Hellfire Days and Wild Knights Interlude

[Atlan]

Disclamer: I don’t own Ranma, or X-men, as usual. I don’t own the Avengers, Half Life, Fantastic Four, Spiderman, Daredevil, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Spooksville, Perry Rhodan, or anyone associated with any of them. I just stuck them all in a blender.

Eyes on Me (Dazzler’s song) is property of Square-Enix; I stole it from Final Fantasy 8.

…

Note: This does NOT take place at the same time. It is all spread out over the 2 weeks that Ranma, Shampoo and Ukyo spent on the road.
…
Catseye

“Jeeves. Look at this.” Emma was standing inside one of her prison cells. Next to her stood her manservant Jeeves, aka Gateway, and on the floor was a purple panther.

“A collar? Somehow, I doubt she has fleas.” He noted dryly.

“Exactly. Earlier, it was sparking out of the damaged part.”

His eyes widened. “A tracking device?”

Emma shook her head. “No, none of my cousin’s machines detected anything. I think… When I felt her mind, when she was attacking Ranma, she was struggling against her self. Half of her wanted to run and apologize, and the other half of her wanted to kill the intruders. At the time, I thought she was insane. But now… I think that it was controlling her somehow.”

It is generally considered bad form for menservants to demonstrate much emotion around their employers. Jeeves took his duties most seriously. So it marked the seriousness of the situation that he spoke his next words. “Bugger me sideways! Mind control!”

Emma would have chuckled, had she not agreed. “Indeed. My cousin is on route now, to remove the wretched device safely. In the mean time, I shall attempt to communicate with her telepathically.”

Jeeves nodded, and stood still. He was experienced enough in his mistress’s telepathy to know that, for a difficult job like this, she needed quiet to concentrate.

Emma reached out, into the unconscious mind of the slumbering cat. She sunk deeper and deeper. She could see that her mind was fragmented. Between the damaged collar, and the girl’s own animal instincts, there were two personalities in the body, instead of one.

The first looked like a strange combination of feline and human. Different from the anime cat girl, however, it seemed wild. Untamed. And ugly. The face was contorted into a hideous snout, the fur was matted and the head hair was knotted and greasy. Her teeth were yellow and jiggered. Her fingers were stubby, and her feet were deformed.

The other personality was the polar opposite of the first. She had long, luxurious hair. Her nails were perfect, and she wore designer clothes. And she looked completely human.

Emma looked at them. “Who are you?” she addressed them both.

The cat-creature answered “Catseye.”
The human girl answered “Sharon Smith.”

“Do you know what is happening?”

“No.
“No.”

Emma explained. “You are injured. Your body was under some form of mind-control, and it was damaged. That is why you two are separate.”

“Mind control?! You have to sto..” The human half spoke, only to be interrupted by a red net coming down on top of her.

Emma’s asteral form’s eyes widened. The device even effected her on this level!?! “I will. As we speak, someone is coming to take care of it.”

The cat half hissed. “Why should we trust you?”

The White Queen pondered this for a moment. It seemed like the human half was the trusting one, while the feline half was feral and savage. “Because I want you to work for me, and that cant happen with that collar on.”

The beast’s eyes darkened at the mention of a collar. “NO COLLARS!”

Emma reached over and patted the beast on the head. “I promise. No more collars.”

In the room, Jeeves watched Emma’s eyes open. “Success, ma’am?”

The white woman shook her head. “That collar was interfering. On top of that, her unconscious mind was odd. She had split her human and her feline side from each other. I did, however, manage to ascertain that they didn’t do much long-term damage. It was all the collar. No lingering brainwashing to worry about.”


…


Longshot

In a lonely desert, no crickets chirped. The occasional crow screeched, and the wind blew, but for the most part it was silence. The desert was a place of peace.

‘Bang! Bang! Ratatatatatatatatatta…. BOOM!’

Usually.

When not disturbed by a firefight and a car chase, anyway.

At the moment, a lone man on a motorbike was chasing a jeep. In the front, a girl sat, bound and gagged. Tears leaked out her eyes as she watched hero through the wing mirror. The diver only laughed at her plight, cheering his companions in the back seat on as they shot at the lone biker.

