Chapter 26: Not So Sweet Revenge

Hellfire Club

New York City

Betsy Braddock, dressed in a tight white t-shirt, sans bra, equally tight black jeans and fashionable new clog's made of leather and rubber, her only other attire was the leather choker around her neck and the matching thin leather strap on her right wrist, walked into the side entrance of the Hellfire Club and wondered if her English heritage would have been enough for her to walk through the front doors of the famed member's only club. Somehow she doubted it; her 'twin' Brian, yes, she who was a bastard child with only a partial claim to the title that Brian held in full, definitely not. As she met the security guard in the 1700's era servant's garb, she decided it mattered not.

The man, whom she knew was expecting her, still scowled at her for the apparent inconvenience of making him move from behind his desk. After having Betsy sign in, she signed her name as Betsy Braddock and not her full name of Elisabeth Glorianna Kwannon Braddock, nor did she sign her name as Psyclocke, which she used quite frequently in her guise as an X-Man. She followed the guard through a side door, which lead to a short, bare hallway ending in another door. The guard opened the door with his mag-lock key and nodded for her to enter. Betsy was not surprised when the man shut the heavy door behind her, plummeting the room into darkness.

A slight electronic squeal rose after the door was shut and Betsy recognized the slight tingle that was not quite painful as a psionics dampener flooded the room. The dampener was designed to affect the area of a mind that allowed a mutant to manifest their ability, scrambling it with the intention of robbing the mutant of their special abilities. For the most part it worked such as now, as Betsy was entering the room, she had detected four minds waiting in the darkness for her, once the door was shut, sealing her in, she could no longer detect the four that she knew were still in the room with her.

The lights did not come on for over a minute, she was confident that was to ensure that her mutant ability had been neutralized. Her vision adjusted quickly and she saw three of the four men. They were dressed not in the garish 1700 era clothes, but the form fitting armor of the Hellfire security, complete with the shapeless flat masks with only a slot for each eye and mouth. The three were armed with vicious looking automatics while the fourth, who was the largest, was armed with an old style, second generation portable laser rifle.

Nations armed their soldiers with relatively cheap chemical, i.e. gunpowder based weapons. Tyrants, megalomaniacs and corporations of ill intent armed their soldiers and security forces with something much more expensive and theoretically more powerful. A.I.M., Advanced Ideas Mechanics was one of a handful of suppliers who made quite a profit outfitting the lackey's of those persons of interest who were destined to have a run in with superheroes, hell bent on stopping their treachery.

The first generation of man portable lasers was barely that as they consisted of a large backpack that housed the heavy power pack that powered the equally heavy hand held laser projector. The second generation were actually chemical lasers while being much smaller and lighter than the first generation was still a bulky weapon with most of the weapon consisting of a large cylinder that housed the radioactive chemicals under high pressure, when a electrical current was run through the cylinder that was roughly the size of a fire extinguisher, the chain reaction was sent to an emitter which released the destructive force in the form of a laser beam. The color of the beam was dependent on the chemicals used, but a combination of Freon and Radium was commonly used which granted a green laser blast that retained enough power to blow a fist sized hole in a brick wall.

Outside of being unwieldy, the chemical lasers were short ranged and each cylindrical canister only contained enough gas for roughly sixty shots while the battery supply that was housed in the weapon handle had to be replaced after every twenty shots. Betsy saw that the large man had two spares attached to his utility harness. The fact that the man was holding what was considered by some in the biz as a relic did not make sense to Betsy nor did she think that the Hellfire Club would allow a weapon that in any way shape or form seem to be substandard to be used by their security forces.

But it wasn't the four men or the antique laser that maintained Betsy's attention, it was the man whose face she saw on the wall monitor, the man she was sent to kill.

< ... I was sure you wouldn't come... > Betsy listened as the man's electronic voice devoured her shapely body.

< ... When Sebastian said he had a treat for me, I really didn't believe him, but I should have. Yes, I should have... > Betsy did not care to join in with the man's mirth. A mirth that was short lived.

