Chrysalis *HF* - Chapter 9
By Gomurr
Chapter Nine:
Pyre channeled the hellfire that was his birthright from his
hands trying to pick off the invaders to his mistress' sanctuary.
Grover and Silver deflected what they could using their mutant
auras and metallic shields.
"It's just one man," called Mufasa. "Someone nail him, before he
torches one of us for real."
"It's one man from a position of strength, Herr Hunter," Maul
replied in a hiss. "And that makes all the difference in the
world."
The underground cavern shook fiercely as the opening began to
collapse, the force of the battle shattering the fragile old
rocks. Psi-Shot turned as the last bit of natural lighting faded
away. They were left in the gloom of the caverns that seemed to
illuminate themselves with an unhealthy green glow. The frequent
flashes of mutant and magical powers were almost blinding in the
dimness.
"We're trapped in here with whatever's attacking us now," he
yelled almost plaintively.
"More like they are trapped in here with us," came Havok's
gravelly voice. "Emergency lights on everyone. Slow sweeps."
Within the costumes of each member were hidden powerful
wristmounted flashlights. They swept them back and forth
nervously. Suddenly they realized that whatever hidden enemy
they were fighting had ceased to attack. Silence seemed to be
deafening after the initial salvos of the battle.
"They must have retreated," said Psi-Shot trying to get a
tighter rein on his fear.
"Or they're waiting for us to get into position for another
ambush," said Havok.
Psi-Shot groaned almost imperceptively.
The Hellfire Club group moved slowly through the dimly lit
corridors. The smell of rotting flesh grew stronger and many
among the group covered their faces with fabrics from pockets
in their battle uniforms. As they rounded a bend in the earthen
corridor, there was suddenly before them a gigantic drop off
and Blackfire tumbled into the the abyss below. Before anyone
could react however, the White Queen herself ignited her flame
powers and rode a thermal updraft back to a position of safety.
In the glow of her fire, the rest of the group got their first
clear look at the gigantic cathedral like room they were now
faced with. Perhaps one hundred feet below them lay the bodies
of over 200 people in various states of decay. The cavern roof
towered above them and in the center of the room was a rough
stone altar. Chained and seemingly asleep behind the altar lay
Harry Tanaka.
"That's Harry Tanaka," Mufasa cried before he could stop
himself. "His sister told me he'd been missing for some time.
These freaks must have kidnapped him for some reason as well."
Gomurr nodded thoughtfully rubbing his chin.
"Can you get us down there," Silver asked Avalon.
"I think so, but we'll be sitting ducks inside my bubble. It's
gonna take all my energy to carry that many people."
"Let us take care of that. We'll watch your back," said
Blackfire as she once again ignited her flame power and left the
safety of the ledge.
"This is almost definitely a trap," whispered SuperGrover to
Havok.
"Then let's spring it and get it over with," put in the Black
Warlord.
Without a word further Avalon gathered the non or
inexperienced fliers into a magnetic bubble and began lowering
them to the floor. Grover, Blackfire and Gomurr let themselves
down with their own mutant and mystic abilities, circling warily
around the blue magnetic bubble watching for any signs of
trouble. The instant the bubble touched to the floor of the
cabin, the room seemed to come alive.
Harry Tanaka rushed forward popping on the end of his chain.
He snarled like a mad dog cursing and spitting at the Hellfire
Club members in general and Gomurr and Mufasa in particular.
"Estophalum," whispered Gomurr making a warding symbol in the
air.
Pyre leaped from the shadows sending a flame blast towards the
opening they had come in sealing it violently.
"It's a trap," cried Psi-Shot.
"Of course it is, boy" grimaced Silver as he metal-morphed his
guantlets into blades. "Of course it is.
The entire Illuminati assemblage was there then. Gargoyle
immediately swept down from the darkness. His pinion spur tore
into Mufasa's shoulder as he tried to dodge, and the White Rook
cried out in pain. SuperGrover spun towards the dragon-like man
and struck him a fierce blow with his bo-staff. The creature
grunted slightly and then took to the air. Grover quickly
followed him and their battle continued in the air above the
others.
Deacon Faust struck out with a psi-bolt. Psi-Shot tried his best
to shield his friends, but his experience and power levels didn't
compare to the imposing older man. The entire assemblage
struggled to clear their heads from the psionic barrage.
Maul seeing the cause of his compatriot's pain leaped towards
the smiling Deacon with his fangs extended. Faust dodged losing
his concentration, thus freeing the others. Just then Cherub
stepped from the shadows and stared at Maul almost mockingly
with a too sweet childlike innocence.
"Vampire?" Maul growled. "I should have knowns some of my kin
would be here."
"Oh I'm closer than you think to you my dear Mauler...my
pretty pretty half-breed. I'm your brother. The same sick
twisted man gave us the dark gift, you just don't know how to
use it properly." and with a ferocious hiss, the child-vampire
launched himself at the much larger Maul.
Maul tried to dodge, but the child's strength was incredible. He
threw Maul against the cavern wall and was immediately upon
him. As the child vampire lowered his vicious fangs to tear out
the throat of Maul, Psi-Shot peppered him with invisible
telekinetic shards causing the vampire to roll away in pain.
"What's wrong with you, Maul? He's just a kid. He whipped
your butt like you were nothing."
Maul started to answer, but before he could the evil being
known as Cherub was on the young psionic burying his face in his
vulnerable neck. Psi-Shot slumped to the floor, the look of
terror frozen on his face.
"Don't you know anything, child?" Cherub cooed. "That stupid
cow Anne Rice had part of it right at least. It is forbidden to
make child vampires, but not because they are weak. Because the
stuff of life is so strong in youth, that once they are touched by
the dark gift, they are too strong to control. The boy's not dead
yet Mauler, Come let's finish him together."
