Age Of Onslaught Part 22/37 The gasps alerted Captain America and Pietro, they had been discussing what had happened to them in Isreal. "What's that?" asked Pietro, looking at the three glowing portals hanging on the shore next to the collected inhabitants of Avalon,"Transport portals?" Three figures stepped out of the portals. "I know them," said Pietro,"And they're flickering even more than we are." "That's Sebastian Shaw, Emma Frost and Jason Wyngarde," noted Captain America,"If they're flickering more than us, it means that they're less immersed inside this virtual reality Avalon than we are... although I still find it difficult to believe that all this isn't real." Shaw looked about with a huge grin on his face, he noted The Thing and Guido standing nearby, they looked the largest (Cain Marko had moved straight back to High Point Hill upon arriving on shore) so he rushed at them and knocked them sprawling with a sweep of his arm. "Bow before me, peons!" he roared with laughter, twisting about and knocking startled humans and mutants aside with easy movements. Until he came upon The Invisible Woman. He made to knock her aside easily, and his fist rammed into her invisible forcefield. "What?" he gasped. The V.R Program had been designed to automatically adjust to mutants powers so that they would be helpless against Shaw. Ordinary humans were next to useless against him, so he wasn't worried about them. But Susan Storm was not a mutant, she was a super powered human, and her powers had not been adjusted for. (*) The next thing he knew he was being slammed backwards, pounded by invisible force-rods and punches. "EMMA!" he cried. The White Queen smiled,"Say it, Shaw." Shaw gritted his teeth, then blood flew from his mouth as he was pounded hard by a hard right,"Emma, PLEASE!" Suddenly Sue - who had been standing with fist clenched, teeth gritted in concentration - rocked back, her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed in a heap in the sand. "Look," said Mastermind as Shaw wiped blood from his nose, he pointed down the beach at Pietro and Captain America. As they watched, Quicksilver grabbed Cap by the shoulder and suddenly they were both gone in a blur, moving at superspeed. "I'll get them," laughed Emma and raised into the air, her increased telepathic powers giving her far more abilities than in the real world. (*) Ben Grimm isn't a mutant either, but his powers are physical, and Shaw was able to knock him down with his own increased strength. - "Destiny," said Cain,"Three interlopers have brought evil into Avalon, I know I am not supposed to interrupt you in meditations but I don't know what to do." Destiny was not facing him, and she was chanting something low under her breath, he couldn't quite make out what. "Please, Destiny.... Irene, I need your guidance," moaned Cain. He placed one huge hand on her shoulder and turned her about, her eyes were blank, her words now clear. "Processing new instructions, please wait. Processing new instructions, please wait. Processing new instructions, please wait." "Destiny? I do not understand." BAMF! He turned about, found himself facing Nightcrawler, Dazzler, Mystique and The Scarlet Witch. "She's not Destiny," said Mystique, she sounded oddly hollow, she was grieving. "She's a virtual reality projection," said Wanda,"This is all a virtual reality projection." Cain stared at them blankly, not comprehending. "Avalon isn't real... the people are, but the island, the sea, birds, food, huts, everything else is virtual reality.... a computer projection." "My mother's friend," said Nightcrawler,"Was a precog, there was no way The Mariner could fool her. I don't know who he is, but he found a way to get to her, he killed her and replaced her with a computer sprite, feeding it information so that she could make predictions on things like weather, events, and who would be coming to Avalon and when. She could do this because The Mariner feed her new information whenever he caught someone." "Destiny.... isn't real?" asked Cain. "No," said Wanda,"For some reason she isn't.... working anymore, she's cut off from her link to The Mariner." "The people here are real," said Cain, stating a fact. "Ya," said Kurt, looking at Dazzler who stood close to his mother, holding her hand. "Then all these people have been living in harmony, have been attempting to put the past aside... and it's all a lie?" "What are you thinking, Cain?" asked Wanda, suspecting, not liking it. "Those people down there," he said, pointing at the shore where Shaw and Mastermind still terrorized the inhabitants,"They are the ones who are ruining this paradise, even if it is false." His face had grown nearly as red as his shoulder length hair, he was no longer smiling, he was angry. - Captain America sat in the cave, waiting for Pietro to return, not wanting to. He wanted to get out there and stop Shaw, Frost and Wyngarde, but he wasn't fully aware of the situation yet, he needed to know more factors before he could take them on. Pietro had told him he was going somewhere to get a weapon to use against Shaw and his companions. Where he planned to get it, Cap had no idea. - Captain, - whispered a voice in his head. He looked up, he knew what it was, Emma Frost was in his head. - Captain, give it up, I know all your secrets, I know