SECRET FILES #1 FEB 2002

Part IV: The Gift of Death by Paul Hahn Masscre Files by Paul Hahn and Chip Caroon

The Morlocks are mutants, outcasts from society gifted - or in their case, cursed - with paranormal abilities that make it impossible for them to fit in with the surface world. By secluding themselves under ground, they believed they would be safe.

They were wrong.

A group of mutants called the Marauders entered the tunnels and began slaughtering the Morlocks. Young Justice was asked for help, and came instantly. The X-Men, unaware of the other team's involvement, also came running. Both teams were overwhelmed by what they saw. So much death and destruction was overwhelming to them all. First blood was quickly drawn by the Marauders, and the outcome is far from certain. But things look bad.

The final group of players in this massacre of mutants are unwitting, unawares and ill-prepared for what is to come. They are the Hellions, young mutants being trained by the White Queen of the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle.

Emma Frost, the White Queen, is a telepath of a high order. Bedlam, the Hellions' field leader disrupts a person's brainwaves. Magma can summon up hot lava from the very core of the earth. Bevatron could generate bio-electric energy blasts from his hands. Firestar could fly and fire waves of intense heat and radiation. Empath's telepathic abilities allowed him to subjugate others to his will. Tarot could see the future, and her cards could deal out great harm. Roulette could control someone's luck, by throwing out either good or bad luck discs. Lady Mastermind, though not a Hellion, accompanied the team on this mission. She could create illusions and make people believe they saw things that did not exist.

They had been tracking a piece of technology called Cerebro for some time, ever since the Hellfire Club turned it into a robot and gave it sentience. It escaped. The last time the Hellions located it, they were unable to capture it.

[[YJ: Hellions one-shot - Paul]]

They had detected a similar signal to Cerebro in tunnels underneath Manhattan and decided it was time to bring the robot in. They left immediately.

This is foolish, Lady Mastermind thought to herself. We're entering a completely foreign environment that's rumored to house over a hundred mutants . . . and we're tracking a signal that may or may not be our target. And what's worse, I'm involved. I should have left with Bobby and James . . . or when Tessa was revealed as a traitor . . . or when Shaw decided to leave on a business trip.

[[This all happened recently in Young Justice. Bobby and James can both be seen in X-Force. Tessa will be popping up there later, as well. And Shaw did indeed leave on a trip to the other branches of the Hellfire Club, leaving Ms. Frost in charge. Look for him to pop up in Excalibur! - Paul]]

But no, I didn't. I decided to stay around. You're such a fool, Martinique. The Hellfire Club is bad news . . . it hasn't been good for far too long. This mission needs to be your last. Shaw must be at the very least suspicious of my loyalties . . . I need to get out while I still can.

"Prep for a standard search," the White Queen said.

Roulette was the first to act. She tossed good luck discs at everyone, making their chances better. Bevatron and Firestar powered up, gathering invisible energies to their bodies.

"I hate not having Thunderbird anymore," Frost frowned. "He was the perfect point man."

"We'll be fine without him," Bedlam frowned. "Bevatron, take point. See anything that moves, shoot it."

"Maybe we've got some crocodiles to worry about, eh?" Bevatron asked.

"There are rumors of mutants living beneath the city," Firestar said.

"Bull," Empath said. "No mutant would choose to live beneath New York. Mutants are superior to the filthy humans that live above."

"Not everyone thinks so highly of themselves," Tarot said quietly.

"What's in the cards for us?" Bedlam asked.

" . . . " Tarot was silent. She had told Jimmy not too long ago about the terrible future her cards held. Every Hellion was going to die. They would be slaughtered, horribly massacred. And that card just kept coming up more and more . . . and since they entered these tunnels, it was all that she could get. But she told herself she would say nothing. Her powers had haunted her for most of her young life. Always knowing what the future held, forever at the mercy of an unavoidable fate . . . she had made up her mind. This was her time . . . her release from the icy cold grip of destiny. "The cards are . . . favorable for us."

"Good," Frost said. "That means, with any luck--"

Roulette grinned.

"--We'll find Cerebro and be out of here in no time," Frost finished.

"How's the signal?" Bedlam asked.

"It's a little faint," Magma said, reading off a small machine. "But we're heading in the right - hmmm . . . "

"What is it?" Empath asked.

"The signal . . . I've just detected a duplicate," she said.

"A duplicate?" Frost asked. "In the tunnels?"

"Yup," Magma nodded. "Hey, a third . . . and a fourth. That's weird. They're all in slightly different locations, too."

"You broke the damn thing," Bedlam frowned.

"Hey . . . I think I saw something moving," Bevatron said.

"Where?" Frost asked.

"There, on the floor," Bevatron said.

"I'll light it up," Firestar said, emitted a glow. "Oh god . . . "

The Hellions suddenly found the floor up ahead covered with bloody and beaten bodies. Bodies that were clearly mutants.

