Ed POV
A few days later
I was in the meeting room, waiting for the team, gathering the last pieces of intel. It was finally time to take on the Hellfire Club.
I'd prepared for Selene specifically, enchanted my entire suit, upgraded every rune, tested every spell. I already knew exactly where our battle would happen: an abandoned patch of desert, far from civilians. And I had clones planted there, ready to trigger a magical barrier the second we arrived.
Selene wasn't escaping.
Once I finalized all the information, the team began filing into the room. It took a few minutes for everyone to get in and settle. When the last person sat down, I stood.
Time to begin.
"You all know we haven't had a meeting like this in a while," I said. "Today, we're taking down the Hellfire Club. They're a group of extremely dangerous individuals focused on getting rich and creating a divide between humans and mutants."
Everyone went quiet.
"One group will attack their main base, where the Hellfire Club leadership is located. The second group will take their facilities, where they keep their soldiers and weapons."
I tapped the screen, pulling up the roster.
"Here are your teams and your targets."
Team Assignments:
Team One: Green Ghost, Plo Koon, Bang
Target:Sebastian Shaw
Team Two: Tracer, A-Train, Rahne
Target:Harry Leland
Team Three: Kimiko, Lorna, Queen Maeve
Target:Donald Pierce
Team Four: Stars and Stripes, All Might, Cannonball
Target:Friedrich von Roehm
Team Five: Arsenal
Target:Selene
Team Six: Pietro, Poison Ivy, Wanda
Target:Azazel
"The rest of you will hit their facilities and warehouses," I continued. "For the teams attacking the main Hellfire building, take note: Emma Frost and Reeva Payge are not to be targeted. Steve will escort them out safely."
I looked around. "Any questions?"
Peggy raised a hand. "Are you sure you want to take on Selene alone?"
"Yes," I said without hesitation. "I can handle her. And honestly? I've been wanting to test out my anti-magic swords and the spells I learned from the Ancient One… in my dragon form."
Starlight sighed. "Why am I not surprised you can turn into a dragon?"
"I don't know," I said. "Maybe you finally got used to all the craziness around here."
I scanned the room. "Anything else?"
A-Train raised his hand. "This isn't mission-related, but… I talked to Black Lightning. He said he doesn't want to officially join us, but he is willing to help when we need him."
"That's a shame. I was hoping he'd join, but good to know he's open to assisting," I said. "Anything else?"
Silence.
"Alright," I said, standing straighter. "I wish everyone luck. And one final order."
I looked each of them in the eye.
"Come home alive."
Emma Frost POV
Right now, I'm sitting in a Hellfire Club meeting, listening to grown men panic. Their factories and facilities are under attack, as Arsenal warned me they would be. Reeva and I already knew this was coming.
The only reason I even bothered attending was so I could send Arsenal the signal the moment everyone was present. My daughters stayed home; I refused to bring them anywhere near Selene.
Donald and Sebastian were yelling over each other, arguing about how the Vanguard Initiative discovered our locations and why they were striking now. I let them shout. Let them scramble.It would all be over soon.
"Emma," Selene said suddenly, cutting through the noise. "You've been quiet this entire meeting, which is unlike you during a crisis." She tilted her head with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Is everything alright?"
Out of everyone in the Hellfire Club, she is the only one I fear.Ancient, powerful, deeply learned in the dark arts… and more intelligent and sadistic than the rest combined.
"I'm fine," I said calmly. "I'm just considering what course of action we should take."
"Oh yes," she purred, "you've always had such a clear head, even in situations like this."Then her eyes sharpened. "But I am curious… where are your daughters? You always bring them to meetings."
"They're handling a separate task for me," I replied.
"And what task might that be?"
"None of your concern," I snapped before I could stop myself.
Selene chuckled softly. "Oh come now, there's no need for hostility. We're all friends here."Her smile widened, predatory.
"I mean… unless you're the one who betrayed us."
"What?" Sebastian barked.
Selene didn't even look at him. Her eyes stayed locked on me.
"Well," she said smoothly, "I just find it… strange. Arsenal and his team attack our facilities out of nowhere. Almost as if someone handed them that information."
She leaned back, smiling like a serpent.
"And not to mention, the one time dear Emma doesn't bring her daughters to a meeting. That has never happened in all the years I've known her."
Donald went silent. Reeva swallowed.
