Marvel: The Journey

Some time ago, in a dark alleyway in East Berlin, Germany,

Mystique, disguised as a typical hooker, was leaning against the wall. She pulled the cig from her mouth and puffed out a cloud of smoke. Realizing the cig was finished, she threw it on the ground and snuffed it. She crossed her arms and waited a few minutes until a man entered the alleyway and passed by her.

But he stopped and walked back toward her. He stood before her and checked her out, rubbing his chin in thought. After a few seconds, a lecherous grin spread across his face, and he said, "How much for ze night?"

Mystique smiled, pulled him closer, and whispered, "For others, I charge 20 for a blowjob, but for you, it would cost you your life."

"What?!" the man exclaimed.

* SCHICKK *

The man pushed her back and looked down to see a knife sticking out from his chest. He grabbed it and hopelessly tried to pull it out, but his body lost strength and fell to the ground. He looked at her hatefully and muttered weakly, "W-W-Whorreee..."

Mystique watched the man die, and a pool of blood formed around him. Her face scrunched up in disgust, and she spit on his face and said, "Du Rassistischer Wichser!!"

She looked around and saw nobody, so she quietly dragged the man's body and dumped him into the trash can. She changed her appearance into that of the man and walked away.

A few moments later, she stood before an abandoned factory and knocked on its back door three times.

* KNOCK *

* KNOCK *

* KNOCK *

She waited for some time until she heard a voice from the other side which asked, "Password?"

Mystique cringed but, nonetheless, replied, "They can smash through walls and fly, but we know that their end is nigh!"

She waited again, and a few seconds later, the door opened, and a man with a big belly nodded and said, "You are clear to enter."

Mystique didn't say anything and simply nodded while entering the factory. It looked like it was abandoned from the outside, but inside, it was full of people. Several people were roaming around, buying stuff from the stalls. Mystique could see guards with rifles standing at every corner.

'An underground black market!' Mystique thought, 'According to my intel, the fighting ring should be somewhere around here.'

Her eyes scanned the market until it landed on a door. Four guards in front of it were checking the long line of people before allowing them to enter.

'That must be it!' Mystique thought and stood in the line. When her turn came, the guards checked her body while she kept a poker face. One of them nodded at the other and said to her, "You can enter."

Mystique opened the door and saw a bunch of descending stairs. As she walked down the stairs, she could hear faint cheering, shouting, and laughing noises, which increased with every step she sank. Finally, her eyes widened when she stepped on the floor below and walked out of the door. There was a massive crowd of people around several fighting rings. Inside each circle, two mutants were fighting each other. The fights were brutal. Heads, arms, legs, and other body parts were flying around. The more gory or vicious, the more people cheered.

Mystique silently gnashed her teeth in hatred as he gazed around and thought, 'I fucking knew it! This is a fucking illegal mutant fighting ring! The mutants in the cage have a shock collar on their necks! I will fucking kill the person who is running this shit! But.. that would be done later. Right now, I need to focus on the mission at hand. According to my intel, Apocalypse is looking for mutants to be his horsemen. There is a chance for him to come here. Since these mutants are oppressed, Apocalypse would have a higher chance of convincing them to be his slave than a mutant with a normal job and a happy family.'

Suddenly, she felt the ground beneath her and the walls shaking. The people around her stopped shouting and looked around, confused. The mutants in the ring stopped fighting and stared at the people around her.

"What's going on?" somebody shouted.

As if on cue, the ceiling split apart, and a thick lightning bolt crashed from above and collided with the floor, resulting in a massive explosion.

* KA - BOOM *

Mystique was flung in the air like a ragdoll with the rest of the people around her. She crashed on the floor and coughed up blood. She weakly looked around and saw most of the people were dead. The people in the vicinity of the lightning bolt were pulverized into ashes. The fighting rings were destroyed. There was death and destruction all around her. Her wounds began healing, and a little strength returned to her. She silently lay still among the dead bodies and watched as a weird blue-skinned man with grey armor hovered down from the hole in the roof along with a purplish white-haired ebony girl with purple armor around her.

Apocalypse landed on the ground, with Storm following suit. He looked around and walked over the dead bodies without empathy, with his hands crossed behind his back, and asked, "Famine?"

Storm replied, "Yes, Master?"

"Who do you think among these are worthy to be my horsemen?" Apocalypse asked as he stepped and crushed a man's skull beneath his feet while looking around.

Mystique's eyes widened, and she switched on the small camera in her ear, recording everything as she thought, 'This is him! This is... Apocalypse!'

"Hmm..." Storm looked around the pile of bodies and noticed a wing sticking out. She smiled, walked toward it, and saw that the wing was connected to a half-dead man who was groaning in pain.

She pointed at the man and asked, "How about him, Master?"

"Hmm?" Apocalypse turned toward her and approached the man she pointed at. He grabbed the wing and lifted the man using one hand with ease. He scrutinized him and asked, "Why him? He doesn't look strong enough to be my horsemen. Why do you think he's worthy?"

Storm smiled and answered, "Master, you are the eternal one. A God. The only god worth bowing to. And, a God needs angels by his side. Isn't it better to show the world that you are a god by having an angel of death by your side?"

Apocalypse was stunned by her answer, and he turned back to look at her with a wide smile. "Very good! I like your thinking very much! I clearly didn't make a mistake choosing you as my horsemen!"

Storm smiled sweetly and bowed her head, saying, "Thank you for your praise, Master."

Apocalypse turned his head back at Angel, and his hands glowed an ominous purple. As the glow entered Angel's body, he began screaming and thrashing around until he stopped.

Apocalypse let go of him, and he kneeled in front of him with his metallo-organic wings and grey armor around his body, and declared, "Horsemen of Death greets his Master, Apocalypse!!"

Nodding approvingly, Apocalypse looked at his new horsemen, Death. Suddenly, he said, "How's the show?"

Nobody responded.

Apocalypse grinned, turned around, staring into Mystique's eyes, and repeated, "How's the show?"

Mystique gulped and didn't respond. She pressed a button on her Chrono in her pocket, sending Val an S.O.S message.

"You won't talk? How boring!" Apocalypse said, and he brought his hand forward.

Mystique felt a tight grip around her throat, and she levitated toward him, who gripped her neck tightly.

"Show me your true face, Chameleon!" Apocalypse demanded and tightened the grip around her throat.

Mystique's face turned red, and she tried to let him let go of her by attacking his arm, but he didn't. Her eyes turned red, and she changed into her blue self.

"Hah!" Apocalypse looked at her blue body and said, "So, this is what your true form looks like. I knew a mutant like you back when I was a Pharaoh. He was a perfect assassin. I ho–"

He stopped speaking as the ground, and the factory began shaking violently.

"Master!" Storm shouted, "Somebody's approaching us!"

"Wh–" Apocalypse asked when...

* KA-BOOM *

Val burst through the ceiling and flew straight toward him.

* BOOM *

He tackled Apocalypse, grabbed him, and burst out of the building.

Storm, Angel, and the rest of the dead people were flung away by the speed at which Val flew by, including Mystique.

"Huff... Huff..." She landed on the floor and desperately tried to breathe while thinking, 'Get him, Val!'