 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| The Hellfire Club. For centuries this organization has been composed of elite citizens, mutant and non, seeking to capitalize on their wealth and fame. Few ever gain admittance to the society and fewer still are ever allowed a single glimpse into the Inner Circle. |
| A select and precious few men ever graced the inner walls of the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle. These men are the supreme elitists, some possessing strong businesses, other owing their fate to fortune, others still to their very essence. Whatever the reason, however, they all have one thing in common, one final, ultimate goal: Supreme control over the globe economically, politically, militarily . . . humanity. |
| Meet Sebastian Shaw: First and foremost, he is a business man. Owner, founder of Shaw Industries, Sebastian made a name for himself early in life. Not as the charming and formal leader of an up-and-coming multibillion dollar corporation, but as the heartless ruthless tyrant he is. A mutant. |
| Subject: Emma Frost. Born into a wealthy, socialite family, Emma was always destined to be a woman of the cold, even after being disowned and institutionalized by her own family. Bitter and hard like the icy Boston winter winds, this Ice Queen was driven to succeed, straight to the top with Frost International. |
| Rome may not have been built in a day, but with little more than a thought, Selene can destroy it in less. Known by no other name, this black hearted External derives no greater joy in life. Mad with power, drunk with wealthy, there isn't a thing she could not do. |
| Save, Tristan Lehnsherr. He, too, is a business at heart, owner and founder of the multibillion dollar Hellfire Enterprises. Even after being disowned by his father, Master of Magnetism, there isn't a thing he, too, could not do. Powerful, charming, wealthy, secretive. He is the key. |
| "Checkmate." |
|
| **** **** **** |
|
| In the Fall of 2000 these four began what promised to be their greatest hour. The infamous Inner Circle, unmatched in power, sought to destroy once and for all their adversaries the X-Men. |
| Fearing for their safety, the X-Men made the rash decision to raid and attack the Sentinels base in Colorado, conveniently run by Sebastian Shaw. So late in 2000 they headed out west, their goal: Disassemble the factory base, cripple the Hellfire Club's global control and ensure their survival for just a little while longer. |
| But Fate had her own ideas. The Hellfire Club was more than aware of the impending attack on their facilities and arrived hours before their rivals. When the X-Men arrived, the Hellfire Club ambushed them. |
| The first to fall was the young Jubilee, crushed beneath the Black King, Sebastian Shaw's immense strength. Enraged Wolverine launched himself towards Shaw and continued to battle him relentlessly throughout the Fall. It was not long after, however, that the mightiest of psions, Professor Charles Xavier, was brutally slaughtered by the Black Queen Selene. Although she was barely a match for Xavier mentally, her massive amount of sheer physical abilities came crashing down on the crippled old man and he, too, fell to ashes. |
| Suddenly, the Hellfire Club's former White King made his appearance, Magneto. Oddly enough, Magneto's own son, Tristan Lehnsherr held the same title at present. The long strife between the father and son came to a head when their powers were void against the other and Tristan was directed by his revenge and rage. Wrestling hand to hand, a bloody battle ensued. |
| Not far off, the X-Woman, Rogue was fighting against her old nemesis, Carol Danvers, but out of the corner of her eye she saw her one-time love interest, Magneto, get knocked out by his own son. Frantic, she left Ms. Marvel and promptly pummeled into Tristan. As she knelt by Magneto's still breathing body, Tristan rose to his feet, silver eye sparking dangerously. It was one fight not to be disturbed. Unleashing his own psionic abilities, he ripped images from her mind, tearing Rogue apart at the core before finally granting her small mercy: death. |
| Selene seeing the weakened Magneto and busied Tristan took it upon herself to finish the job before he could pose further threat. She disposed of him quickly coming off her satisfying defeat of Xavier, this time sucking Magneto's very life essence from him until their was nothing left. The Great Master of Magnetism simply crumbled away into dust, just as his empire would, he fell hard. |
| By now the battle had carried on for hours and the United States government had been brought in to try and handle the situation. Shortly after the Sentinels were unleashed on the already massive battlefield. The first casualty from the Hellfire Club came when Friedrich von Roehm, the Black Rook under Selene, gifted with lycanthropy was blasted by a lowly Sentinel. He died, however, hours later from internal bleeding, as well as a massive loss of blood. |
| The government on hand provided some renegade mutants a cheap shot at mortal humans, payback as it were. One such mutant was Sabretooth. While the mutant Forge did his duty almost on the sidelines, doing his best to protect the fellow government officials, Sabretooth was insistent on seeing their blood. The two inevitably clashed. Forge's life was cut short as Sabretooth literally gutted him. Soon after Victor Creed disappeared into the chaos. |
| One by one the X-Men continued to Fall, despite the extra support they received from Excalibur. The next was the powerhouse Piotor Rasputin, Colossus. The mighty Colossus met his end at the hands of the White Queen in her debut. Getting the drop on him psionically as she was no match for him physically, Emma tore at his mind. As he was paralyzed mentally, he was unable to retaliate physically and she destroyed him. |
| From that point on, it seemed the battle would never end. As the day drew to a close, the teams relentless in their struggles, the government striving to slaughter all mutants once and for all, all of the ranks continued to get thinner. Towards the end of the first day Bishop encountered his time-travelling rival, Fitzroy. Teaming up with the former X-Man, Gambit (who had returned to help the X-Men in their time of need), they attempted to destroy the time-jockey once and for all. Unfortunately for Bishop and Gambit, Fitzroy had an extra ace up his sleeve. It seemed he'd acquired some advanced technology that made the pair no match for him. In the end Bishop lost his life in trying to destroy Fitzroy. The last thing Fitzroy said to Bishop before he died was simply that: "No one, not even a cop from the future, could ultimately destroy me." With that, Bishop, too fell and daylight was gone. |
