116 Chapter 116: Varkis, Lord of The Dark

Chernobog's smile only grew as everyone else realized they stood before a god.

Dir Fury told them to expect being found. To speak for peace and play on Daken's want for knowledge, for a leg over them once again.

But as they all looked down at the primordial entity of shaped dark force energies, that concept seemed like a concept light years away.

The beast emanated violence in every humanely understood way.

They could literally hear the thing grinding its teeth in anticipation. Drooling. Heaving. Shuttering.

Magik threw a teleporting disc, no longer interested in trying for some fractured peace as she brandished her sword. Queen against god. Blade against shadow.

Mystique jumped back for the portal laid against the wall of broken windows.

The shadows cast around the fading light of the disc shifted.

Chernobog's arms exploded from the dark like they were portals of his own.

Chernobog caught Mystique and dragged her through the shadow.

In a blink she appeared at the gods side, hanging by where it held her arm before throwing her back at Magik.

Nightcrawler jumped out to catch her only for the force to send them crashing into everyone else anyway.

They fell and landed on cold concrete softly from Storm's winds.

"You were the eyes in the shadows…." Storm concluded as everyone slowly collected themselves.

Chernobog's smiled remained. Like a mask more than an actual face. Something the god wanted them to see instead of what actually was. "Smart girl. You know things…."

"I know there's no fight here. I know you aren't a Vampire. But you work with them— you could've killed us when you were watching us an hour ago. But you didn't."

Chernobog growled in disagreement, "A god works for no one! I'm here in search of a spark that could challenge my shadow….. that's all that matters. Blot out the light. All light. The strongest lights."

Nightcrawler shuttered at his words.

Chernobog stepped to Storm.

Storm stood tall.

"Do you think your spark could face my shadow, girl?"

"I don't fight for fun."

"If not fun then what?"

"Freedom."

Chernobog snorted, "You all fight for freedom and dominance on this planet as if the whole planet isn't still inside the great cage."

"Is that no different from what you're doing?"

Chernobog's smile spread like shards in oil—

"I will get my true battle. Do not goad me again, girl. Follow, we'll see what Varkis wants to do with you." Chernobog walked out of the shed, simply punching out the massive sliding door.

Around them all, shadowy clones of Chernobog climbed out of the shadows.

Hesitantly, they all got to their feet.

Nightcrawler helped Mystique to her feet.

"We're still missing an Agent." She reminded him.

Nightcrawler looked among their ranks. Aside from the one that was killed, another was still missing. Somewhere else while they were ushered to Varkis' lair.

The roads were sloppy stomped in walkways of mud and blood. The air was putrid as they walked through the rain. From the shadows of the buildings, eyes watched them and bats flapped overhead.

The main building was so obvious. A concrete tower topped by a massive metal shed that was once meant to contain the most deadly of radiation exposure.

It was simply known as The Sarcophagus.

As they walked across the massive lot laid before it, it seemed to grow before them all like a living them. Looming and staring holes through them with eyes unseen.

The hundreds of bats collected and materialized as Vampires crouching on the rooftop. Watching fiendishly as they were all ushered inside.

Nightcrawler expected an intricate overtly evil looking stronghold. Something dark and brooding with hundreds of vampiric followers surrounding their king in wait as he basked in violent glory.

It was more plain. That made it scarier somehow. More human.

The concrete floor felt colder inside. It wasn't until Nightcrawler saw the reflected glow of his eyes in it that he noticed portions of the floor dug out and made into a river filled with slithering things as long as support beams.

There were no lights. The Vampires didn't need them, naturally.

They lined the walls like statues. Pale skin and bright eyes unmoving as everyone approached, led by Chernobog.

At the head of the room, seated in a throne of stones built over what was once a nuclear control panel, Varkis sat in focused dark. Supply lines and old steel mill frameworks filled the background. Bats clung to the railings like an infestation. They were everywhere.

The rain beat against the sheds rooftop in a chaotic drilling repetition.

Varkis didn't acknowledge them. He simply stayed seated. Legs spread and hand rested on his fist.

"Stop playing."

Varkis opened his eyes. They were as red as Nightcrawler was blue.

