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xp_logsWith the information taken from Batroc, X-Force crashes the Mandarin's party. There's slightly more opposition than they expected.
The massive warehouse space was crowded with mountain ranges formed of crates, plastic wrapped pallets of goods, and huge scaffolds full of every manner of shipping materials. At the far end, a couple of trucks sat, hoods open in the process of some kind of maintenance. Their directions had been laughable; a service elevator in the back of the warehouse that if you pressed the bottom two buttons simultaneously would descend into a secret basement.
The warehouse was sparsely manned and it took no more than the normal stealth and the odd telepathic redirection to allow them to slip through unawares. Even with their numbers, the elevator was still spacious enough to let them spread out and as explained, when they pressed the bottom two buttons, the elevator shuddered and began to descend.
Jubilee chewed on a strip of beef jerky as she rolled plastic explosives into smaller, lightweight 'grenades' and stashed them in her pockets.
She raised her eyebrows at Wade and waggled a spare block of it at him. "You need any extras, dude?"
Wade grinned and opened one of the pouches on his belt to show Jubilee the block of C4 he had there. “Nah, I’m good.” He’d already unbuttoned his shoulder holsters and his knives were set. He’d gone with an even mix of frag, concussive, and flashbang grenades with a few anti-tank optionals thrown in for fun - just in case.
Artie checked the pistol he was carrying again and ran his fingers over the hide out knife in his boot, heart pounding. Better to avoid using them but just in case, right?
“Don’t worry, squirt,” Wade muttered, offering Artie a smile. “You hit up a couple goons with that blackout ball of yours right to their face, they’ll never see your shots when they come.” He stopped talking, though, and rubbed at his jaw. Most of his teeth had grown back in, so that was something, at least. He was still bruised as fuck, though.
***
The elevator finally stopped and as the doors ground open, it was clear that this was not just a subbasement. A river of black ichor ran past them, winding through the raw rock towards the facade of a temple that had been carved out of rock. The path led to a wide staircase of blood red granite, ascending between thick red pillars towards a massive wooden double door, which was standing open. The staircase was flanked with granite and jade carved statues of animals; monkeys, leopards, and fearsome winding dragons.
“Oh look, they left the door open for us. This couldn’t possibly be a trap.” Felicia carefully picked her way along the path, feeling entirely too exposed for her liking. She was an air vents kind of lady, or at least a disguise; this was just her, and no matter how quiet this particular pair of shoes were, it wasn’t exactly inconspicuous.
“Shame they didn’t make the decor more pocket sized.”
"Useful though." Marie-Ange tilted her head towards the largest of the leopards, and an identical miniature appeared in her palm. "Let it go a few steps ahead, it should spring anything set to react to pressure or shadow." She set it down and it strutted down the stairs, pausing every few steps to stop and wash itself. "Hopefully."
“Shame, I don’t have any yarn on me,” Felicia commented, then quirked her head, considering. “Though…” She retrieved the small flashlight strapped to her thigh, twisting the top until the beam narrowed into a dot the size of a half dollar coin, and waving it in front of the tiny carnivore. “Go on, kitty kitty.”
***
Wade split off from the others after the elevator stopped, moving with Emma so that she could stay pink as long as possible, keeping the switchboard open with everyone else, even if only loosely. He figured he could at least hold off anybody who came at her long enough for her to get relevant information to and from the rest of their people before going diamond.
This shit's weird, he thought toward her, indicating the animals all over the staircase. Like, I respect people's cultures, but this is more like. Sci-fi horror film in the making.
Um, replied Emma, a strange utterance from the normally composed White Queen. That one’s moving. She pointed at a fearsome looking statue of a macaque monkey, that suddenly bared jade teeth at both of them.
Should I kill it? Wade asked as they got closer to the stairs. Or... try to kill it? Besides the animate creatures, this area was completely empty, which, for some reason, didn't make him feel much better about this entire endeavor. Still, he had to soldier onward and all that.
Emma stared at the macaque for a few moments then swept a wider glance at the other statues around them that, in various ways, were making small movements designed to increase the level of menace, but no further. I think, Emma sent, her tone hesitant, they can’t do anything more than this. They’re like the world’s creepiest early warning system. But I think we can safely ignore them.
Awesome, I didn't really want to try and stab them to death. Y'know, stone. But also - animals. That sorted, Wade led the way up the stairs, never straying too close to any of the various creatures. The temple doors loomed large before them and so, with a twist of his lips, Wade took a quick peek inside.
***
Inside the temple, it was clear why the front was unguarded. Not only did they not anticipate any interruptions, but the main hall was packed with Tong soldiers. There was a strange blend; a third dressed in modern suits, automatic weapons obviously at ready. The rest were dressed in loose fitting tunics and pants, wearing ceremonial pieces of ancient Chinese armor and mostly armed with melee weapons.
Giant braziers emitting green flames illuminated the underground temple, and at the centre of the room stood a high dais, on which sat an old man in a wheelchair. His skin was wrinkled like translucent parchment and he sat quietly while on the table next to him, a collections of art objects was assembled.
"Oh great," Dom said as she took in the scene - which frankly was stranger than anything she had ever seen with the Agency. And that was saying something. "There are people with swords."
