Havok, as usual, was the first one into the fray. He hurled himself heedlessly toward one of the leading monstrosities. Its body seemed to be a huge mass of hair, but in the form of a man. The creature let out a howl of rage as it opened its mouth, if a mouth could be said to cover half of its body....and from the gaping teeth covered cavity came a wall of sonic force. Had Havok not dived to the right, the sonic wail would have liquified him. Havok's clawed hand caught the beast along one massive jaw and thick dark blood sprayed into the air, but to Havok's surprise the gaping wound began to quickly seal itself back up.
"This f***er's got a healing factor and a sonic scream.....How many powers do these freaks have," Havok raged.
He then concentrated his plasma burst on the creature knocking it back into the skittering mass of its fellow mutates, that were also fast approaching. The rest of the Hellfire Club members prepared themselves and also dived into the fearful battle. Gomurr and Jon stood back to back. The diminutive old mage, and the deceptively young and beautiful sorceress fired mystic bolts that made the mutates cry out in pain. Shadowcat attacked with both her phasing ability and her ninja skills. Nemesis and Psyche both unleashed daggers of telekenetic force, and Mischance leaped with cat like agility from wall to beast to floor, sinking his daggers in where they would do the most damage. Grover and Gregor attacked from above using skills learned in countless battles. The attack of the Hellfire Club was ferocious in its intensity, but it still wasn't enough to stem the awesome power of Paramount's mutates. For every foe that fell, another took its place. There seemed to be an infinite number of the abominations, and then Grover saw the reason why.
Paramount, was at the back of the rampaging army of mutates now, and he had morphed into the form of the former morlock, Skids. He sat on the back of the mutate he had been riding and continually shouted orders into a wrist communicator. He was using the forcefield power of Skids to protect both himself, the she-beast he had ridden in on, and another mass of what could only vaguely be recognized as human. The pitiful creature beside Paramount and his steed was squatting naked beside the gigantic form of the Polaris/Juggernaut/Forearm cross-breed. It continually pounded its fists on the ground and with each impact a rupture would open on its back spilling out a putrid eruption of yellow bile along with yet another mutate. So...Paramount had some Madrox DNA to play with too. How could they stop this madman? Grover flew back to Nem's side and told her of this new found discovery. Nem's brow furrowed, as she continued to fight. Up until this point the Hellfire Club had been fighting to subdue or stun.....not to kill. These pitiful creatures were not to blame for their master's wishes, but now there was little other choice. She looked to her side and saw that Psyche's fragile mind was already threatening to give way under the stress of the battle.
"We have no choice," she said. "It's kill or be killed."
Nemesis closed her eyes and concentrated. She reached out with her mind and linked with Rahsas who was waiting anxiously at the IFHC headquarters with the remaining members of the Hellfire Club.
"We need you....now......bring the others...before it's too late," she said into his mind.
Suddenly two portals opened up in the air above the battle. One was filled with golden light and seemed to hum with heavenly music. The other was black as the night and gave those who gazed upon it a chill down the spine. Both of these were jump gates provided by Scott, the White Mage...and Rahsas of the Blacks...bringing reinforcements for the battle. Silver, Shockwave, Glittergirl, Belasco, Havoc1, Puma and Johnny Blaze fell from Rahsas' portal. Their powers primed and ignited instantly and they joined the battle. Psi-Shot, Janista, Deadpool, Siryn, Silver, WildChild and Ryan in the body of the Toad fell from the other. They too joined the fray. Paramount, seeing this, slapped the duplicating mutate vicously and cursed...then continued to scream into his wrist communicator.
DarkWolf sat in the chamber below the battle. The voice of his master blasted into his head via the wrist communicator.
"Make them charge faster, you idiot. Do you want these infidels to destroy our hard work...to destroy the alpha," Paramount spat.
DarkWolf concentrated harder. His control over animal minds was not perfect under the best of circumstances, but controlling the minds of these rampaging mutates was taking everything he had. With each new creation it became more difficult, and the pain and fear he was registering through them was almost more than he could bare, but he believed in the master's plan to create the perfect mutant to free this world from its own struggles and he fought harder to maintain control and to repel or destroy the Hellfire Club, who he believed to be traitors to their own kind.
With the reinforcements that the Hellfire Club had held in reserve safely teleported in, the pace of the battle changed. As soon as Belasco was safely through the portal, he increased his size and mass and almost busted through even the cathedral like ceiling of the chamber. He picked up each struggling mutate and hurled them back into their fellows. The young demon's strength was astounding and only by holding back his rage, could he maintain control and not lose himself in the demonic ecstasy of destruction. Deadpool and Siryn stood back to back spraying bullets and flame bursts. Glittergirl's glitter spikes flashed in the air in an almost strobe-like fashion. Havoc1 stood side by side with his mentor, Havok, and fired telekenetics and plasma charges against the wall of beasts.
