Darkness, he was surrounded by it. It filled in every crack, every pore. He thought maybe his eyes where still closed, but he could feel the inner flesh of his eyelids running across his cornea, letting him know that he was indeed awake and that his eyes were open. He started to bring his hand up to conjure a small candle flame when he realized that he couldn¡¦t move. Looking back was pointless because he couldn¡¦t see, but he sure as hell could feel. What he felt was his hands bound tightly behind him and his ankles lashed together. What made him wonder was the fact that it was ordinary rope that was used and not some high tensile shackle configuration. After all, normal rope would turn into a pile of hemp from one touch of his blades.

Yet when Cole tried to extend his magickal blades, he discovered with growing fear that he couldn¡¦t. He wasn¡¦t a mutant, so any mutant power cancellation device would be ineffective against him. That only left one option. Countermagick! Only a magi of extremely high power could cancel out his ability to use his energy blades. Being that they were more than a simple utilization of magick and actually a part of who he was, it took an excessively high level of magick and skill to be able to cancel out this ability. He knew then that he was in serious trouble.

Cole¡¦s thoughts where interrupted when he heard a lock click and a small outline of light slipped into the dark cell. Soon, a doorway opened directly in front of him and light exploded into his eyes, making him slam his lids closed and growl with mild discomfort.

"Well," A voice said calmly, "It seems our prisoner is awake."

Instant recognition of the voice¡¦s owner hit Cole, along with a very strong desire to remove the owner¡¦s voice box without the benefit of surgery tools or anesthetic. "Modius!" he snarled.

"Ah, you know of me I see."

Yes Cole knew of him, Modius was the head of the Conclave and the most dangerous magi on the planet. The only one that ever stood a chance of defeating him was Cole, and now that chance seemed to have been torn away from him. Cole ducked his head so the bangs of his hair could shield his eyes from the light, thereby offering him a view of the doorway. Four silhouettes stood there, three tall and one short. He could guess who the short one was and focused his voice at it. "Yeah, I know you all right."

"Good, then the formalities can be forgone. I will not play with words or toy with you young man, you are going to die."

"I¡¦m not surprised," Cole bit out, "So just get it over with."

A dry chuckle came from Modius. "No, I don¡¦t think so. You see, killing you would just be too easy. You would be looked upon as a martyr and we certainly can¡¦t have that." Another dry chuckle. "No, we will simply break your spirit and will and have you become part of us. When the Traditions see their most esteemed warrior broken and a simple slave to us, it will cause their ranks to crumble and we will wipe them off the face of the planet."

Cole growled, knowing that Modius had a damn good chance of doing exactly what he said. He guessed that he was in the Conclave¡¦s main headquarters, one of the most heavily guarded places on the planet. No one, magickal or otherwise, had ever been able to get in more than about fifty feet before dying a horrible death. He was trapped and completely at their mercy, and that pissed him off.

"Now, just so you don¡¦t get too lonely..." His voice trailed off and Cole saw the small silhouette get shoved forward so it crashed into Cole¡¦s crouched form. When he heard the cry from the small person, his blood froze in his veins. "Have a nice visit," Modius said before the door closed and the room was plunged into darkness once more.

For a few moments, neither of the two left in the cell moved, each just listening to one another¡¦s breathing. Cole kept his quiet and smooth so he could hear his cellmate¡¦s. There was a distinct hitch in the other¡¦s every few moments that indicated crying. "Are you okay Jubilee?" he whispered.

Jubilee choked back her sobs and nodded against his shoulder. "Yeah," she whispered, "I¡¦m okay. They beat me up a little but that¡¦s really it. Then they tied me up and threw me in here with you."

