Merchants of Death

Chapter 17



Marian Casta had been left behind.



Now that Marian was mortal again Chrissy Lera didn't want to risk her long time

friend and lover in battle, so she had told the former vampire to stay in the

High Palace while she left to help capture the Imperious Industries weapons

depot (although in Chrissy's mind the others were simply helping her). Before

leaving the dark elf had cast every protective spell she could on Marian, as

well as leaving behind what was left of the Crimson Legion to guard the blonde

woman.



Casta was now better protected than many cities, and living in the lap of luxury

at the moment. Due to the fact that Lady Alustriel Silverhand had told her

servants to treat Chrissy's lover as an honored guest.



The voluptuous Frenchwoman placed a great deal of value on luxury and her

personal safety. But she found herself unable to make peace with her current

situation.



~I should be happy...these people are all so eager to please and I don't have to

do anything right now but relax~ Marian thought as she accepted another tasty

delicacy from a waiting servant. Lounging about in bed wearing nothing but a

silky robe, not even noticing the way that the male servant kept glancing at her

exposed cleavage.



The Tieflings were scattered around the guest room Lady Alustriel had given the

now living woman. Staring at their hands, faces, and other altered body parts

in fascination, still attempting to adjust to their new selves.



Under other circumstances Marian would have helped the Legionnaires cope with

their new reality, but she was too preoccupied by her own concerns.



The truth was Marian knew why she was unhappy.





She missed Chrissy, and she couldn't stand the thought that she had gone from

being an asset to a liability for her friend. But Marian couldn't make the

thought go away.



*****



The Imperious Industries weapon depot looked like a primitive fortress.

Situated on a large hill and made of rough hewn stone, its only virtues appeared

to be its massive size and commanding view of the valley below.



The large structure had originally been built as a fortress but no one had lived

there for decades, inhabited only by the angry ghosts of those who had been

massacred in the fortress in the bloody aftermath of a long siege.



But things had changed recently, when people from Imperious Industries had cast

out the angry spirits and started to rebuild the place. As well as equipping it

with advanced sensors and weaponry.



It was more than a place where powerful technological weapons were displayed and

stored; it was a place where such things were used.



A fact that those currently approaching the fortress failed to appreciate.



*****



Chrissy Lera glared at the weapons depot hatefully. The necromancer knew

intellectually that none of the Imperious Industries personnel who had inflicted

harm on her and her people were likely to be there. Nevertheless the fortress

seemed to represent them all in her mind.



~This will NOT be like the attack on the other Imperious Industries base~

Chrissy told herself, still bitter about how disastrously that attempt to

capture an Imperious Industries facility had gone.



"What's taking her so long?" Chrissy said impatiently as the dark elf stared at

the fortress, her usual arrogance hallowed out by unfamiliar doubt.



The former ruler of Iberia had suffered far too many defeats at the hands of

Imperious Dakar and his allies. Even her strong ego could only take so much

abuse.



Chrissy needed a victory.



Something the perspective Sage had already figured out, and kept in mind as she

replied "patience Lera…whatever her other flaws Mystique is the best I have ever

seen at this type of infiltration…she will contact us when she is ready."



"Whining won't make the time pass any quicker Lera dear" Emma Frost said

irritably, having far less sympathy for or understanding of the necromancer's

anxieties and doubts.



"I do NOT whine" Chrissy replied angrily as her crimson eyes flashed

dangerously, the necromancer's body language indicating that she was ready for a

fight.



"Save it for the enemy ladies…if we fight now the only ones who win are

Imperious Industries" Cyclops said firmly, wanting to avoid conflict on their

own side.



Emma and Chrissy knew that he had a point, but they were too alike in

temperament and pride to back down easily. After a moment the powerful women

simply nodded to each other and walked in opposite directions.



She-Hulk sighed as she watched the almost fight end and turned to the woman

sitting next to her. Saying softly "everyone is so tense…do you think Blue will

be all right?"



