DLRhanna

  Chapter 27 – Bluffing the Staff

  New York City- Outside Police Perimeter near Mabel Cemetry- 2008- 10- 22 (Evening)

  Raven Darkholme- (Mystique)

  Raven now in the guise of Steve Rogers, moved passed the line of people to get to the other side of the street and the awaiting police and soldiers. 'Wow, Eric wasn't joking when he said he felt the army on the move.' She thought as walked toward the trio of men waving at her to stop.

  “Sir you need to turn around and go back to the other looky loos.” The soldier in the middle of the squad told her.

  She quickly altered her vocal cords before telling the men in Roger's voice. "I am expecting that your commander is looking for me. Tell them that Steve Rogers is waiting out here. Oh, and you might want to keep an eye on the three skin heads at the corner of the block, something seems off about them."

  The three men frowned but one of them got on their shoulder-mounted radios, reporting. "Tell command that I have a civilian out here who thinks the Major waits to see him. He says his name is Steve Rogers, over.”

  It took all of thirty seconds for someone to respond, Mystique heard some female officer respond to the man’s report. “Escort him to the command tent, ASAP. And treat him with respect. He is a Medal of Honor recipient.”

  Hearing that all three men, and even a few police officers, stopped whatever they were doing at the time to salute Raven. ‘Boys and their medals.’ She thought as she copied a salute she saw the Captain once perform.

  Raven didn't want to fight back during what is now called the Second World War, but she had been caught in Paris when the Nazis started their blitzkrieg, and so she aided the French Resistance until a close call almost took her life, and she vanished in the middle of the war. So while she had spent most of her allied time alongside the Invaders, she did once fight in a battle with Captain America, and Erik. Long before he became Magneto. So she had a rough idea of what Steve Rogers was like from that time.

  When she lowered her arm, one of the men stepped closer and muttered. “This way, sir.”

  As they made their way first passed the perimeter, it was only a dozen steps before they entered the cemetery proper, once there she saw a raised tent in the middle of a road that stood out from the ancient pce. As they walked the soldier asked. "If you can say, but what did you do to get your medal, sir?"

  Still with Roger's voice, the shape-shifter told the man. "I boarded, took command, and crashed a Nazi super bomber into the Atntic." The soldier clearly wanted to ask more, but Raven wanted to get this over with as fast as she could, and more importantly get as far from this battlefield as humanly possible. So she power walked to the obvious command center.

  The grunt slowed down, as the officers manning the tent waved him in and them away.

  Raven sniffed, to buy her the time to look over their uniforms, before she approached the only one with the markings of a major. Thinking it would be what he would do, Raven saluted the man and waited for him to respond.

  “I am Major Talbot. Oh, no need for that Captain. After all, despite our need for the formu in your blood, you would otherwise be permitted to retire, given the time difference since you st served.” The Major said, but still returned the salute.

  “Old habits, sir.” Raven bluffed.

  When Raven stood more at ease before the man nodded then did admit. "I really wish we were meeting under better circumstances." Then he sighed and continued. "But it is what it is. So there are two things I need you to answer, you know besides the obvious suggestion, of stop ditching your security detail rant."

  Raven was already expecting one of the questions to be 'Why were you being friendly with a mutant?', but she only nodded and waited for the questions.

  “You were st seen talking with Iron Man and an unknown mutant, so how did you get outside of the police perimeter before we arrived?” Talbot asked him.

  The shape-shift blinked at the actual smart question, but already had an excuse prepared. "As I was speaking with the blue-furred mutant, I spotted the female Enhanced in the white armor. I attempted to capture her, but she activated her ability, which made both me and her able to walk through walls, we had a running fight, where she was able to get away by releasing some kind of pulse or bst that knocked me backward. By then we were in a house about a block from here. Once free of my grip she just went intangible again and got away, I stayed to ensure that the kind woman in the home was uninjured before I left and made my way back to return here."

