X-Men: Black Fire

By Paradox

BOOK I

Eight

“We had them! We could have simply killed them!”

“Agreed, we were superior in numbers, what went wrong?”

Styr opened his eyes, looking at the group of his friends, now one less in their ranks. “We should have just focused on the one we were sent to kill,” Flame argued, “Just kill him and leave. If we had done that, Werewolf would still be alive.”

“But we tried to do that,” Vampress countered, “He had help with him we did not expect. there was nothing we could do about it.”

“I know that,” Flame said, her hair beginning to glow with her power as she grew angry, “But now we know who we deal with. Let’s go back and get them.”

“No!”

Both of the girls looked over at Styr in surprise. The young man stood up, taking a drag from his cigarette and throwing it onto a bundle of sticks collected in the middle of the damp, abandoned building. Moments after the cigarette had landed, the cluster burst into flames, casting an eire glow across the walls. “We cannot simply charge head on into battle again,” he said calmly, “To do so would mean our deaths.”

“But we are stronger than them, great Lilith made sure of that,” Flame rationalized.

In a flash, Styr was on the platinum blond girl, hoisting her up by her throat. The girl gave a few choked gasps and looked at her leader with eyes full of fear. “Understand this Flame,” Styr said in a voice that sounded more like his demon persona, “We may have more powers than the others, but they are far better trained at using what they have than we. In case neither of you noticed, Werewolf was killed and they have suffered no losses.”

“Wrong,” Vampress sang, “I saw the guy with the guns fall down just before we left. He’s got to be dead with the wounds he got.”

Styr turned his head to look at the vampire girl, his eyes glowing a sickly green. He released Flame to let her fall to the ground, gasping for breath. “And just who do you think wounded the man with the guns?”

“Well, Werewolf did, but-”

“Exactly,” Styr roared, causing the two girls to jump, “The one person who was the most experienced in combat was the one that was killed!”

“Calm yourself Styr, we have better things to do than bicker amongst ourselves.”

The boy turned to glare at the one remaining person in their foursome. “What do you mean Quantum?”

The blond boy smiled and ran his fingers over the keys of a large an elaborate computer system. Seconds latter, four holographic images appeared. There were three boys and one girl. All of the images rotated slowly, giving the viewer a full look at each person. “I was able to get significant data regarding our opponents during your fight. Using what I gathered, I ran a background check on each person.” He typed on the keyboard and all of the images disappeared. A moment later, the image of one of the men reappeared, doubled in size, with numbers and technical information running along next to it. “This is Ash, he is a vampire in Chicago in high standing. From what I could gather, he is more of a bestial fighter than style. If I were to classify him, I would say he is a street fighter. This, coupled with the vampirc abilities I was able to gather from his usage during the fight, makes him a worthy, but not unconquerable foe.” He typed on the keyboard again and the image disappeared, replaced by one of the other men. “The only thing I was able to gather on this one was a name and some scope of his abilities. He is Priest, the Prince of vampires in Chicago. After a quick background check, I have also discovered that he has rule over at least two other cities in the United States by utilizing the Princes he has placed in those cities. The only powers that I could discern about him, with the exception of obvious vampire abilities, is that he is incredibly fast and has the ability to grow his fingernails into razor-sharp claws, not unlike the mutant Sabertooth.” The image shifted to show Priest with the fingertips replaced by claws. “Other than that, I could not get anything else on him. Yet, judging from the battle and his current standing in vampire society, I would surmise that he is not someone who should be dealt with lightly.” The image disappeared and was replaced by the third man. “This is Cole Raven. He is a mage that was formerly part of an elite strike force called Black fire. Judging by his fighting prowess during the battle and his skill of magick and weaponry, I would surmise that Mr. Raven is going to be the largest problem we will encounter.”

“So what do we do about him?” Flame asked impatiently.