Shockwave, in an effort to protect the Red King, in his Toad body had been separated from the circle of her friends and they were being chased down a side corridor by a reptilian mutate with flaming red hair streaming down it's neck. It's scaly face and fangs looked ridiculous in comparison to its flowing tresses, but when it activated yet another mutant power, Shockwave realized where she had seen hair like that before. The flame blast came without warning, and Shockwave cursed under her breath. They were using Siryn's powers against her own friends!!!!!!! Ryan in his Toad body back-flipped out of the way, just to land almost directly in front of the beast. The red haired crocodilian raised it's clawed hand and brought it screaming down towards Ryan's head. Shockwave leaped into action without thinking, her blast caught the creature in the chest and it spun back, but it's claw still caught Ryan broadside in his midsection. The Toad's pitiful shreak, delivered in the arrogant manner of Ryan was horrible to hear. The mutate fell to the ground....dead. As the blood drained from Ryan, he looked into the young mutants eyes and saw only fear and despair there.
"This one had never killed before, what a delightful young body to inhabit....so many new experiences to enjoy," he thought, "but she killed in my defense, how can I do this?"
The Red King grimaced and prepared to leap from his dying body into a new one.
Back at the main battle, Paramount's mutates were slowly being turned back. Silver stood behind the wall of his fellow mutants and utilized his powers like never before. Wherever a mutate took a step in advance, the very beams that composed the floor would shape around their feet...trapping them. Some of the more berzerker ones had actually ripped their own limbs off in order to continue the battle, but they were picked off by one of the others. The duplicator mutate that cowered next to Paramount kept pumping out new mutates, however, and the number of screaming, and crying mutates kept climbing. Soon, even with the help of the new members, the Hellfire Club would be overrun again.
Suddenly a brilliant flash of light filled the room, only it wasn't painful to the eyes, and the air was filled with humming sounds. All the participants in the battle paused and a feeling of euphoria washed over them. The battle was over, and everyone stood transfixed bathing in the radiance of the light.
Blink looked around blissfully and said, "It's him, the one who saved me....It's him."
Paramount saw what had happened and reacted with his usual cold response.
"The Alpha has fully awakened, and you are all doomed," he ranted.
"Doomed?" questioned Blink in an almost drug like euphoria. "Don't you see, there is no hate in this one.....there is only love......the time for fighting has past."
"Foolish child," Paramount spat. "I'll show you hate."
The insane former White King pressed a lever on his control gauntlet and the panel with the spooling field slid open and the field shut down. Behind it standing glorious in his nakedness stood the Alpha. He looked at the assemblage.
"I feel the pain in all of you," he said in a soft deep caress of a voice. "Let me take it....let me take it all."
Tears of joy filled everyone's eyes. Every mind reeled with images of a life filled with only peace and love. Each heart ached for the golden age that was coming.
Paramount had been moving closer to the Alpha with each word he spoke. Paramount's powers allowed him to exactly duplicate the physical genetic structure of anyone or anything. His long association with this mutate he had created had helped him develop a tolerance for what he called its hypnotic photoradiance. His genetic structure had already begun to shift by the time he reached the side of the Alpha.
"Father?" the creature of light said.
"Yes, my child," said Paramount as he reached up to touch the cheek of his greatest creation.
Moving with blinding speed, Paramount pulled a dagger from his belt and drove it into the gut of the Alpha. Where blood would have poured out of any other man...brilliant light blasted from the gaping wound in the dying mutate. The assemblage burst into pandemonium. The other mutates cried out in rage, and began destroying everything including each other in berserker fury. The Hellfire Club members held their heads in agony.....and struggled to protect themselves from the fury of the creatures. Only Blink stood unaffected. She released pulse bolts to protect her friends from the destruction around them and gave them time to regain their composure.
The rage of the mutates again became focused, and their attack became once again a coordinated effort against the Hellfire Club. The assembled mutants were once again fighting a losing battle.
"ENOUGH OF THIS," came a voice directly into the brain of every person in the room.
Everyone turned to see the Alpha begin to rise into the air in its halo of light.
"It's him...he's alright," screamed Blink.
"Think again dear-heart," said the Alpha coldly, there's a new master of this body."
Paramount had made the transformation. He know had the awesome power of the Alpha, and the Hellfire Club was at his mercy.