Cole nodded in return and shifted to try and keep Jubilee close to him. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and hold her tight, whispering to her that everything would be okay. Unfortunately, his hands were tied behind him and if he told her everything would be okay he would be lying. Anger coursed through him at the helplessness of their situation. Without needing to see her, he knew that his beautiful Jubilee was scared, her sky blue eyes wide with fear even as he felt her body tremble against his. He was furious at these people for doing this to such a tender and wonderful person. From past experience with the Conclave, he knew that the men that had tended her had undoubtedly beat her until she lay sobbing upon the floor, then probably humiliated her in the most degrading ways. He wouldn¡¦t put it past them to rape her, but Cole knew that they hadn¡¦t. If they had, Jubilee would have said something about it nearly the moment their captors had left the room. Slowly gaining control of his anger, he shifted a little to try and press himself against Jubilee comfortingly. "They just got me trussed up with rope, but I can¡¦t use my magicks, their people are blocking it."

"My powers are being blocked too," Jubilee said, "Not a paff in sight."

Cole sighed. "These guys have done their homework. They know our weaknesses and used them real well." He looked around in the darkness for a moment and grumbled. "If I only knew where we were."

"Chicago I think," Jubilee said, "I passed a window and saw the Sears Tower."

Cole froze for a moment. "Chicago, are you sure?"

He felt Jubilee nod against his shoulder again before she snuggled against him as much as she could. "Yeah," she whispered, "I¡¦m sure of it. One of the scumbags that beat me up even mention going to a Bull¡¦s game tonight."

Cole couldn¡¦t hold back the evil grin that spread across his face. If he was right, word was already on its way for help.

"Just what the hell where you guys thinking!!" the young man yelled, slamming his fist down on the large oak desk, cracking it and sending a few small splinters flying. "I say it over and over and over and yet someone is always stupid enough to go and do it anyway!"

The three older men that sat in the plush chairs before the oak desk cringed as the young man continued to rant and rave, waving his arms wildly, his eyes blazing with anger as he turned them on the men. "Well, what do you have to say for yourself?"

One of the men meekly replied, "We¡¦re sorry?"

For a second, the young man did not move, only stood there staring at the three. A heartbeat later, the huge oak desk that would have taken a chainsaw a good five minutes to cut cleanly through shattered into pieces. "YOU¡¦RE SORRY!!!! My one standing rule is no feeding on Rush Street!" He stood there, his fists clenched tight at his sides, his entire body vibrating with rage. The three men all considered making a break for the door and running for their lives, but were paralyzed by the blood red glare from the young man.

Slowly extending his hand to the side, palm up, fingers open, he roared, "GUN!!!!!" A man, perhaps ten years older than the young man, walked over and placed a black flare gun looking weapon into the young man¡¦s hand. As soon as the weapon was in his hand, the young man leveled the gun at the knee of the rightmost man and pulled the trigger. A blast of white phosphorous roared out of the barrel of the weapon, engulfing the man¡¦s leg. His howl of pain nearly shattered the windows as he collapsed to the floor, grasping his charred limb as the scent of fried meat filled the room. The other two men looked at their injured comrade and then back at the young man, knowing what true fear was now.

"Now," the young man said in a much calmer tone as he opened the breech on the gun and dropped out the expended phosphorous shell onto the carpet and loaded a fresh one, "I take it that I have made my point."

"Yes sir!!" the two unharmed men yelled in sync.

"Good, now get the hell out of my office!"

A second later, the two men were gone, carrying their injured comrade with them. With a heavy sigh, the young man sunk into his plush chair before the wreck that used to be his desk. "Ash, do me a favor and get a new desk on order for me."

The slightly older man chuckled and leaned against the wall, drawing out a cigarette from his short black jacket. "This has got to be the third in the last two weeks man."

"Oh go blow it out your ass," the young man snarled, yet he couldn¡¦t help but smile. "What¡¦s the deal with the Rabble, they still stirring up trouble?"

Ashe shook his head as he took a drag from his cigarette. "Nah, I called Hex up and he put them in line real quick." The image of the one hundred year old cowboy made them both chuckle. Hex may have been a little behind in the times, but he knew what the hell he was doing, that was for sure.

The phone laying on the ground rang and the young man picked it up. "Yeah? Uh huh. Okay, just have them shift all assets over to the Essex company and then buy up all the preliminary account findings. Yeah. Yeah I know, just do it." He hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair.

