Kitty Pryde, Pete Wisdom, Excalibur, the X-Men and all characters therein are trademarks of Marvel Comics. This story is an unauthorised work done purely for my personal enjoyment, and is not intended to infringe on any of their rights in or their profits from these characters. But this story is copy write to me.
Comments, especially (constructive) criticism, always welcomed. Please e-mail me at
mark_shakespeare@lineone.net
Notes
This story follows the events of 'What if Pete had killed Peter?"
Prepare for a little doom and gloom, people!
* * indicates telepathy
< > indicates thoughts
A Long Journey Into Night - part 5
"Nearly there, boys an' girls! We just got ter get through the next door an' we're there!" The lack of mutant powers meant that Pete couldn't simply cut through the door using his hotknives, but he felt that the plasma rifle would do an equally good job - once they'd finally dealt with the remaining guards between them and their target. Logan was tearing into them as if he hated them with a vengeance - and considering that they worked for the organization which had kidnapped Kitty and killed Kurt, he did. He had already popped his claws before they entered the base, in readiness for combat, and so the mutant jamming in operation didn't nullify his favourite weaponry.
Cable and Domino were laying down covering fire at the troopers who were still trying to block their way, even with the example of their comrades as to what fate awaited them. The former mercenaries would, under other circumstances, have applauded their bravery if not their common sense. But not here, not now. Here and now, they were just targets to be disposed of as quickly as possible.
Betsy and Bishop were tossing plasma grenades down the corridors into the ranks of the enemy, and picking off any that Cable and Domino didn't have time to kill. They also used smoke to cover the rescue group's location, since their armour allowed them to see through the smoke, but the soldiers defending the base were blinded.
Rogue and Gambit brought up the rear, picking off any troops who tried to attack them from behind. Lockheed used hit-and-run tactics, hiding in small spaces then incinerating the soldiers who passed by, and the screams of the soldiers as their faces were burnt from them, and the sickly stench of roasted human flesh, seemed to be acting as a deterrent to the other base defenders, who began to retreat back down the corridor.
Pete brought his gun up to his shoulder and fired. The door vaporized, and the former spy ducked back as shots came through the opening from men still inside the control room. Logan, fresh from killing the remaining guards, howled in fury and dove through the melted door, claws ready to rip and tear and slice at the flesh of the men of Black Air. Seeing the berserk mutant coming for them, the defenders threw down their guns and shouted that they were surrendering - but it didn't save them. The rampaging Canadian mutant tore them apart. Apart from the screams of the wounded and dying, silence descended on the area.
"Cable! Get yer techno-organic ass up 'ere, an' get the defenses shut down!" Pete didn't care if the former mercenary might resent his tone of voice. The job was all that mattered.
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"Status report!" Scicluna's voice cracked like a whip, and the base commander jumped to answer her.
"Pryde is no longer advancing, ma'am. The other mutants have just entered the - "
"I know where those mutants are, commander. What I want to know is, how many troops do you still have available, how many robots, and can you stop both groups with the forces you can draw on!" The impatience in her voice let the man know in no uncertain tones that his career, such as it was, was now on the line - as indeed his life might also be, if she decided that he was of no further use. He swallowed nervously.
"I believe so, ma'am. I will use only the robots against Pryde, so that she has no further material to resurrect, whilst the human troops are now retrieving heavy weaponry for use in stopping Wisdom and the others."
"Good. Kill them all. Scicluna out."
In her own office, the icy blonde woman watched the progress of Wisdom's mixed team, then keyed the command words into her computer to transfer the control of the mutant jamming systems and the robots to herself. "A good try, Wisdom, but you won't save your precious mutant slut this way."
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The silver-clad figure raised the fiery sword high over her head, and began to chant in a tongue which few, if any, observers would have been able to identify. It was a language not spoken on Earth by any known country, a language invented by those of a mystic persuasion. Kitty chanted the words of the spell which the Soulsword had planted in her mind. The arcane power swirled outwards, seeking those she summoned to her side ..
