Title: Helix Volume 4: arma-godd**n-motherf**ckin-geddon

TITLE NOTE: This volume is named 'arma-godd**n-motherf**ckin-geddon' after the kick-ass Marilyn Manson song. What better way could I describe what's going to happen here?

Pairing: Hellion / X-23

Prequels: Helix Volume 0: Year Zero, Helix Volume 1: the first try, Helix Volume 2: another version of the truth, Helix Volume 3: us 2 little gods (see author page for these volumes)

Rating: M (profanities, sexually suggestive content--nothing explicit or NC-17 though)

Summary: They're living in a dark time...and no body cares. This volume is really going to step up the shit factor for the Kellers, so if you hate X-force, it may not be an option for you.
However, it's still the family that you've read about before, and you know I can't resist a floofy, funny moment here and there. We all get our kicks where we can, right?

A/N: The first chapter of volume 4! Enjoy! And thanks for sticking around long enough to read it! And--PS--I've been waiting for a long time to start putting this story out. I'm a little excited!

Helix volume 4: arma-godd**n-motherf**kin-geddon

( Volume: 4 Arc: "Ominous" 1 Issue: 1/1 )

 Chapter 133 : things to come 

Prologue

Location Unknown

"Sir?"

"Hmm?" He looked away from the window, his green eyes taking in the figure of his employee. She was pretty, attractive, soft curves, bouncy blond hair, long eyelashes. Bubbly and funny.

He felt nothing when he looked at her.

No, that wasn't right. What he felt when he looked at her…was hunger. Chemical hunger, the mitochondria of his cells preparing to feast.

Not yet.

"They've taken the bait. They're assembled."

"Oh," he said. "Excellent. Thank you, Dharma."

"No problem, sir."

Sir. Him. Politically incorrect terms, but he supposed she was addressing his form, so he'd never bothered to correct her, nor anyone else. The time would come. And he had plenty of time, so he was
in no particular hurry.

She left; he stood up, straightened his suit, and stepped into empty space. The office around him warped into a dark cavern, in the center of which was a long metal table.

At this table were seated some of the world's most powerful anti-mutant activists.

Bastion. White hair, facial hair, glowing eyes.

The Leper Queen. Bald, twisted, melted epidermis, hockey mask.

Senator Graydon Creed. Bright eyes.

Bolivar Trask. Graying hair, dull eyes.

Donald Pierce. Deceivingly human.

The Vicar of the Church of Humanity. Only her lips were visible from within the hood. Her face, too, was scarred.

There were also a few who were not as well known. People with connections that would be useful in helping to crack the protective out shell of the institute, allow him to reach his target.

Carl Denti. The X-Cutioner.

Kendall Green. FBI.

Dr. Tom Metellus.

And, at the very end of the table, some very important figures—people who had been involved from the very beginning.

Madelyn Pryor, the Red Queen.

Dr. Zander Rice, and his assistant, Kimura, her dark-skinned arms folded, a smile on her arrogant features.

Kingmaker. Also known as Wallace.

There were more, but they were secondary; many were high-ranking minions.

"Alright," he said, drawing their attention. Though he didn't need to speak aloud; many of these individuals already could feel the gist of what he was about to say. Because he was in them, part
of them, in minute amounts.

The reason they existed at all.

"Let's get started with this! And, I must say, I'm interested to see how you will respond. After having observed you for the past billion or so years."

Dr. Rice held up his hand. "You're mistaken. The oldest bipedal fossil dates back 3.5 million years."

"What can I say? You're a persistent species, and one gets tired of trying after a while. I realized, around four million years ago, that I've been rather unintelligent in my management. I require
sustenance—I was rapidly declining, having hunted the dinosaurs to extinction—and here was this stubborn fellow intent on breeding." He paused. "I've really just sat back and let you think you're
holding the reins, for a while. I've dwindled to pathetic little masses. I'd be embarrassed if I indulged in such things."

"What things?" Bolivar Trask.

Madelyn Pryor looked straight at Him, her eyes bright, liquid blue.

"He means emotions," she said, her voice calm, pleasant, softly accentuated, like she was merely at a party, having tea with her friends. Instead of being present at such a council. Her dangling
earrings swayed gently with each movement of her head, like they were emphasizing her words.

"He isn't human?" The Leper Queen, in her raspy voice, her head inclined to look at Him. Curiously. Despite the fact that she hated anything that appeared to be human but was not.

"Heavens, no," he said, chuckling. "Hardly! But I'm going to do you a big favor. You see, you're all panicking, you think this little glimpse of evolution, this little, minor deviant trait, is going to kill you
all. I can assure you that won't happen…at over 6.7 billion of you, you've officially outnumbered any creature that's ever existed. If anything, you're going to overwhelm Earth's carrying capacity…like
I did. I've faded into the background now. I woke up from a deep slumber when some little archeologist went digging in a peat bog. " He paused.

