First Strike

by David Wheatley

Talyn looked upon his fellows as the portal began to open, casting them to the next world for them to conquer. He could sense the power of the Harbinger brining them forth and he could feel the soul that was being used to wrench a gap in reality itself, channelled through one last soul, a soul of purity now corrupted to their needs.

He could taste the fragrance of the world, seeing the point of entry at the Empire State Building as it had been before and as it would be again. The structure had been a focal point of mystical energy ever since the Inferno, the demon assault on the world. Sym, Nastyrth and the Goblin Queen had been doomed to failure, because their world was not meant to be. They were meant for Limbo and Limbo alone whereas the destiny of Set had been to dominate the world, and as it was the destiny of the father so was it the destiny of the Sons of Set.

Then something occurred, something powerful and unexpected. The portal exploded in a flash of light and a cacophony of sound and he felt his unity with the others being shattered, shared and the seven sons were cast apart, the portals forming elsewhere. Talyn called out to the Harbinger but he could not reach their servant, and he knew that for the first time in their history of conquest, their first move had been subverted by someone who knew they were coming and would not be taken easily.

Most worlds fought, most worlds lost. This world was not one that would be easy in the conquest and that was good. It had become too easy to take and destroy, to ravage the Earth and if this were to be a true challenge of the gods then so be it. The portal formed and he could hear the cries, smell the fear and his psionic capabilities allowed him to feel the fear that was being generated by the mortal creatures and they were running, trying to escape from whatever was coming through and he appeared before them and if they had fear before, now they were truly terrified of what was going on.

Humans had an instinctive fear of reptiles; something inherent within their brains told them that reptiles were the enemy. Set and Gaia had been enemies for aeons and it was in part that which ensured they had these feelings as children of the planet. Snakes had always been seen as evil, something to be feared, and now a ten foot creature with red glowing eyes and a long forked tongue was an incarnation that they no means of mentally dealing with. He reached out with his psionic power and he held the humans in place with telekinetic might of his mother backed by the will of the father and his tongue shot out, wrapping around the nearest human which screamed in fear calling out a name, the name of the mate it cared about and he devoured him.

He had never decided what felt better - the taste of the creature as he swallowed it or the taste of the absolute terror from it's mind as he digested it. The creature would live for ten or fifteen of it's minutes as the secretions from it's stomach encased it. The tongue had spines on it that introduced a venom would that would paralysis the mortal, preventing it from attempting to escape and softening up the tissues for easier digestion and all the while the human was aware as the powerful digestive enzymes went to work, eating away at the flesh and breaking it down in to the by-products it needed to live, even breaking down the keratin and chitin that normal reptiles could not break down.

The human couldn't even scream as the first time it tried the secretions entered it's mouth, blocking the airways and so the panic was heightened before the creature realised it could breathe through the fluid, but it was all over for them anyway and the pain and suffering was unimaginable to any of them. Talyn loved the feeling and there was a world to conquer so he could feel it for many years yet and there would inevitably be conflict with the heroes of this world.

They would lose. They would die. And he would feel their death throws as he devoured them...

"We need your help," said Jubilee. "There's so much to catch up on." Monet nodded and then looked across, staring Emma in the eye.

"What about you?" she said. "What do you think, Miss Frost?" Emma took a deep breath but before she could answer Cerebro interrupted.

"Cyclops, there's something going down, something major league..."

"What's going on?" Cyclops said to the sentient computer, a hint of annoyance in his voice at the interruption.

"Seven portals just opened up," Cerebro answered. "And there's something come through, and they're mutants of incredible power. The readings are off the scale but I can tell you this - they're malevolent in intent."

"How do you know?" said Emma Frost.

"Because the one closest to us is in Greenwich Village eating people," said Cerebro. "Kinda gave it away..."

"Can you show us what we're dealing with?" Radius asked and Cerebro showed an image of the creature.

"Gross," Jubilee answered. "I hate snakes..."

