They slipped effortlessly through the shimmering facade of the pyramid. Once inside they were assaulted by the void. At first there was only nothingness. Then there was something forming out of the nothingness, until it became everything...and then the world went black again. When Bux sat up, she looked around at her surroundings. She was in a beautiful meadow. Rita and Jam sat beside her on the grass-covered hill. A serene brook curved its way slowly across the beautiful landscape...and then they saw her. Blink approached them with her arms open wide.
"Welcome, my friends," Blink said. "Come join us, we were just sitting down to eat."
Rita, Bux and Jam followed the beautiful young mutant up the hill and to a sheltered gazebo. There sitting under the shade of the quaint structure, sat Gregor and Deadpool......sipping tea! Deadpool turned toward them, but there was no sign of the scars that the Weapon X program had branded him with. He rose to greet them.
"Come ladies," Wade said. "Join us in our respite."
The girls looked at him in stunned silence. His handsome face was aglow with actual joy. Where was the scowling mercenary? Something was very wrong here.
"I can tell by your faces," explained Wade, "that you wonder what happened to me. It's quite simple really. Here in the heart of the nexus, you can be anything you want to be."
"It's true," said Gregor as he stepped up to greet them. "Your fondest desires are made real here. Look out over the beautiful landscape. I created all of this. I envisioned the utter cleanliness & beauty of it all. Although my mutant power feeds on the pollutants in the environment, the actual conversion process can be quite painful at times. Here I have no need for the power or the pain."
"For my part," said Blink, "I chose peace. Gregor and Wade insisted on having at least revolting peasants or wild natives or something, but in the end I won them over. This is how I've always wanted my life to be.....no attacking phalanx....no prejudice or hate, just love and caring forever."
Rita, Bux and Jam looked on in disbelief. Something was definitely wrong with this picture. From the sounds of the screams these three made while entering the nexus, they sure weren't responding to this utopian view.
Outside, the battle raged on. Psi-Shot and Havok still stood side by side, each releasing his mutant power against Avatar. Rahsas used his newly regained shadowgate power to teleport large chunks of Avatar's army into nothingness. They were replaced as quickly as he removed them. Somehow the psi-beast was healing itself. Silver had erected a barrier of sorts from the metal of the pyramid base allowing them some protection, since its properties seemed to be immune to Avatar's blasts. SuperGrover had taken to the air and was attacking Avatar with his Bo staff, while trying to avoid the massive blows he rained down on the others. Siryn, who also took flight after watching Gregor disappear, glowed with a white hot intensity as she fired burning jets of flame onto Avatar's shining psionic armor. Gomurr and Nytshade cast spell after spell, working in unison to find a chink in Avatar's defenses. Nem, in a moment of bravery stepped out from behind the shield and once again tried to wrestle her way into the Avatar being's mind. She was rewarded for her efforts with a psionic hammer blow that brought her to her knees. Avatar reacted with lightning quickness to her mistake and immediately seized her and pushed her through the facade of the glowing pyramid. She passed through it's surface with the sound of shattering glass and an unholy scream.
INSIDE THE CRYSTAL:
Gregor, Deadpool and Blink continued to converse and eat, as the three confused girls looked on.
"Something's not right here. These people aren't right," whispered Bux to the others.
"I know it Chica," returned Rita. "Gregor is way too tightly stitched to have created this garden spot. His idea of paradise is a hostile corporate takeover or a country club debutante with a fat roll of Daddy's cash."
"I'm getting to the bottom of this," said Bux again. "I won't let my friends be used any longer."
Bux strode toward the revelers, and they watched her closely. Gregor was the first to speak up.
"This structure is a bit crowded, my dear," he cooed. "Allow me to make you another."
With that, he gestured, and another quaint country style gazebo appeared on the hill.
"That's ok," said Bux, "We can all squeeze in."
She continued walking toward them, and now Blink spoke up.
"Don't be silly, Bux," she said. "It's our goal here to make you as comfortable as possible. There's plenty for everyone and no need to be crowded."
Bux continued her approach and Deadpool's words were the most direct of all.
"Don't be a fool, girl," he spat. "Don't you see what we can offer you. Don't come any closer."
