* DISCLAIMER * This is a non-profit work of fan-fiction involving characters created and owned by Marvel Comics Group. * WRITTEN BY * Samy Merchi * ARCHIVED AT * http://mash.yok.utu.fi/~samerc/fanfic/index.html * DEDICATED TO * Malea, Terri, Sequoia, Kaleko, Indigo, KayJay, Sabre, my sister and anyone who reads this story! * STARRING * Sunspot! Karma! Magma! Darkchilde! Douglock! Chance! Marrow! The FALLEN ANGELS in ***************** * FIRST AND TEN * ***************** * CO-STARRING * Danielle "MIRAGE" Moonstar Matthew Michael "DAREDEVIL" Murdock Mary Jane Watson-Parker Thor Odinson * ALSO STARRING * Tandy "DAGGER" Bowen Johnson Tyrone "CLOAK" Johnson Peter "SPIDER-MAN" Parker Coy Leong Coy Nga * GUEST STARRING * Edwin Jarvis Anthony "IRON MAN" Stark Natalia Alianovna "BLACK WIDOW" Romanova Father Michael Bowen P. Norbert "FIXER" Ebersol * AND STARRING * Val Kilmer as BULLSEYE * CONTINUITY * This story takes place on a Christmas 1-3 years in the future. The new team of Fallen Angels has formed during this year, and have just met X-Force for the first time a couple of weeks ago. *************** * CHAPTER TWO * *************** "Merry Christmas, Hornhead. You know what they say -- if you won't be a wise enough man to come to the star, I'll make the stars come to you!" "Bullseye." Daredevil's footing was swift and sure in the dark, as he blocked the throwing stars with his billy club. He functioned just as well in pitch-darkness as in daylight, thanks to his radar sense. Unfortunately, his sense of smell did not fare as well -- the stench of the sewers was making it all but useless. "Where is the baby?" "What, the one I kidnapped to lure you into this little deathtrap?" Bullseye sneered. "Why would I tell you? Oh, probably because you'll fight worse when one arm is occupied by the baby? Good point." He grinned, watching the blind superhero thru his infrared goggles, and nodded towards the ceiling. "Go and get the widdle piggy." Not for the first time, Daredevil was glad he couldn't see Bullseye's insane, psychotic smile. "You're insane, Bullseye. You need treatment --" "The only therapy I need, DD, is good ol' fashioned shock therapy. You know, confronting your fears?" Bullseye's eyes narrowed behind his goggles. "In this case, that means blowing their brains out." "You're not going to stop me from getting up there and getting the baby down?" Daredevil asked while his fingers slowly removed the throwing stars from his billy club and slipped them under his belt. "And what's going to stop me from taking you down *before* I rescue the baby, Bullseye?" "I think probably the fact", replied Bullseye, "that the little tyke is wired to some C-4 that's going to blow up in...oh, about five seconds." At that moment, Daredevil realized why Bullseye had chosen the sewers as their battleground -- and this especially bad-smelling area of the sewers, in particular. The Man Without Fear was unable to use his sense of smell to figure out whether there in fact *were* explosives up with the baby. Or whether there was something *else* up there. But that made no difference. He had no choice. Pointing his billy club upwards at the ceiling twenty feet higher, Daredevil fired a durable nylon cord from it that snaked around some of the pipes at the ceiling, and then he vaulted upwards, streaking towards the baby, while Bullseye smiled below. Three seconds, and he was at the baby. He grabbed the baby. CLICK WHUMPH! A soft pneumatic explosion sound filled the sewer room, but there was little shockwave. Instead, the room lit up as burning magnesium fragments exploded from a container concealed on the ceiling. Thousands of little pieces of magnesium chaff filled the tunnel air, burning brightly. And Daredevil could not see. His radar sense was completely obscured by the magnesium chaff filling the air, but his sense of touch registered the heat of the burning shrapnel everywhere, and he instinctively cradled the child against his chest, hoping to protect it from any possible damage, while he started falling towards the sewer waters. "Not so glib now, are you Hornhead?" Bullseye smirked, and yanked his goggles off. The plan had worked perfectly. Get Daredevil into a room where he could not detect traps with his sense of smell -- trick him into detonating a chaff bomb which fills the air with magnesium flakes, taking away his sense of sight. "What's left, DD? Touch, taste and hearing? Well, taste will be the last -- I want you to taste your blood in your mouth before I finish you off -- here, let me give you an appetizer on the 'touch'." BLAM! Hearing the gunshot was enough for Daredevil, allowing him to twist and dodge the bullet, but still disoriented by the loss of his radar sense, he fell into the sewer muck hard, not onto his feet. The baby started crying loudly, hampering his hearing, but fortunately not quite as much as the sewers did his sense of smell, or the chaff