< ... Guards, strip her... > The large man holding the chemical laser easily aimed it at Betsy while the other three moved towards her, the middle guard having pulled out a wicked looking hunting knife. <No. Wait. Mutie, you came here on your own accord, did you not?... >

Betsy said nothing but nodded her head up and down. The smile the man on the other side displayed on the wall monitor could only be described as evil looking.

< ... Good. You strip. Naked... >

Frederick Municipal Airport

Frederick, Maryland

The Blackbird utilizing its STVOL capabilities landed at the Frederick Municipal Airport before taxiing from the short runway to the main hanger, where it was directed to park with its nose inside the hanger door. Because of the Gulf Stream V, with tail number X569FI already parked inside, that was all of the Blackbird that could comfortably fit in the hanger. After going through his shutdown sequence, the pilot, Scott Summers joined his co-pilot, Logan Lazarus in greeting those who were waiting for them.

"Professor, Peter, how goes your hunt?"

"Quite well, Scott, most of the restoration has already been accredited to the School's account and I have been able to help S.H.I.E.L.D. notice some slight oversights that resulted in a few arrests."

"Jean updated me on what happened on Magneto's Island. I still think that we should have sent the other students to Muir Island instead."

Scott had been flying non-stop since the attack on the School with two trips to Muir Island, two trips to Magneto's Island and three additional trips elsewhere in the US and Europe at the Professor's behest.

"I understand why you feel that way Scott; however you need to trust me on this."

"Very well Professor, but having everyone split up is unnerving."

"How are you doing Scott?"

"A little tired and I miss Jean but otherwise I am fine. Why?"

"No issues with Logan?" That question made Scott look to the side where Logan was being bombarded with questions from his number one fan; Roberto DeCosta.

"No sir, but you would know if there was." Charles Xavier nodded his head, "Sir, did he really almost kill that student?"

"Yes, he did, and I was lucky that I was scanning the Island at the time if not Phillip would be dead."

"And there has been no more sign of that ... entity?"

"No, I have not been able to find a trace. Whatever Illyana did, it appears to be effective."

"So what is next for the Blackbird Professor?"

"Continue what you were doing. Go to the School to check on the status there, and then fly out to Muir Island and back down to Magneto's Island."

"Yes sir."

Scott went to the snack room inside the hanger for a drink and to relax a bit; with any luck he would be able to take a quick nap before flying up to West Chester, New York.

"Uhmm, excuse us Cyclops..." Turning Scott saw three of the Year One's, Sam Guthrie, Dannielle Moonstar and Shan Coy Manh.

"What can I do for you?"

Sam started but his questioned turned more into hemming and hawing, "Well, Suh, I ... I mean, we ... well, we were, uh..."

Dani had no patience for Sam's Kentucky blubbering, "The Professor hasn't told us squat about what happened down there. One moment he had us all on alert and was telling us that he was diverting the Blackbird here and the next moment he said that everything was in hand."

Scott nodded to the Native American's assertiveness but looked at the Year One Class Leader, Karma, and "So you want to know what happened?"

"Yes, sir, we have asked the Professor but he won't tell us for some reason and so I thought with your mental link with Phoenix, you would know."

Scott quickly pondered why the Professor was keeping his student's in the dark; they were related and fairly close to the separated students. Scott's initial guess was that the Professor was otherwise preoccupied with his dealings in Washington, DC. Another part of Scott would attribute the Professor's odd actions to the fact that his personal attendant, Nurse Prachett was on Muir Island and Jean had previously noted that the Professor wasn't at his best when he was separated from his nurse.

"Well, they were attacked." Scott was confirming what he was sure they already knew.

Dani's eagerness for violence could be heard in her voice, "Who was it? The Hellfire Club? Sinister? The Marauders?"

Scott solemnly shook his head, "No, it was Magneto."

"So they are all dead?"

Shan sometimes wished her fellow Year One was not so exuberant about violence and death, "No, they are not dead Dani, be real, the Professor would have told us that."

Dani looked at Shan, shrugged to indicate that she was being real and turned back to Cyclops, "So then Mags beat up on your girl and left the Island?"