everything there is to know about you. - - Then come and get me, - he thought to himself. No reply. The cave shook, something big had fallen near it. Then there was another rumble, something was happening. "She's throwing a tantrum," he whispered to himself,"For some reason she doesn't know where I am, and she's psychically throwing things about to vent her anger." Suddenly something huge smashed onto the cave roof above him, there was a grinding noise and a large crack appeared in the roof. Dust began to drop down, followed by small stones. - Shit, - he thought to himself, - Cave in, I have to go out there, Pietro or no Pietro." He made to rush out of the cave, when a hand closed around his ankle and he felt himself pulled down, somehow dragged down through the floor. He found himself in a dark cave, it must have been under the one he was in. A small light flickered on and he found himself facing Kitty and Remy, she must have used her phasing ability to get her and Remy out of there, now they had rescued him. "Hello, Captain," chuckled Remy,"Looks like it up to us to save paradise, non?" - Shaw lifted Ben up into the air with one arm, clutching him around the throat. "Give up," he said,"You can't beat me." "You pretty badly lumped up, Susie did that, huh?" Ben laughed, although his entire body was wracked with pain,"You ain't so tough." With a fury that had shaken his iron control, Shaw threw Ben face first into the water, noting incredulously that he was still struggling to get to his feet. "Don't you ever give up?" "Me and that frigging Energizer bunny," groaned The Thing,"Ain't nothing that can stop us!" "SHAW!" Shaw twisted about, eyes widened as he found himself facing another man thirty or forty feet away. He was huge, taller even than Guido, even wider than Guido, his face was contorted with rage. "SHAW! NOW YOU PAY!" And he leaped through the air at the startled mutant. -------------------- The Amazing X-Men 7. -------------------- ---------------------------------------------- Manhattan - Sinister's Facility - Madri Level. ---------------------------------------------- The Madri were all the same, genetic duplicates of Jamie Madrox created by kinetic force being issued on the original Jamie Madrox. They were the torturers, the interrogators. They were the false religion of Apocalypse that fooled the sheep into thinking that the atrocities he performed against them were justified. They sat in quiet rows, legs crossed, leaning forward wearing black robes with the hoods pulled over their identical faces. They hummed lightly, the dark light twisting and shifting on their black robes, moved about by the guttering torches. Pink light diffused the room. As one, the Madri lifted their heads. The Beast and Deadpool appeared in the room. "Uh oh," said Deadpool,"College Fraternity initiation, when does the paddling start?" "I don't know what has happened to you, Pale Rider," muttered The Beast,"But the change in attitude is even more irritating than your former." "This is forbidden, even to you McCoy," said one Madri,"Only Prelate's or Apocaplypse...." "Praise and Blessings to Apocalypse," the other Madri said as one. "... are permitted entry." "You're suffering from penis envy," Wade said to the Madri who spoke to them, leaving the monk at a loss for words as he tried to understand where that had come from. "I do not believe it will be this easy to escape Sinister's Sugarman," said The Beast, glancing about uneasily,"We should...." The ceiling caved in, a huge, fleshy mound dropping down to the ground, making it shake and knocking Deadpool and McCoy off their feet. The Sugarman dusted off it's bulk with it's unnaturally long, skinny arms, lifted it's hideous, distorted face and squealed at it's two targets. "Abomination," quoted the Madri as one, standing to their feet and moving towards The Sugarman,"We will stop it." The Madri had strength in numbers, they could never run out because if one was hit it became two, and if one died then his body was reabsorbed and reformed into a new living duplicate. They surrounded The Sugarman and chanted together, a mixture of latin, greek, egyptian and english. Sugarman paused, glancing at the Madri carefully, sizing them up, adapting to their powers and coming up with a strategy. "Let's make like an amoebae and split," muttered Deadpool, not liking being this close to the now huge, bloated Sugarman. "Wait," said McCoy, fascinated by what was about to happen, wanting to know what Sugarman would do. Suddenly the stretched, discolored skin began to ooze outwards in all directions, Sugarman's height dropping as it extended it's width. The Madri stood still, chanting, and when the extending body touched them at first nothing happened. Then The Madri began to scream. "Fascinating!" murmured McCoy,"It's absorbing their bio-mass, making them a part of it.... that's an extremely effective tactic to use against a self-duplicating opponent like The Madri." Sugarman began to grow larger, it looked like it had swallowed all The Madri whole, and they were struggling to escape the confines of their fleshy prison.... the truth was much worse, now they were part of Sugarman. "Okay," said McCoy, survival instinct stronger than scientific curiousity,"Let's split, as you put it." - The Infinite lifted it's weapon. "Relax," said