Quantum held up a finger and smiled, typing on his keypad once more. The image of Cole disappeared and was replaced by the image of the girl. “This, ladies and gentleman, is Kitty Pryde, A.K.A. Shadowcat of the X-Men.”

Vampress’ jaw dropped. “The X-Men?”

“Yes,” Quantum said, frowning at the interruption, “The X-Men. Although she is on the low end of the spectrum in regards to powers, she does possess martial arts skills almost equal to that of Mr. Raven. This, coupled with her mutant  power that allows her to make her molecules unstable enough to phase through solid objects, makes her the perfect person to use to lure the rest into a trap.”

“Perfect how?” Styr asked curiously, sitting on a wooden box and cupping his hands beneath his chin.

“It is quite simple, really. We kidnap the lovely Ms. Pryde and lead the others into a trap of my design.”

Flame huffed. “And just how do we do that? You just said she can make herself untouchable, so how are we supposed to grab her, much less keep her hostage?”

The blond genius only laughed. “Ah, my dear girl, have ye so little faith in me?” He reached into a large, steel box and drew out a set of technical equipment. “I have created a mutant power dampening system that will render her powers null. With this done, she can be hit, cut, knocked out, and bound as easily as any other human on the planet.”

Styr smiled and stood up, walking over to Quantum and patting him on the shoulder. “Good job Quantum, I knew I could count on you.”

The blond boy smiled. “Of course, I am the brains of the outfit after all.”

Styr laughed and turned back to the two girls. “Okay, the next thing we need to do is get a hold of the Pryde girl.” He smiled wickedly. “And it just so happens I have a plan on how to do that.”

With that, the group began to prepare.

* * * *

Cole moaned as he slowly fought his way towards consciousness. It seemed as though he were swimming through super-thick honey. Everything was slurred and blurry beneath his eyes. When his eyelids cracked slightly, he snapped them shut against the bright light that stabbed his pupils. Turning his head to the side, feeling his face press into a pillow, he slowly opened his eyes again. This time, a soft whiteness filled his vision. Taking a few moments to let his eyes adjust to the reflected light, he took a deep breath and turned over on his back. Instantly, white light blinded him, making him groan and throw an arm over his eyes. “I hate it when this happens,” he muttered and rolled over onto his side, and nearly bumped into Kitty’s sleeping form. With a silent yelp, he rolled off the bed in the opposite direction, his hands groping for a weapon. With a hiss, fiery threads of pain shot up his back, reminding him of the injuries he had sustained. Using martial arts breathing techniques, he calmed his racing pulse and forced the pain towards the back of his mind where it would not bother him. He then opened his eyes and looked to see if he had disturbed Kitty.

His breath caught in his throat when he looked upon her. She was dressed in a white lace nightie, her right shoulder lightly bandaged. Her chestnut hair gently fell over her cheeks, like a lover’s caress. Even in sleep, her lips were slightly parted and begged to be kissed. Her feminine form looked so soft and inviting that Cole had to literally punch himself in the chest to keep from leaping back onto the plush, queen-sized bed.

With a growl, he quickly found his clothes and pulled on his jeans. He hunted for his guns and found them draped across the back of a chair. Tucking one in the back of his waistband, he silently walked out of the posh bedroom into the room next door.

As soon as he walked in, Ash and Priest looked up from their work at Priest’s desk. “Hey Cole,” Ash said somewhat brightly, “How are you feeling?”

Cole looked down at the white bandages that encircled his stomach and crossed diagonally over his chest and sighed. “Considering I nearly had my spine ripped out, pretty good.”

Priest chuckled. “Yeah, I had Lucy come in and patch you up.”

“Thanks,” Cole said as he walked over to the desk. “So, what are you guys working on?” He looked at the computer on the desk and quickly examined the screen. It was a photo of The Haunt’s interior after the massacre. Beside several of the bodies were computerized words with an arrow pointing to the corresponding body.

“Well, I had Mac do a photo scan of the interior of The Haunt, as you can see, and had him overlay explanations of how each person was killed. I figured it might give us some idea what we’re dealing with.”