The biker veered off to the right, accelerating towards a rocky outcropping. The men in the car laughed as the hero apparently gave up his chase. The girl slumped forward, in despair.

The hero accelerated, pushing his bike to the limit. He rode his bike up the rocky slope, jumping off and landing on the front of the car, denting it, before his momentum carried him off. The car slid around and around, crashing into a wall. The girl, the only one buckled in, was fine. Her hijackers were all unconscious.

Her hero got off the bike, and she looked at his masked visage, love in her eyes. “My hero,” she said, nibbling her lower lip. “Can I see the man who saved me?”

“CUT!!”

Almost out of nowhere, another man appeared, dressed identically as the hero. “Thanks, buddy.”

The newcomer assumed the position, while the first man walked off, and took off his helmet. He had long, blond hair and a scar underneath his eye. A pudgy man came running up to him.

“Longshot, baby! You were great! Fabulous! Flawless!”

Longshot smiled at him. It was an innocent, slightly naive smile, but heartfelt. “Thanks, Jim.”

Jim grinned at his discovery. He had found Longshot about a year and a half previously, and was one of the few who knew he was a mutant. It was a good partnership; at least from his point of view- he got the prestige of being known as the manager of the greatest stunt-double in the movie business, and lots of money, while Longshot had his help in recovering his past. Sure, he hadn’t had any success on that front, but Longshot didn’t seem to care.

“Actually, buddy, you got a visitor.” Jim rubbed his hands together. “She’s rich, and HOT! She just showed up a few minutes ago asking for you.”

“I wonder what she wants,” mused Longshot. “Do you think she knows about me past?”

“Sure, anything’s possible. Come on, you don’t wanna keep a lady this classy waiting.” He half dragged Longshot towards one of the tents they were based in while they filmed on the desert.

Longshot stumbled through the tent entrance, and met the woman his manager was talking about. His first thoughts were of concern. “Hello, miss. Aren’t you cold?”

In front of him sat a woman with blond hair, blue eyes, and a white leather mini-skirt/tube top combo, with white leather thigh-high boots. She smiled at him. “So, I hear your reputation is accurate, hmm?”

With slight confusion, he had to ask. “What reputation?”

She smiled at his naïveté. “Never mind. My name is Emma Frost.”

He stuck his hand forward, like Jim taught him. “Hi. I’m Longshot.”

Emma shook his hand politely. “Or are you?”

Longshot looked hopeful. “Do you know who I am?”

Emma shook her head. “No, but I have heard about you. The man who appeared from nowhere a year and a half ago, with no memories, no clothes, and nothing to tell where you cam from apart from your scar, and your mutant abilities.”

“Oh.” He sounded sad. He also didn’t notice that she knew he was a mutant.

“There IS good news, though.” He looked up at the white woman. “I’m a mutant- a telepath. Also, I’m well connected in the world. I can find out who you are, who your family are, if you help me.”

He smiled. Luck was on his side. “What do you want need?”

…

Dazzler

In a grungy bar, outside of Los Angles, a voce could be heard singing. The quality was far above the norm for the bar, and all were enjoying it. A young blond girl, no more than 15, was singing her heart out.

“Darling, so there you are
With that look on your face
As if you're never hurt
As if you're never down
Shall I be the one for you
Who pinches you softly but sure
If frown is shown then I will know
that you are no dreamer”

The crowed erupted into cheers as she bowed. “Thank you, thank you. I’m the Dazzler, and I’m gonna be here for the week.” There was a fresh wave of cheering. The blond singer stepped merrily offstage.

Alison Blaire, as the young singer was usually known, gave a smile to the manager of the bar. “Good enough?” A smirk was absent from her face, but not her voice.

The manager took a moment to ogle her underage bosom. “Yeah, great, blondie.”

“My money.” She held her hand out expectantly.

He chuckled. “That’s not how it works, little girl. You begged ME to do this performance. You wanna sing for the week, I’ll pay you for that. But today was a test run.”

Alison seethed. “I sung for over five hours! I bet this hole has never been more packed than tonight! How can you not pay me? I need that money.” The last was said nearly in tears.