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* Are you ready, my X-men? *
* We're ready to get this finished, Professor. * Scott turned to Ororo, standing just behind him in the cockpit of the Blackbird. The rest of the X-Men who had not formed part of Wisdom's group, plus the younger X-Force team, were in costume and ready for action. The more experienced X-Men would make up the main part of the strike force, whilst X-Force would remain behind as backup.
< Still thinking of us as the new kids on the block, Professor? Not committed enough to your 'Dream'? Or maybe we've been corrupted by exposure to Cable and Domino, hmm? > But there was no change in Danielle's expression, and she kept her thoughts well hidden from the X-Men's mentor. Just the same, she was NOT happy with what was happening. She, and the rest of those on board, had been warned to stay clear, and Cable had ordered X-Force not to intervene. Yet the Professor had overridden Dani's objections, and all but compelled the team to join the strike force. < So what happens when Cable and the others find out? And what do you do when the Professor confronts Cable over this mission? Who do you side with? >
"Okay, people, I see the island now."
"Thanks, Warren. Okay, Storm, do your part. The rest of you, stay close, and remember your instructions - we're to stop the others from killing anyone, and get Kitty out. Right, let's go." Scott didn't wait for the weather manipulator to start summoning the force of the storms before he put the Blackbird into a holding pattern around the insignificant island, out of the range of Ororo's tightly-focussed winds.
The storm began to build in intensity, and the first lightning flashed. Warren would fly point, mentally linked to Jean so that Scott could get a good idea of the base and its' defenses. Then they could make their entrance. They did not know that their powers would be neutralised by the anti-mutant tech used by Black Air.
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"Storm! It must be, for this weather to appear so fast! Well, unfortunately for them, our sensors can detect the presence of mutant powers AND their point of origin, so she can be dealt with before the weather wrecks our surveillance systems. Even then, the mutant power jamming will remain in force, which will thwart their efforts. They should have done what Wisdom and the rest have done, and entered the base before they began their attack. A pity for her and her friends that their oversight will cost them dear ....." Scicluna keyed a short string of commands into the computer console, and smiled to herself at the response from the machine.
Outside, buried within the rock, a weapon system activated, and a three-barrelled turret emerged from concealment and swung to target the circling plane.
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"Dammit, the flonqing thing won't shut down! There must be another control system elsewhere!" Cable slammed his fist into the computer, shattering it. With the mutant power generator still on, they couldn't fall back on their innate powers for the rest of the fight.
Not that the lack of their powers was preventing them from fighting the remaining guards. Bolts of plasma fire cut down soldiers, fusion grenades blew groups of men into vapour, and Logan ripped apart anyone who got past the fire from the others.
"Fuck it! That bitch Scicluna must've got a backup set up somewhere! Okay, fine, we'll do this without powers, usin' our fuckin' guns! We split up as we said before - me an' the dragon an' Braddock, Nate an' Dom, Logan an' Gambit, an' you two." The thin Englishman gestured to Rogue and Bishop. "Waste anythin' wot gets in yer way, find Kit, an we'll blow this dump ter kingdom come."
The others nodded their agreement, and set off in their respective teams. The four teams had gone only a few yards, however, when the little purple dragon began growling. Logan cursed the absence of his animal instincts, which might have told him what the problem was. "What's the prob, dragon? We got company comin'?" Lockheed continued to growl, occasionally sniffing the air, his muzzle wrinkling in disgust.
"What the flonq's up with him?" Nathan demanded belligerently, gun still held ready at his shoulder.
"Dunno. Somethin's wrong, but the little bastard can't talk ..... "
"'E bloody well - "
"Magic. Demonmagic." Everyone stared - well, almost everyone ....
"See, I tol' yer 'e could talk ......"
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Now the small army was moving again, its ranks reinforced by the newcomers brought by magic to assist the silver-clad leader. The Undead moved ahead, guns ready for action, whilst the massive demon-destroyers summoned from an unknown dimension, and the horde of lesser demons which swarmed around them, surrounded their leader.
She raised the blazing silver blade high over her head, and the army halted. "So. The bitch and the other scum are trying to hide from me, are they? Well, we all know who can track best out of you lot, don't we?" And she gestured the russet-furred wolf forward ....
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"Scott, we have a problem." Ororo's voice was calm, but with an edge to it.
"What's the problem, Storm?"