"Did I just hear right?" Ash asked, leaning forward slightly. "Did you just say Essex?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

"Essex, as in Nathan Essex, as in the infamous Mr. Sinister?"

The young man spun in his chair and cocked an eyebrow. "I¡¦m still looking for a point here."

"That guy will trace you and wipe you clean."

The young man shrugged. "So what? What the hell is he going to do, attack me in my own city and in my own haven? Please, that kid is such a pansy he¡¦d get shredded before he knew what hit him."

Turning his chair back to face the window, Colt Priest, Prince of vampires in the city of Chicago, looked out over his city from the vantage point of the top floor of the Sears Tower. Very little was known about the vampires, or Kindred as they called themselves, and even less was known about the man called Priest. It was rumored that he had only been alive for maybe fifty years, but it was also rumored that he had been alive during the time of the very first vampire Caine. No one really knew his history or the extent of his power, except for his only real friend Ash, and Ash sure wasn¡¦t telling tales. Priest had been dealing with Essex for years, the two of them swapping financial and business blows for years, Priest always several steps ahead of Essex. Being a vampire and one that had a lot of know-how in every aspect of knowledge that the planet had to offer was definitely an advantage in many things. Very little happened that Priest didn¡¦t know about. With his deep connections to the information society of the Nosferatu clan of vampires, he was always in the know and had a distinct advantage over just about every business, military, and other society operation in the world. Looking only twenty-five, his youthful appearance often led to others misjudging his physical visage as inexperience. That was, of course, until they looked into his eyes and saw the centuries of experience that lay within. Whenever anyone saw that, they knew true fear.

Priest was torn from his reverie by a knock at the door. He turned in his chair to look at Ash, who only shrugged. "Who else do you know can get up here and bypass all one hundred guards you have in this place?" the younger vampire asked.

Priest smiled and looked at the door. "Come on in Flex."

"I already am," a wet voice sounded from the shadows of a far corner, moments before a large shape distended from them.

Priest shook his head. "Flexy, you always get me with that one."

The huge form rippled with a wet chuckle before the thick black cloak parted, revealing the form beneath. Flexor, the leader of the Nosferatu clan in Chicago, was the epitome of ugly. It was obvious he received his name because of his titanic stature. His skin, the parts not covered by ragged jeans and a torn shirt, was green and peeling in some places, while bubbling like a leper on other places. He was completely bald and his green pate was scared and torn from the effects of his Embrace, the process that made created vampire, showing spots of bone here and there. Very few people saw Flexor outside his cloak with the exception of his own clan and the two other vampires in the room.

Flexor was also the undisputed king of the information gathering society within the underground vampires. "I have news for you."

Priest sat up in his chair and Ash ground out his cigarette. When Flexor said he had news for them, it was always big. Anything that would not demand the Prince and his aide¡¦s full attention would simply have been held until the nightly city council with the vampire leaders of the clans of Chicago. "What do you got?" Priest asked calmly.

"I have heard through our connections that our friend Cole is near."

Ash broke out in a wide grin. "Fantastic!" he cried, "The three of us can hook up and tear up the town just like in the old days!"

Priest¡¦s expression of quiet concern never left, for he saw the deformed vampire did not share Ash¡¦s enthusiasm. "It is not by his choice that he is here," he said in his wet voice, "Nor is it for pleasure."

"What¡¦s up Flexor? That kid is damn good at keeping trouble away."

Flexor nodded. "I agree my Prince, but it seems that he has encountered trouble that even he was not able to handle." His form rippled, a subtle movement of shifting his position to a more comfortable stance. "It seems that the Conclave decided to accost our young friend and utilize him in a grand scheme to crush the will of the Traditions."

Ash swore loudly, but Priest only steepled his fingers over his lips. "So those techno-freaks have decided to finally make a move huh?" Flexor nodded. "All right, what else can you give me?"