"That's interesting," said Cyclops. "That's a telekinetic energy signature. If I didn't know better I'd say it belonged to Jean..."

"Actually," said Monet, "the files say it is her energy signature."

"She's right," Cerebro confirmed. "Damned if I can tell you why, but that thing's got Jean's powers. At levels she's not displayed in a long time. Plus there's also a lot of other power. We're talking Phoenix plus..."

"Okay," said Cyclops, "you all head down to the village. Emma, take charge."

"What are you going to do?" asked Magma.

"Get backup," said Cyclops. "If we're dealing with a god which has it's own powers and the powers of Jean, then we'll need everything we can get and there's a better chance of them listening to me than Cerebro. I'll join you as soon as I can, but go. People are dying and this is a chance to show the world what the new X-Men can do."

"Let's hope dying's not included in that..." said Radius as they headed for the jet. The village wasn't that far away, but time was of the essence.

"Now there's something you don't see everyday," said Maverick as he looked down the street. They knew what had been happening, because Forge had put out a general SHIELD directive to keep an eye on things in case of an extra-dimensional invasion by giant snakes with godlike powers.

Forge was not normally a man given to overestimating his enemies and as soon as the screams had started, he'd called for the others in X-Force and headed in the direction he had the cries and from all the way in the distance he could see the enemy and he could see what it was doing. X-Force were not in the immediate area yet but he had no proper choice - people were dying and he was the only one about to do anything about it.

"One of these days," he muttered to himself as he charged down the street and fired his kinetic blasts, striking out at the snake, but the blasts struck it's hide and no more. Except he'd gotten it's attention.

"Oh this isn't good," he said as the snake turned to him, it's eyes narrowing and as it looked at him, North wondered if the snake was in fact smiling at him. It's mouth opened and in the split second before it's tongue lashed out, Maverick fired again but the snake wasn't attempting to eat him. Instead it released a ball of flame, turning the tarmac to liquid as it fire raced down the street towards it's target and Maverick knew he was in trouble. His uniform could protect him somewhat, but not against that and there was no way to avoid it, except by going up... "I hope this works," he told himself as he fired his energy blast at the ground, creating a hole in the ground, but at the same time being pushed up in the air. The flame went underneath him, but he could feel the intensity of it from where he was and then he began to fall. He wasn't worried about the descent of the landing, but he was concerned that there wouldn't be anything he could do to prevent the snake from getting to him again and he could see the snake getting closer to him, and he closed his eyes but opened them again as he heard the sound he'd been waiting for.

Siryn was here and she swooped down, grabbing him and carrying him out of the way.

"Thanks, Terry," he said and she smiled but as Maverick looked at her, he considered that she needed to be shut up and his hands grabbed her throat, locking in place, trying to choke the life from her and as her sonic cry failed they started to fall.

"Maverick," she rasped as she tried to free herself from the stronger man. "Get a hold of yourself..."

"I can't stop it," he said and they landed hard as the shadow bore down on them.

"Maverick," she pleaded as she felt the snake's thoughts in her head and Maverick released her and simply lay on the ground unable to move and she could not use her powers as a counter against the creature either.

~You will be the first~ the snake said inside her mind. ~The first one to bear my progeny, the first of the strong~

"Never," said Siryn, her thoughts being echoed by her voice, as a telekinetic force pulled her closer.

~Submit to me child. You have no choice and in submitting you will become immortal~

"You will never have me willingly," she said, defiance in her voice.

~You cannot hide your thoughts from Talyn. As much as you fear it, you desire it also, fascination intermingled with trepidation~ Siryn resisted, struggled at the telekinetic hold, but she did not answer because Talyn, if that was the creature's name, was true. As much as the idea reviled her, there was a curiosity as well. ~You are strong~

Talyn extended his tongue, and revealed the underside, where tendrils reached out ready to take the woman, impregnate her with his seed and soon she would give birth to the first child of Talyn, and though the effort would kill her, she would be a part of the child and so achieve the immortality he offered.