"I'm losing control of my winds close to the island. I think there's something blocking my mutant power - a jamming field of some sort."
"Damn! They must have something like Magneto had around his island way back. But in that case, how are Logan and the others going to get out alive? All right, people, this changes everything!"
Then a burst of explosions rocked the plane, though failing to penetrate the telekinetic field which Jean had already erected around the Blackbird. The fiery redhead looked at her husband. "It seems our stealth mode has been compromised, Scott. What do we do now?"
Cyclops thought for several seconds, his face expressionless under the mask, as the others waited for his orders. "Ororo, can your winds be sufficiently focussed to do damage to the base, so that the power jamming shuts down?"
"Possibly, Scott, however, that might endanger the others already inside the base - "
* They should not be there, Scott. Having disobeyed my orders, they must learn to live with the consequences. *
(See part 4 for further details - Author's Note)
* Professor?? You're not suggesting that we attack regardless of whether we hit the others - * Scott was incredulous at the suggestion. Jean, overhearing the conversation through their link, was equally aghast.
* Charles?! You can't be serious - *
The Professor's reply was sharp and uncompromising. * They have made their bed, and now must lie in it. * The sharpness of his tone forestalled any further argument. The two X-Men stared at each other, hardly able to believe what they had just heard.
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The group of soldiers was cut down in the blast from the plasma grenades, and Cable and Domino gave each other a knowing glance. For them, this sort of battle was easy stuff, just the sort of thing they relished - a good, hard, standup fight with no noncombatants around to get in the way. The albino woman snapped off a quick shot to bring down a trooper who had tried to sneak up behind them, then Cable threw a smoke grenade into the corridor where the soldiers had died, and the two ex-mercs ran forward, hugging the walls and crouching low so as to minimise the chance of being hit by a wild shot.
The smoke didn't hinder the infrared vision sensors built into their armour, and they were able to drop another half-dozen soldiers who were beyond the blast radius of the grenades, peering into the smoke to try to ambush them.
Then they paused. Just around the corner they could hear the sounds of men and women dying, whimpering in pain and fear as their lives drained away. Cable moved slowly forward, Domino checking behind them in case of any further enemies trying to take them by surprise.
The scene that met their eyes was of absolute carnage. Soldiers lay scattered in all directions, many torn limb from limb, others disemboweled or beheaded, their lifeless corpses showing the terrible marks of great claws. A handful of men and women lay dying, their blood and entrails spilling onto the floor. Cable moved cautiously over to one of them, Domino scanning both ways down the corridor. Neither of them could understand what might have caused such hideous injuries - not even Wolverine's claws would do so much damage. Cable knelt by one of them, listening to the garbled words issuing from her bloody mouth. Then she slumped to the ground dead, and he got up, turning to his companion with a frown on his face.
"So, what the fuck did this, Nate?"
"She muttered something about demons ..... "
"Demons, Nate? And where the hell would they come from - no pun intended!" Domino didn't like this one little bit - a new and unknown variable had entered the equation. Cable thought for a few moments, then his eyes widened.
"Oh shit."
"What?! C'mon, out with it, Nate!"
"Didn't Kitty have a link to Black Magic through Illyana Rasputin? There was something about that in the reports we got from Excalibur .... "
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The groups of rescuers moved through the complex, killing anyone and everyone they encountered, swiftly and ruthlessly. Lockheed led Pete and Betsy towards the upper levels. They defeated a number of groups of Black Air personnel who were falling back from some kind of attack, as they went ever onwards. At intervals they heard sounds of firing, presumably from the other groups of the rescue team, echoing down the corridors. They went on, weapons readied.
The name on the door read 'M. Scicluna', and Pete froze, eyes wide, then narrowing in fury. "That fuckin' bitch, how the hell did she ever get away when we busted them bastards before?! Well, she ain't gettin' away now!" With that, he blew the door into ashes, and began firing into the room beyond.
The burst of return fire hit him full in the chest, knocking him backwards, but fortunately not piercing his armour, He snarled his anger, pulled a fusion grenade from his belt, primed it, and threw it into the room beyond. A second later, there was a dull thud, a blast of fire, and the room exploded.
