Gomurr continued to thumb through the ancient text. If this book was a true representation of the actual events that shaped this place, then something was incredibly wrong here. It appeared Lady Robyyn held all the power here, but the book's somewhat unclear description illustrated both a male and a female power source. The female half of the force was known as the Trimonicon and was represented by the pyramid that was so apparent in all the structures in the palace. This force was said to be charged with healing and life energies, fire and light magics, and something that Gomurr was unfamiliar with........something called the v'shani. Gomurr had studied hundreds of mystical systems of empowerment over the centuries, but this term was still unknown.
As he read on, the text began to profile the male half of the force. This half was symbolized by the serpent and was called Anaconza. It controlled nature, water forces, and the joctu, which was translated into jump. Gomurr concluded that this meant teleportation. So Rahsas' teleportation abilities weren't mutant-gene related, but mystical. The text gave no indication of any shape shifting abilities that Rahsas' malleable form displayed, so that gift was truly a mutant power and is what set off Gregor's mutant scanning device when he recruited the lad.
As Gomurr finished the last pages of the book, he noticed that the others were beginning to stir. Rahsas sat up groggily rubbing his eyes. Rita and Jam stretched and yawned. Bux, however, continued to lay on her mattress curled into a fetal position. As Rita, reached over to awaken Bux, her hand brushed along the pyramid which had been Bux's gift. At this Bux, leaped into awareness, eyes wild, and fingers clutching her necklace.
"Don't touch me!" she screamed as she pushed Rita away roughly.
Rita's eyes widened and the others looked curiously at Bux. The beautiful young redhead seemed to realize what she had said, and immediately apologized, explaining that she was caught in the middle of a nightmare and Rita had startled her.
"It's understandable," said Gomurr, "We are all under a great deal of stress. While you have slept, I think I may have found a clue as to how to get us home."
At this moment, there was a knock at the door. Lady Robyyn herself stepped into the room, wearing a gown and veil in the style of the one she had been wearing on their first encounter.
"Night approaches, my companions, and there is much to do. Come, join me in my chamber. There is a favor that I must ask of you all."
Gomurr didn't like the sound of this at all, but they had little choice, so they followed Robyyn back to the huge mirrored room. Gomurr noticed the servants lining the hall. They all bowed to the group as they moved towards the pyramid chamber. Gomurr noticed they paid special attention to Bux as she swept past them. Whey had they all left their duties and lined the hall to watch them? Something was definitely wrong here. As they entered the chamber Gomurr noticed that the brilliant splendor of light that had once made the room painfully bright was now only a dim glow. He lit a mystic flare on the end of his staff, but Robyyn, with a flare of her own power, quickly extinguished it.
"Dark deeds require darkness, ancient one, but have no fear. All is well." She said.
As they became accustomed to the darkness, they realized that the room gave off a steady very low glow of it's own. An almost humming sound came from the mirrored walls as they produced their strange phosperesence. Rahsas suddenly had a flash of memory. The glowing pyramid suspended in darkness. This was the gateway to this world. What were they doing here? The light became a bit brighter and the humming noise became faster and a bit louder. Gomurr felt it's rhythmic throbbings in the back of his mind. His thoughts centered on one thing......the Lady Robyyn and her beautiful face.......how blissful it would be to spend every hour with her.......to serve her every whim.......what a treasure to be coveted she was. The same thoughts raced through the minds of all present and a wicked smile crossed the lips of Robyyn. It was almost time.
"The fools," Lady Robyyn thought, "This is almost too easy. My gifts sensitized them to my powers and now the v'shani will make them mine."
Robyyn's mind was one with them all now. Each shared her innermost thoughts as she shared theirs. Rahsas finally knew the real truth. It was not he that had slain the old one. It was Robyyn herself. He could see her now, standing over the old man. He watched as she swung the staff down onto his ancient frame. He could see himself in her mind's eye....clutching the old man's dying body with tears running down his face....and then he was gone, claiming his birthright as wielder of Anaconzan. He had taken his gift of Joctu and fled from Robyyn's terrible wrath and jealousy....but what did that matter. He was bathing in her light now...in her love...they could be together again...just like family.