Siryn was pulled closer to the tendrils and she could feel them whipping before her ready to grab her, hold her, invade her.

"Please," she pleaded with him and Maverick looked at his team-mate, unable to move and he hoped wherever the others were they either hurried or stayed the hell away because they were in serious trouble and he did something he had not done in many years.

He prayed.

Then he saw a red circle appear over the snake's head and it looked disturbed for a moment, a moment in which Siryn was free and she screamed at the creature, using everything she had in one focused sonic scream, and the snake was thrown back and it toppled and fell to the floor.

"You cut that close, Raven," Maverick said, as Lydia pulled him up from the ground, his uniform coated in melted tarmac.

"There's a bit of a panic on at the moment," said Lydia. "HERMES is down, something's interfering and the world's in a bit of a panic at the moment."

"No kidding," said Siryn. "These things have two goals - feed and copulate."

"So the girls are safe for the time being," said Maverick, looking at Raven, who was quiet. "Marcus?"

"It's an ancient power," he muttered. "Beyond anything Ah've ever touched, ever felt... It took everything Ah had to break it's hold." He looked at them and they could see his hair had taken a distinctly white hue. "Ah ain't sure Ah could do it again."

"It's down now," said Maverick.

"No," said Lydia. "It's getting up."

"Talyn's nothing more than a really powerful snake," said Siryn. "And snakes are deaf. They pick up vibrations, which is how I knocked it over. The sonic part..."

"Did sod all," said Maverick as Talyn rolled over at then towered above them. "I'm really starting to hate this..."

~Is that the best you can do?~ Talyn said. ~I have chosen her for my own and you puny mortals will not deny me~

"We'll die trying," said Maverick, wondering how close to the truth he actually was with that statement.

~Closer than you consider~ Talyn replied. ~However I will have the female before you die, but I see that you will create trouble. I could force you, bend you to my will as I have broken so many before but I have a much better way of dealing with you, one that will break you in ways you cannot imagine~

The people who had been screaming now turned, picking up whatever they could find and began to run towards the SHIELD agents, all except Siryn who was once again held in a telekinetic grip.

~If you manage to subdue the innocents, those you are so eager to save, you will be too late to prevent the mating and then the other female will be next~ Lydia felt a chill run down her as she heard the phrase.

"Help me!" called Siryn as she felt the serpent's tongue wrap around her, squeezing her in it's grip and she yelped as something stuck in to her and she felt her body seizing up. She could feel venom entering her blood, spreading through body as the tendrils wrapped around her legs, the spines tearing at the uniform, scratching at her legs as they fed underneath the clothing, aiming for their ultimate target.

"No!" shouted Lydia as she tried to defend herself against these people who were intent on killing her, but without doing them harm. "Raven!"

"Ah can't get a fix on the thing's mind," Marcus said. "Ah can't break the hold on these people!"

"NO!" cried Siryn as the tendrils slipped inside her panties.

Maverick knew they'd only just about got her back to her former self after what had happened with Black Air. "For God's sake someone do something!" he shouted and then the tongue exploded, severing it from the serpent and Talyn gave an unholy roar.

"Score one for the X-Men," Radius said, as the X-Men stood there. "Looks like you SHIELD lot needed a hand."

"I'm not complaining," said Maverick, wondering what the hell he'd missed because these were not exactly an X-Men line up that he knew as he headed over to Siryn and pulled the severed tongue loose. "Did it…?" he started but he wasn't sure exactly how to phrase it.

"I don't know," she said, still paralysed by the venom. "I'll get it checked out when we get back to the Helicarrier."

"I like your attitude," said Ice. "Optimistic in the face of overwhelming odds."

"Overwhelming is right," said Jubilee. "It's regrowing it's tongue…"

"Interesting," said Monet. "That's an enhanced state of regrowth."

