The vast throne room of the mutant nation of Avalon was adorned with golden statues, sparkling chandeliers, glorious fountains of water, and at the far end of it, a massive throne. A magnificently crafted piece of furniture, it was adorned with a singular letter atop it to show whom was the sovereign of this great nation.
TAMTR1 - The Deal
The elevator dinged and the doors opened, Cortez turned and smiled. "My my my! You wasted no time. I suppose they really didn't see you coming. Wonderful!" He clasped his hands together and approached the boy.
Rhydian positioned the others beside the orbs containing Phinagin and Junior. Unknown to the others, the lights within Waya's orb were shut off, allowing her to bathe and heal in the darkness. "You have your payment. Now give me what I betrayed my friends for." His voice was cold and emotionless. He didn't like betraying his friends, but he really didn't have much choice here.
Cortez smiled and slapped his hands down on Rhydian's shoulders. "I am a Ruler of my word." His eyes glassed over as he transferred the power into Rhydian, finalizing the action he had done earlier. It didn't take nearly as much energy to finalize the deed as it had to invoke it earlier. However, the man still swayed slightly. "Now leave me, Kavon. I wish to punish the gene traitors myself." He turned and approached the orbs holding the X-men.
Rhydian knew he would have to open the orbs for Cortez, despite the man's orders for him to leave. He scoffed silently, orders. He shook his head lightly, did this fool really think he was one of
his subordinates? "My lord, whom would you wish to punish first?" He asked him, the words 'my lord' choking on their way out.
"I want the leader. Waya wasn't it?" Cortez told him, remembering the look of the lovely young mutant. She wouldn't be lovely when he was finished with her.
"As you wish, my lord."
Rhydian replied, bowing low and holding his hand out to the orbs. The one that held Waya moved forward, stopping at Cortez's feet. He stepped back and took a position out of the ruler's way. He was ordered to leave, but without him, Cortez couldn't open the orbs. So he had to stay close enough to do so.
If Rhydian hadn't shut off the lights in
Waya's ball she never would have healed and had enough time to glean his mind to find out this was all a rouse. It was a good one too, she just wished she'd known about it first, but then the Cuckoos would have known too and would have ruined everything. The moment Rhydian opened the orb surrounding her she teleported into Cortez' own shadow. Rising silently up from the floor she fit perfectly in his blind spot. Waya didn't have super strength but she was extra dense like her mother and when she struck the base of his skull with with a ridge-hand strike she did so with as much strength as she could muster.
Cortez let out a startled gasp as her hand connected with the base of his skull. His feet collapsed from beneath him and he crumpled to the floor, landing face first in the mass that had imprisoned Waya
Rhydian wasted no time in releasing the others. He knew he had a lot of explaining to do, but it didn't matter, so long as he lived through them waking back up that is.
The twins, who were still unconscious, fell to the ground after the orb was released. Even though they were getting enough air, they still needed to be woken up.
Maribel stumbled but caught herself before falling. She looked around frantically as if something was going to kill her.
Eliza slumped to the ground like a rag doll, having passed out long ago from a mixture of terror and lack of oxygen; it seemed a rather foolish idea to knock out half the team before trying to take this place down.
Jeremy hit the floor as well, but his body was dead; his spirit on the other hand was watching over everything, making sure Rhydian was keeping his word and smiling grimly as Cortez was dropped to the floor so easily.
Phinagin laid, motionless, on the floor. When he blacked out his bone armor retracted, leaving him in his X-suit. Suddenly he gasped and coughed hard as air returned to his lungs. He looked around and saw the rest of the group was free and some of them were attacking Cortez. It wasnt till he saw Rhydian that his mind kicked into gear. His face contorted into a look of pure, unhindered rage, as he stood up. Two long, wicked looking hooks came out of his hands as he charged Rhydian trying to remove his traitorious head from his shoulders.
Seeing Phinagin about to hand Rhydian his face
Waya stepped between them and put her arms out to stop him. "No Phinagin!" She shouted "What he did let us take out Cortez, it's over!"
Junior caught his breath after being released from the hand Rhydian had clamped him in. He was close to the twins so he shook the two of them, sort of hoping Phinagin ignored Waya and kicked Rhydian's ass.
The twins stirred slowly as if waking up from with a hangover. "Ack- what the hell?"
"Junior! You're alright-" said the other, trying to grasp what the hell was going on. Everything quickly made sense when they saw Rhydian...that prick.
Phinagin stopped infront of Waya, but kept his eyes on Rhydian making sure he didnt try to slink off somewhere and hide. "What he did was done for selfish reasons where the end worked out to justify the means. It doesnt matter what happened in the end, he betrayed us just to gain power. What's to stop him from doing this again?" At this point he was yelling, spit flecks dotted his lips. "What if I killed half of the team to defeat our next foe? Would you forgive me and not allow anyone to harm me?"
Maribel was more then pleased to see Junior and Phinagin in one piece. With Cortez down, she wasn't as worried but- this pain in her throat wasn't going away. Feeling her neck, Maribel's fingers stopped on a small lumped mass. It was like a hidden Adam's apple. Frustrated, she pushed it a little but this only made her cough. Figuring it would be best to explore later, she went to Eliza and scooped her arms under her's lifting the poor scientist a bit.
Jeremy's body jerked suddenly, rolling over and coughing for a moment before scrabbling up and shaking his head. He didn't need to be in spirit forms right now. "Don't" he coughed, stroking his throat as he got used to talking to him "Condemn him... too much. He didn't just end the damn fight without any of us dying, he had been coughing up blood every time he used his powers."
