I didn't know what to expect going in, but it definitely wasn't this.
My lightsaber carved clean through the massive bear, violet-white heat shearing fur and bone in a single stroke.
I pivoted before the body even hit the ground and drove a punch straight into a lunging wolf. The impact snapped its spine midair and sent it skidding across the warped ground.
Another wolf rushed me from the flank.
Thunder Breathing surged through my legs, one sharp step, one clean cut, and it collapsed in a smoking heap. The last beast didn't even get close before I closed the distance and put it down just as fast.
I glanced back.
Wong and Kaecilius hadn't fared any worse. Orange light flared into mandalas as conjured weapons speared and carved through the giant beasts at Wong's command. Kaecilius fired tight beams of force that punched clean through monsters with brutal efficiency.
The ground between us was a mess of corpses. Giant bears with warped ribcages and elongated jaws. Wolves the size of trucks, hides stretched too tight over misshapen frames, eyes wrong in a way that made my skin crawl. Elongated legs with extra joints. Bone growths spread across their bodies like fungus.
Everything about them seemed pulled from a horror movie.
[Feat Achieved! Primal Slayer!]
[+1 Silver Ticket]
I paused.
I didn't really want to risk showing off my power in front of a potential super villain, but being stingy was a good way to get myself killed. I ripped it.
[Mind Control Resistance]
|Rare Skill|
Batman – Thanks to the teachings of the Tibetan Monks, you have learned how to resist mind control and mind reading. The amount of resistance you can put up is proportional to your mental strength and overall power level.
My head flooded with years of spiritual and philosophical knowledge. Visualizing the spirit. Tuning it with will and turning resolve into architecture, shaping the mind into a palace or a maze, depending on what you need.
Holy fuck. Tibetan monks were awesome.
"Are you all right?" Wong asked.
I shook my head once to clear the last of it and looked up at him. "I'm fine."
Kaecilius was already crouched near the bodies. One of the giant wolves lay split open as he dissected it with a small, shifting magical tool, the implement changing shape as he probed muscle, bone, and organs with clinical focus.
Would it be weird if I asked for that spell?
"Anything?" Wong asked.
"Hm. Divination is not my forte," Kaecilius said, straightening and wiping his hands clean with a flick of energy. "But I can determine a few things. The source of this dimension and the beasts are separate. The mutations originate from a different ritual entirely."
"They're not native to this dimension?" Wong frowned.
Kaecilius shook his head, and the two of them immediately slid into rapid-fire discussion, overlapping terms and half-finished thoughts that lost me in about three seconds.
"Non-sorcerer here, explain please," I said, lifting a hand that snapped them out of it.
Wong exhaled. "Different dimensions occasionally contain beings, or are used to form constructs—facsimiles of life shaped by a sorcerer. The key issue is binding. Such entities are tied to their dimension. Unless specific steps are taken, they pose no threat to Earth. But—"
"I am quite certain these are transmuted animals," Kaecilius finished.
"Ah shit. So they can invade," I said.
That wasn't good. For us, this had been manageable. I was a superpowered pseudo-Jedi, and the other two were literal master monks of magic.
Drop creatures like this into a city, and anything short of heavy weaponry would struggle to put them down. It would be a slaughter until the army stepped in.
"The source of their power is different," Kaecilius continued. "Foul magic. An ancient form of human sacrifice. I sense many lives bound and trapped. I can feel the sorcerer at the opposite end of this place. We need to move."
"We're just leaving them?" I frowned
Wong hesitated, visibly torn, but Kaecilius shook his head. "The source lies opposite the nexus of this dimension. We will never reach it in time. This realm is his sanctum. Our sling rings do not function here. We cannot save them and risk letting such a madman go."
I opened my mouth to argue.
Something dropped from above.
Metal slid free with a soft, lethal sound, and a claw pressed lightly against Kaecilius's neck.
"No funny business, magic man," Wolverine growled. A third claw edged closer to Kaecilius's throat. "Same for your friends. Move, and I rip your throat out."
Wong and I froze.
Of course, it was Logan. Of all the fucking times. He was scruffy and short, somehow looking one-to-one with Hugh Jackman anyway. God, I hated this universe.
"You're going to take me to where the fucking captives are. Now."
"No," Kaecilius snapped back. "I don't know if you heard me, you fool. We are too far. You would damn more lives if we let the dark sorcerer escape."
"I'm not asking," Logan said. His grip tightened as he hauled Kaecilius forward, claws hovering just shy of skin. "Walk."
Wong twitched. I saw the telltale glow of a spell starting to form.
This was going to shit fast. Even if we could handle Logan, fighting him inside a warped wizard's dimension was a nightmare scenario.
"Wait, Logan."
That did it. All three of them looked at me. Kaecilius and Wong wore the same strained disbelief.
Logan's surprise flickered into suspicion.
"I know you, kid?"
"I'm friends with Charles," I said, making it up on the spot.
"Bullshit."
Crap.
"You're here because of the kids, right?" I pushed on. "Something happened to the students?"