Scott knew just how powerful Jean was but the overprotective male in him did not like to think or hear about someone causing his love pain, "Yes, Magneto did cause trouble and some pain, but he was defeated."

"DEFEATED!" All three Year One's sounded in chorus, shocked at what Cyclops just told them. Then Dani was pumping her fist as she expanded, "Yeah, Phoenix and Storm put that blow hard in his place!"

Again Scott shook his head side to side, "Actually, Magneto had Jean and Ororo beat even before he stepped foot on the Island."

That was enough to curtail Dani's excitement. Shan asked quietly, "Bishop?"

Scott nodded, "Yes, Bishop and a student took down Magneto, a couple of other student's helped, but it was mainly the two of them."

The three Year One's looked back and forth in disbelief, Magneto was the X-Men's oldest foe and one of the most powerful mutants on the planet and now Cyclops was telling them that Bishop, who was no where near Magneto's power class, and a student took him down.

"Rusty?" Sam asked.

"No, not Rusty, not powerful enough, Tabitha?" Dani corrected.

Shan looked at Cyclops pondering before answering, "I think maybe it was a Year Three and not a Year Two and since that Island seems more like Illyana's than Magneto's, I will say Magick."

Scott chuckled lightly, "Shan is right it was a Year Three but not Illyana though Rusty and Jubilee did try to help."

"A Year Three, crap, they are trying to make us look bad. Just don't say it was that punk, Phillip."

"You don't like Phillip Dani?" Scott knew of Phillip's intrusion of Dani and Rahne while they were in the midst of their carnal activities at their personal campfire by the lake.

"No, I don't. He seems like a big cry baby to me and yet he gets all of this attention. Roberto would give his left nut for Wolverine to train him and Phillip gets Wolvie by default."

"Dani, look at me. There is not one student at the school who is more important or special than the rest. Not one. I don't have to remind you that Phillip is on his third trainer because of what happened to Ann Marie and Carol. Once Ann Marie is back on her feet, she will go back to being Phillip's trainer, until that time Logan has agreed to train Phillip. Logan spends less time at this school than any other X-Man, so I can appreciate how you think that Phillip is being treated special but that just is not the case."

Dani glared at Scott, her pride did not like her being scolded, but eventually she backed down and looked away.

"Suh, uh, if I may?"

"Yes, Sam?"

"How did Field and Bishop stop Mags?"

"Magneto took Bishop's plasma pistol away and Bishop made it explode while Magneto was holding it. Practically blew his hand off."

"OUCH!" Again in unison.

"Firefist and Jubilee tried to take Magneto down but his armor resisted most of their attacks. However, they did distract Magneto, which allowed Field to jump next to Magneto and stab him in the chest with a Field shaped blade."

"Wow!"

"Then Bishop batted Magneto off the Island with a tree trunk. Siryn and Marvel Girl tried to find Magneto but they couldn't. The Professor agrees with Bishop in that both think that Magneto escaped to heal."

"So they got lucky?"

"Yeah, Dani, they got lucky. Which is something you simply can not count on when you are in a fight, do you all understand that?"

Another chorus, this time, "Yes sir."

"Good."

Magneto Island

Bahamas

Phillip was ecstatic. Phillip was flying!

"Bishop, sir, can I ask you a question?"

"What is that Phillip?"

Phillip stifled a yawn, he had slept for eighteen hours, replenishing his energy reserves spent with Sally using their mutant powers chasing after Magneto's body and then swimming in the Atlantic the day before ; Sally slept for twelve hours and was already back in the water swimming.

"Can you give me a Fast Ball Special?"

"Fast Ball Special... ?"

"Yes, throw me up in the air like they say Colossus does with Wolverine."

"Why?"

"Because I think I can fly sir."

"If you can fly, why do you need me to throw you in the air?"

"So I don't over exert myself trying to get off the ground. I want to make sure I don't go splat."

"And why do you think I can throw you?"

"Well, I was talking with Rusty before and he said that one thing you told him was that you make sure your body is charged every morning and every night."

"Yes, I do, Rusty helps with that."

"Right, well, when I figured out that you were able to bat Magneto into the ocean, that you should be able to throw me a couple of hundred feet in the air."