Maul cried out launching himself once again at his taunting
child-like foe.
In another corner Havok and Mufasa fought valiantly against
Bliss and Obsydian. Havok attacked the dark figure with his
taloned hands but was thrown back by the living metal blades of
Obsydian. Mufasa roared his rage at the all too agile Bliss and
attacked with his photonic aura, but with every slight touch of
skin to skin contact, he felt the pull of Bliss's power in him.
Khalid fought against the urge to give in to Bliss...to give him
whatever he desired. The evil Illuminati was wearing him down
much too quickly. Suddenly Rune was there beside him. The blue
haired mage caught the prancing Bliss in the mid-section with a
bolt of indigo energy sending him flying. Before he could
recover Mufasa was atop him, poised for the final blow.
"C'mon baby....I know you want it," said Bliss seductively
grasping Mufasa's head in his hands. The White Rook's eyes
began to roll back in his head but once again Rune was there,
this time taking a much more standard approach. The fierce
young mage kicked swiftly into the side of Bliss' head knocking
him unconscious and freeing Mufasa from his grasp.
"Thank you...I don't know what came over me...It was like..like,"
Mufasa stammered.
"Trust me. I know what it was like," Rune grinned as he patted
Mufasa on the shoulder. "C'mon we've got work to do."
The tide of the battle was slowly turning. The Hellfire Club was
beginning to break through the advantage that the Illuminati's
ambush had given them. With the help of Mufasa and Rune,
Havok had succeeded in cornering Obysdian and they all fought
to subdue the living weapon further. Avalon had successfully
wrapped the winged Gargoyle in an electro-magnetic cocoon and
SuperGrover had gone on to battle the sword wielding Akasha.
Blackfire's "healing flame" was proving more than a match for
Pyre's hellfire and Silver and Gomurr had successfully subdued
elderly Stitch and Deacon Faust. The battle was drawing to a
close when the unthinkable happened.
With a cry ripped from the very depths of his soul, Harry
Tanaka began to radiate waves of mystical energy. Just then
Adonis came crashing through a wall followed quickly by Scarab
and Magdalene. The super-strong Adonis knocked back Silver
and Gomurr with one glancing blow. As Silver fell, Scarab was
quickly on him. With but a touch, the once youthful face of
Silver withered and became the visage of an old man. Scarab
licked his lips as he fed on the life essence before him.
"Another ambush," cried SuperGrover as he turned to help his
fallen mentor, but his love for Gomurr cost him. As he spun, the
mystic blades of Azri wielded by Akasha cut through his aura
and sliced deeply into his back. He fell from the sky like a stone
and landed heavily only inches from the one he meant to save.
Magdalene seemed to be just standing amid the chaos when her
eyes began to glow with an eerie radiance. Slowly with a
sickening scrape of bone against stone, the corpses littering the
cathedral like room began to move. Bare bone and rotting muscle
began to attack the members of the Hellfire Club and the tide
of battle was once again turned. Havok was the first to fall as
the corpse of a long dead police office brought a steel club
down against his skull. Mufasa in defense of his friend tried to
protect him, but a glancing blow from Obsydian followed by
several from the animated corpses took him too out of the fight.
Avalon and Rune stood back to back firing bolts of magnetic
energy and mystic power but the onslaught of the undead army
was too much. As a row of corpses fell, yet another wave would
follow them, giving the first time to rise again. At this point, it
was only a matter of time until even their mighty energies were
exhausted and they too fell under the sway of Magdalene's
magically animated army. Cherub giggled softly to himself as he
dragged the bodies of Maul and Psi-Shot by their hair toward
the altar at the center of the room. Blackfire was the last too
fall as Gargoyle and Akasha delivered her kicking and screaming
from the air to the army of corpses below.
Gomurr stirred from the darkness that enveloped him and lolled
his head to the side to see the bleeding form of Grover. The blue
skinned warrior was like a son to him and seeing him defeated hit
Gomurr harder than the knowledge that perhaps his old life was
about to end. As his vision began to clear, he saw a beautiful
blonde woman sway toward him from the darkness. His eyes
traveled up her shapely leg and then up to her face that was
hidden in the folds of a cowl-like hood. A strand of platinum
blonde hair fell from the hood and Gomurr gasped despite
himself.
"Jon?" He whispered softly through his haze. "Why would you
do this?"
"Jon!?!?!" The figure laughed. You mean this pathetic wretch?"
With that the hooded figure motioned as Pyre and Gargoyle
dragged the bleeding and mystically bound form of the Dark
Priestess, Nytshade forward. The Necromancer continued to
speak. "I can't believe you don't recognize me old one...and I
thought we were so close....so....very close."
With that the sorcoress known as the Necromancer stripped
back her hood to reveal the form of Malia Trent. She smiled at
the old mage that had once been her lover wickedly. "And I
couldn't have done it without the help of another you held dear."
She motioned again and a raven flew from the darkness and
landed beside her. It began to grow rapidly and took the form
of a man shape in armor of leather and feathers, but it too
swept back it's hood to reveal a grinning all too human face.
"Don't you recognize me old friend?" the figure laughed.
"Archiemedes....why?" Gasped Gomurr.
"She gave me something you couldn't in all of your 800 years.
She gave me my human form back."
"And all it cost you was your soul," sputtered the old mage.
"A small price to pay," said the one time bird man as he kicked
the ancient magician in the head knocking him back into oblivion.
"A small price to pay indeed."
Archiemedes kissed Malia Trent deeply and when they broke
their embrace, they began to laugh and it echoed off the damp
walls of the ancient barrow.