"Hell with that - hit it as one!" said Maverick and he, Magma and FX used their powers to attack as one, hitting Talyn with kinetic force, geothermal power and concussive attacks in a simultaneous assault on the creature, but when the dust settled they could see Talyn had used considerable telekinetic power to defend itself from the attacks, but they knew it could be wounded and it was obviously taxing Talyn to regenerate that quickly.

"That didn't work, did it?" said Ice as she fought with the others against the humans that were attacking them.

"What do you suggest?" said Maverick as they tried again.

"Regroup and figure a weakness," she said. "We have Cerebro, let's see what he can come up with?"

"But these people?!" said Lydia, her fist slamming in to the face of someone as she kicked out at someone coming at her with a piece of metal. "We can't leave them to this… He will eat them or take them as mates…"

"We have no choice!" snapped Emma. "We stay, we die and there may be a way for us to save those that live."

"I don't like this," said Lydia. "And I don't like you."

"I don't care," said Emma. "If we're to survive as Cyclops says then we're not going to throw our lives away."

~Run away, mutant children~ Talyn said, and they could hear the pain in his voice. ~I will hunt you down and destroy you and your ilk. Jean Grey may have been my mother but I do not have her loyalty towards you. I know the secrets of her heart, how the betrayal she felt towards you all…"

"Oh be quiet," said Monet as she interrupted the mind link with her own psionic abilities and Marcus raised an eyebrow. He could feel the power that the girl possessed and that gave him an idea.

"How'd you do that?" asked Jubilee.

"I have my ways," she said, as she looked at Marcus. "And I believe Mr Raven's plan will work."

"What plan?" asked Maverick.

"Just hit the snake," said Marcus and he and Monet looked at each other and a red circle appeared above their heads, and above the head of Emma Frost and the three of them ascended to the astral plane and Emma looked at herself. She was almost a wraith but she could feel her psionic abilities coming back to life again.

"Incredible," she said. "But how?"

"You cannot access your powers anymore but the potential is there," Monet said. "And we will need you for this."

"And that is?"

"Fighting me!" the voice of Talyn echoed and the three telepaths confronted a being, psionic energy rippling from it. Emma gave a slight flick of her hair.

"This is going to be interesting…"

Back at Xavier's, Cyclops was having little to no luck getting hold of anyone. He didn't really want to call them all, but he had no choice because he was seeing battles occurring across the planet as the demons attacked the world, and their servants got in line to aid the masters.

There was no reply from the X-Corps offices, he couldn't get hold of Cable, the Brotherhood were still being assembled by the Grey King and there were very few teams out there he could get hold of and he assumed they were all out there doing what they could to ease the panic or fight the demons.

Some were stronger than the others, some were craftier, some had definite plans but was seemed to be definite was that they had not been prepared to have been separated. He had an uplink to Cerebro and he was scanning, monitoring what was going on at the battle and he could see that the demons were powerful, but not invincible and there seemed to be a connection between them that had been severed.

Xavier's computer systems, the concepts and designs created by himself Forge and with the added Shi'ar technology they could do things that even Reed Richards would have to pause at. There was a similar biorhythm to each one, that when the signature was added together there was a pattern that had lit everything up and if the systems had not shut down they computers would have overloaded and exploded.

Scott shivered with dread when he considered what could have happened if they had all appeared at the same place. The seven of them united would have been literally invincible and everything would have come to an end. He should have gone with the X-Men, but they had X-Force with them and hopefully that would even the score. He had to figure a way of getting to them somehow, but they had taken the only jet he had available and he knew he would not get to them in time.

"They'd better be as good as I figured they were," he said and he wondered how often Charles had been here, watching, helpless to join the fight. It would not happen again…

"MOVE!" shouted Maverick as Talyn unleashed another blast of fire towards them and the heroes scattered, but the humans in the way were not that lucky and they were engulfed in flame.

"He's keeping us off guard," said Lydia. "No comebacks, no lashing with the tounge. The humans seem to be the only weapon."