The last part was stated in a voice that didn't belong to Wade at all. It was the voice of Lady Robyyn. Bux reached out and touched Blink's arm and immediately drew back her hand. She looked down and noticed her fingers had been sliced open in several places and blood dripped slowly down them. When she looked back up the smiling Blink....all traces of her friend were gone, and in her place.......another crystalline soldier. Before she could turn to run, the crystal guard swung it's sharpened appendage knocking her down the steps of the gazebo....only the gazebo was no longer there anymore. In it's place was a mass of decaying bodies, and atop them sat two more grinning soldiers where Deadpool and Gregor had once been. The beautifully appointed table was now covered with putrid scraps of some dark bloody meat and flies swarmed openly.
"You were warned!" screamed the soldiers in unison.
"NO.....You were warned," screamed Bux.
Without warning a bolt of pure eldritch fire flew from Bux's fingertips and blasted through the center of the Blink/soldier. It immediately crumbled into dust. Bux spun on the other two soldiers, and reached out with her newly discovered V'shani aspect animating the rotting corpses beneath them. Soon the two soldiers were buried beneath a writhing pack of the dead. Bux then looked down at her bleeding fingers. She concentrated and the wounds closed as she watched, leaving not even a scar as they went. Rita and Jam looked at her in amazement and a little fear.
"Where did you learn how to do that, girlfriend?" Jam asked.
"I don't know, Jam.....I just don't know," said Bux.
OUTSIDE THE CRYSTAL:
"Fools!" Avatar screamed. "Your pathetic attempts to stop me are useless. As you pitch your puny battle against me, the very prize you seek binds herself to me in a way I could never do myself."
INSIDE THE CRYSTAL:
Suddenly the entire landscape shifted into one of utter horror before the girls' eyes. The pastoral scene was replaced by a landscape of war torn hills and scattered bodies. Carrion birds picked here and there at the corpses and the charnel house smell was nauseating. Rita and Jam covered their mouths, but Bux moved calmly forward. Without warning an entire legion of crystal soldiers materialized from the ground. Bux's reactions were equally fast. Immediately she began animating the corpses surrounding her to fight the new threat. She fired blasts that seared the air and the crystalline soldiers exploded all around her. Rita and Jam watched in horror as their friend calmly stepped through the madness as she moved steadily forward.
"Come on you whimpering idiots," Bux said. "Do you want me to leave you here to die."
"Bux....you're scaring us," screamed Rita. "How are you doing all this. Stop it now, before it's too late."
"Don't be a fool," raged Bux. "I'm the only thing keeping you two alive. Now come on before I decide you are just dead weight."
Rita and Jam felt a slight psionic tug in the backs of their minds and soon they were following closely behind Bux as the battle raged all around them.
"There......there's the exit!" screamed Bux over the din of battle.
She pointed to the horizon and they saw the focus of her attention. They could see the crystal wall shimmering in the distance. Outside they could see their remaining friends fighting valiantly against impossible odds. They ran toward it as one.
"But, what about the others that are still trapped in here like us," questioned Jam. "The real Blink, Gregor, and Deadpool must still be around here."
"There's no time for that," said Bux. "We've got bigger worries. If I don't get out there...all our friends will be dead."
"No." said Rita. "I'm not leaving without them."
"Me neither!" piped up Jam.
"Very well, then," said Bux. "Join them."
She waved her hand and the four lost heroes appeared before them. They were all bound and gagged. Blink's hair hung down obscuring her face, but the abuse was evident in the forms of Gregor and Deadpool. Nem's proud face now held only a blank look. Suddenly hands seized the girls from behind and they were quickly subdued. Bux turned to them and stared coldly.
"You could have had it all, girlfriends, but you chose to kiss it away, for this pack of losers. When I become part of Avatar I'll have worlds at my command. The power I wield now will be as nothing compared to it," said Bux flatly.
"No, Chica," screamed Rita, "This isn't you."
"We love you, Bux. Please don't do this," pleaded Jam.
Bux looked at them strangely and a tear slid down her face.
"I can't stop it now," she almost cried. "It's too late."
OUTSIDE THE CRYSTAL:
Avatar stared through the crystal pyramid at the scene unfolding.
"Don't weaken now, you fool girl," the creature roared. "It's all within your grasp."
"Now as we planned," screamed Gomurr, "while Avatar's distracted."
Siryn soared into the air, her body lit up like a star. As she reached the apex of her flight, she outstretched her arms and was immediately surrounded by a bird of flame.....THE MIGHTY PHOENIX WAS REBORN.
The great and powerful Avatar reeled back. Who in this group could possibly hope to contain the infinite power of the Phoenix. Both minds within the shell of Avatar knew of the legendary cosmic power of the Phoenix, and for a moment it stepped back toward the crystal.
"Now Rahsas," Gomurr said.