his radar sense. "You see the genius of my plan, DD?" Bullseye grinned. "Take away your senses -- you're as good as dead." He aimed his gun at Daredevil's knee, and pulled the trigger. BLAM! Again, Daredevil's reflexes were fast enough to deliver him from danger. His legs snapped up, and he vaulted them over his torso, doing a backflip onto his feet, holding the crying baby tightly against his chest. "It'll take more than that to finish me, Bullseye!" "I've got plenty more", the mercenary smiled. "More than enough to keep you off-balance and on the run. Until I hit. You'll eventually tire, DD. I'll eventually hit. Maybe it'll be now?" His hand snapped in the direction of Daredevil in the eerie light of burning magnesium, and pulled the trigger. BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! "ARRRGH!" Daredevil cried, as his knee was hit by a bullet in mid-air, and he didn't have the time to shift his balance in time to receive his weight with just one leg. Part of his weight went to his wounded leg -- and he went down, back into the muck. Before he could get himself back under control, he felt something heavy hit his solar plexus, and the impact knocked the wind out of him, caused him to start to black out. Bullseye had drawn a pair of sais after making the best out of his emptied six-shooter by throwing it with his uncanny marksmanship. "Out so soon? Come on, Hornhead -- don't disappoint me here -- you've taken worse lumps than that", he taunted as he crept closer. "And you're as overconfident as usual!" Daredevil replied as his uninjured leg swung high from the sewer waters, and then the ankle came down on the back of Bullseye's neck, smashing him face-down into the waters. "Urgmmph..." the marksman replied as he pulled himself up from the muck, and lashed out with a flying kick. "You know -- I *really* hate it when you give running commentary!" he snarled as Daredevil ducked underneath the kick. "Not that you'll be doing much running anytime soon -- WHUGLPH!" Daredevil retaliated with an elbow slam to Bullseye's back as the marksman went flying over him, around the spot where the other kidney was. "You won't either -- from behind bars", he said from amidst the baby's crying. "You know --" Bullseye commented as he put a hand to his injured back while taking a bit of distance from the blind crimefighter. "-- that kid is really starting to annoy me." With that, one of his sais was in the air, whistling towards the baby. KTHUNK! The sai collided in the air with a bone dagger, ricocheting off and landing with a splash in the sewer waters. At the mouth of a corridor leading southwards along the sewers, stood a young woman, her arms making an 'X' in front of her torso, her hands both brandishing bone daggers. "This is Morlock ground", she hissed, looking at the two fighters from under her brows, her eyes dark pits in the eerie light of the slowly dying magnesium chaff which had landed in the water and was glowing there. "No children will be killed here." *** Thor walked out of 'Josie's', leaving behind the bar and the experiences it had offered tonight. He wouldn't have had to leave alone -- there had been plenty of women who would have been more than happy to leave with him. But he had chickened out. He was still very awkward with women. He walked into a dark alley, and then, with a mental command, his form started altering, as techno-organic matter changed texture and shape, to reassume the appearance he most often used -- that of a blond man in his early twenties -- named Douglas Ramsey. "Did SelfSoulFriendCypherDoug enjoy tonight?" Douglock asked, though there was no one in the alley with him. Then, Douglock hesitated, as if about to answer to himself, and then just simply gave a shrug. "I guess so..." he said, not really sure whether he *had* enjoyed the little deception. "I think I'm going to die of embarrassment, though, if anyone ever finds out..." "I would say 'tis too late for that, mortal." Douglock whirled around towards the voice, coming from the mouth of the alley, and his own mouth opened, his jaw going slack at the sight of the *real* Thor twirling his hammer around to hang in midair in front of him. "Awhw, cripes! Busted." *** "-- GGGNNNNHHHAAAAAA!!!" "AGGGGGGGGHHHH!!" "*pant*" "*pant*" Chance sighed, and buried her face in her hands. "I'm not this bored. I'm not this bored. I'm not this bored. I'm not this bored", she repeated to herself, like a mantra, before spreading her fingers a bit, and looking at the screen from between her fingers. "This is so sad", she whimpered. CLICK! She forced herself to turn the television off, and stood up from the couch, looking around the living room. "Maybe I can empty a couple of ice cube trays into Bobby's bed..." she muttered to herself, as she started walking into the kitchen, then mentally crossed that idea over as she realized the ice would probably melt before he and Dani ever