Selene continued, her voice soft but razor-sharp:
"I also find it interesting that during a crisis like this, she is perfectly calm. Completely unbothered. Even though Arsenal is the second strongest hero alive… and more than capable of reducing this entire building to rubble."
Her gaze flicked briefly to Reeva.
"And Reeva is also rather calm. Not worried about being caught. Not worried about prison."Her smile sharpened. "Not worried about anything at all."
She finished her analysis with unsettling grace.
"But I'm sure," she said, tilting her head, "that it's all just coincidence… right, Emma?"
She drilled her eyes into mine, waiting.
Waiting for the truth. Or the lie.
Either way, she already smelled blood.
The rest of the Hellfire Club stared at us, suspicion in their eyes, tension thick enough to choke on.Before I could even respond, a voice cut through the room.
"You're right on the money, you old sorceress. She did betray you guys."
Arsenal.He appeared right behind me. Did he just teleport inside the room? Even Selene looked slightly impressed.
Seconds later, glowing portals ripped open all around us.Teams poured in, heroes, meats, combatants.I spotted Steve among them, shield already raised.
Arsenal stepped forward.
"Now, I'll give everyone here a choice. Surrender peacefully and go to prison… or fight and die."
Of course, they all shot to their feet, preparing for battle.
Arsenal sighed. "Not surprised you picked that option. But before we begin, I'd like to ask the Black Queen for a favor."
Selene's eyes gleamed with intrigue."Oh? And what would that be?"
"I'm asking for a change of scenery. I'm sure we'd have way more fun without all these people in the way. Luckily for us, I know the perfect location."
He opened a swirling portal right next to her.
Selene studied it, amused."I see. You're concerned about the civilians outside this building and want us somewhere desolate, I assume. Or... there's a trap waiting for me beyond this portal."
"Yes," Arsenal said casually. "On both accounts. There is a trap.And yes, it's a desert on the other side."
The honesty shocked everyone, including me.
Selene laughed, a true, genuine, ancient laugh. I'd never heard that sound before; it didn't belong to a human throat.
"Oh, you're so honest," she said with a wicked grin.
Arsenal bowed slightly. "I've always found it hard to lie to beautiful women like yourself. Which is why you can trust me when I say, you don't stand a chance against me. If you step through that portal."
Selene's smile widened, dark and full of hunger.
"You're not the first, you know. Or the last. I've lived for over seventeen thousand years. So many men and women have stood before me with confidence, believing they could defeat me. And every one of them… ended in despair. Their faces when they realized how unmatched they were, oh, it is always delightful."
Arsenal's expression didn't change. "You have my word: I'm not like the ones you've faced before. And I'd be happy to prove it."
Selene tilted her head, intrigued."Fine. I'll play with you for a while."
She began walking toward the portal.
"Selene, don't," Sebastian warned desperately.
"Oh, don't be a bore," she waved him off. "I'm sure you'll all manage without me for a few minutes, kill them, punish the traitors."
Then, without another glance back, she stepped through the portal.
It snapped shut behind her.
And the moment it did.
Arsenal vanished.
Ed POV
Selene and I stood in the desert, an enormous magical barrier sealing us off from the world.
"Oh, how wonderful," Selene said, looking around as if she were sightseeing. "We're in Egypt. I haven't been here in so long. I had such wonderful memories here."
She wasn't even bothered by the fact that we were about to kill each other.
"I'm sure you've been around every inch of this world a dozen times," I said. "I bet everything gets boring eventually."
"You have no idea," she replied. "That's why I joined that little Hellfire Club, to avoid being bored."
"Well," I said, "I hope I can excite you one last time."
"As I said before," she smiled, "you're not the first, or the last, to say that. Let's get this over with, please… try to be interesting."
A thick black aura erupted around her, swirling like smoke made of nightmares.
I pulled out my grimoire from my inventory and drew my two blades, the Demon-Dweller Sword and the Demon-Destroyer Sword.
For a moment, we simply stared at each other.
Then Selene moved first, hurling a blast of dark energy straight at me. I dodged and rushed forward, slashing down with my blade. She formed a barrier instantly, but my sword shredded it like paper and sliced her shoulder.
Her eyes widened, actual surprise, she teleported back before I could press the attack, but the damage was done.
The cut wasn't deep, nothing fatal, but she still raised a hand to cover the wound. Blood seeped between her fingers.
"How… interesting," she murmured. "A weapon that negates magic."
