Chapter 53: Hopping and Skipping
Every crane of her neck shocked her system courtesy of “Magneto’s” blackening boot print. Her voice hadn’t quite returned yet--in fact, her breath hadn’t made it around the corner yet--but life didn’t stop for her. When her teacher, Ms. Emma Grace Frost, forsook her and went after that... that... Psylocke-looking thing, the last wisp of Esme’s hopes went out.
Then Ms. Munroe, Storm, blasted her captor off of her with what had to be tornado like winds. Esme rolled out of the way and hid herself as well as she could. Her neck throbbed while her stomach wrung itself into an itty bitty knot. Everyone on this roof wielded power many times greater than her own. When one side prevailed, they’d turn their sights to her and their sights held nothing good and no promises of getting better.
This Belasco person already once ordered her death. Why she didn’t know, but he did. Maybe he was one of those “existence haters” the X-Men came across so very frequently. As she watched him rebuff the legendary Doctor Strange, the wayward Stepford sister didn’t want to be at the pointy eared, pale skinned man’s mercy. Something about his maniacal grin rubbed her the wrong way. If he won the battle, Esme had no doubts he’d do something utterly sadistic and violent to her--the man just screamed of evil, and in her point of view, few people ever pulled that off in a not funny, dead serious sort of way.
Now, should the X-Men win, Esme would have to deal with Ms. Frost and the attempted murder. While Ms. Frost didn’t scream evil, she did exude an icy, calmly violent, manipulative, vengeful quality feared and respected by everyone from the Professor to Jubilee. Esme saw brief glimpses of the White Queen the rare times she talked about the Hellions and that woman was not one to cross. If one did cross her, they better make sure she died because as long as she was able, she would get her revenge. Esme was so sure she’d kill Ms. Frost, but then again, she was also so sure the one she followed was Magneto. Life equaled a living hell.
A well calculated fear chilled her. She might’ve pined for Emma’s assistance a second ago, but that was desperation talking. Desperation tended to cloud better judgment.
Bad times. Esme didn’t like her possible fates.
Not fifty feet away, the emergency stairs beckoned her. Fifty feet of lightning, hand-to-hand combat, fireballs, spells, and other unfathomable activities barred her escape. Being a smart girl, Esme knew that if she didn’t risk this chance, she wouldn’t want to live another day.
Escape one way or another called to her.
Keeping low to the ground, the blonde scurried to the door. She dodged Ororo’s flailing body launched by Magneto’s punch. A hop carried her over the hole Ms. Dane made. Twenty feet away and Esme tasted the anticipation on her tongue. Brian Braddock almost tumbled into her but she put on a burst of speed, eluding the Emma-Brian-Betsy fight.
Success! She grabbed a hold of the doorknob just as someone from the other side opened it. The surprise, the door’s mass, and her own weakened body combined to knock her a few steps back. Unfortunately, those few steps led Esme straight into a mass of bricks, tripping her up and sending her to the floor.
As her head bounced, her eyes focused on a flock of birds flying down at her. Well, they weren’t exactly birds and they weren’t exactly flying at her in particular, but close enough. The closer they got, the more menacing them became, glowing red eyes and razor sharp canine, talons, and bony wings making their statements for them.
Mr. LeBeau shambled through the fire escape entering the fray instead of escaping it. He seemed oblivious to the fact that he bowled Esme over but self-preservation prevented her swift-
A second was all it took.
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As Kitty tried to advance to the Empire State Building while ducking out of the line of sight of the demonic hordes, she saw a great black swarm of things dart to her destination from high above. When the first creature landed, a round object hurled off the side of the building and disappeared into nothingness, lost in the darkness.
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Sophie gasped and clutched her chest. “Esme...”
Phoebe, Mindee, and Celeste hung their heads low. “She’s gone,” the trio said in unison.
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Mystical energies emerged and coiled around Doctor Strange’s upper arms. The Sorcerer Supreme drew a deep breath and exhaled on the snaky, amorphous tendrils. His breath, coupled with an intricate hand gesture, dispelled the restraints; however, Belasco only used them as decoys.
He summoned a gigantic, disembodied, ethereal sword and spun it at his foe. Immediately, Strange ceased his flight spell and hoped to drop out of the attack’s path but it followed him. Restarting his flight ability, he whizzed across the landscape through broken buildings and tight alleyways. The sword didn’t mind following, steadfastly carving up obstacles impeding its progress. Behind him, things like streetlights, cement, and neon signs fell to the magical sword’s edge, distinct destructive songs reverberating as they struck the ground.
A narrow alley forced Strange to turn on his side. He bumped against poorly constructed balconies as he pushed away the distraction to put some distance between him and Belasco’s spell. He emerged on the other side of the alley and became a blur, exploding around a series of corners. The spinning sword didn’t slow a beat, instead cutting straight through a department store to take the shortest path to its target.
“Damn it,” the Sorcerer Supreme cussed. The cursed sword continued its breakneck pace, undaunted by anything. This spell needed to go and go now--he couldn’t even fathom the damage it would do if Belasco turned it on the X-Men.
He shot into the sky and readied an incantation to break Belasco’s concentration. Fortunately when he spared a glance at Battery Park, he noticed the Otherworld portal closing. Unfortunately, he noticed too late that the sky was filled with flying demons. A horned creature led a squad of his brothers to attack Strange, and before he could boom a warning to his allies atop the Empire State Building, a score of Belasco’s worst already landed and tore into the X-Men’s ranks.
Strange made a beeline to Belasco and shrugged off the nicks and bruises the demons peppered him with. The sword still followed and the evil magician still functioned, two things the good Doctor tried to rectify. If it meant meeting Belasco in close quarters combat, so be it.
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- To be continued...
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