Random art, also bless me with some power stones :D
Dante received the locations of the others from Ororo then made a portal, stepping right into hell. The sight of Brood swarm was gross yet epic. What's more epic was the scene of Broodlings tearing each other apart, the culprit of which drifted above the carnage, black magical swords circling around her like she was a goddess of war. She grabbed a Necrosword and shot it gracefully, pinning a shrieking Broodling to walls and another to a rooftop. She descended to finish one at close range. The look of disdain on her face suggested she was swatting a fly rather than fighting the most invasive galactic predators. It was Hela's handiwork that resurrected the dead Broodlings as her puppets and turned the swarm rabidly chaotic, making them devour their own.
On the other side of the battlefield, a black streak cut through the swarm. Felicia wasn't calm and bored like Hela. She cackled like she was having the time of her life as she weaved through the deadly Broodlings. Everywhere she went, her death aura licked at her enemies; sometimes it aged them rapidly, sometimes it turned them into ash, sometimes it left hissing puddles of dissolving critters.
Unlike these two, Psylocke wasn't a participant in the battle. She stood calmly on the roof of a nearby skyscraper, observing the battle with keen eyes. The opening of the portal naturally entered her vision. The moment she saw him, her posture relaxed considerably, a tiny smile touching her tips. The butterfly wings on her back fluttered as she slowly flew over to him.
"You're here." She glanced down briefly before giving him a stern look. "Don't judge."
The Broodlings' green blood covering her had already dried at this point, but it still had that distinct sharp stench. He, of course, acted clueless like he didn't notice it.
"Psy, did I miss something?"
"Only the sight of me shattering five swords and then running around like a headless chicken." She revealed a wry smile. "I'm glad you weren't around to see it."
She wasn't remotely proud of standing idly in a battle, but it wasn't her fault either. A swordsman was useless without a sword. Until she found a reliable weapon, she wouldn't be able to join any battle with confidence. However, the problem wasn't easy to solve. An Uru katana might help with the durability issue, but the metal itself was dense and heavy; a sword forged from Uru would be a liability for Psylocke's base strength. She would lose the speed and precision that made her lethal and she would also tire faster when swinging a heavier sword. He had to find a metal that could be used to forge a magic weapon.
The good news—he knew a lot of these metals from Doctor Strange's memories. The bad news—each and every one of these metals were extremely rare. He might need to scour every corner of the world.
Psylocke revealed a soft smile. "Thank you, Dante."
She had realized what was going on in his mind.
He shook his head. "It's the least I can do for my team members."
"Team member." Her eyes crinkled in happiness. "What do we call ourselves?"
"The Wild Pack."
"Oh."
The look in her eyes suggested she had been anticipating something… more unique. She must have wanted to be associated with him, not Silvija's mercenary business. After all, her loyalty was with him, not Silvija.
'Well, she isn't wrong.'
Perhaps it was time to establish a formal team different from Silvija's mercenary team since not everyone in his group was working for Silvija. Establishing an order now would make everything easier down the line.
Now, the question was, what name could he choose?
'I'll brainstorm later.'
He activated Death Resonance Link. Both Felicia and Hela turned toward him in the same instant, drawn to the thick Death aura surrounding him.
"Darling!"
"Skullfire."
Both women started flying over to his side. A single glance from him dissolved the Broodlings in their path into ashes, giving Hela and Felicia an uninterrupted passage.
Felicia dashed into him like a missile, her arms and legs locking around him. She clung to him like a cat clinging to a curtain.
"Finally. Mama can relax," she whispered dramatically. "Darling, I'm so dead tired. Death's powers suck—I mean it sucks stamina. The rest is amazing just like her~."
"Hold on. I'll get you home. You can rest there."
"I'm already home." She slid down and got her feet back on the ground before pressing her head to his chest. "Wouldn't trade it for a bag of diamonds. And you know how my hands tingle for diamonds and shinies."
His arm curled around her lower back. Even he felt a bit flustered by her straightforward words. "Felicia, you're unreal."
As shameless as he was, even he couldn't flirt back with Felicia while Hela and Psylocke were watching. Curiously, when he glanced over, Psylocke suddenly found something very interesting to look at in the opposite direction. It wasn't like her to avoid eye contact.
"How many kills did you rack up?"
"I stopped counting after two thousand." She looked up, revealing a cocky grin. "Darling, finish them off. I wanna go home and shower."
He nodded and extended his senses, immediately noticing Brood ships retreating. Sinister had realized his return and stopped funneling reinforcements.
Hela drifted closer, her dark eyes narrowing in a piercing stare. "It feels as though you have grown considerably stronger since last we crossed paths."
"Is that your roundabout way of asking for a spar?"
"Perhaps it is." She looked briefly aside before facing him again. "I will be taking these to Asgard. They amuse me."
"Of course. Consider it your reward for the assist."
Her brows furrowed as though she was displeased. She descended until only a few meters remained between him and her intense glare. "This is far too cheap a price for my services."
"What else do you want, then? A warm, de-stressing hug so you'll stop looking like someone stole your toy?"
She scowled. "You're already aware of my needs. Don't pretend otherwise. I will see you in Asgard."
With that, she turned and walked a few steps in the air. Her figure suddenly scattered into a flock of dark-green ravens, all of whom flew in different directions.
"That's one grumpy lady." Felicia poked his cheek. "Darling, what does she want from you? Getting fucked by your cock until she is a drooling mess?"