The manager laughed. “Well, you could work it off…” He stared suggestively at her body, making her feel dirty.

Alison looked down. Should she do it? Was it worth it? She debated with herself. She needed that money. With it, she’d be able to buy a bus ticket to the middle of LA, and get the attention of the executives at the recording studios. What was one small night for her future?

A silky, feminine voice with an English accent echoed inside her head. ‘Is it really worth sacrificing your ideals for money? Is it ok to do what’s easy, instead of what’s right?’

Alison looked up, at the manager. “Hell no, perv. If you don’t want to give me what’s mine, I’ll go somewhere else. I bet the other bars heard of how good I was!” She spun on her heals and walked out of the bar.

Waiting for her was a blond woman, in a white leather business suit. “That was a wise decision you made in there.”

With a start, Alison realized it was the voice from her head earlier. “What do you want?”

“My name is Emma Frost. And I have an offer for you.”

…



Ivan

Bishop sat on a chair, watching reruns of ‘The Nanny’. Also in the room was Sage, working on the computer, and the green two-headded man, Ivan Ivanovich Goratschin.

“Excuse me,” said Tessa from a corner. “But I was wondering. Which of you is Ivan, and what is the other one of you called?”

Bishop smirked. “Bishop, remember?”

Sage glowered. “The twins, Bishop.”

One of the heads turned around from the TV to face her. “I’m the oldest, Ivan. The squirt over here is Ivanovich.” One of their arms promptly smacked the elder in the head.

Sage frowned slightly. “In Russia, Ivanovitch is simply a middle name, meaning ‘Son of Ivan.’ How does that work in your case?”

The elder head groaned. “Our mom died giving birth. Before she saw us, she named us, and died too soon after to change it. She hadn’t realized that we were conjoined twins. And Dad wanted to stick with the name, since it was her last words. We had to find a different name each, and it just happened that way.”

Sage nodded. “Interesting. Were you always green, as well as two headed?”

The younger head turned around now. “No, we just woke up that way a year or so ago.”

…

Ms Marvel

“Dam it Matt, the pigs ‘ill catch us if we don’t hurry,” said a masked man, from inside a darkened bank.

His companion growled. “No names, Rex. I can’t be sure that those cameras aren’t working. Besides, we’re almost finished.” He continued franticly stuffing money in his bag.

The two were inside a Seattle bank, past midnight. They weren’t there for any legal reason, either.

“Besides, even if the cops do come, we’re prepared. Pierce set us up good.” The thieving duo shared a chuckle. Their benefactor had indeed prepared them for the cops. All they had to do in return was to rob the bank, and retrieve a certain item from a deposit box.

The loud call of police sirens halted the thieves in the act. “Shit. Get ready.”

Outside the bank, a trio of police cars pulled up. The cops scrambled out, and drew their weapons. “Come out with your hands up! This is the police!”

There was a tense moment, as they waited. Then they heard laughter, and one balaclava-clad man emerged from the bank. He had his arms up in the air. He walked up to the front steps. “Well, ya got me.” There was a definite amused tone to his voice.

The forward-most policeman called out. “Lie down on the ground, and put your hands behind your head!”

The man smirked behind his balaclava. Not that the cops noticed. “Sure.” Slowly, keeping his arms straight, he lowered his arms. When they were pointing at the cars, he laughed again. “Or NOT!” His right hand fell off, revealing a gun barrel protruding from his arm. With a maniacal laugh, gunfire poured out.

The front-most cop was the first to die, followed shortly by his partner. The rest took cover behind their cars. The senior officer grabbed his radio. “We need backup! Thieves are armed and hostile! Officers down!”

A feminine voice called out. “Backup’s here! You call an ambulance.”

Everyone looked up. There was a girl, floating in mid-air. She was wearing black elbow length gloves, and black thigh-high boots. A red sash was tied around what looked like a black one-piece swimsuit. A yellow lightning bolt stretched from neck to waist. A stylized black domino mask covered her eyes, and her long blond hair blew behind her.

The cops called out at the same time as the gun-armed (literally) thief. “Ms Marvel!”