"Honestly, I'm more worried about the guns," Wanda remarked. "I can outrun a crazed swordsman. Probably." Actually, the entire setup was rubbing her the wrong way and she felt a sweep of goosebumps cross her arms as she took in the scene. Something unseen was crackling in the air, a weird energy, and it made her leery. Not that a roomful of gunmen and swordsmen wouldn't have normally made her leery but this was a step above that.
"Point." It wasn't the lethality of the swords Dom was particularly worried about, but the whole... theatricalness of it all. The costumes, the green torches, the giant fuckoff podium in the middle of the room. People who did this were dangerous, not because of mutant powers or whatever but because they probably weren't all there upstairs. She cast a sideways glance at the rest of the group, who looked surprisingly composed. But then, they dealt with this stuff on a regular basis, didn't they?
Wait. Who's the crazy ones here?
***
That really is a nice vase, observed Emma to Wade, as she spotted what she was fairly certain had been stolen from a museum in Ulan Bator. I know it’s a forgery, but the pattern is exquisite. I might have to get one made for me.
Wade suppressed a laugh. I don't see why you couldn't. Assuming the really old dude hasn't decided he has some kind of monopoly on all the replicas or something. Because jeez, he's old.
Or the tragic victim of a poor skincare regime and some over-enthusiastic tanning, sent Emma. Sunscreen, people. It’s not difficult.
Maybe not for you, Wade thought. Once upon a time, I was allergic to something in sunscreen. That was a few decades ago, though.
Hats, darling, replied Emma. It’s very difficult to go wrong with a hat. Very few people develop a hat allergy.
***
"My ancestor, the Great Qin Shi Huang, First Emperor of China, was nearing the end of his life and feared, rightly, that the great empire he forged would be riven by jealous and greedy noblemen after his death. Oh, how the small minded would shatter the Middle Kingdom into a tiny fragments and call themselves Kings, instead of growing it into all lands and making the Celestial Throne the arbiter of the world." The old man's voice was reedy but also hypnotic, as the assembled ranks hung on his every word.
"Fearing this fate, Huang chanced upon an old man, to whom he felt compelled to tell his worries of the future to. For three days and nights, the two men talked as worried courtiers bustled about, always told to stay back by the King. In the dawn of the fourth day, Huang's eyes nodded closed for a moment and when he opened them, the old man was gone. He had told Huang that the only way for him to avoid his empire falling was to achieve the same state as the Gods and find immortality. But the quest for it was more dangerous than any war, more tiring than any journey, and more unlucky than any curse. After the old man disappeared, his wisest sages and scholars finally opined that it was none other than Anqi Sheng myself, the great Taoist immortal and wizard."
He settled back in his chair as the last object was placed beside him. "Huang sent men to the ends of China, seeking Anqi Sheng and his home on Mount Penglai. He sent his most trusted advisor Xu Fu to find the mountain and barter for immortality from Sheng. Fu did as his master instructed and scoured the Eastern Seas for the island mountain. Through storm and tide, the Seas took his men one by one until only Fu was left, manning a one man skiff in the face of the typhoon, loyal to his master's orders. He landed on Penglai and tired, wet and injured, made his way to the home of Anqi Sheng."
"To think of it, enh? One loyal servant who defied all challenges to perform his master's will." The implication of what was expected from the ranks was obvious. "Sheng fed him, healed his wounds and removed the chill of the sea. He entrusted Fu with ten seals; a contract with the Heavens and the Gods to raise Huang to their ranks as the immortal Emperor of a unified China. Fu hurried back with his prize but was ambushed before he could reach the mainland. He was killed by the followers of K'un-L'un, who wished to keep China fractured and weak to further their own ambitions. The ten seals of Anqi Sheng were taken to the sacred Ling Valley, hidden there in the Temple of Spirits, guarded by the dragon spirit Aqun-Ki."
His face turned solemn. "There they would stay until my Grandfather fought his way into the valley and challenged the great spirits. He won the seals away from them but as soon as he left the valley, the followers of K'un-L'un attacked. They left him for dead and stole the seals, this time hiding them in cheap trinkets based off of the noble Qin artisans and allowing them to be pillaged and sold to the Westerners. The vast power of Anqi Sheng, the legacy of the greatest Chinese Empire, hidden in a cheap vessel as a sideshow for the sei gweilo. But no longer."
Servants came forward to help Zhang Tong stand. He put his shaking hand out and the pots and vases on the table as one exploded into a storm cloud of dust. The dust slowly cleared and in the midst of the powdered remains, ten metal objects could be seen.
"The Seals of Anqi Sheng. When brought together a contract is made, and the bearer is granted immortality and the aspects of the gods. When I ascend, we shall sweep the fools in power from China and re-establish the Middle Kingdom. And once that is done, we shall turn on the rest of the unworthy world and offer them surrender or annihilation."
Might as well get this started, thought Emma to herself. “It’s always surrender or annihilation,” she said loudly into the worshipping silence that had followed the man’s words. “Why is it never paper, scissors, rock?”
As she expected, all hell broke loose.
Wade fended off the first wave of attackers coming toward them, taking brief note of where everyone had headed even as he took down one dude in a suit. Another popped up a moment later, but none of them were Batroc and, despite the guns, keeping them away from Emma was pretty much a piece of cake.