"So we strike hard and fast," said Maverick. "I'm gonna hate this later…" he spread eagled his hands and unleashed everything he had left at the humans and hoped it was going to work and as the bio kinetic blasts struck them, they fell to the floor stunned but not seriously inured due to the way his powers were weakened and spread over a wide area.

"Let's see how much punishment a god can take," muttered Jubilee, letting loose the pain and anger inside her and chunks of the god were blown off as she exploded her particles within the creature placing it and the godling yelped in pain and threw another blast of fire at them, as Magma threw up her own intense heat to protect herself and Radius joined her, his force field protecting him.

"Figured you'd fancy some company," he said.

"In the middle of a battle?"

"Hey if we're gonna go, there's nobody I'd rather go with," he said with a sly grin and she shook her head, but then the tongue was unleashed and grabbed hold of Jared. "SHIT!" he called as he was pulled forward towards the mouth of the snake and it swallowed him whole.

"JARED!" shouted Magma as Jubilee cried out "RADIUS!" His force-field was good but would it save him from being digested? It hadn't saved him from the tongue grabbing him and he'd seemed to go rigid, as if the venom had got him as the tongue had grabbed him.

"This isn't good," said Maverick. "Can we damage the thing without hurting Radius?"

"Let's find out," said Lydia.

"Wait!" said Cerebro appearing there. "I can sense things that you people can't…"

"Cerebro?" asked Siryn, thinking of the creature when it had first appeared with the new X-Men and what the team had done and been through to save Xavier from the robot and now it was back.

"Another time, Teresa," said Cerebro. "Jared's in trouble. His force-field's not protected him from the venom because it's a mystical thing, but it is keeping him from being digested, but it's not going to hold. As the poison takes effect, the force field will fade and then…"

"Canadian bacon," said Maverick. "We get him out, and we get him out now."

"How exactly?" said Lydia.

"I'm working on it," he said.

"Need a hand?" Siryn said, standing. "I think the nanites countered the venom…"

"Then I think we have a game plan…"

"GNATS!" cried the Serpent as his power flashed amongst the astral plane, striking at the telepathic trio, but they knew what they were doing, and the mindlink they created was capable of withstanding the assault, and returning it. The mind of the God was great and he was capable of operating on both planes of reality at the same time, but there was something special here, and he was not at his best. Those on the mortal plane were doing him damage, and those here were interfering in his concentration, and he was healing himself but his offensive capacity had been lessened and they had just felled his human troops.

Talyn's power was great, but this was not the kind of thing he had been used to. There had been seven other to back him up and he was not ready for this. And then there was the astral plane. It felt wrong to Talyn, as if something was seriously wrong with it. There were massive psionic disturbances, shifts that had occurred here and it was not what Talyn had been prepared for. It was true that each astral plan had been different, but there had always been subtle differences, not the kind that were here.

Something, someone, had taken control of a large portion of this domain and there was something at the edge of Talyn's sensual periphery… He could sense his mother, the Jean Grey of this world and the power she had at her disposal. He had known of the potential she had within her, that she was an incredible psionic but the power had been divorced from her and had become a separate entity called the Phoenix. His father had devoured that power and absorbed it in to himself, he had seen it in his mother's memories but he could feel that with it reunited in her there were two major telepathic powers and he was in the middle of them, unable to call upon the resources he should have been able to call on.

If only his brothers were there, he could have called upon their power and this would have been a formality.

Then the mortals struck, the raw potential of the youngest female, the trained edge of the elder woman and the sheer force that the male possessed and they struck as one and Talyn staggered under the assault. The younger female seemed to know exactly what she was doing, where she was aiming her assault. The male was providing the power and the third of them was providing the scalpel like precision to strike.

~Come out, Jean~ she said. ~I know you're in there somewhere~

~You'll never free the spirit of my mother~ Talyn said, but he was unsure. It had not been tried before. He had suffered appeals to his mortal side but that side was negated by his father. He had devoured his mother as he had devoured everyone else, but he had been able to take her power in to himself and become more than he could have been, using the power. How could you appeal to the child that devoured it's own mother at the moment of it's birth, enjoyed the taste of her flesh, knowing the pleasure of love and death combined.

