The Circle And The Flame

The Circle And The Flame.

(Warning: Contains spoilers for ‘The Shadow And The
Kat’. Please read that story first.)

In an alternate Marvel Earth, the Red Skull replaced Captain
America after WWII. Rising to the
heights of power in his stolen identity, the Skull created an America, and a
world, after his own fascist image, with Mutants replacing the Jews as the
Enemy of Right Thinking people. Mutants
are killed or sterilized on apprehension, and kept alive only if they prove to
be of some use. Brute labor,
brainwashed assassins, and sexual playthings are but a few of the roles in
which they ‘serve’ society.

Xavier’s dream was murdered, and Magus’s nightmare proven
only too true. A small group of Mutants
fight against the might of the Skull’s Shield organization, in a resistance
force known as Magneto’s Raiders. Many
others who might have been heroes were prevented from achieving such
distinction by various means. The
Mutants we know of as the X-Men are older, and the parents of teenagers just finding
their own powers.

Nightcrawler and Shadowcat are among the younger generation,
but they have been through far more than the others kids can imagine.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> They were reft from their lives and taken
aboard the Shield Heli-Carrier. The
Carrier is a floating gulag and training facility for the Hounds; tamed Mutant
killers in the service of Shield. The
two found each other, and for reasons they couldn’t understand, were allowed to
form a romantic relationship. They
finally learned they were meant to destroy the Raiders, but through luck, and
love, they fail… but succeed in finding refuge and escape.

Kurt and Kitty’s acceptance among the inhabitants of
Asteroid M, the Raider’s fortress, unleashes a chain of events that results in
revealed secrets, and more than one family being reunited.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> As the dust settles, plans and preparations
are being made for the Raider’s next campaign…

...