Emma ducked, thankful for Wade’s protection and started working the switchboard.
***
Wanda regretted her earlier remark about being able to outrun the men with the swords. The bastards were fast, certainly faster than she'd given them credit for. After the Mandarin's speech, the entire room had gone nuts and their small group had been rushed the moment the old man had stopped talking.
Her hands crackled with chaotic and entropic energy as she skipped backwards and to the side, attempting to avoid the two warriors as they attempted to cut off something - anything - of hers. Blades flashed as they advanced towards her, and then a crack split the air and one of the swordsmen went down in a heap, his knee a bloody mess.
"Fucking swords," Dom muttered from her stance behind one of the lacquered pillars, though the curse soon multiplied as the other warrior turned and lunged her direction, obviously judging her to be more of an immediate threat than the woman whose hands were sheathed in glowing energy. More fool him.
Leaping over the fallen man who'd been shot, Wanda slammed her foot into the chestplate of another. It sent him reeling and gave her a moment to check on Dom - though by the steady sound of gunfire, it seemed she was fine for the moment.
Light glinted off the polished armor and an idea formed. She retreated for a moment and they came at her, seeing the retreat as a weakness instead of Wanda buying herself a little time. Time enough to gather the hex bolts and fling them outwards, where they struck the first man in the side of the helmet before it ricocheted off and slammed into the back of another. From there it spun away into a fourth...
Those hit were staggered but moving until they began to scream as the lingering energy ate through their metal and bit into the skin underneath.
Shit. Dom hadn't watched the whole thing, but she had gotten the edited highlights, at least, and she knew one thing for sure. She did not want to piss Wanda off. Ever. Spotting a movement out of the corner of her eye Dom whirled, narrowly avoiding another sword-wielding thug and putting him down with a slug in his shoulder.
She threw herself against the wall and caught Wanda's eye as she readied herself for another engagement. "You are one scary lady."
Wanda smirked back and glanced around at Dom's handiwork before glancing back. "I think the feeling is mutual." No one in their right mind would have handed Wanda the type of weapon Domino was handling with ease. She flinched and hit the ground as a burst of fire sent bullets flying overhead. "Okay, this is getting annoying."
She looked back over her shoulder and grinned at Domino as she gathered herself to start moving again. "Want to go be scary together and how them how it's done?"
"Hell yeah," Dom said, racking her gun and bringing it up to bear once more. "Let's make these weirdos sorry they ever put on their pajamas this morning."
***
Emma sheltered behind Wade again, swept outwards with her telepathy, stabbing deeply into the pain centres of a number of Tong who were coming at the two of them. A quick triangulation sent to Amanda to tell her about the Tong she couldn’t see, back to Wanda to get another view fed into the switchboard, a quick flick to diamond as a sword came close and snapped between diamond forearm and diamond fist and back to flesh again. “This is all going to end in those flames,” she yelled at Wade, nodding at the dais.
"Old dude barbecue?" Wade asked, glancing toward the dais to check what was going on up there. His left hand shot out, catching a knife that'd been heading for Emma's face in the flesh of his forearm. A moment later and he'd returned the knife to its previous owner, catching the man in the throat. He dropped and Wade pulled a handgun from its holster finally, yanking a flashbang from his belt with his free hand. He pulled the pin on it, shot Emma a mental heads-up to let all their people know it was going live, and then chucked it into a knot of Tong fighters before ducking down, behind a statue with McSparkles and covering his ears.
Emma turned diamond for a second as the bang and the crash did their thing, but she shook her head immediately she returned to flesh. “Nice aim,” she reported to Wade, based on what she was pulling in from the people with a visual on the old man. “But it didn’t make a dent.” She reached out with her mind again, made Doug duck for a second, beneath the bullet that would have made an unnecessarily large part in his hair. And his head.
"Well, I've got a few other options, but I'd sort of like to not get buried alive, y'know? We might not have a chance to dial up Skittles for an evac if whatever weird place this is comes down on our heads..." It was, however, very tempting to use the anti-tank grenades on the idiots still attacking all of them. "Looks like a couple of ours are heading for the old dude."
***
Kevin moved forward carefully, MP-5 pushed to the end of the sling and tracking targets as they appeared. He fired in short, controlled bursts, moving around the periphery of the fight and picking off stragglers and Tong members as they got jammed up against each other.
He moved into the shelter of a pillar as bullets slashed into the wall behind him. He leaned against the cement as more rounds made chips of concrete as he was targeted.
Felicia had brought the majority of her Black Cat kit, including the multi-purpose claws, but for the moment she seemed much happier to stay out of range and concentrate hard on catastrophe.
It of course had the unfortunate effect of some very friendly fire, evident by a small chunk of pillar about the size of a walnut pinging off Kevin's head.
"Sorry!" she sing-songed, making up for the faux-pas by rolling over a low wall, landing on the assailant hiding behind it who'd been moments before readying to nail Kevin from just out of his field of view, and concisely slashing out his throat.
"Geez, you are bad luck!" Kevin yelled, popping back up to put a three round burst through the forehead of the man advancing on her. A man came towards him brandishing a sword at him and Sydney contemptuously shot him three times in the chest.