"Enough about me. More about you. I'm in a spot…you're in a spot. You hate these 'mutants' so much, you spend your tiny lifespans trying to rid the earth of them—an impossible task. You need
someone who's got the experience of successful genocide or two under their belt. Heck…I've committed phylumocide."

He looked at the gathered people.

"Why don't I just eat those pesky mutants?"

The reaction was startling, unexpected for people who had committed their lives to eradicating the mutant genome.

"Dear God," Bolivar Trask said.

The Leper Queen made a raspy noise of disapproval.

Many voices were raised in argument, at once.

He held up his hand. Now for his favorite part, or, rather, if he had a favorite part, it would be now, this moment.

"You needn't worry. It's only the mutants. Your precious species will be safe. And, after all, haven't you tried so hard to prove that mutants aren't human?" He paused to let this sink in. "It'll be just like rat poison."

Silence. They were listening again.

Of course they were. So predictable.

"All I'll need is your cooperation," he said.

Dr. Rice raised his hand again. "If you're so powerful…why do you need us?"

"I'm glad you asked that." He raised his hand. Time for a demonstration.

"Your help, assistance in my strategy, to crack the shell that houses my new host. The body I've grown to accommodate me…not like this rusty old death trap." He pulled on his ear; it came off, trailing
a string of goop. People stared; he calmly replaced it. "As you can see, I'm at a disadvantage. This won't hold me for much longer. It's old, and its potential is limited, severely. I mean, hey, I love the
sense of humor it gives me, but…I think power is more important, don't you?" He grinned. "The host I chose…that I made…is one of the most powerful upcoming mutants on the planet…and will be the
last. The body will withstand me—born and bred for it." He paused. "The host wasn't supposed to end up in such a well-protected institution…but mistakes will happen." His eyes found Madelyne,
who returned the gaze confidently.

"Yes," Bastion said.

"Fortunately, the host has connections that I never would have dreamed of. Connections that will make our little plan so much easier. What might have taken years before can now be accomplished in a matter of days."

Silence.

"So what is it you want us to do?" Rice asked. "Catch the host and inject a sample?"

"Oh, that won't be necessary," He said. "You don't even need to detain it. All I need you to do…is kill it. Nature well then takes its course. I've even provided several plans for you to do so. They're in the
envelopes in front of each of you, along with a note detailing the little private rewards you will receive for helping me."

Silence. Slight scuffling, as two people picked up the envelopes, more curious than the rest.

He held up a finger to stop them.

"Now, now. No peaking. First…ladies and gentlemen…are we in an agreement?"

Silence.

"Yes," Bastion said again.

The Xavier Institute

Headmaster Scott Summers' Office

Julian stared at the senior X-man.

"You can't be serious."

"Of course we are, dear," Emma Frost said from the side.

"Seeing as you were so in earnest when you made the request, I'd feel wrong about myself if I didn't oblige you," Scott added.

"We were drunk," Julian said, exasperated.

"We noticed," Scott said, smiling pleasantly. Laura had made quite a scene at the graduation ceremony, when she'd climbed onto the stage completely hammered, and ended a
long and torturous display by vomiting on his shirt.

"Of course, that has nothing to do with this decision to honor your request," Emma said, her voice not reassuring. "We did ask everyone if they wished to select new codenames
to go with their rankings—unlike some students, they weren't allowed a choice in their first ones."

"But we're fair, so we decided to give you a chance too," Scott said.

Julian looked down.

He was standing, in the Headmaster's office, having been summoned to discuss a little 'office matter', which turned out to be the approval of a request to change his and Laura's
codenames, since they were newly graduated X-men.

Except they didn't remember such a request; and on further examination, he'd been even more horrified to discover that the request had been made during a blackout period—their
grad night. A night of celebration, booze, and more booze.

"Woah. Guess I won't be hearing any more 'codenames on the field' crap from you," said Laura, who had always been terrible at using codenames anyway. She had fashioned a variety of rude
nicknames for him, of late 'Helen Keller' and 'Helium' being the most frequent.

"This isn't funny," Julian said, rubbing his face as he sat at their kitchen table.

"It kind of is," Laura said, grinning.

"No, it isn't! I am never going live this one down!" Julian exhaled, hard. "And they're going to make me respond to it, too." He scrunched his face. "Emma Frost is a cold-hearted bitch."

"I wonder what our names are," Laura said. She still showed signs of amusement—when she'd found out, she'd laughed so hard she had trouble breathing, despite the fact that she'd been
dealing with what felt like the world's worst hangover, plus two cranky toddlers.

She could only imagine what they had chosen while drunk.

Julian looked away sulkily.

