psinex@yahoo.com Fires of Tomorrow 19/20 by Phil Hartman DISCLAIMER: They're all Marvel's, except for Danny, Dave, Deanna, Mel, and the Richards twins, who're mine. Please don't sue. WARNING: Language, more-graphic-than-usual violence. -------------------------------------------------------- 4/24/2004: Colorado Rockies: 07:16 hrs MST: -------------------------------------------------------- Abaddon nodded, sitting on a rock near the foul-smelling pit which had once housed America's only government-run supercriminal prison. #The Red Skull ... the Kingpin ... Baron Zemo ... Fenris ... the Rose,# he thought, looking at the corpses rising to the surface. #I really have taken care of the human supervillains. Now, to unify the mutants they would have abused -# ~TRAITOR ! How COULD you !?~ Abaddon stood, glowering, as the New Mutants appeared from midair amidst a glowing firebird. "You let your breeder off her perch, Richards ?" he sneered. "Who's watching your offspring ?" "SHUT UP !" Ray screamed, slamming her former friend to the ground with a Phoenix-talon. "You attacked your own family, and now you've MURDERED HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE !? And you're trying to make sick JOKES !?" "Stop trying to make sense of it, Rachel," Abaddon sneered, his hands glowing a sickly orange. The air filled with entropic fire, driving the Mutants back and allowing Abaddon to stand with a faint smirk. "None of you have the vision I do," Abaddon sniffed. "Humanity are truly dinosaurs, animals compared to us. We have the power and the genetic advancement - why not USE them for conquest ?" "Your even asking that question means you can't understand," Frank rumbled. "I'm sorry, Tom - I really am - but this has to STOP !" He lashed out, but Abaddon snapped his wrist - - and Frank screamed. "Funny, how one little heart fluctuation can kill so easily," Abaddon sniffed. "You're a pathetic joke, Richards. Born of enhanced-human parents, a genetic fluke - a lowborn who got lucky in his genetic draw. Your passing won't be mourned in the new world order." He vanished, leaving Ray to cradle Frank's twitching body. "No - damnit, Scrapper, don't you DO this - LEONG ! NGA !" Ray screamed, dissolving Frank's uniform shirt. "We're here," Leong nodded. He and Nga touched Frank's chest, and the older boy's body relaxed to a gentle breathing. "The heart arrythmia has stopped, but he needs to be checked out by a trained physician," Leong advised. "We're gifted healers, Rachel, but we're not trained doctors yet." "I know. Thank you," Ray nodded tearfully. "Damnit - one of us should've stayed at home with the kids - " "Left - Nate with - th' twins an 'Mrs. Shade an' - Mr. Williams," Frank grunted. "Ray - you lead now - take team - stop Tom -" "ME !?" Ray yelled. "Frank -" "You're the team's co-leader, Red," Erik shrugged. "We goin' after our resident psycho ... ?" Ray sighed, but kissed Frank's forehead and let Leong and Nga help him up. "Yes," Ray nodded, manifesting the Phoenix with a glare. "Claudette, get Frank and the Mahns back to the mansion, then get on the horn to the grownups. We're going to stop Abaddon. "WHATEVER it takes." Claudette opened a teleportal, watching as Ray gathered up the rest of the combat-ready Mutants and teleported away. #She was so ... determined,# the Moroccan girl realized, teleporting the Mahns and Frank away with her. #I pity Tom when Ray catches him ...# -------------------------------------------------------- "Where the heck're we ?" Bill asked as the Phoenix Effect dropped the rest of the Mutants onto a sidewalk. "He said 'new world order,'" Ray replied, pointing upwards. "If you wanted to make a bloody political attack against the world, where better than at the symbol of world unity and cooperation ?" "Oh SHIT - of course," Erik muttered, looking at the row of flags before the Dag Hammerskjold Building. "The U.N. General Assembly ..." -------------------------------------------------------- Oh, she's far better than I anticipated - she predicted where I would strike. I drop out of hyperspace behind the General Assembly building and cloak myself by degrading localized EM energies. This may not be a counter to a psi-scan, but it should last long enough for me to do what I must. I nod to you, Rachel. You are truly an opponent worthy of direct combat ... ... but I'm not going to be that blunt. Not this time ... -------------------------------------------------------- "Any sign -?" Bill asked Ray. She waved him back, concentrating as she psi-scanned the area, then cried out. "BEHIND THE BUILDING - get BACK there, Kevin, Erik, HAMMER HIM !" Ray called. "The building's about to -" Screams of terror came from within and below the building as massive cracks began to appear in it. "Holy God - he's gonna collapse it - !" Dave cried, following most of the other Mutants to find Abaddon. "Ray - ?" Gail called, looking back as she raced to help the others. ~Go,~ Ray sent, the Phoenix manifesting about her as she reached out and enveloped the building. ~I've got a miracle to work ....~ -------------------------------------------------------- DAMNIT ! She's holding the damned building together long enough to - - I feel a fist strike me, and I turn - - to see my own, enraged eyes meeting mine. Ah, William. You've betrayed me too ? Oh well. Let it begin then ... ... brother versus brother, if need be. -------------------------------------------------------- "No more, Tom," Bill snarled as the Mutants assembled in a semi-circle before Abaddon. "You've gone too far -" "'this time' ? Enough with the cliches, William ! And remember - I AM ABADDON !" the entropist howled, red energies coruscating about him. The Mutants screamed under the area-effect blast, trying to hang on as the very air turned against them. Bill tried to fly forward, but was hurled back against the ground and pinned. "YOU ARE FOOLS TO DEFEND THESE APES !" Abaddon roared. "I AM THE LIVING AVATAR OF DESTRUCTION - DECAY MADE FLESH - THE DEVOURER OF ALL ! I AM THE ANGEL OF THE ABYSS COME TO EARTH ! I WILL NOT BROOK YOUR SIMPERING INTERFERENCE IN MUTANTKIND'S RIGHTFUL ASCENSION !" ~AN' WE'LL NAE TAKE YUIR FEKIN' ATTITUDE NAE MORE !~ Abaddon turned, going pale as a being of raw energy leapt past the entropy storm and reached for him. "Proteus - ?" Kevin plunged his hand into Abaddon's chest, causing a huge energy backlash and shattering the entropic vortex with a scream. Both boys fell to the ground, hard, and Kevin rematerialized before the other Mutants. "I ... feel - och, I need a drink," Kevin grunted. He stood. And screamed when a chunk of metal flagpole impaled his chest. "You ... RUINED ... EVERYTHING !" Abaddon screamed. "This is ... not OVER ... my once-friends ..." He vanished, while Kevin fell, bleeding white fire, into Erik's arms. "KEV !" Erik cried. "Oh God - hang on, man -" "T'is ... t'late ..." Kevin whispered, starting to dissolve. "Tell Mum ... I loved her ... an' 'Rik ' ... y'r th' best brother ... a guy c'ld have ..." Ray came flying over, wobbling, and landed hard beside the other Mutants in time to see Kevin shatter into an infinite number of white pieces. Erik hit his knees, shuddering, and clung to Alexa as she held him. "He ... we should've ..." Dave sobbed. "Dear God," Ray whispered, wiping her eyes. "We saved the U.N. ... but ..." "But ..." -------------------------------------------------------- To be concluded ... -------------------------------------------------------- end _____________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Free instant messaging and more at http://messenger.yahoo.com