"That is a fair assumption."

"Great! So you will do it then?"

"No. I won't. If you think you can fly, then you need to figure a way to get yourself off the ground on your own."

"Oh ... How? I mean I have thought about it but using my Field with enough force to lift me into the air is real taxing..."

"Then figure another way to do it."

"I did, you. I have been racking my brains over this for a few weeks now. Been stumped every time until I saw you swing that bat and then it clicked."

Bishop looked at Phillip and turned to walk away before stopping to look Phillip up and down, scrutinizing the young mutant. "There are others with super strength."

"Yeah, I thought of that. Of everyone here, I didn't think Illyana was strong enough and between you and Ms. Grey, I figured you would be more ... approachable."

"Then you thought wrong on both accounts."

Phillip watched the Blue Team Leader walk away before he realized he didn't quite understand what he meant. "Excuse me sir, but what did you mean by 'both accounts'? I understand my thinking you would be agreeable is one account, but what is the second?"

Bishop did not stop his face pace and answered without looking back, "You were wrong in that there is at least one other on the Island with enough strength to propel you into the air."

Phillip stopped when he heard Bishop's answer and was even more confused. Who, he constantly asked himself. He thought about asking Ms. Grey but was uncomfortable with the fact that every time he was near her he would develop a hard-on, which for him was not something that was easily noticeable, unless you were standing next to a telepath and that telepath was the reason for the hard-on.

Walking back towards his room he saw Rachael and Teresa taking a break from their studies, laughing at something.

"Hey, girls."

"Hi Phillip, what is on your mind?" Teresa asked as she raised her head from Rachael's neck.

"What, are you a telepath now?"

"No, but I know you well enough to recognize that stupid look of yours when you are confused about something."

"Oh."

"So what are you confused about?"

"Well, I just asked Bishop to throw me in the air and he refused. No real surprise there, right. But then I gave him my explanation on why I chose to ask him; basically, I don't think Illyana is strong enough in her metal form and I didn't want to ask Ms. Grey."

"And you didn't think to ask me?"

"Oh, snap. I forgot all about your TK! So Bishop meant you because you are the other person strong enough to propel me up in the air."

It was Rachael's turn for her face to have a concentrated look on it, which only lasted a second before she turned to look at Teresa and started to laugh obnoxiously. "No silly, he meant you!"

"Me, but I told him I didn't think I had the mental strength for my Field to propel me."

"Right, you are talking shaping your Field in the shape of wings and flapping, right?"

"Yeah."

"Phillip, you silly goose, what about jumping?"

Phillip looked up in the air and then back at the two girls, "Jumping?"

Hellfire Club

New York City

Betsy stood in front of the four armed men naked except for the leather choker around her neck, leather strap on her wrist and the tattoos found all over her body.

"Damn, look at all of the tat's on this babe, that just raised her a notch or two in my book." Betsy ignored the catcalls, concentrating on the view in front of her on the wall monitor. The man's glee was apparent.

Betsy had over twenty tattoos on her body, most on her back with the rest scattered about her abdomen and legs. None were visible in most of the street clothes that she wore though she was not afraid or ashamed of the flowers that adorned her body. The flowers, petals really, each signified something to her and none meant more to her than the yellow lily above her shaved mons.

< ... Excellent. Excellent. Jacobs, move to the side so the bitch can see what we have in store for... >

Jacobs was apparently the large guard wielding the bulky chemical laser rifle and Betsy saw what they had in store for her and she smiled. A stockade stood there, ready for use; it looked adjustable, so that each person was bent at just the right height. Betsy was not a nymphomaniac like Illyana and Emma, nor did she have a heightened sex drive like Jubilee or Jean but that did not stop her from feeling liquid leak from her outer labia as her pussy flashed in sudden arousal.

The man on the wall continued, < ... Now, why don't you be a good slut and walk forward so they can fit you properly in the device... >

Betsy noticed that three of the four guards present tensed when the man in the wall said that and they responded by barely raising their automatics a hair towards her; Jacobs for all of his bulkiness, seemed a better judge of character and knew that Betsy was not going to be any issue. At least not right away.