His brother, James, shuffled into the kitchen, looking like a bird had set up nest in his hair. He blinked blearily through swollen eyes at the pair, reached up over the fridge, and snatched the
box of cheerios, then shuffled back out. The two older residents stared after him; a few moments later, he reappeared and extracted the orange juice from the fridge.

"It lives!" Laura said as the boy drank straight from the carton. "And it contaminates my kitchen! What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"I have a headache," James snapped in a whisper.

"Everyone does," Julian said. "The point is, you shouldn't. I don't remember saying you could get into the booze, too."

"…" James didn't make comment, just looked at Julian, then pointedly at Laura.

"Do as he says and not as we do!" Laura offered.

"Why were you even at the party?" Julian asked. "I distinctly remember it being for us graduate types, not freshmen."

"Mindee invited me," James mumbled. "Look, I don't feel like explaining why I was present at a party to two people who got so drunk they blew their own grad ceremony."

"You were there too?!" Laura squeaked, alarmed.

"I was," James said. "I can't believe I didn't bring my fucking camera. I was going to put that on fail blog."

"…" Julian was livid. "What the hell where you even doing there?!" he asked defensively.

"I was under the impression that we were related," James said. "and that it's kind of something relatives do. I sure as hell didn't wanna go…but I got invited by, like, fourteen people, and
then Logan dragged me there on my ass and practically propped open my eyelids. I wish I'd have known it was going to be so entertaining…I wouldn't have fought it so hard then." He
grinned meanly at them.

"Oh my god," Julian said, mortified. He didn't quite remember what the ceremony had involved, but it sounded worse by the minute. "We've got to stop drinking."

Laura sucked her tongue and looked at a few empty bottles lining the windowsill.

"New costumes!" Cessily said, excited. "We finally get new costumes! We're not gonna be the candy-stripers anymore!"

"We never were," Julian said, annoyed.

"Nate thought we were firemen," Laura said. "This thing is seriously two sizes too small for me…do you know how many times I've had to mend the seat?"

"Heh," Nori said. "I never minded my costume much."

"Because yours is halfway decent," Laura mumbled.

They were standing around the mission room table, staring at a costume-template, lying on the surface like a deflated balloon. It was black, shiny, with yellow, molded
accessories, and covered in X's, on the kneepads and the belt, and the backs of the gloves.

"Can I charge for ad space?" Laura asked. "I could be like a website! I'll paint my face with a giant X for like ten bucks a month."

"There's plenty of room on your ass, too," Julian pointed out.

"!" Laura glared at him. "Fuck you!"

"Children, please." Sofia said, sounding tired. "Ms. Frost said we can customize the outfit with cuts, and layers, but we cannot add or colors, or remove symbols. Apparently the costumes are bullet-proof."

"Let me guess, I'm going to be the one to test that out," Laura said, folding her arms. "Can you, um, fire-proof it too?"

"She's so full of alcohol, she catches fire if someone lights a match nearby," Santo said, grinning.

"OHO!" Josh high-fived him. "That was awesome, dude."

"Let's get this over with," Julian said. Everyone grabbed a sheet of paper and started scribbling what they wanted, knowing better than to say they didn't care. Everyone was afraid of what the
results would be if they did that. They'd seen the original X-men costumes—horrifying outer-underwear spandex costumes that caused uncomfortable wedgies—and there was no guaranteeing
that wouldn't suddenly make a comeback.

Julian leaned over and stared at Laura's drawing. "I highly doubt they're going to let you have nipple tassels," he said.

"Oh, this wasn't for me!" Laura said in a cheerful voice. "I thought I'd be nice and do yours for you."

"…" Julian snatched the dangerous piece of paper from her hands, tore it apart into strips, and crumbled them violently. "Concentrate!" he snapped.

"Fine…Adolf," Laura said, rolling her eyes as she took a new sheet.

"After much debate, Scott and I have decided on the hierarchy of the new team," Emma said, leaning over the table, addressing the seated New X-men. Several days had passed, and now
they were all dressed in their new uniforms.

Julian's sported more armor than his last had offered, including neck protection (a sort of high collar); he'd had to fight the suggestion that he be equipped with a helmet. He did, however,
cave in on a set of sleek Polaroid goggles; so far they'd remained perched on top of his head.

Laura's was now the proper size, and not as confining as the previous corset had been. She had a tank top, a utility belt, pants and a jacket; her gloves and boots had proper steel-lined
passages for her claws to eject through, and had replaceable padding to catch the blood from her skin.

Nori's was somewhat similar, sans jacket, and with her gauntlets instead of gloves. She, too, had opted for a pair of goggles, faced with similar problems of wind resistance to her powers.

Cessily, Sofia, and Laurie had taken three outfits that were almost identical in base form; sleeveless one-piece outfits, with belts. Sofia's had a long, flowing belt (apparently it worked like a
kite tail, and helped her balance); Cessily's entire uniform was actually made of special mercury that had been altered to appear to match her teammates' uniforms; and Laurie had a jacket
and a high neck to hers.