  "The bck-suited one did something simir. But we capture the Green one, as well as a handful of Hydra soldiers. Unfortunately for us, the soldiers all had suicide pills that they used, so we won't be questioning them." The Major muttered.

  “Ghul, Gheist and Gespenst.” Raven muttered. When the officer frowned at her, she expined. "Their names, sir. Its German for Ghoul, Ghost, and Specter respectively."

  “Right… second question, and then I will have a squad take you back to your apartment. What do you know about the two other vigintes that showed up? The mutant boy and the blonde woman in… well in a bikini.” Talbot asked her.

  Raven shifted her stance to rub her chin in thought as she formed her lie. “The boy identified himself as Nightcrawler, and he obviously has the ability to teleport, and not just himself but people he was touching as well, since he disengaged Ghost from the battle. He recognized me, so he may have increased senses as well, and said he wanted to do the right thing. So he came to my aid.'

  “As for the female, I didn’t speak to her. But she is either also a mutant or more likely is a Enhanced. Given the effort she took to sabotaged their weapons, I think she may have a dislike for guns.”

  “You come to that conclusion how?” One of the major’s flunkies asked her.

  Raven was honest when she said. "She disarmed and incapacitated, not one, by eight, tactically geared and trained professionals. A Five foot ten inch, maybe one-thirty or one-forty pound woman took out armed and armored men, sir. With nothing but a bamboo and bone spear.'

  "I might understand maybe the first guy when she had surprise, but she knocked out, not killed seven other men taller and heavier than her men, so she either has super strength and reflexes or I am the tooth fairy."

  Then a man in a damaged and torn suit approached the tent from the wider area. “Sir, we have covered every inch of this cemetery twice now, and still no sign of the liaison, other than the pile of her clothes and her purse and phone by the crashed car’s site.”

  Knowing Steve, Raven asked in his voice. “Did Hydra kidnap her?”

  "Unlikely, the only assets of theirs that escaped were the two Enhanced. All of their vehicles are accounted for. So unless the one you were chasing was also holding a naked woman they don’t have her.” The major countered.

  “What about their snipers?” The shape-shifter suggested, trying to keep their attention off of her.

  “Police found their nests, all three are dead, their throats torn and cut somehow. The police officers that discovered them described the scene as if a wild animal had attacked them." Another of the major's underlings reported to them.

  Raven inwardly smiled at Wolfsbane’s work, before she made her next suggestion. “What about the survivors from my detail, are all ten of them accounted for?”

  Talbot squinted at her when he said. “That’s a serious accusation.”

  Raven squinted herself before she threatened. “Yeah, well let me remind you the day I was given the Super Soldier Serum, was the same day that Doctor Erskine was assassinated, by a US senator's plus one. Who I then chased down and captured him, and right before he took his own life, with a cyanide tooth he said to my face 'Cut off the head, two more shall take its pce'. So you tell me that there isn't a chance that Hydra infiltrated my detail, because I find it very odd that they attacked only moments after my guards arrived to question me today."

  The major sighed but then nodded. "Let my men safely get you home, sir. While they do, we look into the team assigned to you today Captain."

  Raven nodded but then asked. "I would like to be updated on Ms. Van Dyne's status if you hear or learn something, and if she has been kidnapped, I want to be there to help rescue her."

  Talbot frowned but then nodded, then agreed. "If she has been kidnapped, I find it odd that they made her strip, given the time that would take to do that during a firefight. This whole thing stinks to me."

  Then over a dozen armed and armored military men approached the tent and asked her. "Would you come with us, Captain?"

  Raven nodded and let the armed men form a circle around her before taking her to a series of SUVs. She got inside one of them, before the shape-shifter catnapped while they drove her to the super soldier's home.

  ‘Don’t worry Irene, I haven’t forgotten about you. But steps must be taken before the mission can be attempted. You taught me that after all.’ Raven thought to herself while pretending to nap in the crowded SUV. A proper spy was always on their guard while in enemy territory.

