Gomurr and his students rushed towards Bux and Robyyn as the hateful words fell dully from their flame-haired teammates mouth. Robyyn held up her hand in a palm out gesture and suddenly the rescuers found their path blocked by a invisible wall. They watched as Bux meekly followed Robyyn toward the throne. The now cadaverous Robyyn, touched the delicately carved crystal of the throne and it slid away. As it slid, a slight scraping noise was heard, as a man-sized glowing pyramid rose from the floor beneath. Rahsas pounded against the mystical shield.
"I've been in your mind, Robyyn. I know the truth now," screamed Rahsas.
"Yes, you know now," spat Robyyn. "but all you'll do with that knowledge is DIE."
The now skeletal hand of the Lady Robyyn gripped her staff and fired a bolt of flame directly at Rahsas. The shield dropped to let the fireball go through and Rahsas barely had time to contort his incredible flexible body so that the flame passed through him. This however, was to Gomurr's disadvantage because, as he was standing behind Rahsas, the magic bolt struck him in the center of the chest.
"So you dare use your mutant powers to defy me," Robyyn screamed. "You think just because you can twist your body like a sideshow freak, that you can defeat me. You couldn't be happy with just the mystical abilities granted to you by being the embodiment of Anaconza, you had to have more. Well now, I've got your magics and mine as well, and you've got nothing more than contortionist tricks."
"I didn't choose to be a mutant," Rahsas screamed back at her. "This is the way I was born, and I've come to accept it, and it does have certain advantages."
Rahsas reached out his maleable arm and encircled Bux's waist. He thought if he could just separate her from Robyyn, then maybe they could all escape together. He thought wrong, however. As soon as Bux realized what was happening, she struck out at Rahsas with a mystic bolt of her own. Somehow Robyyn had catalyzed the abilities that Gomurr had suspected Bux of having. Rahsas pulled away and looked around frantically for help. Gomurr was just beginning to recover from the flame bolt and Rita and Jam were too frightened to move. It then occurred to him, what Robyyn had said. He was the living embodiment of Anaconza. He had the power to stop her. He simply had to find his way around the blocks she had placed on him....then it occurred to him. The glowing pyramid.......his trip through the darkness and into the light of yet another pyramid........Robyyn's Trimonicon staff..........the structure of this room. She had used her nexus powers to direct all of this world's magic into herself by focusing it through the crystaline properties of the pyramids. That's why Gomurr and he were having trouble with their powers.
"It's the mirrors," Rahsas screamed. "She's using them as a focus point for all the mystical energies in this realm. Strike out at the mirrors."
"NO!" Robyyn screamed. "You don't know what you are doing. You can't imagine the powers that I hold in check. You endanger every man, woman and child on this plane of existence by releasing those energies."
This statement seemed to bring everyone to silence. Bux still stood transfixed by the foul creature that had once been the Lady Robyyn. Rita and Jam stood staring at their friend, wondering what to do. Then Gomurr, who seemed possessed of an almost uncontrollable rage, slammed his staff into a mirrored wall, bringing shards of glass down in an explosive rain.
"No, Robyyn," Gomurr said as he shattered another of the mirrors, "It is you who don't understand. You are lying to us once again. The people of this realm are long dead. That's why they bow and scrape like mindless zombies.....THEY ARE. That's why there were no settlements between where we landed and your palace, and that's why you need Bux so badly. You've sucked the life force of this dimension dry, and now you need a young body of a dimensional counterpart in order to control it."
"So, you've discoverd my secret," Robyyn hissed, "but it's too late. I've gained control over dear sweet Bux now and you are all just fuel for the fire."
Robyyn tapped her staff on the floor and Gomurr, Rahsas and the two girls were instantly surrounded by a ring of fire. The fire blazed to the ceiling and slowly began to close in on them.
"Run, little Rahsas, just like before. I grant you that power back," Robyyn cackled. "Take your remaining friends and go. Your toll is paid by this gift you brought me."
"You can't have her!" Rahsas yelled over the roaring flames. "I'll never lose anything to you again."
Rahsas picked up the wooden staff that had been given to him as a cruel twist of the knife and lifted it into the air.
"Foolish Boy, I told you that staff is powerless now. I've absorbed the Anaconza as well as the Trimonicon." laughed Robyyn.
"I don't need magic to take you out. I know your secret now. You've lived in lies and darkness lie for t0o long, Robyyn, now it's time to let in the light." Rahsas raged.
The tall youth then reared back and tossed the staff like a javelin. Whether his aim was guided by the magic of Anaconza or just rage and discipline, the serpent headed staff crashed into the front glass panel of the pyramid and it exploded outward in an obsydian tide of darkness.
"You've doomed us all!" Robyyn cried as the blackness swept over the room and began to eat the entire world.
Silver was impressed. The plan was actually working. Deadpool with the help of Avalon on the comm link had been able to de-activate the school's security perimeter alarms giving them access to the tunnels beneath it. When the murky water became so deep it made walking difficult, Silver used his abilities to turn the iron rust and metallic garbage in the water into a solid surface that they could walk on.
