Storm: the Arena

Slave

Summary

  A woman in shadow enters a gladiatorial arena to the applause of the crowd.

  Ororo grabs Koga by the face and demands an explanation, but he says Callisto has made a valid challenge. Guido tells Yukio if Callisto wins, all the gladiators become her property. Yukio asks about their history, and Guido explains: Ororo and Callisto dueled in the Morlock tunnels in a now legendary fight (X-Men I:212) where Ororo was at her most ruthless, and this must be payback. Yukio realizes it's a setup and extracts knives from her hairdo, but Guido restrains her, saying it's Ororo's fight now.

  Callisto uses her many tentacles to throw dozens of knives, and Ororo blows most away but gets cut, and she grabs two to counterattack, but Callisto grabs and slams her: the tentacles are like steel. Callisto's fighting skills are her mutant power, and Ororo is soon bleeding and prostrate, but then she brings lightning and escapes. Callisto is glad to see she's still a fighter; Ororo asks why she's doing this, since they're not enemies anymore; Callisto says they are in the arena. A bystander has already been killed and is removed; Ororo collapses from loss of blood.

  She remembers being approached by Xavier in Africa and joining the X-Men. The commitment was total, and the cost high. Later, things changed, and she formed her own team; the destruction of Genosha and the public exposure of the X-Men changed things forever. She sees Xavier in the arena, who tells her no one can be trusted and punches her.

  Waking, she realizes Callisto is strangling her in tentacles, and she asks if it was worth it to transform her body just to settle a score. She realizes Callisto is being controlled and starts to warn Koga, but Callisto puts a tentacle over her mouth. Masque enters the arena from the shadows, congratulating herself on Callisto's appearance. She puts her hands on Ororo's face and transforms her into a lizard. She tells Koga there aren't many worth keeping here, and she'll sell the rest; he protests that wasn't the deal, so she has her minion Paradise attack him.

  Ororo, with only a fraction of her strength, tosses Callisto and starts a melee, letting Yukio and the gladiators escape. Masque's minions Paradise and Purge attack her with pleasure and pain; Posterboy is sent to chase after the gladiators. Masque declares them in violation of their oath and fair game for other arenas. She returns Ororo's face but then makes her break out in pustules which grow snakes with faces of her inner demons; then she transforms her into a gargoyle. She plans to morph her till she finds the best fit, and she'll have Paradise make her enjoy it. She broke Callisto, and she'll break her.

  Yukio has taken everyone to Lila's apartment, and they observe via a spycam. She punches Koga, but Guido restrains her again.

  Masque transforms Ororo repeatedly, through all her previous hairstyles, and has Purge make her feel pain to make her hate herself. In demonic form, Ororo attacks Masque, but Paradise pulls her off.

  Masque runs the arena now, and she puts Ororo up against an armored opponent; she fights, sorry her battle against Callisto is over but glad her inner demons are free. She knocks the helmet off her opponent and sees it's Yukio, but, now in demon form, she keeps attacking, with a tornado and Yukio's own swords. Masque and the crowd cheer for her to kill her, but she refuses, and Masque immediately has Purge whip her. Inside, Masque transforms "Yukio" back to Paradise; she knew she'd never kill her best friend, and she's still enough of a hero not to kill Paradise, either. Masque knows she'll break her in the end, because she's offering her what she really wants. She has Purge continue the torture, while Callisto observes.

  Note: since Masque was an ugly man who couldn't use his powers on himself and is dead (X-Force 9), let's assume this is his daughter.