  Hell- Realm of the Dammed- Copper Keep- Throne Room (Date Unknown) (Morning)

  Lady Bloodwell-

  "Well?" The winged-hooved dy asked the much smaller demon before her.

  "My spies on Earth are nowhere near the region that your report speaks of, so I have no corroboration on this matter, my dy." The seven-fingered three-eye demon reported. It wore a va silk robe and had some style of ring on each of its fingers.

  Lady Bloodwell pulled a dart from under her clothes, ready to kill the failure. "So you have nothing?"

  The wealthy-looking demon stepped back and rubbed his forehead as he added. "I did not say that my dy, only that I have nothing from Earth. Some of my spies in Muspelheim report the return of a long-lost warrior of Jarl Jarzain. The warrior brought words of blessings and sorrows, as he had to report the death of his lord's son, but also mentioned his savior was in fact a mage, and their kind was not extinct.'

  "The Jarl then went to his High Jarl demanding a host be formed and his son avenged. A price be extracted from the Atntean murderers."

  'An invasion of Fire Giants would spell problems for both Earth and Asgard. On top of that, it is unlikely the mage would come out unscathed if a war broke out.' The demon general thought, not that such worries touched her face. "Anything else?"

  "A few details, that I thought you would like to hear about. The first is that the warrior in question now carried within him the spark of divinity, he is already two-thirds towards the way to ascending to god-dom. So it might behoove us to try and capture or end him, before another Surtr can be born." Her spymaster smiled as he mentioned capture, and drooled a touch at the thought of murdering him, his corrosive spittle marring her floor when it hit it.

  She just waved that detail away, doubtful that the giants would even notice or promote the future savior in their midst, and Odin would most certainly take care of him should he get wind of it.

  "The next detail is an anomaly that I cannot confirm, but it was repeated enough by the warrior that others were repeating it, and given the threat of such a fact felt even the barest of chances that the mage has actually succeeded, I should report it." The spymaster droned on.

  "Get on with it already." Lady Bloodwell muttered.

  "Well it would appear that the mage had with him a pair of Servants…" the rambling demon started to expin.

  Yet she smmed her fist into the armrest of her throne, cracking the metal. "Of course, he would have staff and guards assisting him, he isn't that stupid not after how many of them they lost would he go around unprotected."

  "Not that kind of personal my dy, rather the warrior in question swore up and down, that he witnessed the mage preformed ritual magic on an ensnared mortal soul and reformed it into a Servant, a living weapon." The spymaster tapped his fingers at each other as he corrected his mistress. "It was a Lancer to be specific. And the warrior swore to seeing another, an Assassin by its markings, to appear at his side as well before stepping through the portal to his home."

  "He got the ancient Magi theory to work?" Lady Bloodwell muttered and sat back on her throne in surprise. 'Of course he would, he would need such control and power to ensure his survival.' The demoness thought.

  The spymaster nodded, as he started to speak freely. "So it would seem. Honestly, the more I learn about this mage, the more I think he may be a threat to you, perhaps we should…"

  "What?!" she snapped at him. "Defy our bindings? Without His direct orders our legions, myself included, everything here is frozen in pce. Would you be so bold to have us join the rebels in revolt?"

  "No, my dy, I would not want to tarnish our, I mean your reputation." The little demon said as he backed away again.

  Lady Bloodwell adjusted her posture in the chair and stated. "Good. Now, why haven't you sent someone to get confirmation of the report? Imps can easily cross through the tears in the veil."

  The seven-fingered demon rubbed the back of his head before admitting. "I have tried, I sent four imps to earth, and all were sin. One came back to us, and reported that it was not the Sorcerers of Kamar-Taj that bested him. But the other three were given True Death, only the st and most recent managed to report anything. All he was able to tell us was one word. 'Lion head'."

  "That's two words." The demon mistress corrected. Then she rubbed her chin in thought, as she tried to solve the mystery of the creature able to give a demon True Death so easily. Then she smmed her fist into the already abused armrest as she screamed. "That slut!"

