AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story contains some mildly graphic language and scenes so back away if you're not up for it. Thanks and enjoy.

Hadj a maxi-series Not To Punish Part: 3

The sword lightly slashed through Salome’s already minimal outfit and she jumped away with a yelp. Wong smiled to himself. Just knowing he could injure the witch, even mildly, gave him a feeling of reassurance. He could take her down. He would.

“AH!” Salome jumped away from the little bald man with the very large sword. He’s better than I could have ever expected. Stephen taught the little monkey well.color> She had to give credit where credit was due. He was tough. But she would kill him before he got a chance to get that close to her again.

“He has to die.” Elizabeth Braddock’s eyes were already damp at the thought. Jean must have lost her mind. Not that the woman known as Psylocke would ever dream of actually thinking these thoughts. If she did, Jean would be mindwiping her in a second. Betsy regained her composure and looked Phoenix directly in the eye. “How?” “A psychic knife on your part will do just fine.” Betsy thought for a second. Was it worth it? “Okay.” Yes.

...Hours later...Xavier’s Room... Betsy allowed her sleek body to blend in with the shadows of the mansion. She could see Xavier sitting in front of his window, his “wheelchair” hovering just inches off the ground. She knew she could sneak up on the old man. He may be the most powerful psychic in the world but she wasn’t too shabby herself thanks to his training. Besides, by the time he even realized there was another person in the room with him and forced his way past her mental shield...he’d be dead. She was having second thoughts now. Jean was right outside if something went wrong (And something inevitably will was all Betsy could think.) but Betsy just couldn’t shake her feelings of nervousness. She was good and she could do this - this is what she was trained for - but this was the man who took her into his home and taught her how to live this life and how to control herself and her powers. But then she thought back to what Jean had told her yesterday. He was also the man who led the Hand to her and Elektra while they were in Asia. He allowed them to brainwash both of them. Betsy wandered Asia for three years after that with no knowledge of who she was until Logan came across her and brought her home. That was before he lost it. Once again, she shook her mind free of the thoughts. Xavier...a revolutionary in the Mutant Movement, what the mutant community called a modern-day Martin Luther King, Jr. She knew this would be an incredible loss to their community. But for his X-Men, it would be an incredible gain... She was now upon his form, her psychic knife unsheathed and ready for it’s deadliest use. Just as she prepared to shove the knife into his mind, she noticed he was holding something in his right hand. She got a better view of what it was when he lifted his hand to his head. The clicking sound...the shot...the splattering of his brain matter across her face and body...his wheelchair slamming to the ground...her scream and the sudden realization that he released no psychic scream. In a second she was out of the room and in Jean’s arms. The red-headed X-Man consoled her teammate’s sobs as she caught glimpses of what had just taken place. Betsy could only barely pick up on what Jean was saying...something about disposing of the body. Neither one of them realized they weren’t the only ones there. Xavier’s personal bodyguard stood in the shadows. Guido had seen and heard everything.