Felicia posed dramatically, giving her claws a hard shake that sent a blood splatter on the ground at her feet. "Well, I was going to offer to help out your aim, old man, but after that I don't know!" she called back, taking the moment where every gun around her jammed to dash through, cutting through what she could.
This was not her forte - fighting was generally beneath her - but she managed well enough against the small group of very confused young men.
"You just-" He switched out to a new clip and bolted after her. Her dash had confused them, and Kevin came through the gap as well. They were so tightly pressed in that he couldn't miss, mowing down a half dozen before needed to pump in a fresh clip. As
they got closer, Kevin grabbed the pistol from his holster and tossed it to her.
"The asshole on the dais. Target him!" He followed it up with a sustained burst at the Mandarin.
Though she caught the gun it was with a surprised squeak, followed immediately by a narrow glare, though she did as told without real argument; it was his forte, after all. Maybe. She was pretty sure. Felicia blindly aimed off to her left, looking right at the rest of the room, and fired three shots.
Miss, miss, headshot, thump.
***
Alone on his dais, the Mandarin was wrapped in ethereal white flames. The seals on his fingers were glowing incandescently, sending out tendrils of smoke that formed striking dragons and cranes and snakes before dissipating. The air around him was suffused by a fiery haze, a deep heavy sense of ancient power pressing them back like mystical humidity, forcing them away from his place.
Inside the lights, the Mandarin was changing. His ancient body growing fuller, taller inside the aura. It was clear that whatever metamorphosis he was undergoing would be soon finished.
Alone on his dais, the Mandarin was wrapped in ethereal white flames. The seals on his fingers were glowing incandescently, sending out tendrils of smoke that formed striking dragons and cranes and snakes before dissipating. The air around him was suffused by a fiery haze, a deep heavy sense of ancient power pressing them back like mystical humidity, forcing them away from his place.
Inside the lights, the Mandarin was changing. His ancient body growing fuller, taller inside the aura. It was clear that whatever metamorphosis he was undergoing would be soon finished.
"I swear I'm never coming back to Madripoor again," Amanda muttered as she combined magic with gunfire. She was on her own for now, having been cut off during the confusion, and all she could see were people in black suits with murderous intentions. Even worse, she was getting a front seat view of the Mandarin's metamorphosis. "Oh, bollocks, that is so bloody not good," she muttered, throwing up her shield and then using it as a battering
ram towards the dais. If the ritual continued, they'd be in deep and utter shite.
"You think?" Kevin said, falling into step beside her. He'd emptied three clips into the shimmering form without any discernible effect. "I was making fun of Wade's over-compensating explosives, but right now, it would be useful if he'd strap it all on and charge the stage."
"I might have something, but I need to get close." Amanda gave the older man a brief but relieved grin. She'd been hoping for someone to cover her back, at least. One of the black suits charged at her shield and she shoved it forward, throwing him back. "Think you can help me get up there?"
"I'll do my best." Kevin said and thumbed off the three shot selector. The MP-5 barked, cutting down men between her and the dais.
With Kevin mowing down the Tong who seemed determined to die in the service of their lord, Amanda was able to push towards their destination. With a small grunt, she clambered clumsily up onto the platform, squinting and shielding her eyes against the bright light. "This is probably the worst fucking idea ever," she muttered, before dropping her shield and reaching out to grab the Mandarin by the shoulder and at the same time triggering the channelling spell on her back. Hopefully she'd be able to drain some of this off. Or possibly fry herself.
The interruption hit the Mandarin like a lash. His body bucked, the seals on his fingers crackling. He was frozen, unable to respond, but the aura around him shattered like a glass globe. Energy washed outward, tossing Amanda back into the crowd like a doll.
The golden aura broke, and the Mandarin screamed as the seals on his fingers went red and then white hot. His screams continued as the seals melted off his fingers, leaving the digits intact but dripping molten copper to the dais.
Amanda's limp form crashed into Kevin, sending both of them plunging to the floor in a flurry of limbs. She was semi conscious, the back of her leather jacket smoking slightly and sparks flickering off her hair like static.
"Fucking hell." Kevin dragged her up, shooting an approaching man in the face. "I said stop him, not fry yourself."
She moaned in response, eyes flickering briefly open. Around them, chaos had turned into complete and utter confusion. The Mandarin’s people seemed unsure what to do - some were picking themselves up and heading for their leader, hustling him away through the inevitable back way. Others were fleeing, heading back up the stone stairs, while the rest kept fighting as if that was the only thing in their lives that made sense. Amanda could see Marie-Ange’s leopard construct, grown to giant size, laying about itself with claws and teeth; muzzle flashes from Doug and Artie and North’s guns; a flash of green hair and Cammie’s unmistakeable gleeful cackle as she beat someone into a pulp… Then a voice, Emma’s, in her head, calling for their retreat. She was slung over someone’s shoulder in a fireman’s carry, and she closed her eyes, bumping and bouncing as the group ran from the building.
Then there was the explosion, a torrent of multi-coloured fire - Jubilee’s fire, mixed with as much C4 as she and Wade had been able to carry - and the last thing Amanda saw before passing out completely was the building toppling into ruin behind them.