Before the three in the corridor could act, however, one of the other doors on the floor opened and a bolt of electricity hit Lockheed, incinerating the little alien. Scratch laughed, his horribly scarred face twisted in a mask of hatred. "Got you, you little bastard!" He hadn't stopped the flow of power from his fingertips, and threw electricity at Betsy before the remaining two rescuers could react. It failed to breach her armour, but stunned her, throwing her to the floor. "Unlike you and your friends, Wisdom, my power isn't being blocked!"
"Neither's this, y' sick shit!" Another grenade followed Pete's words down the corridor and into the room from where Scratch had come. The resulting fireball blasted the killer into ashes. Pete pulled off his helmet and knelt down to check Betsy's heartbeat and respiration, then his eyes widened as he saw Lockheed lying dead. Though they had been rivals for Kitty, they had worked well together on this mission, and he knew how much the little dragon had meant to Kitty.
Then a gun barrel, pressed against his neck, made him freeze.
"Slack, Wisdom, letting me get the drop on you. I'd have thought you'd have done better." Scicluna smiled, coldly. And pulled the trigger.
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Bishop removed the code-breaker from the door control mechanism and pressed the hand print recognition panel. As the door slid open, he gestured to Rogue.
"Why, Ah do believe you're a true gentleman after all!" Rogue gave a saucy grin and swung her hips as she sashayed past the massive X-Man. She grinned when she saw the ranks of computers in front of them. "Looks like we found us a data store, Bish. What say y'awl has a blast an' steals it all?"
He nodded. "You cover the door while I remove everything that might be of interest to us later. There may be information on other operations which we can use."
The skunk-haired southern belle moved towards the open doorway, when a group of troopers came into view around the corner, one of them carrying a large, heavy energy weapon.
"Heck, Ah was wonderin' when Ah'd meet some real competition. This one's mine, Bish!" Rogue grinned as she ran towards the enemy in front of her.
The time-displaced agent's warning cry came too late. "Rogue, wait! You've got no invulnerability now!"
Before she could dodge, before Bishop could fire his plasma rifle, the heavy weapon operator had opened fire with the laser battery, hitting the southern belle in the face, where her armour wasn't strong enough to protect her. There was a blinding flash, and the headless corpse fell limply to the ground. The huge black man killed the soldiers a second later, but it was too late. Rogue was dead.
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"What?!? I cannot believe that!" The rest of the X-Men were stunned into silence as they heard what the Professor had ordered Ororo to do.
"Okay, that's the limit! If the Prof. thinks we're going to threaten Cable and Domino's lives he can think again!" Dani glared at the X-Men in the Blackbird, and the expressions on the faces of the other members of X-Force matched hers. Sam shook his head, unable to believe what he had just heard, and Tabitha scowled as she stared at Jean.
"Baldy can get stuffed, I say! No freakin' way we're goin' that!"
"I .... have to agree. I cannot do this. Whether I agree with what the others are planning, I cannot use my powers to risk the lives of Logan, Remy and the rest." Ororo's voice was low, and sad, but determined. Charles had gone too far with his orders this time. < Never give an order you know will not be obeyed - it undermines your authority in the future. >
* You will do as I have said, Ororo. Overwhelm the island's defenses with your winds, and get this over with ! *
* No, Charles, I will not. I do not take lives with my powers, not unless there is no choice. And here it would be wrong. I am sorry, Charles, but I must disobey your orders this time. * It was done now, spoken out loud with no chance to take back what had been said; the X-Men had rebelled against Charles Xavier.
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Another soldier fell to Logan's claws, as Remy picked off the remaining two men who had been firing down the corridor at the two mutants. The two men had made steady progress through the complex, relishing the fighting they'd indulged in. The corridor behind them was littered with the bodies of those they'd slain.
They came to a corner, and Gambit took the lead, covered by Logan. There were more bodies here, presumably killed by the other rescuers. But the thief's trained eyes noted something out of order, and he indicated to Logan to examine the bodies more closely. The stocky Canadian did as indicated, then straightened, eyes troubled. "Some o' these were already dead when the grunts killed 'em."
"Dat's what I t'ought - no evidence o' blood spray from dem. But how can de dead walk?" The tall, red-eyed Cajun was thoughtful as he gazed at the corpses on the ground.
