Veitha

Africa, now

The heart still pulsed in her hands while she lifted it to show it to the moon.

The silver light of the bright orb made the red blood grey and shining, while Barbara Minerva brought it closer to her lips.

The woman felt the metallic taste of fresh blood in her mouth, and her lips closed around the red organ, her teeth penetrating the soft skin around it, feeling the muscles stretch and break under the pressure of her canines. The blood floated her mouth, and the terrible taste of that inhuman meal hit her soul much more than her taste buds.

The power of the human blood contained inside the heart entered her body while she consumed more and more of it, pushed by necessity more than by true appreciation for the cannibal dish.

The moon smiled at her and enveloped her in the light, watching her slowly consume the heart with her eyes closed and her face now dirty and full of blood stains.

When she had eaten the last bite of flesh, she threw her head back, now facing the moon with wet eyes and then she screamed from the deepest shelter into her lungs.

The scream echoed in the night, waking up every single animal in the African savannah and haunting the dreams of the poor men who were sleeping in the cold night.

Her body was seized by sudden convulsions and she screamed again, but this time because of the pain. She fell on the ground, with her fingers trying to find a grip among the blades of yellow grass, until they reached a metallic object which had suddenly appeared besides her.

She took it between her hands and observed it. It was a long dagger, of the same, identical color of the bright full moon.

“Cheetah” she sighed in the end. “Goddess of haunt… give me the strength… accept this sacrifice…”.

She pushed the dagger into her chest, piercing her own heart.

She spat blood on the ground, painting it red, and the little strength still in her body abandoned her as she collapsed on the ground.

*

Some days before, Egypt

“Barbara, you can’t keep ignoring what she said” exclaimed Steve Trevor. “She’s the fucking goddess of war!”.

“And she’s destroying Africa!” she replied loudly.

“But she’s Wonder Woman, you can’t stop her!”.

The two were sitting into a tent in the middle of the desert, near an archeological site they had been studying for months now.

Barbara Minerva was one of the best archeologists in the world, but no one knew that except for her, and her lovely boyfriend Steve Trevor. They both worked for A.R.G.U.S. as field researchers, one of those organizations everyone talked about but that no one truly knew.

They had been studying ancient African artifacts for months, until the Great War had begun.

It started with heavy rain in Egypt, then the earthquakes began in South Africa, and in the end fire was raining from the sky in all of Africa.

The Greek deities had arrived in that place striking it like lighting. Not all of them took part in the destruction of the ancient continent, but most of them enjoyed the war.

Because it was war, and nothing more. And the Goddess of War was the one who started it all.

Wonder Woman had come with her Amazons in Africa seeking for conquest. Since her and her pantheon couldn’t control Europe, America or Asia anymore – too many superhumans, and too much technology to fight their divinity – they had decided to turn Africa into their playground.

And no one, nor superheroes or supervillains, decided to help the people of Africa, while Barbara and Steve had to remain there, trapped into the battlefield of the much more powerful goddess.

They had witnessed anything. Children being gutted, women being raped, men being skinned and their skins turned into

“There’s people dying, Steve!” she exclaimed. “And we can defeat her once and for all! We found a way!”.

“And we also found out the price for it!” he replied. “A price I’m not ready to pay!”.

“But I am!” she screamed. “I’m ready to give up my soul, Steve, if that means not seeing anymore kids being killed by that monster you call Goddess!”.

He didn’t respond. He just shook his head and sighed.

“You’re going to die for this, Barbara” he said. “Or you’re going to poison your soul. Either way, you’re going to lose me”.

“You said you loved me, Steve” she replied. “Is love good only when everything is fine and easy?”

“Don’t you dare say that I’m a coward, Barbara!” he shouted. “I loved you, but since we’ve been here you… I don’t even know if I can look you in the eyes anymore… what you want to do…”.

“We’re trapped here! This is hell! Someone has to help these people!” she exclaimed. “One sacrifice is all they want from us!”.

“They? Others like Wonder Woman” he explained. “Others like the woman who has murdered half of these continent”.

“They’re not like her” she replied shaking her head. “They’re not like her pantheon”.

“And how do you know this, Barbara?”.

“Because they told me. They told me they love us” she answered with a smile. “And I believe them”.