got back from their date. Date. Chance wrinkled her nose, as she started opening cupboards, and grabbed a bag of chips. She have never been on a date. Being a tomboy wasn't exactly conducive towards an active dating life. Not to mention that she had never really had any close friends before the original Fallen Angels, and now the new Fallen Angels. Not that all the new Fallen Angels counted, though. She sighed a bit as she opened the fridge and got some sour cream, then moved over back to the cupboard where the chips had been, and got some dip powder. Her thoughts roamed over Shan, and whether she should have accepted Shan's offer to come along for the mass, while she started mixing the dip powder into the sour cream to create some dip sauce. *** "Did too!" "Did not!" "Did too!" "Dani -- I do NOT cry. I am a *man*", Roberto asserted firmly. "I agree that Moses' wedding scene was somewhat touching, but I did *not* 'cry'." "Okay, you 'wept' then." Roberto wrinkled his nose. "I merely had something in my eye." Dani smirked and shook her head. "You know -- if I look like Tzipporah, does that make you Moses, then?" She turned her face away, pretending to look at the Christmas lights in shops' windows as they strolled down the sidewalk, in order to hide a smile of amusement. Roberto, however, was less amused, and his face drew into a serious expression, as he glanced to his side at Dani, who was looking away. "What do you mean by that?" he asked quietly. The jingle of bells was clearly audible somewhere in the distance, as Dani didn't say anything for long moments. Then, she turned around, tilting her head slightly as she asked, "I don't know. Maybe I was talking about you being on this 'leader' kick for the Fallen Angels. You want to be the Mutant Messiah or something? Lead mutantkind on an exodus somewhere safe?" There was a brief crackle of energy in Roberto's eyes. "You *know* I *hate* being compared to Magneto", he growled, and took a few steps away from Dani. "I'm *nothing* like him!" "You're more like him than you admit", Dani answered, and stepped over to Roberto, placing a hand onto his shoulder. She looked down at the sidewalk a few moments, before nuzzling her face against the side of his face, her lips next to his ear as they whispered, "'Berto, you don't have to be a leader for me to love you." "Tzipporah married Moses after he had left his past behind and become his own man", Roberto countered, turning to face Dani. "Don't you see? I'm no more an X-man than Moses was a Prince of Egypt", he said softly, placing his hands onto her shoulders. "Those are just the lives we were raised into. Not the lives we were meant to lead. How could you ever love me if I was living in a lie?" "I love you", Dani whispered, wrapping her arms around Roberto and pressing close to him, "because you're strong. Determined. Honorable." She smiled sadly. "You make me smile." She sighed, and rested her forehead against his. "I don't love you because you're a leader. I've loved you for a long time in X-Force without you being the leader." "I'm not going to disband the Fallen Angels and return to X-Force, Dani", Roberto said, slowly bringing his chocolate hands to cradle her cheeks. "Please tell me you'll support me in this. I need to do this. I am a Da Costa. I was born to be in charge." "Stupid!" Dani wrinkled her nose, and wrenched herself away from Roberto angrily. "Of all the arrogant, high-handed, pretentious, megalomaniacal --" With a soft swish, the glass doors of the building the two mutants were standing in front of, slid open. "Da Costa." Roberto turned towards the man who had just come out of the building, and only then did he realize which building they had stopped to have their argument in front of. "Hello, Stark." "Woman trouble?" Anthony Stark asked, restraining a smile as he walked out of the Stark Solutions building with a decorative redhead fastened to his left arm. "None of your business, you -- MMPGLFF!" Roberto quickly clamped a hand over Dani's mouth, and smiled ever-so-politely to Stark and his lady friend, nodding to the woman in greeting. "Not at all", he replied to Tony. "Merely a minor disagreement about the movie we just saw." He glanced to Dani, and tentatively lowered his hand from her mouth. Fortunately, she had calmed down a bit. "You remember Danielle Moonstar, from the banquet last month?" "Of course", Tony smiled, and nodded to Dani. "I had thought it would be impossible for you to look even more beautiful than then, but I have obviously just been proven wrong." He glanced to his companion, and then to Roberto. "And you know --" "-- Natasha Romanoff", Roberto nodded. "We have...met", he said, looking into the Black Widow's eyes for a few moments, before, to his massive dismay, finding little or no chance of charming her tonight. (( She is too old for me anyway... )) he tried to reassure himself, before glancing back over to