(Anything said or written by the demon Goshenk will be written in green letters. Thank you very much. I hope to eventually meet and destroy you all, in time.)

It's been a while since I've really talked to anyone but May, and of course, I don't plan to tell her what's wrong with me. It'd be nothing but wheat cookies for me. Wait, did I say anyone but May? Sorry, but I meant May and Goshenk. Yeah, Goshenk's the demon inside of me.

What an introduction, boy. Have you no respect?

None at all, so shut up... Right, where was I?

Well then, I suppose I'll have to introduce myself. The fact that I chose to inhabit this boy has been a mixed blessing. He has all the talent I could ever want, but he is too strong for me to control. It's as much as I can do to speak, and even then, only when he lets me.

I am Goshenk, and I am one of the most powerful of all demons...

(Snicker...)

SHUT UP, BOY! It is only by the curse of Satan himself that I must be bound to a mortal being. As I was saying, there was once a powerful warrior by the name of Wulfgar. He was captured by the godess Lolth, and given to the balor Errtu. One of Errtu's favorite torture methods was to have a succubus take on the form of Wulfgar's love, and seduce him.

They would afterwards reveal their true nature, thus bringing delicious, delectable pain to his soul. If the union resulted in offspring, Errtu would rip the half-breed infant apart in front of Wulfgar. But on the last occasion where a succubus deceived Wulfgar, the infant had such extraordinary power that he was spared. And that is the story of my birth.

When I was young, I once went to visit Hell. It gives me shame to admit this, but I had the misfortune to actually meet Satan there. In short, I stubbed his toe, and ever since, I have had to inhabit mortal bodies for my survival.

I have inhabited many people since the beggining of this dimension. I started with the Prince of Persia, from whom I acquired the Tail of Daggers. I moved on to others, from Hitler to Pol Pot. I even had a brief stint inside a woman named Lorena Bobbitt, but I quickly moved on to another male subject. They are much easier to manipulate.

I will not tell you the tale of how I entered this boy. He will tell you in his own time. Will you not?

That's enough. Anyways, I received a call from the X-Mansion. Laura is missing apparently, and Professor Xavier is too busy fighting Oprah to look for her with Cerebro. (A sentence I never thought I'd write.)

That's where Goshenk came in. I figure that if he's going to live inside me, he might as well pay rent, no?

Wretch.

Thank you. Anyway, Goshenk has contacts in low places, so we made a few "calls". I don't like hurting innocent people, but beating the crap out of imps is fun. Especially since the imp I smacked around was the same one that tricked HS into going to Hell.

I made a few calls of my own. I told HS' family that I knew where he and Laura were, and that I was going after them. I also told them that if anyone, especially Pan tried to follow me, there'd be Hell to pay, pardon my pun. Then I called Wolverine.

"What?" he said as he answered the phone.

"This is Angus."

"I know, caller ID. Whad'ya want?"

This man knows how to use caller ID?

"I know where HS and Laura are. Meet me on the roof of Clover Heights."

"Thatd be where ya and the web-head live, right?"

I hung up, and turned to the imp who was bound in a magic barrier that not even teleportation could get him out of. One of Goshenk's spells.

I smiled, and Goshenk did too.

"When the big bad wolf gets here, you're gonna take us all to Hell, right?" I asked.

The imp nodded nervously.

"Good boy."

"Angus, why don't you talk like an Irish guy any more?"

I turned, and looked. Pan is amazing, even after what happened... gah, best not to think about it.

"It's hard to explain." I replied, "Things have changed for me."

She smiled, "I guess having a skyscraper come down on top of you might do things to the old noggin'."

Another reminder of what I hated to think about.

I pulled away from her slightly. "Pan, I'm sorry. I know I've, well, I guess I've been ignoring you, just a little bit. It's not that I mean to, you know?"

She closed the newly-made gap between us. "I know. It makes me sad too, though. Every time I see you, you seem stretched, tense enough to snap. It seems like I can't help."