"Cole recently joined with a group of superheroes known as the X-Men. It is our feeling that he had hoped to gain their assistance in his fight as well as joining in theirs as well. There was an attack upon their home in Westchester by an armada of HIT Mark IIV¡¦s and Men in Black. The X-Men were all defeated and Cole was taken prisoner, along with another of the X-Men." The large vampire waited to see if there were any questions. There were none, questions would come when Flexor had divulged all the information he possessed. "The remaining X-Men are currently being held captive in their Mansion home in Westchester, guarded by a large assembly of replacement HIT Marks and Men in Black. Apparently, they have discovered and improved upon the mutant power suppression technology. The X-Men are quite helpless."

"Who is the X-Man with Cole?" Priest asked, his calm visage never wavering.

"A young lady by the name of Jubilation Lee: age eighteen, five foot two inches in height, shoulder length black hair, blue eyes, Asian descent, mutant power of pyrokinetic manipulation and generation in the form of fireworks, or paffs as she likes to call them, measurements of-"

"We don¡¦t need those," Priest cut off.

Flexor nodded. "It seems that there has been a budding romance with Ms. Lee and our Mr. Raven. It is our belief that the Conclave will utilize Ms. Lee to perhaps break down Mr. Raven¡¦s spirit even further."

Priest nodded and sat back in his chair. Him and Ash were far from surprised at all the information that Flexor had given them. Undoubtedly, he had much more about the entire situation that he had not spoken of, but deemed it unnecessary for the current situation. Priest trusted him in this. Flexor knew from years of working with Priest and Ash what was necessary and what was merely just wasting time. No one was better at getting information that was unattainable then Flexor. "All right, we need to get a location fix on the two of them-"

"They are current being held at the Lazarus Technologies building on Franklin and Michigan," Flexor interjected.

Priest nodded, a small smile curving his lips before he turned to Ash. "Ash, I want you to get Strike Team Alpha and Gamma scrambled and outfitted, ready for dust-off in half an hour. Tell them to coordinate with the Nosferatu on locations, security measures, and force compliment and ability and they¡¦ll get a briefing enroute."

Ashe nodded and left the office, not bothering to ask Priest what he would be doing. He already knew. As soon as the door closed, Priest stood and moved to a wall, pressing a button set there. A hiss sounded and a large section of the wall slipped into its invisible roller housings, revealing an arsenal of the most advanced weapons technology that would make every Special Forces operative in the world drool. Priest carefully looked over the selection available, which was rather considerate. He began selecting his firepower and equipment when he asked over his shoulder, "You want anything Flex?" He already knew the answer, but he always asked anyway.

"No thank you my Prince, I do not require any weaponry." The underlying was that Flex was a weapon.

After completing his assortment, Priest carefully loaded every weapon and stowed his supplemental equipment into appropriate carrying containers before facing Flexor. Priest was a walking arsenal with pistols strapped under both arms, two sawed-off, double barrel shotguns strapped to his thighs, two submachine guns hanging from their retentions straps on either side of him, and an heavy assault rifle sheathed in a holster on his back. Had Rambo and The Terminator been in the room, one look at the vampire would have sent them screaming for their mothers.

"Let¡¦s go."

Cole gently kissed Jubilee¡¦s cheek to try and soothe her, resting his cheek against hers. "It¡¦ll be okay," he assured her quietly, "I know there are people coming to get us out right this moment."

Jubilee looked up at his voice, blinking to try and get some light to filter into her eyes so she could see. "How can you be so sure? I mean, yeah, we¡¦re in Chicago, but we¡¦re in a fortress. Even Wolvie would have a hard time getting in here, and he¡¦s....he¡¦s...."

"He¡¦s okay Jubes," Cole assured, "All of them were breathing just before I was knocked out and I¡¦m sure the Conclave hasn¡¦t killed them. While they¡¦ll probably use you as leverage against me, they¡¦ll use the X-Men as leverage against you. They need them."

Jubilee nodded, but she wasn¡¦t very convinced. "So, why are you so sure that we are going to get rescued? You got a few hundred grenades hidden somewhere I don¡¦t know about?"