Walking up to the stockade, quickly inspecting it, Betsy was satisfied that it was set at the ideal height for her and so bending at the waist, she rested her neck and wrists into the appropriate slots. Jacobs wasted no time in lowering the upper portion of the stockade, trapping Betsy in that bent over position; securing it with a heavy padlock.

< ... Excellent... > The man on the wall hissed. <Boys, you know what to do, you each get two shots at her. Have fun... > And the screen went blank as the four men started to remove their cocks from their pants.

Magneto Island

Bahamas

Phillip didn't try to fly until after lunch; prior to that he made multiple attempts practicing his jumping and landing. His Field gave him several options on how to do both; he was able to cross off the least favorable ones quickly. Like when he fell, he could cushion his landing by expanding his Field around him in the shape of a large, soft bouncy ball, but that bouncy ball while protecting him also almost made him lose his breakfast by the twisting and flipping he did inside the ball. His solution was to have the ball rotate around him as he bounced and rolled which drastically reduced the number of times he was flipped and turned.

Another, two more favorable ways of landing from his jumps and simulated falls was to expand his Field behind him like a drag parachute and flattening his Field like a giant piece of paper which gave his body the most wind resistance and allowed him to float freely down to the ground.

Getting himself into the air was easier each time he tried. First he used brute strength with his Field wrapped tightly around his body and just jumped as high as he could but he was only able to jump a hundred feet or so and Phillip thought he would need to reach at least twice that height for him to start flying. The next option he tried wasn't as successful, shaping his Field around his legs like giant springs, Phillip tried to fling himself into the air but the highest he was able to go this way was only about thirty feet and that was only once out of numerous attempts. Most other tries normally ended with Phillip flying sideways instead of up. A few of those landings were rough because Phillip did not have adequate time to properly raise his Field.

In the end, Phillip decided to combine two different Field shapes to achieve his goal; the first one was concentrating on wrapping his Field tightly multiple times around his legs and using those to propel him upwards and then at the apex of his jump, form his Field into the shape of two giants wings, very much like Angels wings and with a giant mental push have his wings throw him even higher into the air.

One aspect of Phillip's ability that was holding him back was that while he could easily form his Field into various simple shapes, complex shapes took a lot of concentration to achieve and moving his Field took even more concentration. The only exception to that movement rule was with Phillip allowing his Field to rotate around his body when he was bouncing and rolling in a ball shape.

Phillip realized the day before when he was swimming with Sally that when he swam like a normal person would but enhanced by his Field's strength and shape shifting to reduce his drag was physically tiring, when he created the tapered bubble around him and expanded three long tendrils to rotate for propulsion that rotating of the tendrils took a lot more out of him mentally. Three different times his Field had failed and Phillip had to reach the surface before he could summon it again.

Flying and the thought that Phillip could fly by his own power was something that excited the young mutant and something he thought about a lot. He tried to shape his Field like Angel's wings and while he could move them and they could provide lift and thrust, he couldn't move them fast enough for him to lift off the ground in flight. Phillip also tried more exotic ways of using his Field such as shaping his Field into two long cylinders next to his legs and having the insides of the cylinders rotate fast by shaping fan like blades to suck the air in the top of the cylinders and compressing the air violently out the bottom of the cylinders, very much like a jet engine does. It took innumerable attempts for Phillip to shape the cylinders to move on the inside and each time he could only get a few seconds of thrust out of cylinders before his Field would fail and Phillip was collapse on the ground in tears from the pain from the mental feedback.

Hellfire Club

New York City

Betsy ignored the attempted disparaging and degrading remarks the four men said to her as they had their way with her. The men were rough but she did not mind their roughness having suffered through worse. Jacobs wasted no time and immediately slid his larger than average penis into her after securing the lock on the stockade; because of her wetness, he slid right in with no discomfort on her part.

The men were trained on this exercise of rape and moved with little fanfare, alternating every few minutes with one man in Betsy's pussy, one and sometimes two cocks in her mouth and one or two men mauling her B-cup breasts and hardened nipples that were hanging unimpeded, ripe for their pinches and pulls.

