Part 19: Showdown

“Your time has come, humans,” said D’Spayre as he materialized in front of the bone cross. “Your month is over, and you must decide. My masters demand that one of you perish by the light of this full moon. Whom shall it be?”

They held each other and tried not to tremble, remembering the horrific visions he had put them through when they first encountered him. They looked at him, then at each other, then back at D’Spayre. They had never talked about one of them choosing—the plan had always been to fight him, if they could. But now they found themselves wondering if they had the courage to even attack him.

“I like what you’ve done with your little corner of the realm,” D’Spayre said to Logan. “I hope you have decided to let the virgin die so that you can remain here…”

“Never, demon!” Logan shouted. “She lives, I die. Let her go, then do your business!”

Rahne was shocked. “Logan, no! Ye can’t!” This is not what we planned! He can’t just give up his life like this, not now! Lord, I’m not worthy!

“I have to, Li’l Red. It’s a sacrifice that makes perfect sense. You belong on earth, you deserve it. You stayed behind for me, an’ cos of that, I found Jesus. There ain’t no place for somebody like me anyway. It’s alright. It’s a good day…to die.”

“No! Ye can’t! Ye mustn’t! We can fight him!” She pleaded with him, trying to block the words from his mouth with her hands.

“Sorry, Rahne. It’s the only way. It’s meant to be.”

“Exactly as I knew it would happen!” said D’Spayre, leering at them. "I shall relish watching you die. The girl shall be released—if you both die, my claim here is forfeit! But she may stay and watch your demise…perhaps the memory of it will haunt her for a lifetime!

“Witness, then, the instrument of your passing!” He stretched his hand out, and from out of the ground surged the circuited form of Exile.

“Whadja think, I got no partners?” said Exile. “He told me I’d get my shot at ya, and here it is!”

“Slay him!” D’Spayre ordered.

Exile smiled madly, and yelled out wildly as he extended his claws and charged Logan. With only an instant to think, Logan popped his own claws and prepared to defend himself.

They locked into a furious battle. Sparks flew out from around them as they clashed claw on claw. Exile threw repeated slashes at Logan and Logan had to be at his fastest to block them all. Their blades seemed to be engaged in a lightning fast dance. Sweat poured down the face of Logan as he countered Exile’s attacks. He knew that this was the last fight he would ever have.

Exile continued fighting with Logan thusly, until it became obvious that they were too evenly matched in a fair fight. He jumped backward, grew two extra arms and attacked Logan again. Logan fought like a lion, defending against every strike until at last his speed was not sufficient to match the twelve claws Exile was throwing at him. Logan’s face was cut, and he scrambled away from Exile, trying to gain just enough time to ready himself again.

“Logan!” screamed Rahne as she watched. Exile was closing in on him again. She shifted into her wolf form and attacked Exile from behind.

“Exile!” shouted D’Spayre. “Disable her! If they should both die, Limbo will not be mine!”

Exile’s techno-organic body sprouted an appendage on his back that knocked Rahne away from them and sent her tumbling down onto a sandy spot of ground nearby the perimeter of speared heads that encircled their camp. She lay there disoriented while the fight raged on.

Lord…help us…we can’t stop that awful creature without some kind of miracle.

“Well, look at the fine piece of meat that Exile’s left for me. Soon ye’ll be roasted on a stick and fed to my little ones, girlie!”

It was the Nightfeeder. She had crept up undetected by D’Spayre or Exile. She was clothed this time, with a crude loincloth that seemed to be made from a small, young demon. Her head was shaven, revealing a head tattooed with obscene writing.

“Did ye ever hope to escape this place? There’s no way out, dearie…believe me, I tried. I searched and searched and prayed and hoped and fought and bled and hid and ran and scrounged and starved and waited and waited for a rescue THAT NEVER BLOODY CAME! I trusted GOD to get me out of here, to send me home to Mummy, to get me away from the demons…but He never answered, because he doesn’t even exist! I found out that I AM home, I AM with my family, and I AM a demon! Everything else can go to HELL!”

She removed one of the demon heads from the spear it was impaled on. “This was my little boy,” she said. “He could turn into a snake…” She drifted off and stared at the head, and a string of drool fell from her mouth. “Snakeyboy, gone gone gone, snaking off somewhere, snake all gone, bye bye, little brat…”

She’s mad, thought Rahne as her fear was replaced with disgust and anger. She’s completely mad! She’s surrendered herself, body and mind and soul, to this hellish place!