Rita's thoughts whirled and throbbed along with the light. She was with the lady Robyyn sitting atop a huge pedestal. Beneath her stood the parents she didn't care to remember......she watched her sad eyed mother........watched as tears rolled down her dark complected cheeks as she gave the tiny screaming baby into the arms of the nuns........she watched the handsome white man next to her mother hand them a huge roll of cash, as he mumbled something about not wanting the disgusting half-breed child.......but she was loved now.....here in Robyyn's light she would be loved by all who saw her.....forever.
Jam also sat with Robyyn, only she sat behind a barred wall. She watched as the men were paraded by her in chains......the men from her past that she buried deep within and only released in the burning melodies of her music. First, there was the alcoholic father, that had told her that she would never grow up to be an uppity whore like the mother that had run away when she was two. To this effect he constantly gave her "reminders" in the form of fists and belts. Next came the first love of her life, who turned out to be worse than her father covering her with both fists and guilt as he degraded her body and soul. Then came the flashy young "talent agent" who turned out to be nothing more than a pimp assuring her that "this" was the only way to make it in "the business". As each man was paraded by, Lady Robyyn let loose a bolt of energy from her staff...branding each with the marks of shame that Jam wore on her soul every day of her life...but it didn't matter now...she was safe with Robyyn and she would be protected......forever.
Gomurr's thoughts were like quicksand. Everytime he formed a relevant image it was swept away by the smiling face of Lady Robyyn. Here was a woman who was as learned in the ancient magics of the world as he, yet as young and as beautiful as a spring flower. Here was a woman who would look past his stature and ancientness to see the true man beneath. Here was a woman with whom he could share his life with. He concentrated trying to shake off the relentless imagery of Robyyn He thought of his students. Each dressed up in their upstarts uniform, but the head of each was soon replaced by Lady Robyyn's. He concentrated again, and the students returned.......except for Bux, she still looked like Robyyn....SHE WAS ROBYYN......WHAT WAS GOING ON?
"NO!" cried Gomurr as he brought his staff up. "I will not fall so easily to your charms, Robyyn. You cannot claim me nor my students. TAKE THIS INSTEAD."
With that, Gomurr fired a mystic bolt, that although was in a terribly weakened state, was enough to break the spell that Robyyn held over them. Robyyn spun to face Gomurr, her veil falling away to reveal a face so hideously old and decayed that it ceased to be a face at all....it was only a grinning death's head. The skull began to laugh.
"It's too late, little man!" she roared, "She's already mine."
"Now and Forever," Bux said........Only it came out in the dry cackle of Robyyn's voice.
Deadpool's tires hummed along the road as he sped Siryn back to the Black Hellfire Club HQ. Siryn's hands were bound and she was mildly drugged in case she happened to wake up on the return trip. As he pulled into the huge circular drive next to the mansion, he had one solitary thought....WHAT NOW?
As he stepped out of the vehicle with Siryn in his arms, Silver swung open the mansion door?
"Deadpool.....Wade....What's going on here?" he called. "You entered the grounds without bothering with the security access, if Avalon hadn't deactivated the system when he did a bio-scan of you and Siryn in the vehicle, you would be dead right now."
"No time to explain, Silver," Wade said, "Siryn's in trouble and so are the rest of the people around here unless we do something pretty fu*&in' fast."
Silver looked down at Siryn and opened the door for Deadpool to enter. They went straight to the med-lab and called for Avalon. When the lad appeared he set the computers to run an auto-diagnostic on Siryn. After the scan Avalon reported the results to the two men.