Steve shook his head. “You’re crazy, Barbara, you’re completely crazy”.

*

The lights of the sun woke her up.

She opened her eyes and suddenly she felt overwhelmed by her senses.

Sight. Smell. Touch. Hearing. Taste.

Oh, damn. The taste! Her mouth was filled with blood, and it was delicious.

She could feel any single particle of that thing and she wanted more, more, more.

She got on her feet and she looked at her hands with stupor mixed with excitement.

Her hands were covered with fur, spotted fur, and she could feel the retractile claws beneath her skin screaming to get out of their shelter.

She screamed with joy.

It worked. It worked! The gods had told her the truth… she wasn’t crazy.

She had a tail, and longer feet and she was much taller than before. She touched her hair, realizing it wasn’t black anymore, but red, red like blood.

And damn, she wanted more blood. But first she needed water. She could smell the water from miles away as if it was near her.

She started running. At first she didn’t realize she was running that fast. She felt her own speed, but she could have never imagined she was truly running that fast.

In mere moments she ran through half of the savannah she was in. She scared gazelles, she jumped entire trees in one single movement, and for the first time in her whole life, Barbara Gordon felt alive, completely alive.

She finally reached a small river and, thirsty as she had never been before, she jumped into it to drink the water.

The remaining blood on her face and in her mouth was washed away, and suddenly she realized everything watching it flow away.

Not only she realized what she had become by watching her new, feral face in the water, but she realized what she had done to become it.

“Steve…” she mumbled with a broken voice. A voice which sounded like the one of a growling cat. “No…”

Suddenly she felt pain. It was so fast and so sudden that she almost screamed of fear.

It took some moments for her to realize what that pain was.

The punches to her face threw her away from the river, making her bang her head on the ground with the speed of a bullet.

Someone pulled her hair and threw her away again, and in a vortex of punches and kicks, she screamed in pain until the attack stopped, then she rose her head.

“Mmm… She was right, there’s a new goddess in town”.

A woman so similar to the one she hated so much, Wonder Woman, was in front of her, with her feet planted on the ground and her hands around her hips.

She looked so similar to the Goddess of War that Barbara felt the same primordial fear she felt anytime she saw her, but she was different, younger, and her costume looked like if it was made of stars.

“Who are you...?” she mumbled in her direction, and she smiled.

“Donna Troy, Princess of Themyscira” she answered with pride. “And who are you?”.

She felt a primordial anger starting to rise across her body hearing the word Themyscira, and in a fraction of seconds her body acted on his own, driven by the feral forces she had summoned just the night before.

Her claws popped out of her fingertips, and she jumped towards her assaulter with her mouth opened to show her sharp teeth.

“I’m Cheetah!” she shouted. “The Goddess of Hunt!”.

… To be Continued

I like it :)

... and crows depart...

this one is so cute. And I love snakes

@waezi2: is there room for a Cheeta fan-fic with Wonder Woman as the main villain? I'm thinking something mythology related

@koays@hopesummersforthefuture@time@roddy010@martinceld

Previously: Selene Gallio, the Black Queen of the Hellfire Club, has reappeared in Genosha and she wants to use one of the ghosts who lives on the island - Ellie Phimister - to get the knowledge needed to become a Goddess once again. But Emma Frost perceived her and with her Stepford Cuckoos and Illyana Rasputing decided to stop her. But Selene was soon able to defeat Magik...

Emma Frost – Black or White, chapter two

Hellfire Club, New York City, years ago

Lingerie was something pretty common at the Hellfire Club. Be they black or white, it was the most common attire at any party thrown by the elite class of the Club.

Why? Because sex was one of the many things the Hellfire Club revolved around.

But not just sex for the sake of it, nor sex driven by love, they were after sex for power. Because sex, if used the right way, was a weapon much more powerful than any mutant power, futuristic armor or magical hammer. Sex let open one’s heart and mind and control it, sex shocked, sex left men with numb minds and pants down. Sex was the most powerful resource any Hellfire Club member had at their disposal, and the White Queen of the Hellfire Club knew how to use her body to control, shock and dominate.

So while Emma Frost walked through the corridors of the Hellfire Club, she was completely aware of the power of her “armor” made of white lingerie and the most wonderful body money could buy.