Cole couldn¡¦t help but chuckle and he felt Jubilee shiver against him, a sign she was laughing quietly as well. "No, no hidden grenades I¡¦m afraid. I¡¦ve been through Chicago before. I spent most of my time training here when I was a kid and I met some people with serious contacts and even more serious power. If I¡¦m right, they already know we¡¦re here and-"

His words were cut off as the door to the cell opened, bathing them in bright light. Cole winced and shifted himself so he blocked most of the light from Jubilee, who winced and curled tightly against him. "Ah, you are awake," a voice said, "Excellent." There was a snap of fingers and Cole saw four large figures walk over, lifting himself and Jubilee to their feet. A quick knife slash and Cole¡¦s feet were free. "Let¡¦s go," the voice commanded.

Cole and Jubilee started out of the cell and into a metallic hallway, their four guards leading them at the gunpoint of submachine guns. A man in a whit elab coat led the entire group down the hallway. As they passed rooms, Jubilee glanced into them, shuttering in horror as she saw experiments of every type taking place. One room held a cluster of people around a body while them surgically opened it and examined the interiors. Another room held three large, glass containers with a person in each one, breathing masks strapped over their mouths and noses while electrodes where attached to various portions of their naked forms. Just before they passed that room, a man pressed a button and Jubilee saw a naked woman whip her head back in a silent scream before her body started writhing in what was obviously pleasure.

Jubilee shuddered at the thought of her being in the tank, but her mind quickly turned in a different direction when she passed another room. This one contained a monstrosity barely held in check by electrified cage bars. The thing was obviously once human, but that was no longer the case. Instead of one head, there were two, one being the human¡¦s original head while the other was that of some kind of great lizard, its forked tongue flicking in and out. Four arms adorned its torso instead of two, two of them being human while the other two were a strange mixture of an ape¡¦s bicep and forearm with a hawk¡¦s razor talons replacing the fingers. The lower torso was no longer human. Instead, it was replaced by the lower body of a horse, the four hooves clacking across the steel floor in agitation. It seemed like someone had taken the mythological centaur and mixed it with the concepts of Dr. Frankenstein.

The creature looked at Jubilee and a sick, twisted grin formed on the human face. All four of its arms reached out to her and it leaped at the bars, getting thrown back as thousands of volts of electricity surged through it. Jubilee screamed and pressed into Cole, hiding her face against his shoulder.

Her cry made the doctor turn and lift a brow. "Do not worry little girl. Soon enough, you will be able to experience what that feels like first hand." He smiled at Cole¡¦s enraged expression. "Oh please, don¡¦t try to act so tough Mr. Raven. We have done extensive research on you and know all your talents and abilities. As such, we have effectively pinned each one down so you cannot use them."

For a few minutes, while the group was stopped, Cole just looked at the man in the lab coat, the expression of deadly rage still on his face. Then, his lips twitched and slowly formed into a smile. The man in the lab coat cocked his head to the side, a smile of his own on his face. "You find something amusing Mr. Raven?"

Jubilee looked up at Cole, confused herself at his smile. When she saw a very subtle change in that smile, she knew that Cole had something in mind, something no one else knew about. "There¡¦s something you don¡¦t know about me," Cole said quietly with such venom in his voice the lab-coated man actually took a step back. Cole¡¦s hands came forward, the ropes that had held them bound moments before dangling from the fingers of his right hand. "I¡¦m double-jointed."

Before any of the stunned guards could react, Cole spun, slashing a hook kick into their faces, sending them sprawling along the floor. The remaining two recovered themselves and opened fire at their nearly point-blank target. Despite the fact that he had no magick, Cole was still faster than ordinary people. He dove to the ground, sliding across the shined, metallic floors, scooping up the discarded submachine guns and driving twin bursts of gunfire into the guards¡¦ chests, dropping them where they stood. Spinning on his back, Cole whipped out his arm, firing off several bursts from one of his weapons and drilling the two other guards into the floor where they lay. Rolling up to his feet, Cole¡¦s arms came forward and sighted his weapons on the man in the lab coat, who was bringing up a pistol from the holster at his hip. "Try it!" he growled.