“First, I’ll cut out yuir womb,” said the Nightfeeder. “Because ye killed my wee little snakeyboy! Then I’ll rip out yuir short red hair, then I’ll claw yuir eyes out, then chew out yuir throat, then dig out yuir pathetic little heart! And I’ll rip it up into a thousand pieces and throw them down and STOMP on them and PISS on them and SHOVE THEM DOWN YUIR THROAT!”

She sprang toward Rahne, but Rahne had been waiting for the moment. She stayed in her human form and rolled forward, then turned around while shifting into her transitional form, and clawed an x on the Nightfeeder’s back. Streams of thick blood flew out and littered the ground. The Nightfeeder howled in pain, then twisted her body around to bite at Rahne.

Rahne obliged her by doubling up her fists and pounding the top of her head. It hurt her hands immediately, and she regretted the choice.

Then, the Nightfeeder switched to her full wolf form, and her size became so huge that it pushed Rahne away from her. Rahne seized this opportunity and pulled a spear out of the ground. Then the Nightfeeder let out a howl so loud and powerful that Rahne’s ears suddenly popped and began to ring. She threw the spear poorly, and it landed far from her target. She covered her ears with with her hands, hoping not to lose her hearing.

“Innocent little BITCH! NOT innocent, NOT good, NOT nice! Now ye DIE!”

Meanwhile, Logan was still fighting for his life before a demonic audience. They had gathered as the battle progressed, not daring to miss the outcome. Some were there to show their support for D’Spayre, believing that he would indeed be the next ruler of Limbo. Some were present only because they wanted Exile to die. They all hated Logan. Children of the Nightfeeder were also watching, unaware that she was nearby. The future of Limbo was hanging in a delicate balance.

Logan lunged at Exile and slashed at him with both arms. Exile was ripped into two pieces, but they only rejoined like pools of water poured together. Logan had more luck offensively than he did defensively, but the cuts and wounds he inflicted on Exile merely slowed him down. Exile suddenly stood still, letting Logan claw at him seven times, but the claws never broke the surface of his skin. Then he restrained both Logan’s arms with one long thorny tentacle.

“You keep forgettin’ that I can bring all the adamantium in my body to the outside, bub. Big mistake.”

He pointed a finger at Logan and extended it like a long javelin into his left leg. “Poke!” he said playfully, and repeated this taunting but painful attack, over and over in the same place.

“Poke! Poke! Poke! Poke! Hey, knock knock. Who’s there? POKE!”

Logan’s leg was going numb. It was soaked in blood. He could hardly bear to look at Exile, so insane and cruel was he.

“You ain’t—poke—got a clue—poke—what it’s like—poke—to have such power! Oh, and did I mention…POKE?”

Logan fell down. His leg was a bloody, mutilated mess. He wished he could pass out.

“I can take any shape…can’t be cut…hell, I can even fly! But best of all, bub…I can do this.”

Exile changed his arm from a javelin to a broad, fearsome axe, and brought it down fast, severing Logan’s left leg. A river of blood gushed out as Logan watched in horror. Exile then held up the leg, infected it with the techno-organic virus, and consumed it—draining it of all life-energy until it was nothing but dust.

Logan was white-faced and twitching on the ground. A large pool of blood had formed under him. He felt his body getting colder. His stomach was in knots, and he felt like throwing up. His sight became blurry and he could barely breathe.

Rahne and the Nightfeeder were clawing madly at each other. Rahne’s ferocity and newly acquired methods were a surprise to the Nightfeeder, who expected her to be just a scared little girl. Rahne was fighting with everything she had, but she was getting tired, and had suffered several scratches and bites. She was no longer terrified of the Nightfeeder, however. Now she was simply angry at all that she represented, and at the pain she had caused Doug.

“HOW COULD YE?” she screamed. “How could ye become so filthy and wicked?” It was no longer just an evil mutant that Rahne was fighting, it was her own dark side—the ultimate personification of every frailty and flaw she ever saw in herself.

The Nightfeeder didn’t respond. At that point, her only thoughts were to kill. She grabbed Rahne by both wrists and howled again. Hearing the howl again at such close range caused Rahne’s ears to hurt so badly that she started to cry.

Pain…so bad! Didn’t want…to cry. Wanted to be…brave. Strong, like Logan. She’ll kill me now!