"...Her daddy imprisoned her for a thousand years. No, not every woman is after me."
"Justified grumpiness," she whispered. "But damn, she is ancient."
Although Death was basically sisters with her, she still wasn't used to the concept of beings who had lived for thousands of years.
He looked past Felicia to Psylocke, who had walked to the roof's edge. "Psy, come here. I'll send you back."
Psylocke lowered herself onto the ledge, dangling her legs over the drop. "I think... I need some time to myself."
It was an unusual answer from her. She wasn't the type to sit still while there was work to be done. And why was he feeling a sense of… loneliness from her back?
"Psy," he transmitted through telepathy after switching to Jean's Resonance Link. "If you want to get something off your chest, you know where to find me."
She nodded, still observing the city below. "I know."
He ripped open a portal to the other flashpoint—the district where Lady Loki had been holding the line with Laura. The first thing that greeted him on the other side of the portal was a burning spaceship blazing across the sky, plowing right through Broodlings. Below it, Loki, in male form, laughed chaotically in a field of his own illusions. Broodlings shredded him, only to realize it was yet another phantom conjured by magic. They couldn't find the real Loki amidst the duplicates, because Loki had been watching everything from an apartment not so far away.
Felicia looked up with glimmering eyes. "That ship is so metal. I love it."
He couldn't argue with Felicia's judgment. The ship was, objectively, extremely cool. What had him raising an eyebrow was the owner of it. Only one woman possessed the power to control Hellfire and transform vehicles into unique, Hellish versions.
"Natasha."
"Yup, it's her." Felicia nudged him. "Don't you wanna go say hi?"
"A little."
It wouldn't hurt to have a chat with her.
Loki noticed them the instant they arrived. He continued his little theater of illusions while the realm Loki drifted over and greeted Dante with a sweep of his arm.
"My lord!"
Felicia narrowed her eyes. "You look familiar."
Loki smirked and plucked the amulet from around his neck. The illusion of the tall sharp-featured man melted away, revealing the green-clad figure of the Goddess of Mischief. She gave a graceful bow. "Greetings from Asgard, Mistress Felicia."
Felicia leaned into Dante's arm. "She's an even bigger creep than I figured."
Loki's brows twitched. "Rude."
"What are you gonna do about it? Bite me?"
Lady Loki, for once, had no comeback. She knew going against Felicia would be more trouble than what it was worth, so she wisely kept her mouth shut.
Dante tuned out their childish squabble and once again abused Death's Resonance Link. A domain expanded with him as the center, enveloping over a mile. Every Broodling was disintegrated in a single sweep and once again, New York's sky became clear, free from the alien invasion.
He disengaged the link and felt a sense of fatigue in his mind. Another use might send him unconscious. Thankfully, he had procured a perfect tool to rely on instead, which had been further strengthened from Selene and Apocalypse's sacrifice.
He glanced up. Rather than landing and greeting the man who had just cleared the Broodlings, the flaming spaceship continued to loop and barrel-roll across the sky. He had expected Natasha to not want to face him due to her guilt, but he never thought she would be so childishly coward about it.
He crossed his arms, waiting patiently. According to Ororo's intel, this was the last where Brood had attacked, so he had all the time in the world.
"You know, I thought I was a coward earlier, but she is way worse," Felicia muttered, watching the ship do another loop. "Darling, new house rule: one spank for every second she stays up there. Scientifically proven way to discipline bad girls."
"That's going to add up to a lot."
Felicia let out an evil chuckle. "Her fat ass can handle it."
He smiled. Felicia wasn't entirely wrong.
They waited the better part of two minutes before the ship finally came to a hover above them. The hatch popped open and Laura launched out of it, diving straight for him. Symbiote tendrils whipped out of her and latched onto him, reeling her in at an extreme speed. He nearly took a step back from the momentum with which she slammed into him. Immediately, her arms locked around his neck and her legs around his waist, then she kissed him. He had barely held her properly when he felt his lips being greedily devoured. The kiss was hungry and messy like she had been waiting an entire day for this.
He got his hands around her back and kissed her right back, letting the greedy mutant have her way with him until she was satisfied.
Laura pulled away once she was out of breath, breaking a thin string of saliva between them. Her eyes were half-lidded, so full of satisfaction. "Mm. Always wanted to try it after a heated battle. It's better than I imagined."
He took a deep breath. "That was passionate enough to get Felicia jealous."
Felicia crossed her arms with a childish hmph. "I've given you better."
Laura unwound herself and dropped back to her feet, turning toward Loki. "You're a woman?"
"..."
"I won't judge," Laura said with a very judgmental look on her face. "Thanks for the reinforcements. You saved us from a pinch there."
"Us?" Dante tilted his head. "I only see you. Where is 'we' in that?"
Laura sighed and looked back over her shoulder at the grounded ship. "Natasha! Get your ass down here!"
The Hellfire-wreathed vessel drifted down and landed beside them. With a hiss, the top hatch opened again and Natasha climbed out to stand atop the hull. She swept a slow look across the assembled group before her gaze came to rest on Dante. The Ghost Rider transformation cloaked her features, giving away nothing of the complicated emotions beneath.
She jumped down to the roof, letting the fiery chain dangle from her arm.
"Long time no see."
***
You can read more chapters on my Patreon!
Patreon.com/Lordheaven