Cole nodded. “Good plan, what do you have so far?”

“Well,” Ash said, taking over and pointing to one body, “We have dead guy number one, who had his head ripped off and his chest torn open like a birthday present. Off hand, I’d say it was done by the werewolf.”

“That’s be my guess,” Cole agreed.

“Contestant number two,” Ash continued, “Had her throat ripped out and all the blood drained from her veins.”

“Vampire.”

“Our third man on the list was fried to a crisp and stuck to a wall. Now off hand, I’d say that the person who did this was a pyrokinetic, probably a mutant.”

Cole shook his head. “No, I think it was mystical flames, probably Hellfire.”

“Why do you say that?” Priest inquired.

“I’ve dealt with the stuff before and I got a definite sense of it when we first checked the place out.”

“Okay,” Ash said with a nod, “I’ll go with Hellfire. The last type of wounds we discovered was just some guy torn to pieces. Now, normally I would say that’s just the work of a really pissed off werewolf or vampire, but we discovered something just now.”

“What is it?” Cole asked, intrigued.

Priest typed in a command on the computer and the image zoomed in on one of the torn apart victims. Neither vampire needed to speak before Cole saw what they were talking about. A greenish ooze covered all of the victim’s wounds. “Demon saliva.”

“Correct,” Ash said in a game-show announcer’s voice, “And you can win another ten thousand dollars if you can tell me where it came from.”

“The green son of a bitch that went after Kitty,” Cole growled.

“Give the man a cupie doll,” Priest said.

“Give me a cigarette and an explanation of the sleeping arrangements next door and we’ll call it even.”

“Fair enough.” Priest dug inside his coat and produced a cigarette, tossing it to the wounded mage, who lit up by snapping his fingers and producing a small ball of flame in his palm. “As for the sleeping arrangements, daylight was coming and this was the first place I could think of to stash you two.”

“Why not just stick us in a hotel run by one of your guys?”

“Because,” Priest said with a high lilt in his voice, “Those guys that attacked us were specifically targeting one of us three. I didn’t want to take a chance that they would try again while both of us were asleep and you were recuperating.”

Cole held up his hands in a sign of defeat. “All right, all right, good answer. You may want to be gone when Kitty wakes up, though.”

Priest cocked an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Well,” Cole said with a snicker, “She might be a little upset about the sleep wear you chose for her, not to mention dressing her in it.”

Ash looked aghast. “My dear boy, do you think we would do such a thing just to cop a cheap look or feel.”

Cole gave him a dubious look. “Damn right I do.”

Priest laughed. “Don't worry Cole, I had one of my girls do it.”

“Good,” the mage said with a nod, “How is she doing by the way?”

“She’s fine,” Ash reported, “Just a cut on the shoulder that Lucy took care of. The bandages were just for sanitary purposes.”

“Good,” He thought for a moment, “By that way, where’s Vlad?”

Ash looked down at his feet. “Oh, uh, Vlad sort of, well, slipped out when we were at The Haunt.”

Cole’s eyes went wide. “What!?”

Priest nodded. “Yeah, he overpowered the two guys I had watching him and shifted into mist. He could be anywhere in the city right now. Don't worry,” he said when Cole opened his mouth to say something, “I’ve got people out looking for him too. I know that you need him to free up the X-Men’s minds. Just relax, it got screwed up on my end, my end’ll fix it.”

“Good,” Cole said, his eyes narrowed, “Who do you have on it?”

“Flexor and his team. I figure we’ll have him inside three hours.”

The mage shook his head. “I’m not so sure, ol’ Dracula knows a lot about hiding, he’s been doing it for a couple of centuries now.”

“Yeah,” Priest said with a smile, “But he’s in my town now, and Flexor knows the streets and sewers better than anyone. Trust me, we’ll get him.”

Cole breathed a sigh of relief. He took a drag from the cigarette and blew out a smoke ring. “Okay, so what’s our next move?”