The Nightfeeder kicked Rahne in the chin, and she fell backward. Rahne regained some of her fear when she was pinned to the ground. The Night feeder hovered over her, growling down at Rahne with a malefic scowl.

Exile was ranting on, toying with Logan as D’Spayre laughed ecstatically in approval. “That was a great appetizer, bub. But the main course will be even better!”

Can’t stand up…Guess this is it, then…God…Jesus…thanks for findin’ me in time…Thanks for giving me hope…even at death’s door. Thanks for giving this warrior an honorable finish…

Exile assumed a mostly human form and extended his claws. “Alright then. Let’s do it. Let’s finish this right, bub. Take your best shot at me! Go on, try. Fer ol’ times sake!”

Logan sat up trembling and extended his claws. He valiantly, desperately struck at Exile while trying to crawl back away from him. He could barely hold himself up. Every strike connected with Exile’s torso, but did no damage. Exile had moved all his adamantium to the front of his body.

“Sad, bub. So sad. But at least ya got heart. Even with yer last bit o’ strength, yer still fightin! Any last words, bub?”

Logan strained to keep himself from collapsing, and looked up toward the rift above them.

“Jesus…my soul is in your hands…but please rid this place of Exile.”

Exile’s body burst open and shattered into thousands of pieces. Wires and relays flew around Logan’s head. Something had attacked Exile’s unprotected back, and burst all the way through him. The strike was so vicious that there was little of Exile left, and his lifeglow flickered once, then was utterly extinguished.

Logan saw his rescuer with unbelieving eyes. It was himself—another alternate of Wolverine.

“Stay still, bub. We’ll sort all this out in a minute.” With that, he turned to D’Spayre, who was watching all this with as much surprise as one could find on the face of a demon.

The Nightfeeder held Rahne down and growled menacingly. “Tis over, sweetness! Ye can struggle all ye like—ye’ll be in my belly soon!”

Rahne could hardly move. Please, Father! If I must die to avoid becoming like her, then so be it. But if not, help me! I trust you…

She shifted to wolf form and stretched her head towards the Nightfeeder’s neck. She clamped on to as much as she could fit in her mouth, tearing at it as hard as she could. Hot, sticky blood oozed into her mouth. She was revolted by it, but she held on.

Finally the Nightfeeder lurched backward, ripping herself free from Rahne’s jaws. She didn’t see the spear that was sticking out of the ground where Rahne had thrown it earlier, and she was impaled on it. It jutted through her abdomen like a pointy red worm growing out of her. She howled and screamed. The pain caused her to frantically switch to all her various forms. She stopped in her human form lastly, holding onto the spear and breathing heavily. The fight was gone out of her. She stood there, propped up by the spear, and looked at Rahne. Her eyes, though swelled from her agony, spoke volumes of hatred. She was hostile to the last.

Rahne shifted to her own human form and spat the blood and flesh from her mouth. The Nightfeeder was beaten, but the look on her face told Rahne that the job was not yet done. Rahne slowly walked over to her and stood there, gazing upon her foe.

“There is only one right thing to do now. Anything else would be wrong.”

Rahne switched to her transitional form, punched her fist into the Nightfeeder’s chest, and pulled her heart out. The Nightfeeder coughed once, closed her eyes, and slid down the spear onto the ground, never to move again.

Rahne held the sticky red mass in her hand until it lost its warmth. Then she threw it away, as hard as she could throw.

D’Spayre held Logan and Wolverine frozen in an eerie green glow.

“I am the victor here, should my masters honor this death,” he said. “But if they choose not to accept the death of that anomaly as adequate sacrifice, you shall suffer for as long as my power can allow.”

He turned his pale head to the moon and called out. “I await your sign, dread father. Do you accept the life of an alternate as sufficient for this deal?”

The moon itself blinked out, and returned.

“Then it is done! LIMBO IS MINE! I am now the Lord of you all. Fall down before D'Spayre!” Hundreds of demons roared in acceptance of this announcement. Many ran away in fear.

“Now, to seal this transaction…where is the girl?”

“Here she is, you vile fiend!” said Rahne, and she flung the body of the Nightfeeder at D’Spayre’s feet. “Both are dead! You lose, demon! You have no power over us anymore.”

D’Spayre looked with shock at the body of the Nightfeeder. He trained his eyes on Rahne and Wolverine with pure rage.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!” He was enveloped in the same green luminescence that paralyzed Logan and Wolverine. It seemed to erupt from beneath him. Finally he vanished without even a trace.