I sighed, "You're right, though I wish you could. Look, I'll tell you about it sometime, I promise. I just want to be more in control of what's going on when I do."

She grinned, "Of course, whenever you're ready! Look, I gotta run. I have to be back with my parents before curfew."

"Which is in, maybe, forty seconds." I replied.

"Yep." she giggled as she kissed me. About ten seconds before her curfew, she disappeared.

"The wonders of instant transmission." I thought.

******

I had killed before, in self defense, and to defend Pan. I have no issues with that. But now I needed to talk with someone who'd understand the rest of it. Someone who wouldn't blame me.

"Will she hate what I am?" I asked myself, "Probably not, she's dating a devil, after all. But she may not completely understand."

The city was quiet, and Peter was already on patrol, making it a perfect time to visit Laura. I leaped through the city at three times my normal speed. The only good thing that had come out of my experience with Grelm and the now-extinct Fallen Sun, was my increased strength, and uh, some other things.

Finally, I landed on the free way. I jumped lightly onto the back of a semi-truck, and waited out the rest of the ride. Westchester wasn't far away.

As I approached the X-Mansion, I felt an odd emotional signature. This would have been quite normal, if it weren't for the fact that it wasn't actually on the grounds, but skulking just outside. Peter would have investigated, and when he does, he's usually right, so I altered my course.

It wasn't long before I saw: this guy. I tried a line Peter might have used.

"Is it just me, or does that mohawk suck?"

He screamed, popped claws, and charged me. How many Wolverine clones are there anyway? I turned into Fade, and dodged the charge, whipping my claw-like fingers into his back as he passed. Like I expected, he healed rapidly.

"So what do want here?" I asked, hoping for any chance of negotiation.

"None of your business!" he screamed, and charged me again. Instead of continuing headlong, he slowed, and began to exchange blows with me. This normally wouldn't be a problem, as I am much stronger, but he was fast.

He launched one set of claws towards my midsection, which I pushed away, then he brought the other set whipping around from the side.

I stepped back, "Heh, you scratched me."

"Less talking, more killing." he growled, as he launched a rather complicated set of attacks. I dodged, some, blocked one, but then one claw grazed my side.

Hoping to avoid a few more cuts, I slammed myself into him. He lifted off the ground, and flew over one-hundred feet.

I chuckled, "And there's more where that came from."

"Why can't even one thing go right?" he yelled, "First the Laura bitch, now..."

He never got time to finish his sentence. By the end of the word "bitch" I had my left arm holding his arms back while my right hand went around his throat.

Barely holding myself back, I asked, "What was that about Laura?"

He laughed. "What do you think, Idiot? Weapon X wants her back."

I started to squeeze, but he ripped an arm free and plunges his claws into my gut. I fell back, and howled, "If you wanted to hit a nerve, asshole, you did it!"

He just kept laughing, that is, until I released my second form. From the back of my mind, came a voice. "YES! I'm free. Together we can tear the world apart!"

"Shut UP!" I argued back mentally. "The only thing we'll tear apart, is this guy, then I'm putting you back in your cage."

He might have said more, but I didn't listen. Instead, I called the Tail of Daggers to me, and spoke to my demon. "Yes, evil Prince of Persia, we may share a body, but it's mine. I'm keeping you alive, so you're just going to have to sit there and pay rent."

"Fool," he replied, "You don't have a demon inside you. You are a demon. You are me."

(For those of you who would like to know, this is what my second form looks like, only with shorter hair:)



I turned my attention to the man in front of me. He only kept laughing. "So you look even weirder. Now what?" I whipped the Tail at him. It went straight through his chest. I let my inner fire flow through the Tail of Daggers, and into him. It burned him from the inside, and he screamed in pain.

As his pain mounted, the Demon Prince began to laugh uncontrollably, and so did I. Soon, there were flames bursting out of the man. The flames dissipated , while I used the Tail to shred him.

Lights went on in the X-Mansion, as several people came rushing out. Before they could see me, I let myself slip back into my human form, and ran. I'd call Laura later.