Logan growled. He had suddenly put two and two together, and he didn't like the path his thoughts were going down. "Kit used ta be linked ta 'Yana. Mebbe the 'Demonmagic' Lockheed scented's the sword bein' used by Kit. If so, she's in danger - that fuckin' thing's a menace to anyone usin' it! C'mon, we gotta find her! Follow the corpse trail, an' see where it leads!"
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Betsy groaned as she struggled back to consciousness, then a boot hit her in the side. "So, Miss Braddock, decided to return to the land of the living, even if only for a few seconds, have we?" She opened her eyes to see the icy blonde figure of Scicluna standing over her, a pistol levelled at her forehead.
"Such a shame you'll soon be like your friend Wisdom - that is, dead."
"But death's a lot easier than I've got planned for you, bitch." The quiet, hard tones of a young American cut across the words of the other woman, and both Betsy and Scicluna turned their heads to see the newcomer. And their eyes widened in shock.
Kitty stood before them in gleaming silver armour, the blazing Soulsword held in both hands, but it wasn't that which stunned the two women. It was those around her. Kurt, Brian, Meggan, Rahne, Amanda, Moira - the deceased members of Excalibur clustered around the young woman who had summoned them back from the grave, their bodies still showing the wounds that had slain them and the marks of arrested decomposition. Kitty smiled at them. "Miss me?" Then her eyes fell on Pete's body, lying in a pool of blood, that of Lockheed not far away. "Pete?! Lockheed!! But I saw them both die when ... " Her eyes narrowed as she stared at Scicluna. "You were the one behind this weren't you, you bitch! You fucked with my mind, tried to break me by making me think they were all dead, you fucking cunt! Oh, you'll suffer for that!" She raised the Soulsword over her head.
"Kitty?! Kit, stop it, darlin'! Don't do it!" Logan ran towards them, eyes fixed on the face of his protégée. He had to stop her before she damned herself forever ......
"Logan, Betsy?! You were dead, too - or is this just another one of this bitch's tricks? Well, I guess we can find out - "
"Kit, I'm beggin' ya, darlin', don't do this. You'll damn yerself, same as happened ta 'Yana before she got her second chance!" He had to try, even though he knew from the look in Kitty's eyes that it was too little, too late. "Kit, remember when ya got possessed by Ogun? I helped ya then, didn't I? Trust me, I c'n help ya now. Please darlin', don't damn yerself when yer don't need - "
"Too late, old man!" The light that blazed from the Soulsword at her words blinded the two X-Men. When their sight recovered, Kitty, Scicluna and the resurrected Excalibur had gone, along with Pete and Lockheed.
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"Logan? Logan, where are you?"
"'Ro?! What the flamin' 'ell's you doin' ere, darlin'?"
The co-leader of the X-Men came to her old friend, and the feral X-Man could see the shock in her eyes. The X-Men and X-Force had been shocked at what they'd found when they'd entered the base - the mangled, scorched bodies, the misshapen monsters unleashed by Black Air, the corpses torn apart or half-devoured. The scenes would leave their mark on the new arrivals, less combat-orientated than the rescue party.
"Logan, we had to come, we had - oh Goddess, merciful Goddess, I never thought I'd see and smell - "
The stocky man grasped her in a comforting embrace. "It's okay, darlin'. I know ya ain't used ta shit like this, It's why I didn't want ya with us." He held her, offering her strength and comfort.
Remy knelt by the body of his beloved Rogue, tears streaming from his eyes. Bishop had brought her body to him. It had broken his heart. He had waited so long for the chance to touch her, love her as he'd wanted, and now it would never come to pass.
X-Force had caught up with Cable and Domino. The two ex-mercs had not been pleased to find that the team had ignored their orders. Then Cable snarled, "WHAT?!"
Logan looked over at him. "What's up, bub?"
"Charles ordered Ororo to hit the island with the full force of her winds - even though he knew we were down here!"
Logan stiffened, and looked at Ororo, who simply nodded her head. "We disobeyed him, Logan. We disobeyed the Professor. I don't know - Logan, where is Kitty? Why is she not here with you?"