“Thanks for the intro, boys,” she called out, before flying at the gunman (again, literally). The man managed to get off a few bullets, which all bounced unreflectively off her, before she closed the distance and, grabbing the gun-arm in one hand, crushed it.

One of the younger cops called out enthusiastically, “Ha! Ms Marvel’s bullet proof, idiot! And she’s stronger than a truck! You might as well just give up now!”

Ms Marvel made it a moot point by knocking the gunman unconscious. She smirked. “One down. Lets see if you had any more friends in here.” She floated in to the darkened bank.

A slight buzzing noise was all the warning the superheroine had, before a purple glowing blade came at her. It was sufficient, though, as she managed to dodge the blade.

She backed up, and took a moment to survey the situation. The man, similarly to his companion outside, had a weapon in place of his right arm. Unlike the other criminal, his was a half-meter purple energy blade, and his right eye was nothing but a gray lens.

‘Cyborgs, huh?’ Ms Marvel thought to her self. ‘Not the first I’ve seen recently, but they keep getting better.’

He lunged towards her, and she leapt into the air, untroubled by a minor concept like gravity. The purple blade sunk into the floor with no resistance. The thief noticed her shocked stare. “Like it?” he taunted. “This baby’ll cut though anything. Not even your bullet-proof hide ‘ill stop it!”

Ms Marvel smirked, and rose higher. “Mabey. But then again, I’m not gonna touch you!” She punched the ceiling. The cyborg had only a moment to look shocked as it collapsed on the pair of them.

Half an hour later, Ms Marvel was sitting on a rooftop, shaking plaster out of her hair. ‘Next time, I need to thing a little longer,’ she thought ruefully. The bank was happy, at least- they were insured against the destruction, and had almost certainly claimed more than it was worth.

“You know, that wasn’t particularly subtle. Couldn’t you have flown behind him?” An English accented voice came from behind her. Marvel spun around and raised her fists.

“No need for that, dear. I’m on your side in this.” The speaker was a blond, blue-eyed woman in a white business suit.

“In what?” Asked the other blond.

“Those cyborgs wont be the last. I knew the man who made them- his fanaticism for the ‘art’ of making cyorgs is only matched by his hatred of mutants. He will only keep sending them after you, in larger and larger amounts, with better upgrades.”

Marvel frowned. “How do you know this?”

Her reply formed in her mind. ‘I know a lot, Carol. And I’d like to make you an offer. I’m recruiting a mutant team. One like the X-men, but with a slightly more active approach to things. I want you on it.’

“What’s in it for me?”

“A team of people to help you take down the man who’s making these cyborgs, and a nice paycheck.”

Ms Marvel, aka Carol Denvers eyes shone at the mention of money. “Where do I sign up?”


…


Bishop

Lucas Bishop. A name that inspired respect in all of his old unit. A name that inspired fear in those that tried to measure up against the virtual mountain of muscle. A name that was currently associated with moving boxes.

Their new home was impressive. Three stories, a huge estate, more rooms than you could shake a stick at. A underground facility full of gadgets, some of questionable origin, some not from this earth. At least, that what Sage had hinted.

Speaking of that woman, where was she? Where were any of them? Sage, Alison, Emma, Sharon, and Carol had disappeared into thin air. That left Bishop, Ivan, Jeeves and Longshot to move all the boxes. Jeeves was like friken 80! Carol could chuck a car around, but could she help? No!

Ivan, Ivanovich and Jeeves sighed at Bishop’s grumbling, while Longshot remained cheerfully oblivious.

Moving in was a pesky business, but it had to be done. Ranma (and by got was she ever hot!) Shampoo (hot but bitchy) and Ukyo (not to bad, but nowhere near the other two) were due in two days. That meant a lot of stuff had to be moved, quickly. The girls had all disappeared fairly quickly, muttering about curtains and paint and carpeting.

But while he grumbled, Lucas Bishop was not a stupid man. He had not intentions of trying to drag some of the girls down to help. He knew better than to get between a woman and her interior decoration.

…

Mercury

Rhane gazed into the bathroom mirror, examining her teeth. Not for whiteness, like a normal person, but for humanity. Ever since that day where she’d turned into a wolf for the first time, she’d had a fear of turning into a wolf forever. Not that she was ashamed of being a mutant, but she was afraid of loosing her humanity. She was hardly alone in that fear; Hank McCoy and Logan (Beast and Wolverine) had similar fears. But it was still nice to have a little confirmation every now and again.