Warren Worthington The III,"I have a standing invitation to the stronghold." "The fortress is secured, has been for over a week," said The Infinite,"The High Lord Apocalypse will see no one." "I am Warren Worthington The III," said Warren, hoping to bluster his way in,"I have information regarding the capture of former members of The Brotherhood." The Infinite hesitated, it wasn't very smart, but it knew Worthington was a big deal for a civilian, and that any member of The Brotherhood was a valued prize. "You may enter," it said, pushing the button that opened the huge doors to enter the stronghold. They had opened only a crack when a squealing, disheveled figure burst through it, tearing the cloth on the thick metal and slamming into Warren, who had been stepping forward to enter. "CLOSE THE DOORS!" the man screamed,"CLOSE THE FUCKING DOORS!" he was on the edge of breaking down, he was in total panic. The Infinite closed the doors. "What are you doing?!" cried Warren. "This is Rex," said The Infinite,"He outranks you." The human called Rex lay huddled on the ground, whispering and chanting nonsensical sentences over and over again. "That.... flatscan trash outranks me!?" "Technically, sir," said The Infinite with a sigh,"I outrank you." Warren sighed,"This Rex thing, isn't he Apocalypse's pet or something?" "He works for Apocalypse, yes," said The Infinite, it's brain hurt, it wanted to make them go away. "Good," said Warren,"Then he can help me." He reached down and grabbed Rex by the shoulder, the human shrieked in fear. "Hey, human! Relax, I won't hurt you," he smiled slightly,"After all, you're Apocalypse's property." Rex still seemed panicked, but he wasn't gibbering anymore. "Now get me inside, I need to see Apocalypse..." Rex suddenly sat up straight and grabbed Warren hard by the shoulder, pinched the flesh hard enough to leave bruises. "Let go of me, flatscan!" cried Warren. "NO!" cried Rex,"We have to get out of here! We have to get to Holocaust!" "Holocaust is out of the city," said Warren,"Tracking people in the wrong place." "Then Sinister, I have to see Sinister!" "Why?" asked Warren sweetly, removing Rex's hand from his shoulder. Rex fearfully looked behind him at the fortress, he cringed and whined. "B..b...b....b...b..b.because he's BACK!" "Who?' sighed Warren, wishing this flatscan would just get to the damn point already. "MAGNUS!" cried Rex,"Magnus is back!" - "I don't like this," said Storm,"Where is Warren, could he have betrayed us?" "If he's that stupid then he better be a real Angel," muttered Iceman,"Or else he won't recover from what I have in store for him." "Do you think Deadpool is all right?" asked Terry. Palisade looked uneasily at Abyss, who shut his eyes and looked away. "I'm sorry, honey," Palisade finally said,"If he's gone straight to Sinister's labs then he's dead." Terry looked like she was going to yell defiance, then she looked like she might cry, then she just hunched herself up in a little ball in the corner and said nothing. Iceman sighed, this wasn't what he'd wanted, he'd been sure that their hold over Warren would be enough to get them to Avalon, what if he'd been wrong? Abyss stood up, he was barely visible in the darkness, but Iceman had no trouble seeing him, he wasn't just looking with his eyes, but monitoring and registering body temperatures. He wasn't taking any risks of being ambushed by someone cloaked either technologically or psionically. "Nils?" asked Storm,"Is something the matter?" "I don't really like being cooped up, Ororo," he said,"And this feels like a prison, not just a waiting room." He moved to the door, locked for their own safety they'd been assured by Warren, to keep anyone from stumbling upon them. Any of them could have smashed the door open, but Nil's figured there was probably some kind of alarm on it. He stood at the small crack running between the door and the wall, then placed his fingers against it. Abyss was named for the dark inner abyss inside him that he could throw his enemies into, his body was basically human shaped but totally black. It also looked like it had been unraveled, like he was made from black paper that had been curled around an invisible human. He was able to straighten and curl his skin simply by concentrating, and he did so now, sliding himself through the tiny crack. "Where's he going?" asked Terry, looking up from her corner. "Recon," Palisade replied with a smile,"Just make sure there aren't any surprises." - Holocaust had to admit that he was enjoying this, Damask was a revelation in torture. She'd sunk her psi-hooks into Creed's head and tortured him mentally, emotionally and psychically. She'd made him claw and rip at himself with his own claws, leaving his claws in his skin so that they healed over them. Then when he ripped them out they'd torn not just the old wounds open, but also damaging his hands and claws. She'd made him experience his greatest fantasies and then turned them into his greatest fears. Damask lamented the fact that she couldn't see these fantasies and fears, but her abilities were limited to attacking the psyche, she couldn't see into it. "What's happening now?" asked Holocaust,"You've been torturing him for hours now, is there anything more you can do to him?" Creed lay on the ground, his eyes squeezed shut, his