"Told you I'd excite you," I said.
"Yes… you did," she said, voice shifting to something far colder. "I suppose I should take you seriously."
She lifted her blood–stained hand and snapped her fingers.
My entire barrier, my carefully prepared trap, shattered like glass.
And above us, the sky began to darken. Clouds churned violently as if the heavens themselves were recoiling from her power.
This battle was about to get serious.
I tightened my stance and blitzed toward her, moving so fast the sand ripped behind me. But this time she teleported away before I could reach her. She reappeared high in the air, arms raised, and unleashed a dozen spells down on me.
I reflected and destroyed them easily, then launched myself after her.
She teleported again, reappearing a few meters to my right, and fired another blast.I conjured a magical barrier instantly, the impact exploding into a blinding flash. I couldn't see anything, but my Spider Sense screamed.
Danger on my left.
I turned just in time to see her materializing mid strike. I dodged, feeling the heat of her spell brush past my face. I countered with a slash, but she teleported away again.
I clicked my tongue.No more playing around.
I created two clones, one on my left, one on my right, and handed each of them a sword, then I activated Eyes of the Lord.
Now it didn't matter if she teleported.I could track her.And while fighting her, I could analyze and learn her spells as well.
It was a shame I couldn't use the Eyes of Buddha, her soul was far too black, too corrupted for me to lock onto.But this would do.
Selene teleported and attacked again, dark energy ripping through the air, but my eyes followed her smoothly. My clones and I attacked together, three angles at once, pushing her movement patterns.
She teleported once more, but this time, I saw exactly where she reappeared.
Back on the ground.Muttering a spell under her breath.
Around her, bodies began clawing out of the sand, zombies, summoned from the desert.
My clones dashed forward to engage the undead.
I angled down toward Selene, magic swirling in my palm.
Time to shut her down.
She flew straight at me, dark magic in her hands, and unleashed a torrent of energy. I fired back with my own magic, our beams colliding in a massive crackling clash that shook the desert.
I poured everything into my attack, raw magic, power from every corner of my being, it overwhelmed her instantly. She had to teleport away or be vaporized.
My beam didn't stop, it slammed into the earth with a devastating explosion, wiping out a good portion of her undead horde.
Selene stared at the blast in open shock."What magnificent power…"
"Oh sweetie," I said, feeling my body shift, scale, expand,"you haven't seen anything yet."
In an instant, I transformed.
A massive black dragon with glowing blue stripes, wings casting a shadow over the desert, my form reminiscent of Acnologia, radiating pure annihilation.
Selene's awe showed on her face for the first time in centuries.
"Selene," I rumbled, voice shaking the sand beneath us, "can you tell me how many lives you've taken in your long life? How many innocents you slaughtered for amusement? Give me the exact number… and I'll spare you. I'll lock you away for the rest of your immortal existence instead."
It wasn't a trick.I truly wanted to know if she had even an ounce of remorse left.
Selene laughed.
"Why on Earth would I count the number of people I've killed?" she said. "Tell me, do you remember every ant you step on? Humans are nothing but playthings. And don't get cocky, yes, your power is magnificent, but I can still beat you."
I stared down at her.
"I see. How tragic you are," I said. "There's nothing left in you. Whoever you used to be died a long time ago. All that remains is an empty husk.Evil for the sake of evil."
I lowered my massive head.
"And that? That's pathetic. Weak. Cowardly."
Her face twisted in rage.
"You dare call me weak?!"She fired a massive wave of dark magic directly at me.
I didn't move.
I simply opened my mouth and absorbed her attack.
Every last drop.
Her expression went from fury… to confusion…to fear.
"Pray," I said, my voice shaking the desert like a storm,"to whatever god or devil you still believe in."
I spread my wings, the blue stripes glowing like molten lightning.
"Because your death… comes today."
I summoned a dozen glowing magic circles around me and unleashed them all at once, beams of pure energy firing toward Selene like a volley of magical lasers.
She teleported away, of course.But with the Eyes of the Lord, I saw exactly where she reappeared.
I lunged toward her, massive wings cutting through the air.
She flung another barrage of spells at me, desperate and rapid.I simply opened my mouth and ate the magic, swallowing it like flames.
And once my stomach was full of her power, I exhaled a beam of pure magic, a concentrated blast straight from my core.
She teleported again.
I was really getting sick of that.