Behind her she heard one of the Asian girls- Ukyo. She got out her toothbrush and stood next to Rahne, brushing her teeth. “Got something stuck there, sugar?”

Rahne blushed, realizing how long she had spent gazing. “No, just checking.”

“Uh huh.” Ukyo worked her own teeth over quickly. “Shure.” She spat into the sink. “Anyway. What kept you and Rancha- Ranma up so late last night?”

“We were talking. I thought you two were asleep?”

Ukyo picked up a short handled metal spatula. “I can’t sleep when h-she leaves the bed.”

‘So she wasn’t making it up about wanting to have a sex change,’ Rhane mused. “Oh. How does it work, anyway?” Instantly she regretted bringing it up. “You and Shampoo, and Ranma?”

Ukyo looked at her mini-spatula. “It… its hard to explain. Once, the two of us, and a couple of other girls, were fighting over her. One girl was winning, no matter how much she claimed she didn’t love Ranma.” Ukyo smiled wistfully. “They almost got married, but the rest of us bombed their wedding.”

Rhane’s eyes bugged out. “You BOMBED their WEDDING?!?”

Ukyo chuckled. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.” She sighed. “But looking back, everything bad started there.”

Rahne stayed silent. She could tell that Ukyo wanted to say it in her own time.

“…The girl’s name was Akane. She was a real tomboy. She… she had a lot of guys interested in her. One was interested in Ranma as well.” Ukyo smirked. “Actually, he obsessed over the both of them. Claimed to love them both. Bought pictures of them every day.”

There was a brief pause. “But… something happened. To Akane. Ranma… he wasn’t the same. Almost committed seppuku.” She pantomimed the disemboweling cut. “But Shampoo and I caught up to her. Begged her to stay with us. We figured, better to share the pie, than to have it throw itself in the rubbish bin.” She smirked at her terrible analogy.

“And you two just share?” That was more than a little confusing to the Scottish girl.

Ukyo’s eyes lost focus. “…no. It’s not that easy. I wish it were. We get jealous a lot. But… even sharing with a girl who used to be my enemy, this has been the happiest time of my life. I wouldn’t go back for anything.” She looked out the window to the car, where Ranma and Shampoo were getting ready to leave. The car was noticeably dented around the front, and there was a suspicious amount of sheep wool caught behind the license plate. Shampoo was bent forward, packing, pointing her rear at the window. The breze flipped her short dress up briefly, causing Ukyo to drool a little. “And hey, she is pretty hot.” Rhane face faulted.

…

An unusually small chapter, but much quicker than normal. Don’t get used to it.

Um. What needs saying. Every one of those names was featured in the marvel universe. Ms Marvel, Longshot and Dazzler had their own comics, before joining the X-men (or in Ms Marvel’s case, the Avengers). In comic cannon, Catseye and Mercury were Hellions, Longshot, Dazzler, Bishop and Emma were X-men. Ivan came from the Perry Rhodan series. Gateway was an aboriginal who used his mystic powers to make portals for who ever required them.

It had been brought to my attention that I’m having too much fun drawing out the revealing of Ranma’s power. Don’t worry, I promise to get there in the next chapter or two.

Anyone else with an idea or a question (unrelated to Ranma’s powers, or what happened to Akane), please post them as C&C. Some of my best ideas came from the C&C you guys leave, and perhaps the speed of this chapter as well.

For those who also have decent knowlege of the X-men comicverse, a few warnings. Ms Marvel wont meet quite the same fate as in the comics, despite the suggestive ending of X-men Evolution. Longshot is, however, almost identical to his comic counterpart.

[Druid]

Strangely enough, the only question I have is as a result of Ukyou's opinion of Shampoo's hotness. That being, what does Shampoo think of Ukyou in the same regard?

[Atlan]

Yup. Mutual lust is the foundation of their relationship.

[blackmamuth]

I think it lacks a description on the scene with Ukyo, where that happens an hotel in the road? in the final destination?