back arched, muscles straining, veins popping out as he strained to escape but couldn't make himself move. The Infinites had begun the long trek back towards Manhattan, having to deal with the paperwork on lost humans from the traincrash and the death of high ranking officials like Dead Man Wade and The Mimic. Damask and Holocaust had remained behind to torture Creed, waiting for him to even break down and reveal where the other so-called X-Men had gone. Either that, or wait for him to die. "Oh, I'm sure I'll find something to do," laughed Damask, and began torturing Creed again, sinking her psi-hooks in deeper than before. Creed WAS reaching breaking point, but not in the way they thought. - Aurora smiled as she pulled her costume on, listening to the light snores of both the Bedlam Brothers. She'd enjoyed that a great deal, and if it secured their support for her role as new leader of Factor X it would be worth it. She walked down the corridors, reaching the teleporter she instructed it to teleport her to Manhattan. [Unable to comply,] came the computers voice,[Following orders of Horseman Sinister, teleportation in and out of Manhattan Lab is forbidden.] "Shit," muttered Aurora,"Open a direct line to Northstar, wherever he is." [Northstar not found, message directed to Aurora from Northstar located, display?] "What? Yes." She sat down at the teleport desk, one of the several monitors flicked on and her brother's face appeared. "Hello Sister," said Northstar, grinning like an idiot,"Have you finished entertaining The Bedlam Brothers yet?" She flushed, her brother knew her too well. "I must say I'm jealous, you lucky thing," he chuckled,"It's a pity it's all in vain." "What?" she growled, apparently he had anticipated this too, because he said. "What you say? Well it's just that I just got a message from Sinister, he's sending me to Madripoor, I'm to be the new Ambassador to open treaty negotiations... although we both know what that really means. And if I succeed in my mission, you know what that means Aurora," it wasn't a question, but a statement. "You become the new leader of Factor X." "I become the new leader of Factor X." The message ended, her brother's idiot grin disappearing from the screen. "SHIT!" she screamed, slamming her fist into the desk, sending a tingle of dull pain through her fist. She'd go to Sinister, seduce him and..... she sighed, who was she kidding? She could no more seduce Sinister than Northstar could seduce The Bedlam Brothers. "If I want to become leader, I've gotta bring Sinister something big," she murmured,"And to do that I'd need a miracle. And that's when an Angel appeared before her. - Cecelia's tight pussy was wrapped around Creed's thick meat as the two of them took turns eating out Rogue's pussy. He would lick Rogue's pussy, then lick at the juices dripping off Cecelia's face. Making the Mexican mutant beauty giggle, she slid her arms around him and lowered her head slightly, licking at his nipples as she hunched and ground her hips, pressing her cunt against the base of his shaft. "Hey!" cried Rogue,"What about me?" "Oh yeah," said Creed,"We'll get to you, right now I only got eyes for Palisade here." Rogue promptly disappeared, she'd return when they needed her. Creed rolled over onto his back and Cecilia straddled him, allowing more of his thick cock to push apart her cuntlips and slide into her pussy. Her large, plump breasts bounced up and down as she began to raise and lower her hips up and down faster and faster. Her asscheeks squashed against his hard, muscular thighs with each downward stroke, her braided hair flung back with each upward pull. She began to slide up and down on his pole, the pressure of her cunt around his thick cock made the sensation of fucking her that much more intense. "Yes!!" moaned Creed,"That's right...do it....give me your cunt, give it to me!!!" Cecilia began pushing up and down, her tight juicy cunt sliding up and down his hard cock. She was panting heavily, her breasts bouncing up and down crazily as she came closer and closer to orgasm. His eyes were crawling all over her breasts, his head moving to follow the flow and bounce of her fat titties. "OOHH! YESS!!!!!!" she screamed,"Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! YEESSS!!" she screamed as her orgasm began, her cunt muscles clamping down around his meat, tugging on his shaft as it continued to plunge in and out of her cunt as she continued to bounce up and down on top of him, juices trying to get free but plugged up by his thick dick. "Oh shit, yeah!!" grunted Creed and then his cock was shooting thick streams of cum up into her juicy snatch, mixing with her orgasming juices in her cunt. Finally her jumping, lifting body slowed down, her breathing was deep and heavy, her fat, rounded brown breasts lifting up and down as sweat ran down her body, making it glisten. She lowered her body down onto him, her breasts pressing against his thick, muscular chest. She licked his face, at one point he slipped his own tongue out and she began to suck on it. Raising her ass up, his cock slipped out and her juices released, splashing out onto his crotch, waist and thighs. She fell down next to him, his large, muscular arm encircling her waist and holding her tight, keeping her warm they fell asleep together and....