Rahsas aimed his Anaconza staff at the crystal and let loose a blistering black bolt of energy. When it struck the pyramid, it spread its black mass over a portion of the pyramid forming a shadowgate of incredible intensity. The distracted Avatar, stumbled back, from the shock of the Phoenix burst and its gigantic foot slipped into the vortex.
"NOOOO!" it screamed as more of its leg was swallowed by the shadowgate. "NOT LIKE THIS."
"Everyone pour it on." Grover screamed from above.
The warriors redoubled their efforts. Siryn, who had never really been the Phoenix at all, released the decorative display of her flame power and redirected it into laser intense beams of heat striking Avatar from above. Havok's plasma bursts and Psi-Shot's psi daggers struck Avatar in the chest forcing the great beast to its knees and further pushing it into the vortex. Silver shifted the angle of the floor causing Avatar to slip more into the maw of Rahsas' incredible shadowgate, as Nytshade and Gomurr pooled their mystic abilities once again and struck as one against the weakening creature.
INSIDE THE CRYSTAL:
Bux fell as if struck, as the blows rained down on Avatar. Rita and Jam ran to her cradling her in their arms. Blink, Gregor, Deadpool and Nem, as if awakened from a trance, stirred and rose as the mystic chains binding them fell away.
"Get out of here," said Rita. "They need your help out there."
Gregor, realizing what was happening, watched as the warriors outside forced Avatar into the shadowgate.
"We've got to destroy this thing," he said simply.
"Go now," said Rita again. "We've got Bux. GOOOOO....They need you."
Gregor took Blink and Nem's hands and took flight blasting out to the battle. Deadpool followed closely behind, but as he slipped through the crystal's facade he turned back to the girls.
"Don't waste too much time, girls. Every war has its casualties." he said.
Rita and Jam continued to huddle over the fallen Bux.
"It's ok, Chica, it's almost over," she said. "We won."
"Please go," pleaded Bux. "I'm too much a part of it now. I can't leave with you. As Avatar is destroyed.....so am I. Tell Gomurr that I tried, but the power is too much.....too much for any one person to hold. I can almost understand how Robyyn became so evil now."
With these words Bux's body began to fade from view.
OUTSIDE THE CRYSTAL:
With the addition of Gregor, Blink, Deadpool and Nem, the tide was definitely turning. Avatar screamed in agony as more and more of it's huge frame was dragged into the shadowgate. Rahsas' brow was clenched and covered in sweat as he struggled to maintain the vortex.
"Just a little more," cried Havok as he continued to blast.
Avatar's defeat was as sudden as its metamorphosis. With a final agonizing scream the huge psionic armor construct slid completely into the shadowgate and the gate snapped shut behind it. Rahsas collapsed in relief, and a cry rose up among the gathering.
INSIDE THE CRYSTAL:
"NO," Rita screamed. "Don't you dare give up on us, Bux. You know from the day we've met you've never been alone. We will always be with you.....through anything. If you leave this place, you are taking us with you."
Rita placed her hands on Bux's chest over the glittering pyramid pendant and Jam placed her hands upon Rita's. Bux's eyes fluttered for a moment, and then the three faded completely away.
OUTSIDE THE CRYSTAL:
The gathering watched as the once glowing pyramid turned completely black. If not for the residual glow of the Siryn's flames, they would have been cast into utter darkness. A hush was now all around. Gomurr looked around from one face to another. All present knew who he was looking for. Deadpool stepped forward.
"They were still in there, Gomurr.........when the pyramid went all dark. I don't think they made it out," he said.
"Rahsas, take us home if you are able," said Gomurr in a sad voice. "We've lost more today than I care to think about."
As Rahsas picked up his staff and begin form the jump gate home. A flicker of light shot through the pyramid. Then the flicker became a steady low glow at its center.......the glow increased until it lit the interior of the crystal once more. Steadily building, the glow became so intense that the group was forced to avert their eyes. Then as they watched in utter amazement, Bux slid from the glowing front panel of the pyramid, and as she hovered in the air above them, Rita and Jam emerged from the other two sides. The girls came to rest beside Gomurr and Bux reached her hand out and touched his ancient one. He gripped it in a fond squeeze.
"The power was in me all along, Gomurr," said Bux softly. "All I had to do was believe."
"Take us home, Rahsas," said Gomurr said quietly. "Take us ALL home."
And with that, Rahsas opened a gate back to the Black Upstarts Academy, and the gathering stepped through into the sun of a beautiful day on the school grounds.