The massive warehouse space was crowded with mountain ranges formed of crates, plastic wrapped pallets of goods, and huge scaffolds full of every manner of shipping materials. At the far end, a couple of trucks sat, hoods open in the process of some kind of maintenance. Their directions had been laughable; a service elevator in the back of the warehouse that if you pressed the bottom two buttons simultaneously would descend into a secret basement.
The warehouse was sparsely manned and it took no more than the normal stealth and the odd telepathic redirection to allow them to slip through unawares. Even with their numbers, the elevator was still spacious enough to let them spread out and as explained, when they pressed the bottom two buttons, the elevator shuddered and began to descend.
Jubilee chewed on a strip of beef jerky as she rolled plastic explosives into smaller, lightweight 'grenades' and stashed them in her pockets.
She raised her eyebrows at Wade and waggled a spare block of it at him. "You need any extras, dude?"
Wade grinned and opened one of the pouches on his belt to show Jubilee the block of C4 he had there. “Nah, I’m good.” He’d already unbuttoned his shoulder holsters and his knives were set. He’d gone with an even mix of frag, concussive, and flashbang grenades with a few anti-tank optionals thrown in for fun - just in case.
Artie checked the pistol he was carrying again and ran his fingers over the hide out knife in his boot, heart pounding. Better to avoid using them but just in case, right?
“Don’t worry, squirt,” Wade muttered, offering Artie a smile. “You hit up a couple goons with that blackout ball of yours right to their face, they’ll never see your shots when they come.” He stopped talking, though, and rubbed at his jaw. Most of his teeth had grown back in, so that was something, at least. He was still bruised as fuck, though.
***
The elevator finally stopped and as the doors ground open, it was clear that this was not just a subbasement. A river of black ichor ran past them, winding through the raw rock towards the facade of a temple that had been carved out of rock. The path led to a wide staircase of blood red granite, ascending between thick red pillars towards a massive wooden double door, which was standing open. The staircase was flanked with granite and jade carved statues of animals; monkeys, leopards, and fearsome winding dragons.
“Oh look, they left the door open for us. This couldn’t possibly be a trap.” Felicia carefully picked her way along the path, feeling entirely too exposed for her liking. She was an air vents kind of lady, or at least a disguise; this was just her, and no matter how quiet this particular pair of shoes were, it wasn’t exactly inconspicuous.
“Shame they didn’t make the decor more pocket sized.”
"Useful though." Marie-Ange tilted her head towards the largest of the leopards, and an identical miniature appeared in her palm. "Let it go a few steps ahead, it should spring anything set to react to pressure or shadow." She set it down and it strutted down the stairs, pausing every few steps to stop and wash itself. "Hopefully."
“Shame, I don’t have any yarn on me,” Felicia commented, then quirked her head, considering. “Though…” She retrieved the small flashlight strapped to her thigh, twisting the top until the beam narrowed into a dot the size of a half dollar coin, and waving it in front of the tiny carnivore. “Go on, kitty kitty.”
***
Wade split off from the others after the elevator stopped, moving with Emma so that she could stay pink as long as possible, keeping the switchboard open with everyone else, even if only loosely. He figured he could at least hold off anybody who came at her long enough for her to get relevant information to and from the rest of their people before going diamond.
This shit's weird, he thought toward her, indicating the animals all over the staircase. Like, I respect people's cultures, but this is more like. Sci-fi horror film in the making.
Um, replied Emma, a strange utterance from the normally composed White Queen. That one’s moving. She pointed at a fearsome looking statue of a macaque monkey, that suddenly bared jade teeth at both of them.
Should I kill it? Wade asked as they got closer to the stairs. Or... try to kill it? Besides the animate creatures, this area was completely empty, which, for some reason, didn't make him feel much better about this entire endeavor. Still, he had to soldier onward and all that.
Emma stared at the macaque for a few moments then swept a wider glance at the other statues around them that, in various ways, were making small movements designed to increase the level of menace, but no further. I think, Emma sent, her tone hesitant, they can’t do anything more than this. They’re like the world’s creepiest early warning system. But I think we can safely ignore them.
Awesome, I didn't really want to try and stab them to death. Y'know, stone. But also - animals. That sorted, Wade led the way up the stairs, never straying too close to any of the various creatures. The temple doors loomed large before them and so, with a twist of his lips, Wade took a quick peek inside.
***
Inside the temple, it was clear why the front was unguarded. Not only did they not anticipate any interruptions, but the main hall was packed with Tong soldiers. There was a strange blend; a third dressed in modern suits, automatic weapons obviously at ready. The rest were dressed in loose fitting tunics and pants, wearing ceremonial pieces of ancient Chinese armor and mostly armed with melee weapons.
Giant braziers emitting green flames illuminated the underground temple, and at the centre of the room stood a high dais, on which sat an old man in a wheelchair. His skin was wrinkled like translucent parchment and he sat quietly while on the table next to him, a collections of art objects was assembled.
"Oh great," Dom said as she took in the scene - which frankly was stranger than anything she had ever seen with the Agency. And that was saying something. "There are people with swords."