She was a telepath, one of the most powerful and fearsome telepaths in the entire world, but her telepathy was nothing compared to what she achieved through a mere showing of her sexuality.

She wasn’t a prostitute, of course. She was a warrior, the kind of warrior who was neither afraid of her body nor of the body of other people.

She was a dominatrix.

“Good evening, Sebastian” she said while entering a room full of people dressed in Victorian dresses.

One of the men in the room turned towards her and smiled. “Good evening, Emma”.

She walked towards him and kissed him on his cheek while moving her hips in a voluptuous manner.

“Who are these dear men, Sebastian?” she asked pointing her icy eyes towards the old men Sebastian Shaw was talking to.

“New members of our little Club, Emma” he said putting his big hands on of these men shoulders, making him start for the strength of his grip.

“Oh, pleased to meet you” she replied with a malicious smile. “I’m sure we will enjoy each other’s presence often in the future”.

The men smiled and one at a time moved to kiss her slim and white hand, while Emma enjoyed the attentions provided by their gestures and by their thoughts.

The most gross images a men could ever have in his minds flowed from the men’s minds to Emma’s, and she enjoyed the sick thoughts of the old men as if they were offering her roses. Because sex, in all of his forms, was the kind of flowers which the White Queen enjoyed most.

“You are one of the most beautiful wo…” began one of the men, when suddenly something in the air changed.

A chilly breeze entered the room, while everyone turned their heads towards the point from where the cold air had arrived.

A dark-haired, beautiful, almost naked woman had just entered the room with an evil smile printed on her face and everyone – everyone – got caught in the charming embrace of her sight.

“Who’s that woman?” asked Emma and Shaw was swift to respond.

“Selene Gallio, our Black Queen” he replied.

“Oh” said Emma while her eyes engaged the Black Queen’s. “I see”.

The two locked their eyes for a while, probing each other with their minds, until Emma frowned and turned her eyes away.

Oh no, she thought staring at the floor. Who was that woman? Where did she come from? How could she be so beautiful and powerful?

She didn’t know, but she knew one thing: she was no longer the dominatrix.

*

Genosha, now

“Do you want to remain in your shiny form or you want to try fighting me back, White Queen?” asked Selene, and Emma Frost shrugged.

She and the Cuckoos were feet away from the Black Queen, with their skins turned into diamond and their minds protected from her powerful telepathy.

“Sometimes defense is the best offense” she replied while folding her arms around herself.

“Not if I can crush you, little diamond” answered Selen. “Not if I can use your friend’s sword to cut your soul into little pieces”.

She waved Magik’s Soulsword, whose owner was lying senseless on the ground.

“What do you want, Selene?” asked Emma. “You appear and die once a week, I forgot what you’re after. If you’re after something”.

“I want to kill you all and I want to become a Goddess” she answered.

“Oh, so always the same, old cliché” said Emma with a grin. “Don’t you supervillains ever grow tired of trying to conquer the world or destroy it? I’ve turned to the bright side because punching bad guys in the face is much more entertaining than genocide”.

“Then come and punch me, White Queen” Selene replied with a huge smile. “And let’s see if you find it entertaining”.

“Oh, I’ve already punched you, sweetie” said Emma with a bored expression on her face. “You just didn’t notice”.

The Black Queen’s hand opened wide and the Soulsword fell on the ground, while she looked shocked at her own body not responding to her orders.

“My girls don’t need to get out of their diamond form to use telepathy. They’re so much better than their old mama, right?” Emma explained while turning into flesh.

Her mind reached out to touch Selene’s, and the Black Queen screamed in pain.

“While you were explaining your oh-so-evil plan, they implanted some minor suggestions in your mind, let them flow around your brain until they convinced your subconscious to remove your telepathic shields” Emma explained. “And now that I can get into your head, Selene, we’re going to talk and see what to do with you”.

Both the Queen’s eyes rolled and they fell on the ground, while their astral bodies left their flesh.

The Stepford Cuckoos snapped out of their diamond forms and sighed with relief.

“I really thought Selene was going to find us” said Irma.

“Well, she didn’t” replied Celeste.

“Should we wake up miss Rasputin?” asked Phoebe.

“Later” ordered Celeste. “Now let’s back up Miss Frost, sisters. She’ll need all of our powers to defeat Selene”.