~Never is not a word I have ever understood~ Ice muttered, knowing that her wraith like state was the only way she could reach to the spirit of Jean Grey, who would be nothing more than a shade herself and they touched the woman who remained

~This cannot be!~ Talyn said, but he could feel something shift inside of his psyche, as the human part of him fought back after being trapped for countless ages, and the telepaths knew they had achieved what they had set out to do, to reassert the humanity.

~Oh my child~ the voice of Jean Grey said, echoing almost imperceptible. ~What have you done?~

~What I was born to do!~ Talyn said. ~What I was sired to do, to rule, to conquer, to ensure the legacy of the father~

~Your father was a pure God~ she said ~A being above the feelings that you possess. Feeling that come from humanity. Set sought to conquer because that was all he had known, you conquer because you like it~

~I am not human, I am a demi-god, one of the seven, I am…~

~Damned by your heritage. You know all I know, you know the goodness that is possible, open yourself to that~

~NO!~ Talyn raged, his mind in conflict, the natural innate goodness of his mother returning to the fore and he knew that what he had been before was no longer possible to return to. His mother was a part of him like she had never been before and she was blocking the voice of his father.

~Time to go~ said Emma and the telepaths left the astral plane returning to their bodies.

"I don't know what you did," said Maverick, "but it worked."

"We woke up a part of him he didn't want to acknowledge," said Marcus. "Therapy."

"Either way," he said and he looked at Emma. "What's with her?"

"She got a taste of a world she'll never see again," said Monet. "An apt punishment…"

"Don't dare judge me," Ice whispered, but she knew there was very little she could do to argue. Her diamond form was something she liked, but there was nothing it could give her that even compared to the thrill that she got from the astral plane.

"We're running out of time," said Cerebro. "Jared's force field just collapsed, and the enzymes are starting to digest him." Monet and Marcus grabbed their heads in pain, as Talyn fought back transmitting the thoughts of the mutant inside his stomach to them

"SIRYN! DO IT NOW!" Maverick shouted at Siryn unleashed her powers at Talyn once more, but this time it was a focused blast, using the scans provided by Cerebro and the serpent began to dissipate as she negated it's body's natural vibratory frequency by matching it with a counter frequency. The sound struck home but the raw power being used had repercussions and the heroes around her were forced to draw on their own reserves, pushing past the pain this was causing them as a side effect, knowing this was what was needed.

Talyn's body was being disrupted and FX placed her charges inside the weakened molecular structure and the explosions did what they had previously been unable to do - destroy the body of a god and the resulting explosion cast pieces of the serpent across the immediate area and Siryn stopped her scream, as Radius lay there, his skin badly burnt away by the enzymes and they knew that the venom inside him was softening him up and Lydia went in quickly, getting the fallen young man out of the way as Magma uprooted the earth, using her seismic powers to turn the areas where the bits of Talyn lay to lava, casting the flesh in to the fires of the earth, making sure that the creature was dead and gone.

You never could tell with a god…

~NO!~ Talyn screamed as he felt his body destroyed, his mind still active on the Astral Plane. He had never considered what was going on could destroy him.

~Overconfidence is a human trait~ Jean said as she started to fade away, her spirit freed with the death of the godling's body and it's hold on her released. Taylyn was now nothing more than a psionic whisper, alive because Talyn was the spawn of an elder god, but formless, helpless and powerless and in time he would dissipate as the psionic energy was utilised by other telepaths and he would be gone. Unless…

~I will find a host body!~ Talyn declared. ~I will live on~

~Oh, I don't think so~ said a voice and Talyn knew that one of the psionic presences he had felt earlier had come to investigate. ~There's only room for one of us in this reality, and I can't exactly have you roaming my kingdom…"

Talyn cried out as he felt his very self scattered across the plane and he was gone, as was his mother leaving the presence to consider his next move. The time seemed to be right…