Austria Meggan Braddock - a.k.a. Elfkin - had been changing forms throughout the entire battle. She was actually handling herself quite well. She was facing off with Darkstar herself and had gained the upper hand in the battle. Darkstar had led her minions into Austria hours ago and was now hellbent on destroying her age-old enemies in the Excalibur. “Bitch! This is my territory! How dare you push me away!” Darkstar fired a blast directly at Elfkin’s head. Damn, she thought as she switched into the form of a dragoness and began breathing fire at her enemy. “My friend, you have no idea how I dare. Excalibur, take them DOWN!” She flung herself at Darkstar’s lithe body. “Who’s the bitch now?” Wisdom and Dragon Mizer went back to back and began firing off their respective blasts of energy at the rest of Darkstar’s minions, which consisted of the bodies of thousands of dead Russian soldiers. “Y’know Alistaire...I feel rather flubbed out using my powers on “people” that are already dead. You?” “Agreed Pete...so let’s just do this and get it over with! Lockheed, come out from hiding boy!” No sooner had Alistaire yelled for the miniscule dragon than the little fellow had flown into the battle, fire flowing through the air like liquid. Piotr Rasputin, the former X-Man known as Colossus, had been crushing the bodies alongside Meggan until she took to the skies. It was Piotr’s solemn promise to Brian Braddock, Meggan’s husband, before he died that he would take care of her during his stay with the team. He had held true to that promise and had never actually let her out of his sight in those three years since Brian’s death. In fact, Piotr was the only remaining member from the team of that time period. Wisdom, Lockheed and Dragon Mizer had all been members before but none had been with the team during Brian’s final tenure with them. The team at that time had consisted of Brian in his original guise of Captain Britain, Meggan, Colossus, Shadowcat, Nightcrawler, Dayspring, Blitz and Psylocke. That final battle...Apocalypse’s Horsemen attacking London...the destruction...the death...Brian’s body found impaled on a shaft within Big Ben, Psylocke, Meggan and Colossus lying unconscious below him. Colossus still remembered what Brian had told him before Death slammed him onto the shaft. “Take care of her...my time is done.” After that, Death dropped him onto the shaft and Pestilence came in took care of the others. Piotr shook himself back into reality as he heard a scream from above. It was Meggan. He took down the foe he was faced with and focused his attention on the blonde shapeshifter. Darkstar had her neck in her fist. “Die wench!” With that, Darkstar flung the young woman’s body to the ground. Meggan landed with a thud on the jagged rubble. Colossus saw she was still breathing. He began running towards her but was swiftly distracted by Darkstar herself. She got him to face her immediately. “Not so fast compatriot. You betrayed your country. You are a piece of trash and you shall rot in the utmost pits of Hell for turning your back on us. You could have been my greatest minion. Bastard.” Colossus clenched his fingers into a fist and prepared to plow her into the ground but was stopped by an energy field. “Ah-ah tall, dark and shiny. You’re the one going down.” She blew in his face and the gust of wind which came from that light breath pushed Piotr back and onto Meggan’s body. The bones cracked and the skin broke. “See, things always work themselves out in the end. Farewell fools! Minions, follow!” In seconds, Darkstar and her minions were gone. “Oh my God...Petey! Petey! Lo...look!” Alistaire came up on Piotr’s convulsing body. Piotr could hear nothing for his own sobs.

Salome had been cut six ways from Sunday in the past three hours. Her battle with Wong had been going on for what seemed like an eternity. She had made no headway with him. She had barely bruised his swift body. “Damn you Wong! Stephen and Rintrah did indeed teach you well, didn’t they?” She took another slice at him, clipping the tip of his left shoe off but still touching no skin. It was almost like he allowed her just enough slack to get close to him but no retribution was to be found. “No Salome - I taught myself. True, the Doctor and Rintrah taught me in the ways of magic and the mystic arts,” Another slice and Salome was minus five inches of her luscious hair, “But these are MY skills...and they will be the ones to befall you!” Another slice and the tip of her pinky - the same pinky she had earlier been sucking on - was gone. She screamed again and leapt into the air. Wong followed her swiftly and swung his body around to take a shot at her. Salome flung her body back and allowed her foot to connect with the top of Wong’s smooth, bald head. She could feel the spinal cord giving way below his head and she was satisfied. Their bodies collapsed to the ground. Salome gathered herself and looked at his body. “Amazing that I would beat someone in such a physical way. But alas...death is death. Topaz! Come!” “Very good Salome. Congratulations. Shall we?” “We shall.” Seconds later they were following Salome’s guards as they carried Wong’s dead body to the Sacrificial Pit.