| Ironically, that was also the last thing Fitzroy himself said. Just as he was about to finish off Gambit, a blurred cloaked figure emerged from the shadows. What happened next exactly is unknown. All that is known, however, is that Gambit passed out as the figure approached and when he awoke it was daylight again, but more importantly, Trevor Fitzroy was dead at his feet. There was no sign of the assailant anywhere. |
| For a while things began to look up. The government seemed to start falling back, they too facing fatigue. The Sentinels no longer seemed much of a threat and both sides were visibly tiring. For most of the second day it seemed that there were almost no casualties. But things aren't always as they seem, or so the old saying goes. |
| It's unclear exactly when it happened, but the unhinged mutant Mountjoy surfaced among the havoc, eventually inhabiting the body of Polaris. Inside Polaris, Mountjoy was able to assume control of not only her body, but her powers as well. Turning on Alex Summers, Havok, her lover, the possessed Polaris brutally massacred him. But as Mountjoy grew bored with her, he devoured the green-haired magnetic wielder from the inside out. Mountjoy's current whereabouts are unknown. |
| Although Polaris and Havok were the only mutant casualties in day two, the immediate landscape surrounding the battle was devested. Even by this point, all of Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and the southern portions of Montana, as well as the eastern half of Nevada was facing mandatory evacuation. The West Coast was quickly becoming a Ghost Coast. Much of Colorado was already leveled, as well as most of Wyoming. New Mexico wasn't faring much better. |
| Early into day three, wild fires began running, well, wild and Sentinals as a result, became overheated. Of those that had not already been destroyed, many began to short-circuit facing all sorts of odd, unpredicted malfunctions. It seemed that the X-Men may actually have the upper hand. Since almost the beginning Madelyne Pryor and Marvel Girl, Jean Grey had been locked into a tense psychic battle. Madelyne, at this point, was the Black Rook of the Hellfire Club and so goes with most HFC members, she made the fatal mistake of underestimating Jean Grey. A moment's weakness and Marvel Girl attained the upper hand effectively killing her clone. |
| Exhausted from the battle, Jean was weak, but not so weak as to see Pierce about to destroy her husband, Scott Summers. She struck out fiercely, blasting Pierce back with psychic energy and rushed to Scott's side. But he was already out cold and for all intents and purposes, he was just as good as dead. |
| As Donald Pierce, White Bishop to the Hellfire Club stumbled back to his feet, he perhaps stumbled in the wrong direction. The government officials were now frantic trying to control not only the mutants, but now the haywire Sentinals as well. Pierce got caught in the crossfire between the gov't and a pair of erratic Sentinals before being crushed viciously underneath an army tank. |
| Meanwhile Jean Grey was trying desperately to revive her husband, Scott Summers, only now becoming fully aware of the damage having been done throughout this massive battle. With Xavier gone, her body and mind already extremely weakened and her attention diverted to one perhaps that she could save, Emma Frost returned to the battle field. The battle was short and Marvel Girl died at the mind of the White Queen. She had been the last to Fall. |
| Thoroughly satisfied, the Hellfire Club regrouped and returned to New York with most of their members still intact. The X-Men, however, were not quite so lucky. Slowly those that remained, began to pick up the pieces left behind. Some retreated back to the X-Mansion, only to find it in virtual ruins. It had apparently been raided by Hellfire associates during the Fall of 2000. Much of their equipment had been destroyed, the mansion in shambles. |
| The Hellfire Club fared much better. Although the entire West Coast had eventually been decimated, the Inner Circle had finally captured the final piece of the puzzle. With the X-Men destroyed and the United States gov't virtually inoperable, the Hellfire Club swiftly took control of the United States. Within a matter of days, their ultimate goal had been achieved. The Hellfire Club had successfully assumed control of the globe in it's entirety. |
| The four royalty agreed to split their earnings. The Black King now controlled the Middle East and the world's oil supplies, as well as the giant Mother Russia. The White Queen, Emma Frost was given free reign over the entire continent of Africa, most of the world's gem resources having been obtained there, as well as a partially decimated, entirely clear cut Canada and Mexico. Selene assumed control over South America and Australia, as well as most of Europe. Those few countries remaining in Europe Tristan Lehnsherr gained, as well as Japan, China and the rest of the Asian countries. The United States, however, remained a neutral ground for the four. |
| Nowadays the X-Men have gone into hiding as the Sentinals, now controlled exclusively by Sebastian Shaw and Tristan Lehnsherr, have been programmed to hunt down and destroy any X-Man they see. The only exception to this would be Gambit, as returned to his life at the Five Aces Nightclub with his longtime girlfriend, Lily and their son, Erik. Occasionally Gambit seems to be assisting the Hellfire Club in their efforts and that alone has saved his hide. |
| This is one story in which the good did not triumph in the end, although one could argue that it's not yet over. As long as the X-Men remain banded together and the Hellfire Club reigns supreme, the two will inevitably clash again. The real question is not whether they will, but more appropriately, who will arise the victor? Time heals all wounds, they say, but this one only festers disgustingly. The world has been ReArranged, the tables turned and life disrupted as it were plunged into a virtual Darkness. Though miniscule as it may seem, the X-Men still offer hope for the future. In this reality, they are the light hidden only too deep to see, the music only too smothered to hear; a Rhapsody in Darkness. . . . |
|
|