*

Astral plane

“What are you doing, Frost?” asked Selene while looking around herself. “Where are we?”.

The two women were in a large, Victorian room. There were paintings on the walls, a warm chimney which lit up the room alongisde thousands of candles which floated around the room, revealing the details of the many painting and the luxurious furniture.

The two were wearing the same clothes they had on the first day they met.

“This is my memory of the Hellfire Club” said Emma. “It’s a little landscape I was imagining while you were talking. Not my best work, but it will be enough for a good chat”.

“I don’t want to talk with you, Frost!” screamed Selene while her body turned into shapeless dark matter and she jumped towards Emma with giant claws pointed at her throat. “I want to kill you!”.

The White Queen didn’t look impressed, and she just gave her a glance to make her body melt down on the floor.

“The girls’ implants are still into your mind, Selene” she replied. “Until you get rid of them, I’m the one in charge. It’s a subtle work, you will need skills and not just raw power to get out of it”.

Selene’s body slowly started to recompose and she looked at Emma with an expression full of hate.

“You always thought to be the smart one, Frost” she said. “But you can’t compete with me, and you always knew that”.

“I know, I can’t” she replied. “That’s why I tricked you and didn’t face you directly. And know I’m thinking about what to do with you”.

“You can’t get rid of me”.

“I know, but I can make sure that you’ll stay dead for a bit longer” Emma answered. “I could erase your memory as I did to Sebastian, but nothing assures me your magic tricks won’t bring it back to you. Magic has always been a pain in the ass, right?”.

Selene smiled.

“You’re running out of time, Frost” she sneered.

“Mmm, I kno” she said while putting a finger on her temple. “Celeste, wake up Magik. We have to get rid of all the magic”.

*

“She wants us to wake up miss Rasputin” said Celeste. “She has to exorcise the magic or she won’t be able to do anything”.

“She’s wasting time!” exclaimed Phoebe.

“I know, I know” replied Celeste. “She’s getting old and stupid”.

“Shut up, Celeste” said Irma while walking towards Illyana. “Don’t make her same mistake”.

She placed her fingers on Magik’s forehead and wispered into her mind: “Wake up”.

Illyana opened her eyes wide and immediatelly jumped on her feet, as if an electric surge had passed through her body.

“What happened?!” she shouted.

“Selene got the best of you” explained Irma. “But we’ve got the situation under control”.

“For a while, just for a while” added Phoebe.

“Unless you hit her hard with your giant Sword” said Celeste.

Illyana smiled.

“I’ll be happy to do that”.

*

“Each one of these candles is one of your memories, Selene” explained Emma. “I’m not the most powerful telepath between us two, but I’m the best at psionic surgery, I’m the most skilled. And I can remove each one of these memories… and you truly have a lot of them”.

“Tic toc” replied Selene. She was now sitting on one of the chairs in the room, working slowly to get her mind defenses back.

“Oh shut up, you’re losing” said Emma while waving her hands through the floating flames. “I’m putting other walls into your mind while you get rid of the ones the Cuckoos created. You can’t win”.

“You’re not the only one with young, telepathic friends, Frost” said Selene.

“What do you mean?”.

“Don’t you recognise her?” asked Selene while pointing behind Emma’s back.

Emma turned around immediatelly, only to see Negasonic Teenage Warhead appear in the telepathic room.

“Ellie?” asked Emma opening her eyes wide.

“Yes, Miss Frost” she answered. “I had told Selene you were coming here, she knew that you were arriving”.

“What?!” Emma shouted.

“You’re not the only smart one, Emma” explained Selene. “You and your girls were very good, almost defeated me, but you made my same mistake I made: you talked too much”.

Green mist appeared aroung Emma, enveloping her in a cocoon. The flames on the candles became of the same color. Emma screamed.

“Why do you think you got that telepathic feedback while you were in Italy, Emma?” asked Selene. “I wanted you here. Because I needed Ellie’s powers, and there was just a way I could get them back”.

“What are you doing?” asked Emma while her astral form got completelly trapped in the mist. “This isn’t telepathy…”.

“It’s necromancy” explained Selene. “I told the ghosts to come here and help me with a little spell. And now that Ellie’s here, we can proceed”.