Storm stared around them before replying, gazing at the large camp that the

universal travelers and the Silverymoon soldiers had set up as she said "it is

always tense before a battle…when the fighting actually starts there is no time

to be afraid…you have to just react…but Mystique has the instincts of a

survivor."



"I have been in a lot of fights…but never a real war" She-Hulk said pensively.



"You are strong in both body and spirit Jennifer…I am sure that you will react

like an X-Men" the wind rider assured She-Hulk as she laid a comforting hand on

the bigger woman's shoulder.



*****



Over the course of her life Mystique had impersonated many different kinds of

people, like police officers, waitresses, soldiers, janitors, lawyers, farmers,

and even a few non-humans. But she had never played the role of an orc before.



Her current form was muscular with light brown skin, prominent tusks, and

bloodshot eyes. Wearing what appeared to be thick leather armor and

strategically placed fine steel swords and knives.



This was exactly what the Imperious Industries personnel here expected thanks to

their previous dealings with the orc king's emissary.

"Ambassador Toolack…you honor us with your presence…surely some of these would

interest your sovereign" the salesman said oily as he gestured at some of the

more expensive Imperious Industries merchandise.



Mystique was in a large cavern beneath the fortress, filled with tanks, bombers,

and other lethal hardware. Although the mutant shapeshifter had never been a

regular soldier, she recognized the quantity and quality of weapons as enough to

equip a decent sized army on her own world. Dozens of armored Imperious

Industries personnel were in the cavern with her, to watch over and safeguard

the technological weapons.



But the guards just had guns, nothing that her companions and the Silverymoon

forces couldn't handle. Based on what the mutant spy had seen they should be

able to easily overwhelm the people here if they simply fought ruthlessly and

intelligently.



~I am going to explore a little more to make sure that they have nothing that

can hurt us…but based on what I have seen so far there is nothing here to really

threaten us~ Mystique told her comrades as she chatted with the salesman,

knowing that the telepaths in her group were supposed to be monitoring her

thoughts while she scouted the base for potential threats.



But she heard an unfamiliar voice in her mind reply ~you're not ambassador

Toolack…I remember the shape of his mind and yours is quite different.~



Knowing that her cover was blow Mystique killed the salesman with a violent blow

to the neck. Already beginning to change into a more fearsome form as the

guards pointed their guns in her direction, but before Mystique could transform

something hit her mind. The shapeshifter could do little but grunt in pain as

the force of it knocked her out.



*****



Dakar had a knack for recruiting talented freaks. The Mind Flayer in charge of

base security was such a creature.



At their core illithids were as much parasites as predators, and tended to be

somewhat cowardly by nature. Leshrak was an exception to that trend.



He enjoyed fighting far more than manipulation and had a sense of self

preservation about as strong as most veteran soldiers. Leshrak also went almost

everywhere wearing body armor and preferred to dispatch his enemies with his

personal sidearm.



But despite going against the Mind Flayer norm in so many other ways Leshrak

remained a powerful and skilled telepath. The kind of telepath who could

recognize Mystique as an imposter the moment he touched her mind, scanning the

shapeshifter's consciousness and knocking her out before her telepathic comrades

could react.



Leshrak was already familiar with Mystique and the other universal travelers

(except the Terminators) thanks to the data on the X-Men and their enemies and

allies that Selene had given to Imperious Industries and which Angelus had

distributed to all his people.



Knowing something of the nature of his enemies, and having a good idea of their

current plans thanks to the information he had taken from Mystique, Leshrak

immediately ordered an all out attack against the enemy forces preparing to

assault his base. Activating and selecting the targets of the fortress's long

range weapons personally.



Leshrak's facial tentacles quivered in the illithid version of a smile as he

pushed the button to launch the first volley of missiles.



*****



The camp that the universal travelers, Knights in Silver, and the Spellguard had

set up was on the other side of a large hill facing the Imperious Industries

base. It was hidden from magical detection thanks to powerful spells, and

scouts among the Knights patrolled the area around it to detect the approach of

any enemies ahead of time.



