"The plan was a bust," I told Fury as I patrolled the outer edge of the compound. We'd divvied up the perimeter, taking turns guarding the X-men who didn't want to be guarded despite their protests. I thought they were a bunch of ungrateful assholes, but Jean was more willing to stay the course.

"They were reluctant to see things our way given our history, and honestly, I'm surprised we made it through the entire conversation without ripping each other's head off."

"That's well within the realm of expectation," Fury said. "I'm sending over the captain and a team to join your little protection detail."

I froze mid-stride.

"When you say the captain, you mean…"

"Captain America," Fury clarified.

"Hot damn," I laughed. "He's already up and ready to go?"

"He wasn't initially, but then he saw Bucky. He doesn't want that happening to a lot of people," Fury said. "You showed real foresight, not killing him, by the way."

"That's why you pay me the big bucks," I chuckled, then realized a second later that the Cap might not like me very much because of how hard I'd gone on Bucky. I did snap his neck.

"Seen any visions lately on how to put this entire mess to bed?" Fury asked, and I was tempted to just ask for the stone off the bat, but I wouldn't even know what to do with it if I had it. Besides, experimenting with a fundamental aspect of reality didn't seem particularly prudent to me.

"Nothing yet on the demon's front, and I can't tell you anything you might've not already considered. Best case scenario, we find him, publicly shame him, and paint him as a bitter old Senator who wanted to do irreparable harm to the legacy of a great mutant and hero," I said. "Although that's contingent on us dealing with every last person Xavier manipulated. If the propaganda is good enough, we can squash this, make Kelly issue a public apology, and force him to retire somewhere far, far away."

"You've really put some thought into this."

"Just being proactive," I said. "The worst-case scenario is if Kelly's dead."

"He might already be," Fury said. "Either way, we won't know until we find him. I've got Natasha and Clint on their way to his Ex-wife's place in Vegas. A cybercafe in Vegas was the video's point of origin, and we have footage of him leaving and entering the apartment. He's still there."

"I'll get Aaron to drop me off," I said. "Clint and Nat will need all the backup they can get if there's a demon."

---

I joined Jean under the tree where she sat.

She was levitating a set of stones, controlling them to form a wobbly solar system.

"New exercise?" I asked as I settled down.

"Yao wants me practicing fine manipulation every waking moment," she said. "She's convinced I could hasten my integration of Xavier's knowledge if I pushed my mind more. Currently, I'm monitoring the perimeter and having this conversation with you."

'Impressive,' I sent over via our link. 'Now I feel bad for not practicing more.'

'You already do so much,' she sent back. 'I'm not even sure how you'd find the time."

'If you can do it, so can I. After all, we're supposed to be companions for a while. Can't have you outpacing me, now can I?'

Jean, thankfully, didn't point out that she was already stronger than I was.

'I'm headed out,' I said. 'Hopefully, Vegas has the answers we're looking for. Regardless of how things turn out, I think you should approach Hank about something I just thought up.'

Jean turned to me, reading my mind. 'A Cerebro for everyone, really?'

'Worked for Xavier, why not us,' I said. 'It'd certainly make it infinitely easier to locate people in the case of an emergency.'

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

'I think the ancient one has a spell for that,' she said.

"Even better," I finally said out loud, getting up.

"Oh, and before I forget, Fury is sending somebody over, and you're never going to believe it?" I grinned mischievously, earning me a puzzled look.

She promptly lost her shit when I told her it was Captain America.

Aaron dropped me off by the side of the road into Vegas, some ways away from where I buried my money. I located it within the hour and made my way back to the main road, where I waited for Clint and Natasha to come to get me.

They rolled up in their SUV after nearly 20 minutes of waiting. I hopped right in and got strange looks from both of them when they noticed my duffle bag.

"Great to see you both, too," I smiled.

"What's in the bag?"

"The twisted remains of a pleasure demon," I said casually, eliciting a series of frankly entertaining looks from both spies. Shock, confusion, and then realization.

I chuckled. "The look on both of your faces. Priceless."

Clint shook his head while Nat simply huffed.

"You're starting a war you can't finish Dante," Clint smiled, and I chuckled.

When the conversation grew less serious, and we kept it breezy until we reached the designated house.