Tony. "So, I hear Stark Solutions is doing well recently." "As is Da Costa International", Tony smiled. "I have to admit, I was a bit surprised to see you unveil your most recent project -- though I suppose I should have expected it. I was just under the impression that you were still involved with X-Force." Roberto shook his head. "Not for a while now. You know how those X-teams are -- secretive underground movements -- no wonder they are hated by the press", he said, earning a venomous glare from Dani. "I have had enough with hiding. I prefer confronting my problems directly. This is why I have moved into self-employment in the superhuman troubleshooting field as well." "Well, I hope you'll manage to do as good a job in it as you do in import/export. You do realize, of course, that a mutant team is bound to run into some opposition from some radical factions like the Friends of Humanity --?" "On the other hand", Natasha Romanoff pointed out, "the original X-Factor had quite a bit of success in making mutants publically accepted heroes. Then, of course", she shrugged, "they became a government strike team and abandoned all the progress they had made." Looking at Roberto slightly down her nose, she added, "Pity." Roberto lifted an eyebrow at Natasha, then nodded. "The dazzling Ms Romanoff is quite correct. I am attempting to pick up where X-Factor left off. As for the success --? Only time will tell, really." "And speaking of time --" Tony commented, glancing at his watch. "I and Natasha have to get going. I'll see you around the block, Da Costa", he said to Roberto, and then bowed down to kiss the back of Dani's hand. "It was a pleasure meeting you again, Danielle." Then, he glanced towards his Porsche, and started leading Natasha towards it. Stark's Porsche started, and quickly headed off. One hour further towards the morning, the inventor and the super-spy would be sneaking out of Clint Barton's apartment after leaving a cylindrical gift-wrapped object in a sock above the chimney. "Come on, let's go", Roberto said to Dani, and headed down the sidewalk towards the Da Costa International building a few blocks away. "I hate you, you know", Dani said as she took up her place by Roberto's side again and snuggled close to him while the two strolled down the quiet street. "I know", Roberto said, and leaned over to kiss Dani's forehead. "I love you too." *** "The mass was wonderful, Pere Bowen", Xi'an Coy Manh smiled, and shook Father Michael Bowen's hand. "Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it", Father Bowen smiled, and shook Xi'an's hand firmly in return, then glanced towards Leong and Nga who were hanging near the doors leading outside, eager to head off as soon as Xi'an gave them the permission. Well, Nga was. Leong's attention was fixated elsewhere for the moment. Michael followed Leong's gaze to their target, and then smiled faintly. "Looks like Leong is discovering girls." "I know", Xi'an sighed, and let his eyes drift to Tandy Bowen Johnson. "And not only on a married woman, but to your niece -- I apologize, Pere Bowen." Michael smiled and placed a hand onto Xi'an's shoulder. "Don't worry about it -- happens with all teenage boys. Hormones, you know. Have you -- talked with him?" Xi'an lowered her eyes briedly, and shook her head. "Not yet -- I have been...putting it off. I know I should not have, but...it is...difficult." She sighed, and glanced towards Leong. "I do not know how to talk with a boy -- I have been considering...asking Roberto to...to have a few words with Leong..." She then chuckled a bit, to her own surprise. "Which I am not certain would be a *good* thing... The way he was at Leong's age -- he might only exacerbate the situation..." Father Bowen nodded slightly, and the offered, "If you would like, I could try to have a word or two with --" He paused, as his niece and her husband -- Tandy Bowen Johnson, and Tyrone Johnson, also known as Cloak and Dagger -- walked over, and smiled to them. "Hello. I'm glad the two of you were able to attend the mass." "It was our pleasure, Uncle Mike -- great mass!" Tandy smiled, and then reached over to hug Xi'an. "Good to see you, Shan. It's been too long. How've you been? Where are --" She glanced around, until her eyes found Leong and Nga. "Ah, there they are." She smiled and kissed Tyrone briefly on the cheek. "Play nice and try not to make too much trouble. I'll be right back." "She's coming over here!" Leong whispered to Nga. "So?" Nga answered with a slightly dark frown, almost like...jealousy? "What's the big deal with her? Just another blonde bimbo..." She let her words trail off into silence as Tandy walked over, and then concentrated on looking at Dagger, instead letting her eyes wander around the architecture of the church's lobby. (( I wonder how many ceiling tiles there are up there... )) *** Illyana Rasputin nibbled thoughtfully on her biscuit while watching