I was guessing, but I should've thought of it sooner. We were basically in Westchester—Xavier's backyard. If Logan was here, that had to mean…
He paused. Just a fraction, but I got him.
"Right. Then I'll help you," I said quickly. "Kaecilius says it's too far for them. Fine. We split up. I'll take you to wherever they're holding the hostages. I can teleport. But if you kill him, you damn us both."
Logan stared at me, jaw tight, claws still out. A long second passed. Then another. Finally, with a sharp snort of irritation, he eased the pressure and let go, claws retracting.
I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding.
Holy shit. It worked.
Logan stepped back as Kaecilius moved closer. Kaecilius rubbed his neck, scowling. "Foolish."
Wong didn't look any happier. "You're sure going along with this… individual is wise, Jack?"
"Yeah," I said. "I do. We can't just leave them, can we? I'll be fine."
They exchanged a look—the kind that said they didn't believe me but were done arguing. Kaecilius sighed, then gestured sharply, projecting a brief map into the air and pointing to a distant marker.
"There," he said, eyes never leaving Logan. "That is where I sensed the captives."
Logan memorized it at a glance, then looked back at me, suspicion written all over his face.
"Let's go save the day." I tried to be upbeat.
All I got in reply was a grunt.
Ugh. Why did I do this to myself?
—
Wong and Kaecilius split off to pursue the dark sorcerer. That left me starting a very awkward rescue mission with Wolverine, aimed squarely at saving potential X-Men and whoever else had been dragged in with them.
You'd think a pocket dimension would be compact.
It wasn't.
Whoever built this place apparently wanted a sprawling forest the size of a small county, endless trees, and warped undergrowth stretching in every direction.
So began the even more awkward part. Teleporting Logan across the woods in a long chain of jumps. The vertigo wasn't nearly as bad thanks to my rings, which let me stretch each jump farther and keep the chain stable, but my stomach still very much disagreed with the plan.
I leaned against a tree, eyes shut, trying not to puke in front of him.
Truly, I was nailing my first impressions.
"Can you walk?" Logan asked. He never stopped scanning the forest.
"I'll… be… fine…" I straightened, forced a breath, let the rings settle me. "We're close, right?"
Logan sniffed the air. "Yeah. We're close. We'll walk the rest of the way. Need you steady if we're gonna fight."
"Do we, uh, have a plan?"
"Fuck them up and save the kids," he said flatly.
I wondered if he was always this brusque. On reflection, it was also extremely Logan.
"Not saying we shouldn't, but what if—"
"Then I'm killing a lot of people, kid," he said, dark and certain.
That shut the conversation down. The silence afterward was heavy enough that I didn't try to fill it.
"You a telepath?" he asked after a bit. "Or even a mutant?"
"No. And… sure?" I hedged.
"Hm." He glanced at me. "Didn't feel like my mind was getting read. You sure as hell ain't a mutant. I've been around the block. Look, kid, I don't know what the fuck you are or what your freaky juju does, but as long as you don't mess with me or mine, I don't give a fuck."
"I don't wanna hear 'freaky' from the guy with claws in his hands."
That got a snort out of him. Then he stiffened and picked up the pace as we crested a low hill.
We slowed and peeked over the edge.
Down in the valley were cages. Dozens of them. Groups of people packed inside, some slumped, some gripping the bars, all very much alive.
"Kids…" Logan breathed. Relief and rage tangled together in the word.
At the center of the camp stood a deer-man thing. Compared to the previous monsters, it was taller and more eldritch. The upper half of a man, the lower half a deer, yet the body was so distorted it was barely recognizable. It hovered over a carved pentagram surrounded by crates of flesh, moving with deliberate care as it placed chunks onto the lines.
The symbol bubbled and writhed. Flesh knitted itself together, bone forming with wet, popping sounds, until a wolf took shape piece by piece.
Yuck.
Dozens more of those horror-movie animals ringed the cages, pacing or standing unnaturally still. A guard force, but not an unbeatable one.
"Let's—" Logan started.
"My, my, Logan. Fancy meeting you here."
We both flinched and turned.
A black-haired woman stood a few paces away, all curves and elegance, a face models would kill for. Despite that, every instinct I had recoiled from her. Something about her felt old. Hungry.
"Selene," Logan snarled, claws sliding free. "Was this your doing?"
"Please," Selene said, smiling. "As if I would be so amateur—"
I didn't wait.
I teleported behind her, lightsaber igniting as Thunder Breathing snapped through my body.
Victory goes to those who strike first.
She reacted fast. Force smashed into the ground between us, blasting dirt and rock upward and throwing her clear of my strike.
But she was a step too late.
A hand hit the ground with a wet thud.
"AHHH! You—YOU!" The immortal witch clutched the burnt end of her arm, her face twisted in fury.
[Feat Achieved! Surprise Attack!]
[+1 Gold Gacha Ticket]
"Ha," Logan said, already charging past me. "I'll buy you a beer after this, kid!"
***
Comments and Thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Likes are like a drug to me and boost my creative juices.
I have advanced chapters on my Pa tre on/daisyberry if you wanna read ahead.