Dust to Dust

Clutching at her head with both hands and screaming at the top of her lungs, the Vampire Queen, the favoured of Dracula’s concubines, the necromantic mistress of the dead city of New York screamed in blind, searing agony. And she wasn’t alone. All around her, the other Susans under her hypnotic sway and poisoned by the mental corruption of the hate monger all fell to their knees in agony to the empath ray giving off its frequency. Two tonnes of metal collapsed against the wall as the cybertronian version of Sue rolled onto her back and screamed, her eyes shifting between a dark purple and soft blue, her voice cracking into raw code as the signal waved over her. Nearby, and roiling like a nest of snakes, the alien woman hissed and screeched in pain, clawing at her tentacle riddled head with all four of her talons while tears streaked down her face.

All around her, the Invisible Woman found them all collapsed to the ground, crying out as the empathy ray cut deep through the murky barriers of their minds, peeling them open against their wills to feel something other than the murderous rage they were **** to feel. Love. Crawling up to the Canoness who screamed along with them, Susan gently placed her hands over her shoulders and whispered into the crying woman’s ear. “Just let it go, it doesn’t hurt if you let it in.” Looking over her shoulder to the other two Susans behind her, their reaction to the ray was just as she promised. Their faces were placated, serene, peaceful, the ray filled them with a sense of warmth, memories of moments in their lives filled with peace, and love, and kindness. But to the others **** to feel nothing but the negative, the positive wafting over them felt like a fire eating away at them from the inside out.

Slumping down in front of her, Susan was caught off guard by the red skinned demoness collapsing in front of her who hissed and sobbed, her hands shaking as she sat up and stared daggers back at the Invisible Woman, until her glare turned to one of open-eyed realization. Bringing two of her clawed fingers to her own forehead and traced them down to her chest. The demon woman screamed again as she pulled free a worm of darkness from her own heart, and in doing so, her skin changed to a sky blue, the leathery wings behind her softened and sprouted snow white feathers, regaining the contradictory purity they once had. Pulling the darkness free of her, she crushed it in her hand where it disintegrated into dust, and in doing so freeing herself of the hate monger’s influence. Sitting up and taking a deep breath, the Draenei queen sighed and calmed her breathing, and her eyes opened to show the soft golden glow they had before being poisoned with darkness.

“T-thank you…”

Turning her attention to the others, the Succubus got up to her cloven feet and went towards the wendigo, the massive animal woman sobbed on her back staring up at the ceiling lights until the blue-skinned demoness helped free her of her pain and rage. The Invisible Woman and her allies watching as she moved to each version of herself, one by one.

“Mrs. Storm?” Spoke up Nick Fury, free of the solid shadows acting as chains and shackles around his arms and legs as he sat up with a pleasant but tired look on his grizzled face. The vampire no longer screaming as she laid face up expressionless on the floor, her mind in turmoil as it was blasted by wave after wave of raw compassion. “What’s going…”

Gently pulling the man away from the vampire and behind her, the rest of the Susans in the mess hall had fully regained their senses and self control, keeping a wide berth from the vampire as they gathered behind the Invisible Woman. The alien immediately crouched and hugged Susan fiercely as did the wendigo, embracing the smaller woman like she was a child.

“I’m so, SO sorry, I couldn’t control myself.” “All I could hear were her words in my head… With my voice… It was…”

“It’s okay… I know…”

“Uhm… guys?” The sex **** called their attention to the Canoness, with Susan looking back at the woman and gasping when she started frothing at the mouth, her eyes fluttering like she was having a stroke. Crouching down to see her, the succubus fretted, turning her attention to the others.

“Her mind’s falling apart, she’s been… Programmed all her life to weaponize her hate and abandon everything else to be a warrior. Right now, mercy is literally killing her!”

“Can you help her?”