“We will return as soon as we have our answers.” Crystal threw her bag over her shoulder and began walking onto the Quinjet, Pietro’s hand in hers. Jennifer Walters, the She-Hulk, bid her teammates farewell and cleared them for liftoff. The rest of the Avengers were on their way to Canada where Jennifer was to meet them briefly. Crystal and Pietro were off to Attilan to find out what exactly had happened to Crystal’s sister, Medusa. They arrived within an hour. As they hovered over the domed city and awaited clearance to come onto the landing strip, they began wondering what was taking so long. “This is odd, Pietro. They know it’s us. We’ve given them all of our personal information. We should have been allowed in long ago.” “I was thinking the same thing myself. This is highly abnormal. Blackagar should know why we have come as well. What could possib...whoah! Hold on, we’re going down!” “The dome! Pietro!!! Pull up! We’ll destroy the venting system and kill them!” Crystal began taking precautions to ensure a safe landing elsewhere if they ever got away from the dome. “I’m trying Crystal, I’m trying! I can’t get it to respooooooond! Jesus Christ...it just stopped.” He was perplexed. “I know...and we’re just inches away from the...dome. Pietro...Agon’s bones, Pietro, look outside the Quinjet.” Pietro did so and was met with the gaze of his and Crystal’s nephew, Medusalith and Blackagar Boltagon’s son, Ahura. “Welcome.”

The Wagner’s had arrived back home. The Tunnels. Kurt and Katherine Wagner had touched down minutes ago. Kitty was the first one to notice anything wrong. “Oh God....oh God...KURT! KURT!!!! Hurry!” Kitty was on her knees, her face in her hands, when Kurt finally arrived at her side. “What?! What is it...Katherine...what?” He took her into his arms and allowed her to sob. She pointed towards the main tunnel and Kurt immediately knew what was wrong. The tunnel was destroyed and bloody handprints covered the length of it. The others were like this as well, he knew it instantly. And they sobbed together.

Dennis Dunphy, the Avenger known as D-Man, was sleeping on the couch of the Avengers reservists small house in downtown San Diego when he heard the doorbell ring. He yelled for Tigra to answer the door and then yelled for Sandman, Stingray, Deathcry and Falcon but none of them apparently heard him so he decided to take some light initiative and do it himself. “Damn lazy bastards...gotta do everything my...well, hello there Mrs. Jones. How may I help you?” He put on his best fake smile and tried to resist the urge to scratch his butt right there and then. “Well, for one thing Dennis, you can start by letting the rest of your teammates know that I’m going to kick all of your asses for what you did to my damn husband!” “Say what?!” Dennis stumbled away from the door as Marlo Jones, Rick’s wife, stalked after him. Tigra came leaping down the stairs and jumped on the redhead’s shoulders. Then, out of nowhere, Marlo pulled a machine gun out of the depths of her jacket and began firing wildly and aimlessly, blowing a major hole in the ceiling which also acted as the floor of William Baker, a.k.a. the Sandman’s, bedroom. He came tumbling through the ceiling and landed on top of Dennis. After they got situated and off their butts, they just sat there in awe as the catfight between Tigra and Marlo went on. “Always something...” was all William could think to say as a smirk crossed his face.

Shannon Rogers was sound asleep. She had been having a night filled with beautiful dreams, a rarity for most members of the Rogers family. So she found it odd when she awoke to find someone was carrying her down her basement steps. At first she tried to get herself free but that’s when she realized her hands were bound behind and beneath her. So were her legs. She even attempted a scream but it was instantly muffled by the gag in her mouth. That was when the terror really began. She looked at the figure carrying her but could see nothing due to the blue mask covering her assailant’s face. What were they going to do with her? The mask was oddly resemblant of the one her father had worn in his last update of the Captain America uniform - full face with an opening for just the eyes. But this person had even those covered with thick black lenses. She could feel their breath seeping out of the mask. She was scared out of her mind and understandably so because now she could feel the cold metal of her kidnapper’s gun on her thigh. If only her mom or dad would wake up and come down here to see the basement light on. Or check her room and notice she’s missing. She was on her back now, on the cold concrete of the basement floor. Her attacker stood over her and cooly cocked their handgun and slowly pointed it at her head....

Finis Next: Part: 4 Doing Unto Others Travisian Productions