"Why didn't you do that in the beginning," Deadpool groaned.
"Frankly, I didn't think about it, until the water level started rising," returned Silver.
"Well, I'd hate for you to ruin to soil your new silks," laughed Deadpool.
Silver looked around, and despite the direness of the situation his teammates in this venture gave a little laugh. He himself even found it slightly amusing. His new costume had arrived, shortly before Deadpool had arrived at the mansion with Siryn. He had thought to field test it before actually ising it, but when this mission arose he decided to wear it. Business suits weren't really conducive to wading threw sewers after all. The form fitting black body suit was accented with metallic gauntlet like gloves and a metal belt. The gloves, being made of metal, meant he was free to change the composition and shape of at will and the belt could be transformed with his powers to a variety of different items. He had gotten the idea from Supergrover and had been very impressed with the design he was presented with. He realized the novelty of his being in normal "super hero" garb only after Deadpool had pointed it out. It was rather funny if you thought about it.
Just as the waters ended and they all begin to step up onto the concrete platform of the spillway, they heard an inhuman scream. Havok felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up and he morphed his hands into claws in readiness for trouble. The sound came again....only closer this time. Havok, being the most accustomed to battle scenarios quickly took the point.
"All right, everyone," Havok commanded. "Form a circle back to back and be ready for anything."
At this moment a jet black mass of fangs and claws came flying from the darkness. The panther lashed out at anything in sight. Havok fired a bio blast but it went wide hitting a section of the tunnel ceiling and almost bringing it down.
"Well so much for the high octane route," Havok yelled over the sound of crumbling rock. "Looks like we'll have to do this upclose and personal."
Just then another figure came hurtling from the darkness. Why were Nem's panthers attacking them? Nem held complete sway over them. Something must have happened to her to make them behave this way. In truth the Shadow King had taken control of the panthers after taking control of Nem and had placed only one thought in their minds.......KILL! Just then a third panther bounded into the area before the blast doors where the group of BHC members stood.
The first panther leaped at Havok, who was facing the other direction. It's claws extended it was within inches of raking Havok's back, when Grover's staff down soundly on its head. The cat roared and jumped away. Siryn let loose a low level flame blast and hit the cat in its hindquarters. The smell of burnt hair and flesh mingled with the already fetid smell of the tunnels to make it even harder to breathe. The big cat wasn't ready to give up yet, though. Farouk's commands were still strong in his animal brain. He leaped again, this time directly towards Siryn, who was distracted by its compatriot. Silver leaped in front of her, concentrating his abilities into the gauntlets on his fists shaping them into adamantium spear points. The cat landed on the spear tips with a sickening wet thump and then was still. No one would doubt Gregor's new uniform again. They were not safe yet, however.
The other two cats even more enraged by the smell of their brother's blood leaped as one at Grover and Havok. Havok raised his taloned hand and gutted one of the beasts before it could reach him with its own claws. The other however, knocked Grover to the ground and was going for his throat. Havok quickly fired a low level plasma burst directly into the cats brain. It died instantly.
"Th...Th..Thank you, Havok," Grover stuttered.
"Think nuthin of it, Blue," returned Havok. "If you get your ticket punched I want it to be by me and not some stupid jungle cat."
"Thank you, nonetheless," said Grover.
"Don't mention it," said Havok finally.
The others said nothing, but they all saw what was happening. Perhaps......just perhaps, the bitterness between Grover and Havok was beginning to thaw....and what a formidable duo they would make when it did.
"Here's the blast door," panted Silver. "We can expect it to be more dangerous as we go along. There are still ten more panthers as well as our mind controlled friends with whom we might meet."
Silver concentrated and the shiny steel blast door took on a muted dull appearance.
"Now, Siryn," he instructed.
The fiery young redhead concentrated her flame blast to laser sharpness and quickly cut a circle in the now thin tin doorway.
"We're in," breathed Deadpool. "Now what?"
"Now we go up," said Havok pointing towards the access hatch above thier heads. "And stick close to Grover.....remember we need to be completely psi-blinded people."
The access hatch opened onto the pad of the garden fountain. As they swung it open, the dim sunlight from the slowly departing day shone across the grounds. All was quiet. No sign of panthers roaming or thier friends for that matter. Where was everyone? The group of five anxious mutants gathered on the lawn. Each prepared themselves for the confrontation. Deadpool loaded and rechecked his weapons. Siryn's hands begin to glow with the heat she was holding. Grover changed his bracelets to a staff and then quickly changed his minds and changed them to num-chucks. Silver's Gauntlet's appeared to melt and shift into shining spears and his belt morphed into a breast plate. And finally Havok, who seemed to be always ready for battle, worked his clawed hands spastically.
"Are we ready, people?" whipsered Havok.
"Let's go," said Silver.
The mutants, huddled around Grover, took five anxiouis steps forward before all hell broke loose. The ground in front of them exploded as Gregors energy spear exploded in front of them.