Making a worried face, the succubus wasn’t sure. “I’ll try…” Tracing her fingers over the Canoness’s eyes, the armored woman went still, those very same fingers tracing down to her chest and pinching together to pull free her thread of darkness. What she pulled free instead was a massive serpent of oily rage and hatred that coiled around the Draenei’s arm, snapping, and strangling what it could as she pulled more of it out of the poor woman. When it was finally free and Susan rolled back onto her winged back to wrestle the thing, she snapped it like a twig, and almost instantly it turned to dust. The results were near instant as the Canoness sighed deeply and nearly fell back if not for the cybertronian kneeling nearby who reached out with a mechanical arm to keep her sitting upright.

“Okay… Heh… Now for step two in my recovery treatment…”

Cupping the woman’s face in her hands, Susan kissed Susanna on the forehead, letting some of her essence out to heal her. In doing so, Susanna’s eyes twitched as the woman gasped and winced while scars and injuries disappeared, her hair restored to a luxurious blonde where before it was chalk white. But then she cried out in pain again, startling everyone when she flailed her arm out for her mechanical hand to detach and land with a heavy clunk at her side while a new hand grew fresh from the stump her cybernetics had been grafted to. Pulling away, the rest of the women watched as the Canoness fell to her hands and breathed silently, turning her attention slowly to her brand-new hand, delicate and unblemished, she slowly clenched her fingers and reached out for her prosthetic, plucking the leather glove off it, and putting it over her new hand.

Leaning back, Susan caught the Succubus as she sighed and nodded back in thanks, regaining her composure. “I’m alright… Damn I’m going to need a pick me up after this.” Looking over to the empathy ray in the sex-****’s lap, the succubus grinned as she felt its effects still broadcasting out, filling the mess hall with emotions and senses that made her heart flutter. Realising it did not need to be kept on anymore, the sex-**** turned off the empathy ray.

“What’s going on here?” Nick Fury asked, finally getting an answer from everyone as they got back up to their feet. Their attention on the sole woman who hadn’t recovered and continued to lay still on the floor.

“SHE is what’s going on here.” Pointed the cybertronian down at the vampire. “That BITCH brainwashed us into trying to bring them back and kill anyone who got in our way.”

“Is she… Is she dead?” Wondered the model out loud, still hiding behind the Invisible Woman as the rest gathered around the still body of the pale woman.

“She WILL be when I’m done with her.”

“Get in line sister… She’s got more to answer to ME than any of you.” Scowled the Invisible Woman, still remembering the beating Reed got from the terrible woman. Looking over the cafeteria table of the mess hall, Susan spotted a cross hanging just over the food tables, getting the idea, the Wendigo Woman plucked it off its hook and gave it to the Invisible Woman. “Thanks. Time for some divine punishment you pale skinned whore!”

“Ssssssticks and sssstones may break my bones…” Hissed a whisper from the vampire, opening her burning red eyes and smile back up at the Invisible Woman. “But I can tear your throat open and bleed you like a pig!” Rising to her feet without bending at the knees to do so, the vampire’s smile never left her ruby lips even when everyone took on a defensive stance.

Brandishing the cross in front of her, Susan glared straight at the vampiress. “Back! The power of Christ compels you to stay back!”

Crossing her arms and tilting her head, the vampire scoffed. “Pff… Really?” Reaching out with her hand, the vampire crushed the wooden cross with the same ease as if it were paper mache, surprising everyone as she pulled the remains out of Susan’s hand and flicked them over her head with a disappointed frown. “You have to have FAITH for that to work…”

With a screech, the alien lunged for the vampire with all four talons brandished, as did the wendigo who roared out like a lioness to body tackle the pale skinned undead woman. Their strikes never made their marks as living shadows from her feet, from the debris around them and even from their own shadows came alive and grabbed them by their arms and legs, pulling them back and pinning them against the wall. Free from the woman, Nick Fury pulled a pistol and opened fire, the bullets caught by whips of darkness that snapped out and caught each shell until he had nothing left.