"Honestly, I'm more worried about the guns," Wanda remarked. "I can outrun a crazed swordsman. Probably." Actually, the entire setup was rubbing her the wrong way and she felt a sweep of goosebumps cross her arms as she took in the scene. Something unseen was crackling in the air, a weird energy, and it made her leery. Not that a roomful of gunmen and swordsmen wouldn't have normally made her leery but this was a step above that.
"Point." It wasn't the lethality of the swords Dom was particularly worried about, but the whole... theatricalness of it all. The costumes, the green torches, the giant fuckoff podium in the middle of the room. People who did this were dangerous, not because of mutant powers or whatever but because they probably weren't all there upstairs. She cast a sideways glance at the rest of the group, who looked surprisingly composed. But then, they dealt with this stuff on a regular basis, didn't they?
Wait. Who's the crazy ones here?
***
That really is a nice vase, observed Emma to Wade, as she spotted what she was fairly certain had been stolen from a museum in Ulan Bator. I know it’s a forgery, but the pattern is exquisite. I might have to get one made for me.
Wade suppressed a laugh. I don't see why you couldn't. Assuming the really old dude hasn't decided he has some kind of monopoly on all the replicas or something. Because jeez, he's old.
Or the tragic victim of a poor skincare regime and some over-enthusiastic tanning, sent Emma. Sunscreen, people. It’s not difficult.
Maybe not for you, Wade thought. Once upon a time, I was allergic to something in sunscreen. That was a few decades ago, though.
Hats, darling, replied Emma. It’s very difficult to go wrong with a hat. Very few people develop a hat allergy.
***
"My ancestor, the Great Qin Shi Huang, First Emperor of China, was nearing the end of his life and feared, rightly, that the great empire he forged would be riven by jealous and greedy noblemen after his death. Oh, how the small minded would shatter the Middle Kingdom into a tiny fragments and call themselves Kings, instead of growing it into all lands and making the Celestial Throne the arbiter of the world." The old man's voice was reedy but also hypnotic, as the assembled ranks hung on his every word.
"Fearing this fate, Huang chanced upon an old man, to whom he felt compelled to tell his worries of the future to. For three days and nights, the two men talked as worried courtiers bustled about, always told to stay back by the King. In the dawn of the fourth day, Huang's eyes nodded closed for a moment and when he opened them, the old man was gone. He had told Huang that the only way for him to avoid his empire falling was to achieve the same state as the Gods and find immortality. But the quest for it was more dangerous than any war, more tiring than any journey, and more unlucky than any curse. After the old man disappeared, his wisest sages and scholars finally opined that it was none other than Anqi Sheng myself, the great Taoist immortal and wizard."
He settled back in his chair as the last object was placed beside him. "Huang sent men to the ends of China, seeking Anqi Sheng and his home on Mount Penglai. He sent his most trusted advisor Xu Fu to find the mountain and barter for immortality from Sheng. Fu did as his master instructed and scoured the Eastern Seas for the island mountain. Through storm and tide, the Seas took his men one by one until only Fu was left, manning a one man skiff in the face of the typhoon, loyal to his master's orders. He landed on Penglai and tired, wet and injured, made his way to the home of Anqi Sheng."
"To think of it, enh? One loyal servant who defied all challenges to perform his master's will." The implication of what was expected from the ranks was obvious. "Sheng fed him, healed his wounds and removed the chill of the sea. He entrusted Fu with ten seals; a contract with the Heavens and the Gods to raise Huang to their ranks as the immortal Emperor of a unified China. Fu hurried back with his prize but was ambushed before he could reach the mainland. He was killed by the followers of K'un-L'un, who wished to keep China fractured and weak to further their own ambitions. The ten seals of Anqi Sheng were taken to the sacred Ling Valley, hidden there in the Temple of Spirits, guarded by the dragon spirit Aqun-Ki."
His face turned solemn. "There they would stay until my Grandfather fought his way into the valley and challenged the great spirits. He won the seals away from them but as soon as he left the valley, the followers of K'un-L'un attacked. They left him for dead and stole the seals, this time hiding them in cheap trinkets based off of the noble Qin artisans and allowing them to be pillaged and sold to the Westerners. The vast power of Anqi Sheng, the legacy of the greatest Chinese Empire, hidden in a cheap vessel as a sideshow for the sei gweilo. But no longer."
Servants came forward to help Zhang Tong stand. He put his shaking hand out and the pots and vases on the table as one exploded into a storm cloud of dust. The dust slowly cleared and in the midst of the powdered remains, ten metal objects could be seen.
"The Seals of Anqi Sheng. When brought together a contract is made, and the bearer is granted immortality and the aspects of the gods. When I ascend, we shall sweep the fools in power from China and re-establish the Middle Kingdom. And once that is done, we shall turn on the rest of the unworthy world and offer them surrender or annihilation."
Might as well get this started, thought Emma to herself. “It’s always surrender or annihilation,” she said loudly into the worshipping silence that had followed the man’s words. “Why is it never paper, scissors, rock?”
As she expected, all hell broke loose.
Wade fended off the first wave of attackers coming toward them, taking brief note of where everyone had headed even as he took down one dude in a suit. Another popped up a moment later, but none of them were Batroc and, despite the guns, keeping them away from Emma was pretty much a piece of cake.