But the magic did nothing to hide the small army from the mechanical sensors

Imperious Industries had placed in the valley and the surrounding area. Giving

Leshrak a good idea of the general position of the universal travelers and the

two hundred Knights and Spellguard Lady Alustriel had sent on this mission.



Thanks to the information the head of security had stolen from Mystique Leshrak

had an even better idea of exactly where her powerful comrades were, aiming the

missiles directing at that area.

Reaching out telepathically to view the resulting carnage as the missiles flew

from their hidden launchers to the enemy camp.



*****



The universal travelers had virtually no warning before the missiles hit.

Detonating only a few feet away from where most of them were sitting or

standing.



Emma Frost and her daughters instinctively changed into their diamond forms

seconds before the explosion reached them, so that the force of the blast merely

tossed them through the air instead of tearing apart their bodies. The She-Hulk

was also blasted away without suffering real injury, her green gamma powered

body being all but impervious to such explosive force.



Storm was able to knock herself and Cyclops out of range of the initial blast

with a powerful gust of wind. The lovers landed roughly on their backs, leaving

them battered and bruised but otherwise uninjured.



Sage and her Terminator servants were the closest of all the universal travelers

to the blast when it went off. Milliseconds before the explosion the

Terminators put themselves between their mistress and where the missile would

hit. One stood directly in front of Sage while the other stood directly behind

him, trying to shield their mistress with their own bodies.



The one closest to the blast was instantly destroyed, his mechanical and organic

parts flung in all directions. The other one grabbed Sage just as the explosion

reached him, trying to minimize her exposure to the blast as much as possible.

Cradling her fragile human body as they were both flung through the air.



Chrissy Lera was much farther away from the missile detonations, and was able to

easily raise her shield of souls before the explosion reached her, screaming in

fury when she realized that they were under attack, her ghostly protectors

swirling madly in reflection of the necromancer's rage.



All around the dimensional outsiders Knights in Silver died, their gleaming

enchanted armor providing little protection against explosives designed to level

buildings and destroy military vehicles. A few of the more powerful or paranoid

Spellguard in or near the blast radius were covered in enough protective spells

to survive without significant injury, but most of the Silverymoon wizards and

sorcerers near the missiles when they detonated died or were horribly injured in

the explosion.



After the explosions died away the Terminator that had grabbed Sage stood up.



Most of the flesh on the back of his head, torso, arms, and legs was burned

away, leaving smoking metal behind. But the Terminator had somehow miraculously

avoided damage to any of his vital systems. However, as the creature of flesh

and metal looked down he realized that he had failed.



Thanks to his efforts Sage had escaped the worst of the blast. But when the

heavy Terminator had landed on the cyperpath she had cracked open her head

against her servant's heavy chest and the hard ground.



As the Terminator stared at the unseeing eyes and exposed brain matter of his

mistress the robotic killing machine found itself ignoring its own cold logic as

he tried to gently push the brain issue back into the large hole in the back of

Sage's head. Thinking that there must be some way to save his human mistress.



But in his core the Terminator knew the truth; humans were far more fragile than

robots. Sage could not simply be repaired and reactivated the way that he could

if he suffered a similar injury.



She was dead.



This meant that the Terminator had failed in the central command of his revised

programming, to serve and protect Sage. And therefore he had no purpose.



For perhaps the first time in any universe, a Terminator wept.



*****



Lady Alustriel Silverhand and The Phoenix were standing in one of the High

Palace's many large balconies, staring down at the city of Silverymoon as the

two powerful women waited.



All of Jean Grey's companions from the X-Men had insisted that she was not ready

for combat yet, that she needed more time to recover first. But all of them

except Storm had ulterior motives when they convinced her not to go with them.



They were all more afraid of her than the Imperious Industries people they were

going to fight. None of them doubted that The Phoenix could easily defeat all

the enemies at the base easily, and could destroy the base itself just as easily

if necessary.



But if The Phoenix started engaging in mass destruction again who could say when

she would stop?