Maribel reached a hand around and slapped it on Eliza's cheek lightly, in hopes to wake her up.
The twins got to their feet. "Well why the hell couldn't he just say something?! It's not right to go against your own kin, dude." The two of them approached Waya, Phinagin and Rhydian. "What did he do?" one of them asked regarding Cortez.
"He had telepaths. You guys encountered them. If I told you my plan, they would have discovered it and then where would we be?"
Rhydian pointed out harshly. What Phinagin said hurt, but he didn't care. It was true, he had done all of this for his own selfish needs, there was no escaping that.
Eliza let out a whimpering noise and jerked away from the slap, tears falling from her eyes as she opened them, smearing down her cheeks as she coughed hard and stared up at the ceiling unseeingly. She recovered quickly, eyes scanning the room frantically as she pressed herself hard against Maribel, gripping onto her as if asking her to protect Eliza.
Phinagin couldnt believe that they were supporting his betrayal. His face calmed into just a snear as he fixed Rhydian with a look that spoke volumes. He then spit onto the floor infront of Rhydian's feet before turning and storming off to the other side of the room to lean against the wall.
Maribel kept her knees bent for Eliza, but straightened her upright. She really didn't catch what Rhydian had done, but they weren't fighting so she assumed everything was ok. No one was trying to kill her at the moment so that was a good thing.
"Has anyone seen Cap?"
Waya asked, exceedingly glad that Phinagin wasn't pressing the issue with Rhydian. Sure what he'd done was dirty but in her opinion the ends justified the means.
No sooner than Waya asked about Captain America and his men was there a violent quaking within the asteroid. A klaxon began blaring and a female computer voice began insisting "MASSIVE INTERNAL BREACH, EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY. INITIATING EMERGENCY ESCAPE PODS." Panels in the walls began sliding back to reveal much nicer escape pods than the public had been given. These seemed to have been made by Magneto himself.
Eliza shuddered slightly, but eventually managed to support herself so Maribel wasn't holding her up like that. She smiled weakly at the girl, looking over towards the escape pods as the doors slid back. "Lets... lets leave" she whispered softly "I... I just want to leave this place."
Phinagin barely managed to stay on his feet when the place shook and had to take a step away from the wall when the pods appeared. He looked over to the rest of the group as if expecting them to explain what just happened.
Jeremy saw Phinagin's confusion... at the very least he could distract him from his murderous rage. "Cortez keeps this place up here... he's unconscious, so it's falling I think. Either that or Decay finally ate through the hull and we're depressurizing
. Either way... we need to go."
Rhydian stayed steady as the entire asteroid shook around them. "Decay is loose?!" He asked Jeremy, turning on the boy immediately. "That's just great...He wasn't here as an Acolyte. They sent him here to keep him off of Earth." He explained quickly. He ran his fingers through his hair quickly. "Either he's decayed the entire station, like Jeremy suggests, or it'd be my guess that James and his squad were sent up here to bring the place down." He looked at the others and motioned toward the escape pods. "I don't know about you guys, but I think it's way past time to be leaving. If any of the Acolytes discover us with an unconscious Cortez, it'll be just like earlier."
Maribel did not like those space pods. She puked in the last one. It was the only way to escape so she followed Eliza. Maribel slowed her pace when she saw Phinagin leaning against the wall. Parting from her path to the pods, she walked up to him quickly. He could see that she was a pit paler then usual. Her brow was sweaty and her hair was a mess. Before anything could be said, she slapped him hard across the cheek. Lifting her hands up to his face, she signed 'How dare you pretend to 'act hero' and abandon us like that?!' Maribel was still pissed at Phinagin for his actions earlier.
"Shut up for a second!" Waya shouted at them. She'd moved several paces from the group and looked like she was trying to take a phone call. She held her hand up to them, seemingly absorbing information. "Cap and his guys did this... they're already off the asteroid. The civilians are gone and so are we. Everyone in the pods now. This bird only has minuets before the entire thing goes up in smoke."
Phinagin hadnt been expecting the smack and stood a bit dumb struck for a few seconds before he could respond. "Someone had to come back and get Junior. I couldnt just let him sit in that jail cell and rot for nothing." Upon hearing Waya's order to get in the pods he promptly lifted Maribel and set her inside the nearest escape pod. "Hurry up guys!" He yelled at the rest of the group.
Eliza gave a weak smile as she saw Maribel smacking Phinagin, the girl seem able to show something other than fear for once. "Come on" she said gently, walking towards the pods "Lets leave this damned place far behind."
Jeremy couldn't help but agree, and he didn't care they were leaving Cortez up here, and all those other sickos he employed. He slid into an escape pod, shutting the door and strapping himself in; this wasn't hell, but it was damn close to it.
Maribel wasn't convinced from Phinagin's excuse. What the hell was he talking about? They weren't going to let Junior or Rhydian rot either. It still didn't justify his foolish actions.
The twins hurried towards the pods with the group. Even though they had been through hell together these last 24 hours, they weren't convinced that the group actually enjoyed their presence back on Earth. Nevertheless, they got into one of the pods together.
Rhydian looked at the crumpled form of Cortez and reluctantly moved to the escape pod. It didn't feel right to leave the guy behind like this. But he could only imagine what else the others would think if he attempted to save him.
Yada yada yada Back on Earth
Stumble!