"It appears, sirs, that Siryn has been the victim of an alpha level psionic attack," the youth said. "There is no longer any trace of the person responsible, and her system is trying to recover. It is strange, however, that she fell victim to the attack at all. All recorded psionics have been programmed into the matrix inside the psi-baffles that she was wearing. It must have been an unknown telepath of extreme power to break through. He or she must operate under a limited geographical distance, however, since she is once more herself."
It was then that Siryn began to stir. She reached out to Deadpool instinctively.
"I'm so sorry, Wade," she cried, "It was like I had no control over my actions, I knew what I was doing, but was powerless to stop it."
"It's ok girl," said Wade, "You gave me a warnin'. That's better than a lot of people do."
Just then Supergrover entered from the main hall.
"I heard a little of what's going on, but I need to know the whole story," Grover stated. "Who attacked you and where are Gregor and the others?"
"To tell ya the truth, Grover," Deadpool said, "the answers one and the same....Gregor and the others attacked me, but according to Siryn, they are under someone else's control."
"Could Nemesis possibly be using them for some scheme of her own?" questioned Silver.
"Unlikely sir," said Avalon, "Gregor insisted Nem's psi-print be downloaded into the psi-baffles to guard against just such an occurrence."
"It doesn't matter who or what's controlling them," said Havok as he entered the room. "It's our job to kick some a$$, and sort it out afterwards. A telepath is dangerous no matter who they claim to be working for."
All the members of the inner circle had heard of Havok's distrust of psi-talents. They knew his father had been manipulated by a telepath and forced to kill his mother. His hatred for telepaths was well known, but in this case he might be right. Their main goal had to be the rescue of their members, regardless of who was controlling them, and if it meant hurting them to help them, then so be it.
"As Black Bishop, that leaves me in charge," said Silver. "Supergrover, Havok, Deadpool, Siryn sit back down and let Avalon fit you for new psi-baffles. There's got to be away around this."
"I don't think that will be necessary," spoke up Grover. "Since whoever this person is circumvented the baffles on one occasion, they are likely to do it again. Might I suggest and alternate method of stealth."
They all listened as Supergrover laid out his plan. Apparently Grover held a low level psi-power of his own. He was not a telepath by any means, but he was completely undetectable by psionic means. Somehow his body constantly created a psionic halo around itself constantly and this halo could be spread out to cover other people. The only problem was the further the people were from his body, the weaker the shielding was. After Grover explained this as yet unrevealed power Havok, the Black Knight spoke up.
"I knew there was some reason I didn't like you blue boy," Havok grumbled, "All of you psi's are the same, double dealing and sneaking about is second nature to you. Why haven't you told us about this before."
"I was aware of his abilities.......just as I'm aware of yours, Havok," Silver said, "and if you don't stop this foolish rivalry with Grover, then I will stop it for you. The important thing is finding the others and bringing them home."
All eyes turned to Havok. Confronting Silver now would be a dangerous proposition. As Black Bishop, he held more title than Havok did, and thus the others would almost undoubtedly support him.
"Calm down Silver, I was just playin' with the blue b.......I mean Grover. I realize this is important." said Havok finally.
With tempers as back to normal as they got around the BHC, Grover continued to formulate his plan.
"OK......Silver, myself, Havok, Siryn and Deadpool go in through the underground access tunnels."
"But only Gregor knows the codes to those doors," Deadpool said.
"I can change the steel into tin and Siryn can melt our way through...that way we won't set off any alarms," said Silver.
"When we get there," continued Grover, "It's very important you all stay close to me. My aura only goes out so far."
"But, how are we supposed to take out our people, while being so anchored down to you?" asked Havok.
"That's just a problem we'll have to face when we get there," finished Grover. "Hopefully, we can take them out fast and hard, without hurting them too badly, by using the element of surprise."
"Great," grumbled Havok under his breath, "not only is this probably a suicide mission, but I have to die beside a blue freak."
And in that great frame of mind, they went to confront their former comrades and the Shadow King.