My Spider Sense screamed. Danger, below.
I snapped my arms downward just in time, blocking her attack aimed at my chest. I coated my hands in Haki.
Her conjured sword shattered instantly against my palms.
That gave me an idea.
I focused, letting black metallic shine cover my scales…Armament Haki fused with my iron dragon metal until my entire body gleamed like a living weapon.
I locked eyes with her.
"Tell me," I growled, "has an evil sorcerer like you… ever experienced fear?"
She didn't answer.Not with words.
But the flicker in her eyes said enough.
I didn't care, I blitzed forward, the desert cracking under my force, and grabbed her in my dragon claws. I squeezed, just enough to hurt, not enough to kill, and cast a binding spell over her body.
She thrashed, clawed, tried to drain my life force, her favorite trick.
But nothing happened.
She couldn't leech a single drop from me.
Her face twisted in frustration, and fear.
I squeezed tighter.
I charged another blast in my mouth, but she teleported away before I could fire. She appeared on my left, panting, bleeding, glaring at me with fury and fear.
"What the hell are you?!" she screamed.
"Just a man," I said. "Trying to do some good."
She clearly hated that answer.
With a roar, she conjured a dozen spectral swords and hurled them at me.Not magic blasts this time, physical weapons, trying to bypass my absorption.
They shattered harmlessly against my scales.
I flew straight through them, faster than her eyes could track, drew back my fist, and slammed it her entire body. She shot across the sky like a comet.
I teleported behind her and struck again, hammering her downward toward the desert floor near where we started.
She crashed hard, kicking up a cloud of sand. I landed in front of her, towering over her.
She staggered to her feet, clothes in tatters, coughing blood, holding her right arm like it was broken.
"Just give up," I said. "And I'll make your death merciful."
"No…" she hissed. "I will never surrender. I will never stop trying to kill you. We will meet again, monster!"
She tried to teleport, her body flickering, glitching in and out, then snapping back into place.She froze, eyes widening in confusion.
"What…? Why can't I?"
"Wondering why you can't teleport away?" I asked. "Simple. I put up another barrier before this fight started, one big enough to cover seventy miles. And when I grabbed you the first time, I placed a spell on you. A little condition. Restricting your teleportation entirely."
"What?" she gasped.
"Oh, and one more thing."
A clone materialized behind her, silent, invisible until now, and drove the Demon-Slasher Katana straight through her back.
She gasped, blood spilling from her lips.
"Before this battle began," I said softly, "I gave one of my clones another anti-magic blade and told him to stay hidden until the perfect moment."
I stepped closer as she trembled around the blade.
"As you can tell… you can't use a single bit of your magic now."
Her eyes widened in pure, primal terror.
"I did tell you that you were going to die today," I said, stepping toward her ruined body. "I hope you prayed… because this blast will finish you."
I charged another attack, this time mixing all my energies together.It only took a few seconds for the power to build, but when it did, the air shook.
I fired.
At the last moment, my clone teleported away, leaving Selene directly in the path of the beam.
The desert lit up like a small sun.
When the energy finally stopped flowing, I shifted back into my human form. Before me stretched a massive crater, miles long, its sand fused into black, glossy glass.
I walked forward.
To my surprise, her body was still there. Completely burned, missing a hand and a leg… but still barely breathing.
"Ahh… I see," I said. "At the last second, when my clone disappeared with the sword, you threw up a barrier. You didn't have time to perfect it, so it didn't last long.Impressive instincts."
I crouched beside her.
"Too bad those same instincts didn't tell you fighting me was a bad idea.Don't worry. I don't enjoy watching people suffer. I'll end it now."
One of my clones flew beside me and placed an anti-magic sword in my hand.
I raised it, before I could strike, Selene choked out her final question, voice trembling:
"Wh… what are you?"
"I told you," I said softly. "Just a man trying to do a little good. Nothing more… nothing less."
Her lips curled into a weak, broken laugh."Hahaha… fool…"
"Probably," I said. "But this fool will live a lot longer than you."
I didn't hesitate.
I drove the sword into her heart.
Selene, the Black Queen, the oldest and cruelest of the Hellfire Club, died instantly.
______________________________________________________
AN: If I'm being honest with myself, I was debating whether to let her live and try to redeem her or just kill her, so I just flipped a coin. I guess fate chose her to die.
I hope everyone had a nice Christmas and New Year's