Emma ducked, thankful for Wade’s protection and started working the switchboard.
***
Wanda regretted her earlier remark about being able to outrun the men with the swords. The bastards were fast, certainly faster than she'd given them credit for. After the Mandarin's speech, the entire room had gone nuts and their small group had been rushed the moment the old man had stopped talking.
Her hands crackled with chaotic and entropic energy as she skipped backwards and to the side, attempting to avoid the two warriors as they attempted to cut off something - anything - of hers. Blades flashed as they advanced towards her, and then a crack split the air and one of the swordsmen went down in a heap, his knee a bloody mess.
"Fucking swords," Dom muttered from her stance behind one of the lacquered pillars, though the curse soon multiplied as the other warrior turned and lunged her direction, obviously judging her to be more of an immediate threat than the woman whose hands were sheathed in glowing energy. More fool him.
Leaping over the fallen man who'd been shot, Wanda slammed her foot into the chestplate of another. It sent him reeling and gave her a moment to check on Dom - though by the steady sound of gunfire, it seemed she was fine for the moment.
Light glinted off the polished armor and an idea formed. She retreated for a moment and they came at her, seeing the retreat as a weakness instead of Wanda buying herself a little time. Time enough to gather the hex bolts and fling them outwards, where they struck the first man in the side of the helmet before it ricocheted off and slammed into the back of another. From there it spun away into a fourth...
Those hit were staggered but moving until they began to scream as the lingering energy ate through their metal and bit into the skin underneath.
Shit. Dom hadn't watched the whole thing, but she had gotten the edited highlights, at least, and she knew one thing for sure. She did not want to piss Wanda off. Ever. Spotting a movement out of the corner of her eye Dom whirled, narrowly avoiding another sword-wielding thug and putting him down with a slug in his shoulder.
She threw herself against the wall and caught Wanda's eye as she readied herself for another engagement. "You are one scary lady."
Wanda smirked back and glanced around at Dom's handiwork before glancing back. "I think the feeling is mutual." No one in their right mind would have handed Wanda the type of weapon Domino was handling with ease. She flinched and hit the ground as a burst of fire sent bullets flying overhead. "Okay, this is getting annoying."
She looked back over her shoulder and grinned at Domino as she gathered herself to start moving again. "Want to go be scary together and how them how it's done?"
"Hell yeah," Dom said, racking her gun and bringing it up to bear once more. "Let's make these weirdos sorry they ever put on their pajamas this morning."
***
Emma sheltered behind Wade again, swept outwards with her telepathy, stabbing deeply into the pain centres of a number of Tong who were coming at the two of them. A quick triangulation sent to Amanda to tell her about the Tong she couldn’t see, back to Wanda to get another view fed into the switchboard, a quick flick to diamond as a sword came close and snapped between diamond forearm and diamond fist and back to flesh again. “This is all going to end in those flames,” she yelled at Wade, nodding at the dais.
"Old dude barbecue?" Wade asked, glancing toward the dais to check what was going on up there. His left hand shot out, catching a knife that'd been heading for Emma's face in the flesh of his forearm. A moment later and he'd returned the knife to its previous owner, catching the man in the throat. He dropped and Wade pulled a handgun from its holster finally, yanking a flashbang from his belt with his free hand. He pulled the pin on it, shot Emma a mental heads-up to let all their people know it was going live, and then chucked it into a knot of Tong fighters before ducking down, behind a statue with McSparkles and covering his ears.
Emma turned diamond for a second as the bang and the crash did their thing, but she shook her head immediately she returned to flesh. “Nice aim,” she reported to Wade, based on what she was pulling in from the people with a visual on the old man. “But it didn’t make a dent.” She reached out with her mind again, made Doug duck for a second, beneath the bullet that would have made an unnecessarily large part in his hair. And his head.
"Well, I've got a few other options, but I'd sort of like to not get buried alive, y'know? We might not have a chance to dial up Skittles for an evac if whatever weird place this is comes down on our heads..." It was, however, very tempting to use the anti-tank grenades on the idiots still attacking all of them. "Looks like a couple of ours are heading for the old dude."
***
Kevin moved forward carefully, MP-5 pushed to the end of the sling and tracking targets as they appeared. He fired in short, controlled bursts, moving around the periphery of the fight and picking off stragglers and Tong members as they got jammed up against each other.
He moved into the shelter of a pillar as bullets slashed into the wall behind him. He leaned against the cement as more rounds made chips of concrete as he was targeted.
Felicia had brought the majority of her Black Cat kit, including the multi-purpose claws, but for the moment she seemed much happier to stay out of range and concentrate hard on catastrophe.
It of course had the unfortunate effect of some very friendly fire, evident by a small chunk of pillar about the size of a walnut pinging off Kevin's head.
"Sorry!" she sing-songed, making up for the faux-pas by rolling over a low wall, landing on the assailant hiding behind it who'd been moments before readying to nail Kevin from just out of his field of view, and concisely slashing out his throat.
"Geez, you are bad luck!" Kevin yelled, popping back up to put a three round burst through the forehead of the man advancing on her. A man came towards him brandishing a sword at him and Sydney contemptuously shot him three times in the chest.