The man in the coat paused for a second, almost as though considering Cole¡¦s threat. Then, the inbred loyalty to the Conclave kicked in and he attempted to bring his weapon to bear. Cole dropped him with a bullet to the head before his hand had moved an inch. Dropping the spent clips from the submachine guns, he snatched up replacement clips and slapped them home, pulling a KaBar knife from the belt of one of the guards and cutting Jubilee free. He fully expected her to be in shock, with her eyes wide in disbelief. Instead, she quickly snatched up the fallen pistol and checked the ammo count in the clip. When she saw Cole¡¦s dumbfounded face, she smiled her dazzling smile. "What, you think I just know how to use my powers? I only let you have those because I¡¦m real bad when it comes to recoil."

Cole chuckled and shook his head, stepping over to her and wrapping an arm around her before kissing her deeply. "If we get out of here alive, remind me I owe you about a hundred more of those."

Jubilee smiled and whispered, "You bet your ass I¡¦ll remind you."

Turning, the two raced down the hall in a random direction. It was Cole¡¦ s guess that if they kept heading in the direction they had started in since leaving the cell that they would eventually end up in front of Modius. He was pretty sure the next stage in their torture and eventual breaking of him was to have Modius do horrid things to Jubilee in front of him or actually direct those dark pleasures against Cole himself.

Cole¡¦s hunch was right as they burst through a doorway into a large hall. There had to be at least thirty people in the room, with ten on a high dais overlooking the preparation below. There were all kinds of torture devices being set up and men bouncing lightly on their feet, waiting for the chance to take a piece out of the Traditions¡¦ fabled hero. When Cole looked at the dais, he saw Modius standing there, a smirk on his face. He didn¡¦t look nearly as surprised as everyone else in the room did. "Ah, it seems that you have met my expectations Mr. Raven. You and Ms. Lee are indeed quite resourceful. Now, if you put your weapons down and allow these gentlemen to begin their activities with you, it will go much smoother for all."

Cole looked at Jubilee, who looked right back. They both knew what "their activities" meant. If they gave up, they would be tortured severely until they were weeping and weak like newborn babes. They would give up everything they knew to these people, the X-Men¡¦s abilities, the Traditions¡¦ locations, their own mothers. The decision between them was obvious and took no longer than a second to make.

Cole lifted his weapons as Jubilee raised her own firearm into a firing position. "We¡¦ll go down fighting you son of a bitch!" he growled.

Modius chuckled, as though expecting this. "Disarm them and then prepare them for the doctors." He snapped his fingers.

Everyone in the room started towards the two escapees, some of them glowing with power while some drew weapons. It would be a bloody battle and both Cole and Jubilee would die from it.

That was when the world exploded.

Bodies flew through the air as chunks of stone and metal blew into the large hall. Cole dove and tackled Jubilee to the floor and narrowly avoided getting the two of them pulverized by a hunk of rock. All around them, people scrambled to reorient themselves and try to make sense out of what just happened. When Cole looked over at Modius standing upon his dais, he could tell by the look on the evil magi¡¦s face that this was definitely not expected.

A large collection of booted steps drew everyone¡¦s attention to the giant hole that had once been the large double doors of the hall. Standing there, a force of twenty stood, all of them armed heavily and prepared to destroy. In the lead was a man with dark brown hair holding giant mini-gun, the kind that were installed into A10 Tank Killer assault planes. He easily hefted it, something no human would ever be able to do. "Hi there," he said brightly, a wicked grin on his face. Behind him, the group of combatants rippled and parted, allowing a single person to easily move through them to the forefront, where he nodded to the brown-haired man with the mini-gun. Then he faced the magi before him. He was a young man with black hair as dark as night, his body holding a collection of weapons. His eyes glowed red and his mouth curled into an evil smile, revealing the gleaming, deadly fangs that were the trademark of his race.

"KNOCK, KNOCK!" Priest roared.