Ash leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands behind his neck. “Well, I’ve got my boys out on the streets looking for these guys. I also contacted the Sewer Rats and have them working on it from their end as well.”

Cole nodded. “Great, if anyone can find them, they can.”

“Yeah,” Priest agreed, “I expect results in a few hours.” He paused and snapped his fingers. “Oh yeah, I’ve got a new coat for you, seeing as how yours got trashed helping me.” He pointed to the leather coat hanging from a wall peg.”

Cole nodded his thanks. “All right, why don't we get to work on that ring I picked up and see if we can’t get any more infor-”

Cole’s words were cut off by a scream from the bedroom next door. Instantly, his gun was in his hand. “Kitty!” The group of three crashed into the bedroom, knocking the doors off their hinges as they went through. As soon as they were through, Cole’s eyes went wide.

Kitty lay upon the floor in her lace nightie, her wrists and ankles manacled together with some kind of high tech restraints. Crouched above her was the green demon, flanked by the vampire girl and the girl shrouded in Hellfire. When they saw the trio of people from the club massacre, they skidded to a halt, Ash clenching his fists into a fighting stance, Priest extending his claws and dropping into a crouch, and Cole dropping to a knee while bringing his gun to bear. “Get away from her!” Cole growled, putting the red dot from his laser sight squarely between the demon’s eyes.

The green demon only chuckled, its bloated, purple tongue slipping out its mouth and caressing Kitty’s cheek, causing her to squirm in revulsion and let out a cry of disgust and fear. “I don't think so,” it rasped, “I think such a pretty girl will make a fine playmate. Later.” Their bodies started to suddenly fade out.  Cole roared a denial and opened fire, emptying his entire clip into the demon.

Yet it was too late. The only thing that remained was the blast holes in the wall behind where the group had been. Not one shot had struck its target. “No!” Cole howled as he raced to the spot Kitty had been only moments before. He crouched down and pressed his hand to the carpeted floor, his eyes closed in concentration. The two vampires watched as his hand began to glow with a red energy. Sweat beaded on his forehead and trickled down his face. He bared his teeth and growled with the strain it took to cast such a spell in his weakened condition.

Finally, he dropped back on the ground, gasping for breath. Ash crouched next to him, putting a steadying hand on his shoulder. “What is it?”

“I’ve got a fix on their location,” he gasped, “I was able to magically trace it from the teleportation site here.” He gulped air and said, “It put a big strain on me, though. I’m still pretty messed up from that fight.”

“All right,” Priest said, walking over and looking around the room. “You tell us where they are and we’ll go get them for you.”

“No way,” Cole said with determination as he struggled to his feet, “I’m coming with you.”

“You can barely stand up straight Cole,” Ash admonished, “There’s no way you can operate in a fight.”

Cole’s eyes suddenly flared with black flames and he collared Ash, slamming him into a wall. “I’m going with dammit!”

The two vampires looked at the young man as though seeing him for the first time in their unlives. “I don't want you to get killed Cole,” Priest said quietly.

“I’ll sleep in the fucking van on the way over,” he growled, releasing Ash and moving over to the chair his clothes were draped on. With grim determination, he pulled on the rest of his clothes and strapped on his guns. Pulling on his coat, he turned and started for the door. When he looked back to see the two vampires gaping at him, he snarled, “You need an engraved invitation or something?”

With a shake of their heads, the two hurried to catch up, marveling at the fact that Cole no longer seemed to be in a weakened state of any kind.

* * * *

“Let me go!” Kitty yelled at the snickering youths that surrounded her while struggling against the ropes that bound her wrists and ankles, “If you don't untie me and let me go right now, you’ll be sorrier than you ever have in your entire, short lives.”

“Ooo,” the beautiful vampire girl cried melodramatically, wringing her hands for effect, “I think we’d better let her go guys, she looks like she might threaten us to death.”