Even so. He expected more. He expected a monstrous disfigured unstable thing. A quaking ball of trauma that only ascended to this level through violent cunning and madness.

Varkis looked like… he always did. Like Daken. With contacts.

He even had the same haircut.

"Do what you must with these. I will continue awaiting the sparks arrival." Chernobog left.

Varkis looked them over.

"Storm….. Nightcrawler… Mystique….. I don't know the rest of you. But I know why you're here."

Nightcrawler swallowed aloud and nodded, "Yes, Varkis. We come in search of peaceful negotiation."

Varkis laughed and all the Vampires inside screeched, "You…? Here for peace? Is that why you muzzled one of my Cheyaraphem back in the Brimstone Dimension?"

Nightcrawler let the sweat drip from his forehead in the darkness, "No— Well yes, we had little options. We knew you knew…. That we had your location. Given our previous battles we all knew what came next. We're outnumbered. We can't afford another Red Nation Incident. So…. We made our way to you. But we knew your followers wouldn't let us just walk over. So….."

"Ohh…. So you fought your way here, to say you don't want to fight." Varkis concluded.

Mystique cursed to herself.

"Yes…." Nightcrawler replied, "Varkis…. we want peace."

Varkis leaned forward in his chair, "Then why have you not joined me yet?"

"Wha—"

"Look around. I know you have been. Do I look like one to discriminate? Well I do. But the difference is not nearly as much as the other side. And it comes to an end eventually. Humans hate you. Humans hate me. What if we made them eat their words? What if we made everything a child of the night?"

"Everything?"

"Everything." Daken repeated, "Bigotry is taught by men who succumbed to fear. That fear leaves once the playing field is leveled. No more mutant children murdered over nothing. No more riots. No more injustice. We'd face greener pastures and new conflicts. But ultimately, would it not be more fair? We can't all be joined under humanity. So let's try Vampirism—"

A crash shook the grounds before Varkis could finish his tyrannical pitch. The roof caved in and light bloomed as a flaming shape fell to the earth.

It hit the ground like a ragdoll.

It didn't take long at all for everyone to recognize it was a person in flames.

A SHIELD Agent.

The missing SHIELD Agent.

Dead.

"жалкий….. If your walls keep being breached like this I'll have to assume you're as worthless a leader as I thought you were, Varkis-boy."

Everyone looked up to the hole in the cieling.

Out in the storm. In the dark and rain. A figure hovered. His cape fluttered in the lightning flashes. A shade of royal red that stood out against his black warrior armor. His eyes glowed from within a horned helmet that looked as old as time itself. Same for his golden beard and battle axe.

"...Thor?"

"No." White Widow said. "Perun."

"Whitie! What in the thundering hell are you doing here?" Perun yelled as if he'd run into an old friend and wasn't actively playing a part in the destruction of the world.

Their conversation faded for Magik and the others.

They continued to watch the burning corpse while Perun inadvertently provided a legendary distraction.

The fire wasn't going out. But the Agents armor beneath wasn't burning.

The head facing Magik shifted. It moved.

He wasn't dead….

It whispered something to her that Nightcrawler couldn't decipher.

All he knew was, she wasn't happy. Well she was…? It was complicated.

The flames grew, spitting sparks and lively heat.

In all the commotion, Magik threw down a teleporting disc and half of the burning Agents arm fell inside. Beneath the flames it shifted and slithered, turning into something else before coming back out.

The second it did, black tendrils that none of them felt fasten around their limbs yanked them into the portal.

The suddenness of it left everyone that remained in absolute silence.

In a flash, their captured enemies were gone.

And all that remained was the growing fire. The rage….

"Daken….. I told you I was coming. It's up now."

The fire grew into an explosion that eviscerated the stronghold in a flash of blazing heat.

The flaming SHIELD Agent was left standing amidst the rubble. Charred Vampires laid around him while others fled, fighting at the heat emanating off the figure. Varkis lay seared to his throne. Healing slowly. Angrily.

In the stillness, the flames faded and the Agent disguise twisted and slithered away as Symbiote skin, revealing StormWolf.

The land of Vampires rallied.

Brontë popped his claws.