Felicia posed dramatically, giving her claws a hard shake that sent a blood splatter on the ground at her feet. "Well, I was going to offer to help out your aim, old man, but after that I don't know!" she called back, taking the moment where every gun around her jammed to dash through, cutting through what she could.
This was not her forte - fighting was generally beneath her - but she managed well enough against the small group of very confused young men.
"You just-" He switched out to a new clip and bolted after her. Her dash had confused them, and Kevin came through the gap as well. They were so tightly pressed in that he couldn't miss, mowing down a half dozen before needed to pump in a fresh clip. As
they got closer, Kevin grabbed the pistol from his holster and tossed it to her.
"The asshole on the dais. Target him!" He followed it up with a sustained burst at the Mandarin.
Though she caught the gun it was with a surprised squeak, followed immediately by a narrow glare, though she did as told without real argument; it was his forte, after all. Maybe. She was pretty sure. Felicia blindly aimed off to her left, looking right at the rest of the room, and fired three shots.
Miss, miss, headshot, thump.
***
Alone on his dais, the Mandarin was wrapped in ethereal white flames. The seals on his fingers were glowing incandescently, sending out tendrils of smoke that formed striking dragons and cranes and snakes before dissipating. The air around him was suffused by a fiery haze, a deep heavy sense of ancient power pressing them back like mystical humidity, forcing them away from his place.
Inside the lights, the Mandarin was changing. His ancient body growing fuller, taller inside the aura. It was clear that whatever metamorphosis he was undergoing would be soon finished.
Alone on his dais, the Mandarin was wrapped in ethereal white flames. The seals on his fingers were glowing incandescently, sending out tendrils of smoke that formed striking dragons and cranes and snakes before dissipating. The air around him was suffused by a fiery haze, a deep heavy sense of ancient power pressing them back like mystical humidity, forcing them away from his place.
Inside the lights, the Mandarin was changing. His ancient body growing fuller, taller inside the aura. It was clear that whatever metamorphosis he was undergoing would be soon finished.
"I swear I'm never coming back to Madripoor again," Amanda muttered as she combined magic with gunfire. She was on her own for now, having been cut off during the confusion, and all she could see were people in black suits with murderous intentions. Even worse, she was getting a front seat view of the Mandarin's metamorphosis. "Oh, bollocks, that is so bloody not good," she muttered, throwing up her shield and then using it as a battering
ram towards the dais. If the ritual continued, they'd be in deep and utter shite.
"You think?" Kevin said, falling into step beside her. He'd emptied three clips into the shimmering form without any discernible effect. "I was making fun of Wade's over-compensating explosives, but right now, it would be useful if he'd strap it all on and charge the stage."
"I might have something, but I need to get close." Amanda gave the older man a brief but relieved grin. She'd been hoping for someone to cover her back, at least. One of the black suits charged at her shield and she shoved it forward, throwing him back. "Think you can help me get up there?"
"I'll do my best." Kevin said and thumbed off the three shot selector. The MP-5 barked, cutting down men between her and the dais.
With Kevin mowing down the Tong who seemed determined to die in the service of their lord, Amanda was able to push towards their destination. With a small grunt, she clambered clumsily up onto the platform, squinting and shielding her eyes against the bright light. "This is probably the worst fucking idea ever," she muttered, before dropping her shield and reaching out to grab the Mandarin by the shoulder and at the same time triggering the channelling spell on her back. Hopefully she'd be able to drain some of this off. Or possibly fry herself.
The interruption hit the Mandarin like a lash. His body bucked, the seals on his fingers crackling. He was frozen, unable to respond, but the aura around him shattered like a glass globe. Energy washed outward, tossing Amanda back into the crowd like a doll.
The golden aura broke, and the Mandarin screamed as the seals on his fingers went red and then white hot. His screams continued as the seals melted off his fingers, leaving the digits intact but dripping molten copper to the dais.
Amanda's limp form crashed into Kevin, sending both of them plunging to the floor in a flurry of limbs. She was semi conscious, the back of her leather jacket smoking slightly and sparks flickering off her hair like static.
"Fucking hell." Kevin dragged her up, shooting an approaching man in the face. "I said stop him, not fry yourself."
She moaned in response, eyes flickering briefly open. Around them, chaos had turned into complete and utter confusion. The Mandarin’s people seemed unsure what to do - some were picking themselves up and heading for their leader, hustling him away through the inevitable back way. Others were fleeing, heading back up the stone stairs, while the rest kept fighting as if that was the only thing in their lives that made sense. Amanda could see Marie-Ange’s leopard construct, grown to giant size, laying about itself with claws and teeth; muzzle flashes from Doug and Artie and North’s guns; a flash of green hair and Cammie’s unmistakeable gleeful cackle as she beat someone into a pulp… Then a voice, Emma’s, in her head, calling for their retreat. She was slung over someone’s shoulder in a fireman’s carry, and she closed her eyes, bumping and bouncing as the group ran from the building.
Then there was the explosion, a torrent of multi-coloured fire - Jubilee’s fire, mixed with as much C4 as she and Wade had been able to carry - and the last thing Amanda saw before passing out completely was the building toppling into ruin behind them.