“Cute…”

With a snap of her fingers, a limb of darkness reached out and grabbed hold of Fury’s throat, pinning him to the wall behind him while another grabbed hold of Susan and pulled her arms back, forcing her down to her knees. The sound of a plasma canon heating up alerted her to the cybertronian behind her, making the vampire sigh with boredom as she tilted her head to the side, and a spear of darkness passed over her shoulder and pinned the Autobot to the wall, piercing through her stomach and making the machine woman cry out.

Laughing at the sight of the machine in pain, the vampire eagerly looked for another to inflict pain on when she found herself face to face with the succubus, just as she pointed two of her fingers at her forehead. “Let’s see if we can purify that dead heart of yours!” Stunned still, the vampire stood as the succubus traced her hand down to her chest and tried to reach for her thread of darkness… But something was wrong. Narrowing her golden eyes in confusion, the draenai sifted her fingers back and forth, trying to find the creature’s soul. Looking up, the vampire grinned back at her with fanged lips.

“Having trouble finding my soul? I dropped that dead weight when I took a dirt nap.”

Another tendril of darkness wrapped around the demon woman’s neck and pinned her to the ceiling, making the vampire laugh as she easily detained everyone around her. Shifting her gaze to the woman holding the empath ray, the vampire Queen waged her finger, and pulled the device away from the frightened woman and encased it in a bubble of shadow, along with the woman who slowly gasped as her prison was slowly being deprived of air. Laughing to herself, the only ones not contained were the supermodel, who had scampered to the far wall to cry and shake like a leaf, and the Canoness, who hadn’t moved an inch after the succubus’s treatment.

“Honestly… Did you think for one second that I needed ANY of you all to kill an entire ship full of people? That I needed help to drain the life blood of an entire city and turn it into a tomb? Or drown it in perpetual darkness and despair? I and I alone killed my New York. I and I alone am its queen and undisputed master. ALL of you are beneath me, none of you have what it takes to slay a goddess of the night… Heh… You’re not BIG enough to kill me!”

“In darkness, I shall be light.”

Slowly turning her attention to the Canoness, the vampire tilted her head and narrowed her eyes slowly. “What?”

Slowly standing to her feet with her bolt pistol and chainsword in hand, the Sister of Battle stood to her full height and turned to glare back at the vampire.

“In throes of rage, I shall hone my craft.”

“Shut up…” Her eye twitching, the woman’s words were becoming painful.

“In vengeance, I shall have no mercy.”

“Shut up!” Clutching at her pointed ears, the vampire hissed, the canoness’s words sounding like scripture to her, heavy with faith and conviction that made her undead flesh crawl. Aiming her bolt pistol at the vampire, the Battle Sister smiled.

“In the midst of battle, I shall have no fear.”

“Shut up! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!!!!!!”

Striking out with barbs and spears of pure darkness, the Canoness dodged the attack, swinging her blade and cutting the shadows as if they were no more dangerous than mist.

“YOU BIBLE THUMPING OLD HAG! I KNEW I SHOULD HAVE KILLED YOU THE SPLIT-SECOND YOU GAVE ME A DEFIANT… Gasp!”

Looking down at her chest, the vampire found the cracked and chipped end of the damaged cross impaled through her from behind. Looking over her shoulder, her eyes went wide with disbelief to find the supermodel holding the improvised stake stuck in her. “You?!”

“Believe me sister, you’re not the only one here who’s been stabbed in the back by a little prick!”

Immediately the constructs of oily darkness vaporized, receding back to their sources where they returned to being just shadows and freed everyone else from their grasp. Staggering back, the vampire continued to look back at the supermodel in total disbelief, even after her flesh began to turn to dust, in mere seconds she disintegrated, leaving only a pile of ash, her black silk dress and the stake that killed her. Stepping over to the pile of dust, the Canoness inspected it and turned her gaze to the model, smirking back at her and her achievement.

“In the face of ****, I shall have no remorse...”