"So much for the element of surprise," yelled Deadpool over the cacophony. "Woohaaa, it's down to tooth and claw now...just the way I like it."
Deadpool somersaulted into the air and away from the group. He was counting on the fact that he had withstood the telepathic control placed on the others before. He still felt the sharp pain at the base of his skull, however, as his healing factor and the psi-baffles did thier jobs. He landed in front of Nem and prepared to knock her out with a shot to the back of the head. She reacted to quickly, however, and he was pounced on by one of her panthers. He felt its claws dig into his arms and the warm blood wash out over him. He knew his healing factor would stitch the scratches up relatively quickly, but he had to shake this cat. Rolling the the snarling beast over on to the ground, he pulled his ionic knife from its boot holster and slid it across the cat's throat. The creature didn't even have time to scream as the ionic blade cut and cauterized the wound, only leaving it open so the blood flowed freely. Nem's eyes went momentarily blank with the death of another one of her thirteen pets. This was deadpool's chance. He swept her legs from underneath her with a roundhouse kick, and then took her out with a quick thump to the nerve cluster at the base of the skull.
Meanwhile the others stood back to back within Grover's aura of protection. Siryn was holding off Psi-Shot with her flame bursts and Havok's plasma charges kept Gregor at bay, but they had forgotten the clever little teleporter Blink. Suddenly a portal opened in the center of them and Blink came flying out with a pulse bolt in hand. Without warning she let it fly and it struck Siryn in the back knocking her unconscious.
"Siryn!" roared Silver. "I'm sorry Clarice this is for your own good
Concentrating his powers once again, Silver caused a metal statue in the fountain to rust through and fall onto Blink. Luckily for her, he had changed the metallic content of the statue from Bronze to tin. Although still heavy enough to take Blink out of the fight, it was now not so heavy as to kill her. When and if they got out of this, she definitely would not be happy with the bruises and possible other injuries, but at least she was alive.
This left only Gregor and Psi-Shot to deal with. The youth's psi daggers posed no threat to them as long as they stayed close to Grover, but Gregor's blasts continually rained down on them from above. As Psi-Shot fired dagger after dagger at the trio, almost all involved had forgotten the missing Deadpool. Quickly and efficiently Deadpool brought down the youth with a nerve pinch, and then there was one. The Black King roared in a voice that was his, yet not his.
"You can never defeat me mutants, as long as I control this one's fiery passions," said Gregor in a heavy Arabic accent. "And as you fight your useless battle, I am on my way to achieving even greater power."
The Shadow King was fighting a two front battle. He guided Gregor's blasts in an attempt to separate the other mutants from Grover and then take control of them one at a time, but he also held his oldest puppet Nytshade. He dug threw her mind with reckless abandon, trying spell after spell to reopen the portal. Why couldn't she do it? Something was blocking her.
Gregor's explosive blasts continued to rain down on the four remaining members of the rescue party. Deadpool had rejoined the other's under the protection of Grover's psychic defense shield. There was no way to take the fight to Gregor. Each shot of his energy spikes were met by Havok's plasma burst with explosive effects, but in order to stay under Grover's aura, their motion was greatly limited.
"I've got a plan," said Silver. "If you can get him close enough to where my powers can affect him, then we may have a shot of ending this once and for all."
"Somehow, he knows not too get to close to us," Havok said. "Whatever force that is controlling him is keeping him at a distance on purpose."
"Not for long," Deadpool said. "Wish me luck."
Deadpool rolled across the grounds holding his head in agony.
"My mind, my mind....OH GOD THE PAIN!" he screamed.
Amal Farouk, squatting in the astral plane noticed this latest mutant to fall under his control.
"It appears, the one that has resisted me so successfully has finally begun to weaken, yet somehow I still can't get through," thought the Shadow King. "I'll just have to further separate him from his accursed blue-skinned companion."
Gregor, under the Shadow King's influence, swooped down to drag Deadpool away, but as he neared the ground, his blast field sputtered and went out, and he fell careening toward the earth. He landed with a thud mere feet from Grover and his compatriots.
"What happened to him?" asked Havok.
"I happened," said Silver quietly. "I've never used my power directly on another human, and I pray I'll never have to do it again."
"What are you talking about?" said Grover.
"When he got within my sphere of influence, I rapidly oxygenated the iron in his blood stream, effectively exhausting his bio energy. I just pray he's not permanently injured," explained Silver.
The Shadow King cursed and sputtered on the astral plane.
"NO, this can't be happening," he roared. "All is not lost, however, if I can just get this damnable witch to do as I command."
Suddenly the portal flared to life and a great darkness roared out pulling everyone within its wake in.....including the Shadow King.
"This is impossible," Farouk roared. "I'm not even tethered to the corporeal plane by a host body any more. What force could possibly drag me into its power."
And then the Shadow King sensed the great power that was being unleashed from the other side of the portal and willing surrendered himself to it.
"This power is like none I have ever experienced," he cried gleefully, "and as always, I shall find a way to make it mine."
Then all present were sucked into blackness, and the portal closed once again.