“Oh, don’t you dare…” started Emma, but Selene laughed.

“Goodbye, White Queen” she said. “We’ll meet in Hell”.

*

Magik raised her sword in the air, ready to hit Selene, but she suddenly stopped.

“Wait, something’s wrong” she said. “Where are the ghosts…?”.

“Oh, no, no, no” said the three Cuckoos at the same time. “NO!”.

Emma woke up.

She screamed loud while her eyes glowed of a green light. Then her skin started to turn into diamond, while the Cuckoos shouted: “Miss Rasputing, get us out of here!”.

“But Emma…” replied Magik.

“She’s dead! She’s dead” screamed Celeste.

“AAIIIEE” the girls shouted while turning into diamond.

“Damn it!” exclaimed Illyana. She waved her sword in the air and created a stepping disk behind the telepathic sisters and threw them into it.

Then she walked towards Emma and took her hand, but the White Queen stopped her with her unbreakable diamond grip.

“I’m not coming with you” she said.

“Emma…?”.

“Not Emma” she replied. “Ellie”.

Then she hit Magik in the face with her diamond fist, sending her into her stepping disk, which closed behind her.

Emma got on her feet and walked towards Selene, who was slowly waking up.

Then, Emma bowed.

“Ellie? Did it work?” asked Selene, and Emma smiled.

“Of course it did, my queen” she answered. “I’m back”.

*

Magik and the Stepford Cuckoos appeared in front of the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning’s gate.

Magik’s nose was bleeding but she ignored it, walked to Celeste and grabbed her by her neck.

“What the hell just happened? Why did you tell me to leave your teacher at the hands of a dangerous villain, Cuckoo?!” she growled.

Celeste, scared, remained silent, while her sisters runned there to help her.

“Selene tricked us!” said Irma.

“How?!”.

“She used her magic to trap a ghost into Emma’s body, then forced her to get into her diamond form so that the ghost couldn’t get out” explained Phoebe. “So now the ghost controlls her body”.

“And where is Emma now?” asked Magik while she left her grip on Celeste.

“She’s technically dead” said the Cuckoo. “Her consciousness is not inside her body anymore, her diamond, lifeless body is controlled by the ghost”.

“So we just witnessed Emma Frost getting killed and we did nothing to help?” asked Illyana, shocked.

“We did everything to help” replied Celeste.

“We saved her in fact” added Irma. “We helped her consciousness before it disappeared without her body”.

“And…?”.

“And now she’s in our hive-mind” explained Phoebe. “We were able to extract her mind from her body before the ghost’s consciousness devoured hers. Now she lives into our heads”.

“And she’s telling us to call Storm’s X-Men” added Celeste.

“Well, let’s do it” said Illyana.

“No, miss Rasputin, we won’t” objected Irma. “Now we’re in charge, and we’ll deal with Selene our way”.

“We’ll call our own X-Men” concluded Phoebe in a grin. “Even if Miss Frost won’t like it at all”.

To Be Continued…

nice

The Combatants:

Saturn Girl vs. Emma Frost

I still want to see what Saturn Girl can do to defeat Emma. In every thread every single time I asked for some feat I only got claims, so for now I'll back up Emma.

Martian Manhunter vs. Jean Grey (no Phoenix powers)

Leaning towards Jean, she's showed crazy power levels before dying and she's said to be above Xavier. With only TP, she can beat Manhunter. Add the rest of their powers and she get blitzed.

Gorilla Grodd vs. Mr Sinister

What are Grodd's best TP feats?

Manchester Black vs. Dracula

I don't know enough about Dracula.

Ms Martian vs. Moondragon

Moondragon, easily.

Hector Hammond vs. The Supreme Intelligence

I don't recall the Supreme Intelligence doing anything impressive with TP outside of long-range TP communication?

Raven vs. Rachael Summers (no Phoenix powers)

Rachel is the queen of jobbing, so I'm leaning towards Raven. If written correctly, Rachel could win, but she's too inconsistent.

Psimon vs. Psylocke

Betsy could bring him to the astral plane and trap him there.

Despero vs. Professor X

Despero easily.

@roddy010: @hopesummersforthefuture:thanks :) I'm posting the second chapter soon today

@jacthripper: uh sorry I forgot it lool introduction and strategy coming today