but there are other evils, evils of purpose. Evil where there is a means to an end or where the means are the ends themselves. This, my dear friend is what I call a greater evil. One that has a purpose and which of course takes precedence over lesser evils."

"I-I-I don't understand." The Auctioneer was scared. It was not the fear of death, it was something more primal.

"Oh my dear, I won't expect you to. I just want you to understand something." By now Becky was right beside him.

"W-what?" Terror gripped him by now, his body shaking regardless of his wounds.

"That, much like lesser men, lesser evils need to be sacrificed for their betters," He noticed Becky's eyes were wrong. The pupils weren't dilated, they just weren't there. If the eyes were a window to the souls then hers were a pit of darkness and inhumanity.

She caressed his face softly, the gesture almost like a lover's. Yet he felt no warmth, only the cold of death.

"It's nothing personal."

---

AN:

You though it was another comment but it was me, a new chapter!

Yes yes, this isn't my best work ever, but it gets the job done. I wanted to wrap up this little sub-arc before I van get to the real meat of (this part of) the story.

I wonder if anyone will guess what's coming? I mean, besides the Dr. Strange meeting