The Hellfire Club
Outside, the night wind howled, battering the stone walls of the estate.
But inside the Hellfire Club, the storm didn't matter. The walls were thick, the fire was warm, and the whiskey was expensive.
In a spacious, opulent bedroom upstairs, the air was thick with a different kind of heat.
Ernst might have looked like a regular man, but science and cosmic energy had turned him into something else entirely.
His body was dense, his muscles wired for endless stamina.
Presented with a beauty like Selene, he didn't resist.
Selene was brazen. She had walked the battlefields of history for years; she didn't have the shyness of a normal woman.
Her skin was pale and flawless in the dim light. Following a brief, sharp flirtation, the game between them began.
Ernst held his own. He didn't back down.
But Selene was a witch who sustained herself by draining the vitality of others.
To her, Ernst wasn't just a lover; he was a feast. She could feel the immense life force rolling off him like heat from a furnace. It was a lethal temptation.
She had originally opposed Shaw's plan, but she had switched sides just to get close to this energy source.
Now that she had him where she wanted him, she didn't intend to let the opportunity slip.
But Selene was patient. She refrained from striking immediately. She knew the best time to feed was when her partner was exhausted, when his guard was down.
She decided to wait until Ernst's physical strength peaked and began to ebb.
She wouldn't drain him dry, she needed to leave enough to ensure he survived, mindful not to completely burn her bridge with Sebastian Shaw.
Just a taste. A very large taste.
However, unknown to her, Ernst was playing his own game.
He knew exactly what she was.
While they were busy, his mind was calculating, waiting for the perfect moment to flip the script.
—--
The Lounge
Meanwhile, in a private lounge down the hall, the atmosphere was far less intimate but equally tense.
Azazel, Sebastian Shaw, Emma Frost, and Mastermind were waiting.
Emma looked displeased, pacing near the window.
"Shaw, aren't you worried?" Emma asked, her voice sharp.
"Selene is a predator. She won't kill him for her own sake, but if she drains too much vitality, Ernst could be left a husk. We need him."
Shaw dismissed her concern with a casual wave of his hand.
"There's nothing to worry about," Shaw said, pouring himself a drink.
"I hope she keeps her promise and funds my plan after she's had her fun, instead of opposing me out of spite."
"You are too confident," Emma countered. She didn't particularly like Ernst, but he was a mutant and a valuable asset.
"She is the Black Queen for a reason."
Mastermind sat in the corner, looking troubled. He was rethinking his allegiance.
If Shaw was willing to throw his own son to a vampire just to secure funding, what would he do to a hireling like Mastermind?
In contrast, Azazel was perfectly calm. He sat in a leather armchair, reading a book on theoretical physics he had pulled from his pocket dimension.
Noticing the anxiety in the room, Shaw sighed.
"It's not what you two think," Shaw laughed softly.
"I'm not worried because I believe in Ernst's strength. This time, he'll outsmart the old witch. Look at Azazel. He's been with Ernst the longest, and he isn't concerned at all. You should ask yourself why."
Emma turned to observe the Red Devil.
She reached out with her telepathy to sense his mood. He was genuinely relaxed.
Curious, Emma decided to dig deeper. She pushed her mind into his.
The result was instant and painful.
When her mental power entered Azazel's mind, she didn't find thoughts or memories. She found herself in a void filled with mirrors.
It was a labyrinth. Every thought reflected off another in an infinite loop.
The mirrors acted like interconnected passages—if she tried to enter one, she would be thrown into a different, random space. It was a mental maze designed to trap intruders.
Emma gasped and pulled back instantly, rubbing her temples.
The backlash nearly made her vomit. It wasn't the first time her telepathy had hit a wall recently.
She looked at Shaw.
Years ago, she used to be able to read Shaw's thoughts easily. But then, something changed. His mind became heavy, dense.
One day, when she tried to probe him, she encountered a literal black hole in his psyche that nearly destroyed her mind. Since then, she dared not invade Shaw's head.
The catalyst for all of this was Ernst.
Ernst had devised a method using Occlumency. He had taught Shaw to visualize a labyrinth to counter telepaths like Xavier. And since Azazel was Ernst's first student, he had learned it too.
Using his spatial powers, Azazel had built a Mirror Labyrinth in his mind.
Emma looked around the room. The only person she could read was Mastermind, who was currently thinking about a ham sandwich.
She couldn't admit she had failed again. She tried to mask her headache with conversation.
"Azazel," Emma said, forcing a smile.
"You're buried in that book. Planning a career change to become a scientist?"
Azazel marked his page and set the book aside.
"With my background, I'll never be a scientist," Azazel replied, his tail flicking lazily.
"I focus on learning space theory to hone my abilities. Honestly, after spending so much time with Dr. Ernst, I've realized that raw power isn't enough. Without knowledge, even a strong mutant is vulnerable. Sometimes less capable than a human with a plan."
Emma frowned. It felt like he was lecturing her.
"So, what have you learned from a physics book?" she asked icily.
"Can reading really make you stronger? Prove it."
Sensing the challenge in the White Queen's tone, Azazel sighed.
He didn't like showing off, but her arrogance was annoying.
"Knowledge applies to power," Azazel said.
He waved his hand.
A blue wormhole the size of a dinner plate opened in front of him.
BAM.
Azazel punched into the hole.
Startled, Emma turned around. A second wormhole had opened silently right behind her head.
Azazel's red fist flew out of it, slamming into the wall inches from her ear.
CRACK.
The plaster shattered. Emma flinched, stepping back.
"This utilizes wormholes for strikes," Azazel explained calmly, retracting his arm.
"Distance is irrelevant. I can hit you from a mile away."
Snap.
Azazel snapped his fingers again.
Another blue wormhole appeared.
He guided it over a solid metal ornament on the table next to him.
The wormhole contracted rapidly.
Zip.
It vanished.
The metal ornament split cleanly in two. The cut was perfectly smooth, as if polished.
"Space Cutting," Azazel said.
"So far, aside from Vibranium, I haven't found anything that can withstand the closing of a dimensional gate. It ignores durability."
He wasn't done.
Azazel picked up the top half of the severed ornament.
He extended his hand over the bottom half still sitting on the table.
A spherical blue barrier enveloped the bottom half.
Azazel brought the top piece down hard. It passed right through the bottom half as if it were a ghost.
"Guardian," Azazel said.
"I can temporarily banish an object or person to a pocket dimension. It looks like it's still here, but it's physically elsewhere. Bullets, fire, even thoughts pass right through it."
As Azazel finished his demonstration, the room went silent.
Even Shaw looked at his henchman with new eyes.
He felt a sudden lack of confidence. Shaw could absorb kinetic energy, sure, but could he absorb a hole in reality?
Could he stop his head from being teleported off his shoulders?
He recognized the Red Devil's mastery.
Regardless of raw strength, Azazel's versatility made him a nightmare to fight.
"You learned well," Shaw muttered, taking a long drink.
-------------
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