Clint and Natasha stepped out and popped open the tailgate to casually reveal high-tech gear worth several million dollars.

"Holy shit," I said out loud. I saw the return of the RX-29. There was also a pair of pistols that fired electricity-infused bullets and next-gen reactive armor. I pocketed a pair of sonic grenades.

I supposed it was better to be overprepared than the alternative.

"Fury said takes no chances," Natasha explained. "So, we aren't."

They both threw on trench coats over their absurd attires, and we made it up to Kelly's apartment. He was mewling in the middle of a conversation with someone he was deathly terrified of.

We all shared a collective look of apprehension before I kicked down the door.

I was treated to an unfamiliar but frightening scene. A bloodied Pietro Maximoff sat on the floor, bleeding beside a blue-skinned, alien-looking young woman who was unconscious.

In front of them stood a woman I immediately recognized. She had fiery red-glowing eyes like mine when activated, but they burned much brighter. Her skin was golden brown, and she was dressed in a three-piece suit of white and gold. She wore 5-inch heels made of gold and leather, of all things. Even her nails were gold, as were the strange bangles on her wrist.

Kaecilius had called her love of gold an obsession. That sounded about right.

Isha Stormfire

Fifth Daughter of Belasco and one of the oldest Cambions alive. Isha is 122 years old and has mastery of fire and wind. She's trying to gain control of New York and several other states in preparation for the Demon Ascension.

Isha had her fingers digging into Senator Kelly's shoulder. And from the rough look of him, he seemed to be on his last legs. I racked my head for any way that I could save him but drew a blank.

Isha threw him into the wall hard with a casual flick of her hand and locked eyes with me.

"You're finally here," she smiled. "I've grown tired of waiting."

Then she looked past me at Natasha and Clint.

"They're an inconvenience," she said, twisting one of the bangles on her hand.

Clint immediately pulled his bow, and Natasha aimed her guns at him. Slowly, the world around us started to splinter and fold in on itself. Was she dragging us into the mirror dimension through a bangle?

That was…ridiculous.

Pietro knew trouble when he saw it, and he grabbed Mystique and tried to make a run for it. Isha waved her hand in response, sending out waves of sharp wind energy. I had just enough time to use Angel Evade paired with gust and parried the blow.

It sent me stumbling back, groaning as fresh, bone-deep lines sprouted on my skin. It completely cut through the leather of my Trenchcoat.

The wind blade caught on Rebellion shimmered briefly before flying back and crashing against a wall of Wind that Isha put up.

Pietro locked eyes with me for a brief moment before he vanished. Why am I helping the asshole who nearly sold me into slavery? Because Magneto would hear about it and learn more about the demon threat.

And the enemy of the enemy was my friend…I hope.

Given what I stumbled into, I already had an idea of what happened here. Isha and the Mutants came looking for the same person, and she completely outclassed Pietro, somehow, which I found wild and foreboding as all hell.

"Great technique for someone so new to their power," she said. "You're going to have to fix that bleeding heart of yours, though. It's going to get you killed."

With a twitch of her hand, she summoned what I could only describe as some strange type of glove with white and gold claws. The temperature in the room suddenly spiked. Clint and Natasha gasped while Kelly thrashed and screamed in the corner. My fire and pain resistance went into overdrive, blunting the damage substantially. For me, the heat made me feel like I was standing next to a roaring forge, but I imagined it would be orders of magnitude worse for everyone else.

Isha's smile grew even wider, and I took the time to observe her claws. They were made from gold and white metal and covered in glowing runes.

She swung out again, but this time, an inferno poured out. The world slowed down as Evasion activated. I moved, Gust and Osiris's speed boost buffing me. Burst threw me forward astonishingly fast. If I had to ballpark it, it estimated it would've been over the speed I moved when I left Xavier's estate. And I clocked it at over 100mph. I practically teleported in front of Clint and Natasha and spun Osiris as I activated Parry.

I regretted my choice instantly. The flames washed over me, buffeting slightly on my Parry Shield before sweeping me, my shield, and everything behind me away.

The house was incinerated in the fire, as was what remained of Kelly. The rescue operation was a failure, but now we had a more urgent mission: escaping with our lives.