The other girl cackled with delight, “Oh, but that’s no fun. I think we should play with her first.”

“On the contrary,” the blond boy with glasses said with an evil smile, “I believe she would serve as an excellent test subject for my experiments in human pain tolerance.” He chuckled and leaned in close to Kitty, his smile feral. “The standard for humans is five minutes of correctly applied cuts with a scalpel. How much do you think you can endure?” Kitty blanched and quickly looked away, trying to calm the rising fear in her chest.

“Enough,” a dark voice said from the shadows. The three looked over at the voice, each one of their expressions changing to that of someone ready to receive orders. “All of you prepare to meet our guests. I have a feeling they will be arriving soon.” Immediately, the three hurried away to their individual tasks.

Once they were gone, Kitty looked over to the shadows, narrowing her eyes in an attempt to penetrate them. “Who are you, and what do you want with me?”

“It is quite simple, Ms. Pryde,” the voice said, “You are merely the bait and the spoils of our quest.”

“What quest?”

“The quest to kill the one that She has chosen.”

Kitty shook her head. “What chosen one? Who is this She?”

The voice said nothing. Instead, the owner melted out of the shadows. He looked to be perhaps seventeen, with short brown hair pulled into a ponytail. He wore a simple robe of black that was open at the front, revealing a well-muscled chest. Kitty figured him for a football player, maybe a wrestler. “Isn’t it a school night?” she sneered.

In response, the boy slapped her hard with the back of his hand, making her head snap to the side. She felt a warm trickle at the corner of her mouth and knew it was blood. “Do not presume to make foolish remarks that cannot be backed up by deeds, girl.”

“Girl? Hey, I’m older than you kid.” Her words were rewarded with another slap that caused white spots to exploded behind her eyes. “You’re lucky I’m wearing this flammin’ collar that’s suppressing my powers,” she threatened, “Or I’d be turning you into wallpaper right now.”

“But the fact remains that you are powerless to do anything, isn’t that right?”

“Go to hell.”

The boy laughed and ran his fingers through her hair. Kitty tried to move away, but the boy simply caught up a handful of her chestnut locks and yanked hard enough to force a cry of pain from her lips. “Hell is exactly where I have recieved such gifts. Soon enough, you will meet the Goddess that granted us all such presents.” He smiled evilly. “I have a distinct feeling that she will enjoy you.” He let go of her hair and turned away.

“When I get my hands on you,” Kitty yelled, “I’m going to phase what little brains you have out of your thick skull and shove them down your th-”

Her words were cut off as the boy suddenly spun and slapped a small, square piece of metal over her mouth. She tried to curse at the boy, but the sound was muffled as the adhesive on the underside of the metal square fastened itself to the skin around and on Kitty’s mouth. She tried to scream, but barely a squeak came from her throat. Her eyes widened in surprise and fear. “I would prefer if you would simply shut up for a while,” the boy said, looking emotionally tired, “All of this noise you’re making is starting to give me a headache.” He turned and walked off into another room.

Kitty resumed her struggles against the ropes, by they held her firm. Not only were they tied with expert care, but they were made of some material that seemed to cinch tighter the more she struggled. Every time she thought the ropes might be slack enough to wiggle out of, they drew tighter against her skin. None of her skills as a ninja could help her in this situation. Even her ability to phase had been cut off by the mutant power nullifying collar around her throat. She was helpless in every sense of the word.

Racking her brain, she tried to think of a reason why she was being held captive. For one, it was obvious that these freaks wanted to use her as bait to lure Priest, Ash, and Cole into a trap. The apparent leader of the group had said some goddess wanted one of them dead, but which one, and why. In any case, she needed to get free so her friends would not fall into the trap. Yet, there was nothing she could do; her wrists and ankles were tied tight, the chair she was seated in was bolted to the floor to keep her from moving, and she was gagged so not even a peep could get out.

Her shoulders slumping, Kitty realized there was nothing she could do but wait for someone to come and rescue her.