little seven year old children run back and forth across the room, chasing each other, beating each other up, pulling each others' hair, playing Monopoly, fiddling with Transformers figures, changing them into cars and back to robots. She sighed, and closed her eyes. A hand descended onto her shoulder, and she instinctively flinched, standing up to face the other person, her eyes hard and wide as she was tense and ready for anything. "You remind me of Peter", Mary Jane smiled, and pulled her coat a bit tighter around herself, as she said, "Everybody's left but us -- I'm about to head out. Wanna come along, blondie?" Illyana looked at the children a few moments, letting her eyes linger an especially long time on a little girl with long blonde hair. Then she closed her eyes, and swallowed. "Yeah, let's go." The two actresses started gathering their things, and accomplished that quickly. Mary Jane quickly thanked Rebecca Livingstone one more time, and then the two young women headed out. At the door, however, the girl on whom Illyana's eyes had lingered -- who was, incidentally, the same one Illyana had given the gold coin to -- ran over to Illyana, and wrapped her arms around Illyana's legs, hugging her tightly. "I love you, Auntie 'Yana -- will ya come back?" Illyana looked down at the little girl, closed her eyes briefly, swallowed, and then kneeled down to look at the girl eye-to-eye on her level. "What's your name, cutie?" Illyana asked, placing a fingertip onto the girl's lower lip." "Nicole", the girl answered, and shuffled her feet a bit, looking down as if embarrassed. "Nicole", Illyana repeated with a soft smile. "It's a pretty name. It's my middle name too, sorta." She brushed the back of her hand over Nicole's cheek. "It is?" Nicole asked with wide eyes. "But...everyone...everyone..." Her lower lip started trembling a bit, as she continued. "They say it sounds like Nick and it makes me like a boy cuz it's a boy's name, and I don't wanna be a boy..." Illyana chuckled a bit, and put her arms around Nicole, hugging her close. "It doesn't make you a boy", she whispered into Nicole's ear. "They're lying, just to hurt you. Don't believe what they say, and they can't hurt you." "Really?" Nicole asked with still-wide, slightly-moist eyes. "Really", Illyana smiled, and placed a gentle kiss onto Nicole's forehead. "You can show me the meanies when I come back and I'll teach them not to pick on you, okay?" Nicole blinked. "You'll come back?" "I will", Illyana smiled. "Promise?" "Promise." "I love you, Auntie 'Yana!" Nicole smiled brightly, hugging Illyana tight. Illyana hugged Nicole back, and then stood up. "I'll see you soon, cutie. Take care, and don't listen to the big meanies when they pick on you." She turned around, and headed out the door with Mary Jane, hurrying a bit to get outside before MJ could notice the moisture twinkling in the corner of her eye. *** Amara Aquilla was finishing off her long walk, and fixed her eyes onto the front doors of Da Costa International. She was...home. It was time to go to bed and dream of killing Selene. "Amara!" Roberto waved at the Nova Romani as he and Dani were approaching from another direction in their usual 'lovers cuddled up' configuration. "We didn't expect to see you out and about at this hour." "I was taking a walk, Roberto", Amara answered in a slightly chilly tone. "Did you two enjoy your time together?" A level, polite voice, carefully controlled. Dani couldn't restrain a slight blush, when she remembered her little faux pas with Amara when the two women had spoken some weeks ago. "We had a great time", she said, squeezing a slightly forced smile out of herself, feeling so very inferior when it came to dating matters in the presence of the curvaceous blonde. "Better than great", Roberto smiled, and moved his arm from around Dani's waist to around her shoulders. "We went to see 'Prince of Egypt', and then popped over to one of the McBurgers that Dani is so fond of." "Prince of Egypt?" Amara asked. "I have been meaning to go see that one... Was it worth --" She paused, as she saw a form descending from the sky, and instinctively flamed up, as if expecting trouble. Roberto and Dani turned their attention skywards as well, to see a hammer-twirling God of Thunder descend from the dark night sky, carrying a very indignant-looking Douglock by the back of his shirt. "Ah", Thor commented, as he paused in midair a dozen feet or so above the street. "Lady Amara --" He paused as he looked at Dani, and raised an eyebrow. "Moonstar. 'thas been far too long, valkyrie. As ever, thou art a pleasure for mine eyes." Dani stepped forward, quirking an eyebrow at Douglock, and then looked at Thor. "You don't look too bad yourself, Thor -- What's this all about?" Thor raised the whipped-looking Douglock higher a bit. "Does this cur belong to you?" Roberto facepalmed quietly. "Madonna..." he mumbled to himself.