Besides the X-Men had defeated foes much more powerful than Imperious Industries

many times before, and the universal travelers were attacking the base with a

literal army. They didn't think they would need Jean Grey.



Ordinarily Lady Alustriel would have gone too, to inspire and lead her troops

and to watch and help her strange new allies. But the Chosen of Mystra's

divinely inspired intuition told her that her goddess wanted her to stay in

Silverymoon and watch over the dangerous and unpredictable Phoenix.



However as the High Mage used her magic to check on the universal travelers and

the military forces she had sent to accompany them, she felt her people dying in

large numbers.

The compassionate ruler changed her mind and was about to go to her beleaguered

soldiers when she heard the voice of her goddess in her mind.



NO…STAY WITH THE FALSE GOD.



Mystra rarely spoke so clearly or openly to Alustriel, her Chosen knew that she

had to obey her goddess. But it was not in the High Mage's nature to do nothing

while those under her protection were threatened. She immediately summoned the

leaders of the Knights in Silver and Spellguard to begin organizing

reinforcements to send to her threatened troops. Even though the High Mage

feared that they would not get there in time to make a difference.



"Scott" the woman beside Alustriel murmured, as The Phoenix telepathically

reached out to her husband.



*****



The first volley of missiles fired from the fortress had killed over fifty

people and wounded at least twice that many. But none of the other missiles

fired from the fortress hurt any of the universal travelers or their allies.



Storm and Cyclops had risen on the wind, and most of the missiles were deflected

by winds approaching hurricane level strength, hitting the ground and exploding

far from any people. The few that somehow made it past Storm's angry winds were

destroyed by ruby red beams of force fired the eyes of the man in her arms.



But things were no better for the universal travelers and their allies on the

ground. As soon as the missile strikes to their position ended hidden cavern

entrances near the camp opened up, with Epsilon robots and armored Imperious

Industries security personnel immediately emerging and opening fire.



Dozens of Knights and Spellguard died in the first minute as they were struck by

waves of bullets, blow apart by rockets, and tossed aside by exploding grenades.



Ordinarily the She-Hulk would have come to their aid and might have been able to

defeat the robots and security guards all by herself. But instead the muscular

green woman simply lay on the ground and moaned, clutching her head as Leshrak

invaded her mind and tried to take control of her.



Emma Frost and her daughters could have used their telepathic powers to help

She-Hulk if they reverted to their normal form. However, if they tried to they

would have instantly died, because ten Epsilon robots had targeted them

specifically (on Leshrak's orders) and they were being stuck by waves of bullets

fired from the Epsilon machine guns, the explosive force of the robots rockets,

and even giant metal fists as the armored war machines tried to punch them.

Weapons that would have all too easily killed them if they had changed from

their diamond to their flesh and blood forms.



"Oh no" Emma whispered as she saw the chest plates on one of the robot's armored

torsos move apart to reveal a glowing green light. Then the green energy shot

out and struck the telepath in her large belly, knocking her off her feet and

through the air for several feet.



Her fall was cushioned by two Spellguard wizards she collided with, Emma's heavy

diamond body landing on top of the lean

spell-casters, though the lingering radiation from the blast hurt them more than

her weight.



~Are you all right Sophie?~ Emma asked her daughter as she rubbed her sore

belly, her diamond form glowing with a green light as the radiation from the

attack dissipated.



~I…think so mother…but don't get hit by that thing again~ Sophie hesitantly

answered.



Her mother wanted to say that wouldn't be a problem, but as another Epsilon

robot approached her and prepared to fire its radiation cannon she wasn't sure

how it could be avoided. The diamond woman got up as fast as she could, wishing

her pregnant body didn't feel so clumsy and heavy, wondering if she and Sophie

could survive another hit like that.



"NOT OUR MOTHER JUNKHEAP!" Celeste, Mindee, and Phoebe screamed as they tackled

the war machine about to fire on their mother. The well armed and armored robot

was much stronger and more durable than a regular human, but so were the sisters

in their diamond forms, grunting as they strained their mutant muscles and

forced the machine to the ground.