After Betsy felt they had enough fun, she attacked. Shackled in the stockade, they did not secure her legs but that isn't what she attacked them with. She attacked with the muscles in her mouth and vagina.

Betsy was born in Hong Kong, the illegitimate daughter of James Braddock, a minor noble and banker from London. Betsy's half brother, Brian referred to her as his twin growing up because in a fluke of nature, they were born on the same day, the same hour, just over forty minutes apart and half the world away with Elisabeth Glorianna Kwannon Braddock in Hong Kong and Brian at the family estate in Maldon, Essex.

While the master of the estate was referred to as Lord Maldon since King Edward the Elder land granted the estate in the 900's to one of his trusted Knights for loyal service after combating the Danes there, locally everyone knew that the power resided in the Vicar of the All Saints Church since Thomas Plume in the 17^th Century.

Growing up, life was radically different for Brian at the Maldon Estate than it was for Betsy who grew up being reviled as a half breed in Hong Kong whose dark near purple eyes and hair only ostracized her more. James and his wife Elizabeth had returned to Maldon six months before both of his children were born and Betsy's mother Bai Kwo, while proud of her liaison with Brian was equally proud that she would be able to raise her daughter on her own while still working for the same English bank. James did not find out about his daughter until she was almost eight years of age when Bai Kwo was almost dead from cancer. James flew to Hong Kong to face Bai Kwo's allegations head on but as soon as he met the young Betsy he knew right away that Betsy was his daughter.

With the right greasing of palms, James was able to take Betsy with him back to Maldon when Bai Kwo died a week later.

At first the adjustment for Betsy was rough, though her mother had insisted that she learn English as well as Mandarin, Brian's mother did not provide a loving environment as she did for Brian. Brian did not help, he was not mean to his new sister, but rather very indifferent because he had already started on his way to being an intellectual and instead of playing football or cricket with the other boys his age he could be found with his nose in a book, science fiction was preferred, H.G. Well's The War of the Worlds was his favorite that he read over and over again but also science and technological books because even at that early age he knew he wanted to be a nuclear physicist.

Eventually life settled down for Betsy with her step mother granting her some concessions; she called her Betsy like Bai Kwo did and at least in the privacy of their estate, treated Betsy like family member, albeit an extremely distant one. Brian did not call her Betsy but gave her his own pet name, Amy, which was short for Amethyst which is what he insisted, was the color of her eyes, a dark amethyst. In public Elizabeth would be quick to join in the disparaging remarks of her husband audacity to bring Betsy into their home, Lord of Maldon or not. Betsy also knew that her being named after her father's wife grated severely on his wife.

It was when Brian and Betsy were fifteen and in the last years of their secondary schools; Brian at the prestigious Plume School and Betsy at an all girl school that she was bused to in the next township over when the unfairness that is life reared its ugly head. James and Elizabeth were killed in a car accident and Brian learned that the next Lord of Maldon would not be him but his Uncle Ian. A man whom neither of the young Braddock's had met before.

Life was suddenly miserable for the two as their Uncle Ian was nothing like his brother James. Not only was he a drunk but because of a wound suffered in Africa, walked with a cane and if either of the two young Braddock's even looked at him crossly he was quick to strike them with it. He found fault equally in both of them; Brian was accused of being a sissy for preferring reading books instead of more manly activities like rugby or cricket and with Betsy, her mixed heritage angered him but nothing like her dark purplish eyes did, Uncle Ian would swear that Betsy and her freak eyes could read his mind and he was constantly telling her that if she didn't watch it, he would take those eyes from her.

The worst was the day they turned sixteen. Uncle Ian badgered Brian about his lack of having a girlfriend and wanted to know if he was queer. Brian didn't say much to his Uncle, he never did but when he was asked if he was still a virgin or if some boy had taken his cherry, Uncle Ian would not let Brian not answer. When Uncle Ian found out that both Brian and Betsy were indeed virgins he made them both strip in the parlor. Both were thin and gangly since both had not completed their physical development and Uncle Ian ridiculed them for this.