He looked away, not knowing how to say what he had to say.
"Because I had other business, Storm!" The words cut like a knife, and the X-Men whirled. Kitty stood before them, still clad in the gleaming soulsteel armour, Soulsword in her hand. There was no sign of those she had taken with her. "Well, well, the betrayers have finally shown up, huh? You finally decided to show your cowardly selves, when it's too fucking late! How nice of you!"
"Kitty, why are you saying - "
"Because you left me here to be tortured!" The scream of rage echoed through the corridors. The rest of the X-Men, X-Force and the rescue party had arrived, but hung back, leaving the task of talking to Kitty to those who knew her best. Jean felt a rising pulse of power begin to emanate from the young woman before them, a black hunger which seemed to reach out to the darkness within her own soul. Betsy felt the Crimson Dawn seem to welcome the new presence. "You, Storm, said you never wanted to hear from me again, would never forgive me for staying with Pete! So you left me at the mercy of Black Air's torturers! Do you know what they did to me?! Do you wanna find out!?! Here, feel what I felt!" With that, Kitty raised the Soulsword and black radiance spilled from its length.
And a darkness insinuated into the minds of each and every one of them. It passed through psychic defenses as if they weren't there, ate deep into the conscious minds of the X-teams. And they felt what had been done to their friend. They felt the rapes, the tortures, the abuse and pain and fear. They felt the psychological torments that she'd endured, the mental rapes by Black Air's telepaths. They felt everything that she'd endured over the previous months, all compressed into mere seconds. Their screams rose in a cacophony of suffering, as they collapsed to the ground, many of them curled up into fetal positions, others sobbing with pain and humiliation.
Kitty broke her spell, and regarded the stricken mutants with a cruel smile on her face. "Now you all know what I had to go through. May it remain in your minds for the rest of your lives. And as for the fucking Professor and his judgmental attitude, I'll deal with him myself." She spoke words of power, and vanished before the mutants could recover themselves and try to stop her.
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Logan hated funerals, he always had. He'd seen too many over the years, friends and loved ones laid to rest while he continued. But this funeral - these funerals - were the hardest of all.
Pete Wisdom's memorial had already been placed next to the grave of his mother. Now it was the turn of Rogue, Kurt, Brian, Meggan and the other members of Excalibur. Though there weren't bodies to bury for each of them, there were headstones for them all. During the search of the Black Air base, they had found the remains of Ky'lun and Micromax, torn apart by the demons which Kitty had summoned to aid her. Now they were finally being laid to rest. The whole X-Men team, plus X-Force and Generation-X were there. Gambit stepped forward to place flowers on the lid of Rogue's coffin. Even Mystique was there, to pay her last respects to her son and foster daughter. Betsy stood over the graves of Brian and Meggan, eyes bright with tears.
The Professor was not present. Kitty had teleported to the mansion magically, then used her powers to strip away his mind, locking it into an unending replay of the worst torments inflicted upon Kitty by Black Air. It had rapidly driven him insane. Now he was confined to an institution, for the rest of his life.
The cold wind chilled them all, and the grey skies seemed a fitting accompaniment to the funerals. And one more was being mourned. Though not dead, they knew she was lost to them now, forever.
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And in another dimension, a young woman in gleaming silver armour watched the funerals in a scrying glass. Though she had been estranged from the X-Men for some time, they had been friends. Now they were hurting as they buried a teammate, just as she had lost the man she'd loved and her closest companion. She wouldn't call them back, as she briefly had her teammates. < They deserve to rest in peace. All of them. > She looked at the mausoleum she had created through her spells, housing the last resting places of her former friends, teammates and loved ones, so that she would always have them near her, even though their souls were now at peace. It was more than Scicluna's would ever be, she thought, glancing over at the crystal cube where the former head of Black Air was entombed in sulfuric acid, spells of resurrection laid on her so that she couldn't die, ever, until Kitty lifted the spell from her. In the meantime, the acid ate away her face, dissolved her lungs and eyes and skin. But she didn't die. She came back to life, and healed, only to begin dying again. And would do so forever. An eternity of punishment seemed only just, to Kitty.
After all, as the Darkchild, she had a reputation to uphold.
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FIN