As it fell the Epsilon robot fired the machine guns built into its arms, but the

bullets just deflected harmlessly off the sisters diamond skin. Working

together Celeste, Mindee, and Phoebe were able to pry one of its rockets out of

its left shoulder launcher, and then shoved the projectile into its radiation

cannon.



The resulting explosion destroyed the Epsilon robot and flung its pierces (along

with the three sisters) in all directions. But as the dazed telepaths tried to

get their bearings they realized that they were surrounded by more Epsilon

series robots.



After the initial confusion and terror of the Epsilon robots and security guards

attack the Knights in Silver and Spellguard were beginning to rally. Human and

orc security guards were struck down by fireballs, blasts of cold, barrages of

lightning, and all manner of magical attack. The Silverymoon warriors who

couldn't use magic had a harder time inflicting harm on their living

adversaries, but whenever they could get within close combat range of a security

guard, the guard fell to the might of a Knight's enchanted blade.



The Epsilon robots were a different matter. Their machine guns and rocket

launchers continued to shoot down, blow apart, and mangle the wizards, warriors,

and sorcerers. While their extremely durable and well armored frames seemed

immune to all but the most powerful magic attacks. Worst of all, their torso

mounted radiation cannons annihilated scores of warriors at a time, bursting

through flesh and giving all it touched a lethal dose of radiation. Only the

strongest magical barriers seemed able to block the beams of green death.



And the situation was getting worse, more and more security guards and robots

continued to emerge from the caverns. The forces of Silverymoon were rapidly

becoming outnumbered.



"ENOUGH…you degenerates will fight for MY victory this time" Chrissy swore as

she pointed and stared at the largest group of security guards.



The ground beneath the necromancer's feet died and her elaborate white clothing

started to decay and fall off, baring the firm black flesh under it. The sight

of Chrissy's increasingly naked shapely body would have been erotic under other

circumstances, but the dark elf's pseudo ghosts started to loudly moan and the

air around her actually darkened as she finished her spell, giving the whole

thing an eerie atmosphere.





What appeared to be a burst of black fire shot out from Chrissy's outstretched

hand and engulfed the guards she had been pointing at, making them scream in

agony as it touched them. But it did not burn them or their equipment.



The magical flames dissipated and then the guards aimed their guns at the other

guards and robots. Wearing utterly blank expressions as they begun to fire on

(what had formerly been) their own side.



Most of the Knights and Spellguard stared in complete confusion as they watched

the resulting carnage. But a few of the more perspective wizards sensed the

truth, and gazed at the result of the necromancer's magic in horror.



Knowing that Chrissy's spell had somehow instantly killed those troops and

brought them back as her soulless undead minions, an act of necromancy that

never would have been tolerated in their home city. An act of dark magic so

powerful that the mere side effects of the spell were strong enough to kill

anything standing within a few feet of Chrissy (fortunately no one was actually

standing that close to her at this point).



The surviving Terminator lacked the elf woman's humanlike fury, but it was

experiencing something similar. Lacking a programmed directive to guide its

actions the A.I. had been forced to find a new purpose, and the killing machine

had.



Revenge.



As the Terminator squeezed the life out of a stocky human woman wearing the

brown body armor of an Imperious Industries security officer, hearing the woman

frantically gasp and wheeze as it crushed her windpipe, the machine designed for

killing felt…good.



The sky above the battlefield darkened as clouds gathered, moving at the wind

rider's will. Then massive bolts of lightning shot down from out of the clouds

and began to strike the Epsilon robots, penetrating the armor of the heavy

infantry units and annihilating them in fiery explosions. Over twenty were

destroyed in the first minute of Storm's new attack, and they begun to get

wrecked even more rapidly once Cyclops joined in with his ruby red blasts.



Despite their horrible losses in the initial phase, it looked like the universal

travelers and their Silverymoon allies could win this battle.