Sooraya's outfit had not changed.

Santo was shirtless, his outfit similar to that of Colossus.

The other boys, for the most part, had chosen gear that would cover as much of their bodies as possible, except for Josh, who had copied the girls, with a sleeveless tunic, and for Kevin, of
course; he had much the same outfit as before, except coordinated with similar boots and gloves to those of his teammates. The material of his costume was more comfortable, and carefully
monitored by computer chips; Dr. McCoy had told the boy he was working on a version of the costume that would have power-dampening fields, and allow him some aspects of touch.

Now, everyone tensed slightly. Julian had been on edge for days, waiting for this moment (Laura had several arguments with him, and tried to keep him busy with household chores so he
would quit sitting on the couch, brooding). He'd been terrified that he'd messed up his chances of leadership, with the scene they'd made at the graduation ceremony.

"The field days of last year were judged together…yet gauged separately," Emma said. "Much effort was put into ensuring the outcome would be fair, yet be the most beneficial to the
team. We have chosen Julian to lead."

He relaxed. Sofia looked as if she had been expecting this, and smiled at him.

"Second-in-command will be Laura."

Sofia's expression changed like a traffic light. She now looked taken back. "But—"

Emma held up her hand. "Josh, you will be the team medic; David, you will be intel and information gathering."

"So the rest of us are just cannon fodder!" Nori burst angrily. "I like how it's all Hellions in charge of things!"

"I don't want to—" Laura began.

"No. You should. You are better than I am," Sofia said, but she didn't meet her eyes. There was an edge to her voice.

Emma paused, and smiled at her students. "I am so proud of you all! Even despite some recent set-backs." She paused, her eyes on Laura. "Now…several days ago, we allowed you the options
of changing your field names…in recognition of your transition to X-men."

"Ms. Frost—" Julian pleaded.

Emma held up her hand, and began to read from a paper in front of her.

"The changes will be as follows: Prodigy would now like to be known as Merge. Wallflower will be called Aura. Wither has changed his name to Reaver—here I will pause to note that the name
has no bearing towards the group of the same name. Wind dancer will now be known as Tempest." Emma paused, and Julian closed his eyes, knowing what was coming.

"Hellion will, from this moment on, be referred to as godslayer007," Emma said, her voice even.

The table erupted. Julian turned red like a traffic light and covered his face with his hands. It was worse than he had thought.

Emma held up her hand. "X-23 has changed her name to superMILF."

This fueled the laughter. Emma allowed herself a slight smile. "Perhaps, my darlings, you will learn the art of sobriety."

Julian folded his arms. "If you guys don't stop laughing…I'll kill you," he warned.

"No worries, man. I wouldn't wanna mess with a guy called godslayer," Josh grinned.

"Julian…a word," Scott said, as he was about to leave. The man had seemed to linger, waiting till Emma Frost was gone.

Still upset about the naming issue, Julian scowled, but obliged. He watched his headmaster—rather, now, his superior—as he folded his arms.

"You report to me, now," Scott said. "Do you understand?"

"I've always reported to you," Julian said.

"It's a simple yes-or-no question."

"…yes," Julian said.

"Good." Scott surveyed him for a moment longer. "We're restarting the squads, for the next term. In September. There will be a new class of New Mutants, and Hellions."

Julian raised his eyebrows. "Huh, didn't think about that. Going to be weird, watching some new kids prance around wearing my hand-me-downs."

Scott grinned. "I want your brother to try out."

"…" Julian stared at him. "Absolutely not! I—"

Scott held up his hand. "Trust me…it'll be good for the kid. I've watched him, he sometimes snuck up here to watch you guys work. He looks up to you, but I don't think either of you
can see it. I know a bit about little brothers and broken homes, Julian…he needs something to do."

Julian considered. James was a pain in his ass; always prepared to be as big of a drag as possible, and he didn't do anything besides school. He didn't have friends, he just sat in front
of the TV, or on his computer, staring blankly at the screen. He knew that couldn't be healthy.

"Well…how do I know you're going to keep him safe? A lot of shit went on during my time at this school, and I dunno if I'd feel right about letting him go through it too," Julian said.

"Because you'll keep him safe," Scott said. "One of the things I entrust my teams with is school safety. You and your friends have a penchant for finding trouble in this place. If you can
trust yourself, he should be just fine."

Julian grimaced. "I dunno."

"Think on it." Scott paused. "And your kids—"

"They are not going on a squad," Julian snapped automatically.

"They're two years old. Of course they aren't." Scott grinned. "Emma offered to tutor them and watch them sometimes, if you'd like a bit of free time."

"Oh." Julian was relieved. "Sounds like a plan."

Scott patted his shoulder. "You're a good kid, godslayer."

"…" Julian hung his head.