  "My dy, do you know the identity of the attacker, who could permanently kill our kind so easily?" The spymaster asked, after taking a hesitant step towards her throne.

  "It has to be that whore Hathor. Only she has a lion head and has the kind of power to give true death to a demon so quickly." Lady Bloodwell announced.

  "I am fairly certain you have to be paid to be a whore my dy." The little demon corrected her. Then he cried out. The rge demoness threw her 'dart' and its foot of metal impaled his forward foot, pinning him to the floor.

  "The rumors have to be involved if she is involved, only she would be so bold as to try and rebirth an entire people." the rge demon muttered over the whimperings of her subordinate. She thought. 'If she touches and soils him, I will track down her domain and burn it, reputation be damned.'

  Lady Bloodwell then rose to her full height and ordered. "Send mundane spies, I want a presence of ours in the region. And as for the furry goddess, have our agents capture and torture her flock. Priests, cultists I don't care. They will know of her pns, and we need to know them too if we are to thwart her."

  "Of course, my dy… But as you say… how will we do that… if we are locked away under our bindings... Thwart her I mean?" The spymaster gasped while holding back whimperings of pain.

  She wove a fire spell with the tip of her finger, ensuring that the little demon would feel the heat despite his fire resistance. As she melted the dart into the floor, he stood still with his mouth hung open as he tried to ignore the pain.

  "Simple. We end the rebellion." Lady Bloodwell stated and git up and then moved to a table with treats and drinks.

  "I don't see how we can, given our restrictions." The little coward stated.

  "We simply have to lure Bckheart to Earth, and then have someone there take him out for us. Even if it is only a fragment, it will weaken him, and the loyalists will get the edge that they need to end this charade age of his reign." As she expined her pn, she sorted through metal ptes containing the reports that she had, near the end of her expnation she found one that she was looking for. "Ah, here it is." She then tossed the pte, which was bigger than the spymaster himself, and told him. "Look into this case, and we will find our bait."

  The little demon quickly grew in size, wasting his tempering, so that he was big enough and strong enough to grab and hold the pte. "A murder weapon? One of ours from the looks of it. Used to kill, one of our own agents, why wasn't I aware of this?" The demon asked as he read the report.

  "Because I am always preparing repcements in case I have to deal with a failure." Lady Bloodwell admitted. The mistress pulled out another dart, as she picked up a baked treat and took a bite. Then she added. "So don't fail."

  The spymaster knocked his rings together in an attempt to salute her, before leaving her throne room.

  Before he left she reminded him. "And get some mundane spies in the Savage Lands!" The doors smmed behind him as her guards let them go. Only those strong enough in her army were permitted to guard her throne room and her men saw it as an honor.

  The clicking of a hoof on metal told her that her personal spy was approaching her.

  "He is right. The mage is a threat to us." Lekra said, assured of her safety.

  "How long have you known me Lekra?" Lady Bloodwell asked her aide.

  "Four thousand, two hundred and thirteen years my dy." The other demoness stated.

  "Then you know that when I say, I will devour the essence of any demon that tries to harm that mage, regardless of what it will do for or to me, you know that I am not lying." The mistress of the keep ate the rest of the baked treat to show that her statement was finished.

  She heard the other demoness swallow her already empty mouth, before saying. "I understand. What would you have me do?"

  "Although weaker on Earth, we need a ringer to make certain that Bckheart is defeated if our pn is to succeed." Lady Bloodwell admitted. She then moved to the collections of drinks and selected one to indulge in.

  "The Ancient One will take some strength from me if you pn to use her in our pns," Lakra admitted but still suggested.

  "No, we cannot use her. The Ancient One will ruin us in some way. No, what we need someone who will attack him in a blind rage. So you must go to Gabrielle." Bloodwell told the other as she poured herself her drink.

  "I hate that angelic bitch." The lesser demoness compined.

  "And she hates you just as much, but she will do what we need her to, she will call on Heaven's hunters to kill Bckheart when he arrives on Earth." The Lady of the keep stated before taking her first drink in days.

  DLRhanna