*****



The male elf stared up at the brown skinned woman floating on the wind

hatefully. The weather witch was concentrating her powerful blasts of lightning

on the heavily armored Epsilon infantry units, but that was leaving him and the

other people in the security force Leshrak had sent out more vulnerable to the

Spellguard magic users and the Knights in Silver warriors. As he watched a

powerfully built human in shining armor charged the security guard next to him,

unleashing a cry of rage as he gutted the gun wielding guard with his great

sword, only going down after another corporate soldier shot the Knight in the

head at point blank range.



The male elf had seen a lot of combat in his life, but never something quite

like this.



Elementals and magical beasts that the Spellguard wizards and sorcerers were

summoning fought with the mechanical Epsilon units, their primal fury matched by

the lethal efficiency and power of the deadly robots. Undead killers that only

minutes ago had been his comrades continued to shoot at the elf's friends, many

of them keeping up their attack even though they had gaping wounds in their

arms, legs, or torsos. The Frost family had gone on the offensive, attacking

the Epsilon robots as a group and attempting to destroy them one by one. And

throughout it all a lethal rain of lightning bolts and optic blasts continued to

fall down on the heads of the Imperious Industries forces.



The elfin corporate soldier activated the communicator built into his helmet to

request more reinforcements. Hoping that they could bring out the heavy

weaponry soon enough to save him and the rest of his unit.



But the reply was not in verbal form.



~Take your laser rifle and shoot down the white haired woman…without her around

we can send you air support~ Leshrak telepathically told the anxious elf.



The long time soldier had a bad feeling about this, but an order was an order.

He carefully took aim with his rifle, gazing at the wind rider through the night

vision sight.



She was moving quickly on the winds, and he knew he would probably only get one

shot. If he shot and missed the mutant would almost certainly kill him in

retaliation.



"Stay still bitch" the security guard murmured as he fired off his weapon,

hoping that it wouldn't miss.



A bullet would never have hit Storm from this range, the strong winds

surrounding the weather witch would have deflected it long before it could

strike her. But the blast from the security guard's rifle was composed of

energy and light not matter, and was unaffected by the winds.



"GOT YOU" the elf cried triumphantly as he watched the beam of energy go right

through Storm's chest, making a bloody hole above her left breast.



The shocked and wounded Storm began to plummet, lacking the strength or

concentration necessary to control the winds any longer. So did the man she had

been holding aloft, as the two lovers fell to the earth.



But the ruthless male elf had no time to savor his victory, because a massive

beam of red energy immediately blasted away his head and upper torso. For a

moment the armored legs and stomach continued to stand, and then they too fell

over.



*****



Leshrak watched happily on his video screen as Storm and Cyclops hit the ground

hard (the image coming from the `eyes' of one of the Epsilon units in the

field).



The Mind Flayer was at his main security console, deep underground. Alone

except for his most trusted subordinates.



With Storm and Cyclops out of the picture things seemed to be going his way

again.



Leshrak resolved to learn from the mistakes of Selene and others who had fought

the X-Men before.



He would make no attempt to capture or take the universal travelers alive. If

they surrendered he would kill them immediately. They were too dangerous and

good at escaping to be tolerated as captives.



Leshrak would also continue to force the powerful telepaths in the group to

fight him physically, and the physically powerful

She-Hulk to battle him mentally.



She-Hulk's mind was very difficult to fight against, but the Mind Flayer was

confident that he could eventually dominate her. Then he would use that control

to kill her. Leshrak was also convinced that the Epsilon units could eventually

overpower the Frost family and kill the mutant women.



He wasn't too concerned about the Knights in Silver and Spellguard; he thought

that his forces could easily handle common mages and soldiers, even if the

primitives around here did consider them elite.



Remembering his resolution that the universal travelers were too dangerous to

keep captive the Mind Flayer began to contact the dungeons, preparing to tell

the dungeon guards to kill the unconscious Mystique.



But then the telepath was overcome by a sensation unlike anything he had ever

felt before, as an image of a fiery bird suddenly dominated his mental vision.