"Holy Jesus," Empath said. "I'm scanning . . . only a few life signs. Most of these . . . people . . . are dead."

"But . . . " Roulette started, " . . . who . . . ?"

"Easy enough," a voice beyond the bodies said. A man stepped forward. He appeared to be made of crystal. "The name's Prizm. I'm a Marauder. We kill mutants. You unlucky guys are next."

"We'll see about that!" Bevatron said. He cut loose with an intense bio-electric blast. It hit Prizm, but did nothing. "Wha . . . ?"

"Idiot . . . my name is Prizm!" the Marauder said. He raised an arm and fired back Bevatron's energy blast straight back at him, sending him flying.

"How's about a little bad luck?" Roulette asked. "Maybe you'll trip and shatter yourself!"

"I think you should be worried about bad luck," another voice called from behind them. The man was huge. "I'm Blockbuster . . . and you guys are dead."

"I'd think not," the White Queen said. She began to attack Blockbuster with a psi-bolt, trying to fry his mind. Empath and Bedlam quickly joined in in an attempt to completely eradicate his threat.

"I hate telepaths!" Scrambler jumped down from the ceiling. He grabbed hold of Bedlam and the White Queen. His touch instantly disrupted their powers, leaving Empath alone against an incredibly evil mind.

"Keep up the attack!" Lady Mastermind yelled, taking charge.

"Don't bother," another player entered the scene. Her name was Crux, and she controlled both fire and ice.

"Hey!" Magma exclaimed. "This one's giving off the Cerebro signal!"

"What . . . ?" Firestar asked.

"Curiosity kills cats!" Crux said. "Guess it kills dumb muties, too."

Crux lashed out with a blast of ice, encasing Firestar's head completely in an attempt to freeze and suffocate.

"No!" Roulette exclaimed.

"Yes," Prizm said, slamming a diamond hard arm into her back.

Bevatron stood, firing a blast at Crux. "Won't go down . . . that easy . . . "

"Yes, you will," Blockbuster said. He raised a fist and slammed it down into Bevatron's head. The poor boy's skull was crushed. Behind Blockbuster, Empath had collapsed under the strain.

"It . . . it can't end like this," Bedlam said. "Even without powers, I'll . . . I'll . . . "

"You'll nothing," the Marauder Mercury said. His metal fingers extended like razor sharp blades, piercing through Bedlam's body armor and chest, killing him.

"This one's got a Cerebro signal, too," Magma said. "I don't understand . . . but this ends now!"

Magma called upon her power, and the floor began to shake. Columns of lava began to burst forth from the ground. Blockbuster screamed as a column rose up beneath him and burned away all his flesh, killing him in a most painful way. But at the same time, Firestar collapsed. In a panic, she was unable to concentrate enough to use her powers to save her. She suffocated.

Lady Mastermind noticed that Tarot had fled back the way they came. Realizing this was the smartest move, she went after her.

Crux recovered, and sent a blast of ice against Magma. The young girl tried her best to use her heat to keep the ice away, but she was eventually overcome, encased in a solid block of ice.

Magma screamed, calling up a major blast of lava. The blast freed her, but it also killed the unconscious Empath, sweeping over his limp body. She turned on Crux, sending a blast of lava against her. However, Crux was able to control fire as well, and redirected it away from her.

"Your luck's run out, girly," Scrambler said to Roulette. He grabbed her by the hair and flung her into a pile of dead Morlocks. "Someone else, be sure to finish her o--"

"Give me back my powers." Frost had grabbed him by the neck. She was furious.

"Drop him!" Prizm yelled, grabbing hold of Frost's shoulder. The physical contact started a chain reaction, flowing from Scrambler's body, through the White Queen's and into Prizm. All three screamed.

"I refuse to die quietly!" Magma exclaimed. She summoned forth a huge blast of lava that encompassed the entire portion of the tunnel. The blast reached far above the tunnels before erupting in the middle of Central Park.

The blast lasted very briefly. Afterwards, in the tunnel, was silence.

"Tarot?" Lady Mastermind asked as she approached the young red-headed girl.

"I felt it," she responded. "Magma. They are all dead, Martinique. The cards told me they would die."

"Why didn't you tell us?" she asked.

"Because I wanted a release," Tarot frowned. "I wanted to be free. But then the cards told me my fate was different. That I was to live."

"We need to get out of these tunnels . . . "

"No," Tarot said. She pulled a small dagger from her pant leg. "I . . . I have chosen to deny my fate. I damn the cards . . . "

"Marie . . . ?"

"I damn it all!" Tarot exclaimed, plunging the dagger into her chest. Her body contracted, taking in one last sharp breathe. Then, she collapsed.

"My god . . . " Martinique said.

"You'd best make peace with him," a voice said.

Martinique turned her head to behind her, spotting an albino mutant with a gun for a left arm. It was aimed at her.

As the shot was fired, all Martinique Wyngarde could think, was how foolish she was for not leaving when she had the chance.