Ezekiel smiled up at the three men. The man in the middle was the one who spoke. Each one had some type of visible mutation that made them stand out as meta-humans. The man in the middle stood out as he had red scaly skin and two small horn-like protrusions on the front of his skull.
The man sneered as he looked down at Ezekiel. He studied Ezekiel for a few moments before he said, "You and that little freak are the only people who will be hurt, if you don't learn your place. Now why are you here, surface dweller and what was that light?"
"Apparently teaching idiots some manners. Now apologize to Leech before I make you regret ever being born." Ezekiel said.
All three men tensed up as they sized up Ezekiel before the man in the middle laughed. He laughed for a few moments before he said, "I think we'll beat you till you act more like your little monster friend over there."
Ezekiel shook his head as he said, "How about I show you what hell is like?"
As Ezekiel finished talking the ground started to shake. The three men found themselves having issues standing and before long fell on the ground. Around them the ground cracked open as ominous red light seeped out. Smoke and the smell of rotten eggs filled the air as the men tried to stand back up.
The man with red skin was the first to regain his balance and try to stand back up. As he did, a partly decayed skeletal hand reached out from one of the red cracks. It wrapped around his right ankle and tugged his leg towards the red crack that was slowly expanding.
The tug on his leg unbalanced him and the man cried out in pain as he smacked his head against the ground. When he realized what was happening to him, he desperately kicked the hand with his other foot. As he scrambled to find a hand hold and struggled against the relentless tug.
He was able to hook one hand onto the edge of another crack and took a moment to check on his companions. They were both in the same situation as him. Then he turned to look at the black haired man, who was eating a slice of pizza with a smile on his face as he watched them.
"You mother fucker, I'll kill you!" The man yelled as he struggled against the skeletal hand.
Ezekiel's smile widened as he said, "You'll have to escape hell first."
As the man was going to reply, a new hand reached out of the crack in front of him. It was tinged blue and the tips of its fingers were shaped like knife blades. It quickly reached over and gripped the man’s wrist. He cried out in pain as the finger tips cut into his arm.
He struggled as he was pulled in two different directions, but it was futile. More weird looking hands appeared from the ground to grab him and his friends. Within moments they were all pulled into the cracks in the ground as they screamed for help.
Ezekiel looked at the three men collapsed on the ground as they started to weep and beg for mercy. The leader of the group even started to call out for his mother as he cried.
Ezekiel smirked a little and then turned to Leech who was curled up in a ball and shaking. He shook his head and moved closer to the boy and gently placed his hand on his shoulder.
Leech flinched back from the touch, but Ezekiel's hand followed as he said, "It's okay Leech, I won't let them hurt you."
It took about a minute before Leech finally stopped shaking and opened his eyes. He looked confusedly at Ezekiel for a few moments before he asked, "No hurt?"
Ezekiel nodded his head as he said, "As long as I am here no one will hurt you. I said we were friends after all."
"Friend? Leech, no hurt? " The boy asked with hope in his voice.
Ezekiel returned his warm smile as he said, "That's right. Now come on and sit up."
Slowly Leech sat up and froze as he saw the three men on the ground crying and mumbling to themselves. He stared at them in shock as Ezekiel patted his shoulder and said, "Don't worry about them."
"Here, try this." Ezekiel said as he handed Leech a slice of pizza.
Leech looked at the pizza in his hands for a few moments before he finally took a bite. It was the best tasting thing he had ever eaten. He looked down at it in wonder as he chewed his first bite. Was this what people on the surface ate all the time? It was a lot better than roasted rat.
Ezekiel patted Leech on the shoulder as he asked, "How do you like pizza? Is it good?"
Leech nodded as he said, "Pe-za good. Leech like."
"Better than that roasted rat?"
Leech nodded again as he took another bite of his food. His stick of cooked rat laying off to the side, forgotten.
The next few minutes went by in silence as Ezekiel and Leech ate together. It was broken when another group of people arrived and announced themselves.
"Is that pizza?" A deep male voice asked.
Leech flinched when he heard the new voice but instead of curling up into a ball he looked at Ezekiel. Ezekiel smiled as he said, "You can have some if you like, but you better be nice to my friend while you're here."
A large bald man sat down on the other side of the pizza boxes and took the open box. He used that as his plate as he picked up two slices at once and began to eat.
Another voice, female this time then asked, "Is that what happened to Ralph and his goons? Were they being bullies again?"
Ezekiel glanced at the man and woman as he said, "Kinda. It's why I am currently teaching them some manners."
A man stepped forward as he said, "I must apologize for the actions of our people. While we try to keep things civil down here, we have some outliers that like to cause problems.”
"Your people uh? What are you, the king of the mole people or something?"
The man shook his head and said, "No. I am , one of the founders of this place."
Ezekiel studied the shirtless man for a moment, he was massive without an ounce of hair on his body. He stood well over six and a half feet tall. His shoulders were wide and his muscles were densely packed all over his upper body. But it was his demonic looking face and yellow eyes that stood out the most to Ezekiel. Even the man’s purple tinted chalk white skin seemed almost normal in comparison.
Caliban smiled which made his teeth protrude slightly, showing off wicked fangs. He gestured to the woman next to him as he said, "This is , our leader."
He waved at the other man as he said, "That's , another founder."
"Oh, so it's the queen of the mole people, then."
The woman squinted her one good eye as she said, "I'm not a queen and we’re not mole people. We’re the Morlocks.”
Ezekiel shrugged and said, "I guess the mole people live farther underground then. I’ll have to look for them next time.”
Ezekiel gestured to the pizza as he said, "You can have some pizza if you want.”
As Ezekiel finished talking Sunder crumpled up his pizza box and tossed it in the fire pit as he said, "Thanks, it's been a while since I've had good food." Before he picked up another box and started to eat more.
As Caliban moved to sit down, Ezekiel glanced at Leech. Leech was slowly eating his second slice of pizza as he watched everyone else cautiously. Callisto moved next to Caliban and sat next to his right side so she could face Ezekiel directly.
They didn't reach for any pizza but instead looked at Ezekiel expectedly. Ezekiel took a close look at Callisto for a moment. She was just under six feet tall, with short black hair. The right side of her face was horribly scarred. Over the scar she wore a silver eye patch that shined slightly in the dim light of the catacombs. While her good eye was ice blue and tracked every move Ezekiel made as he picked up a new slice of pizza.
After about a minute of watching Ezekiel quietly eat. Callisto asked, “What is your name surface dweller and why have you come here?”
“My names Ezekiel and I came here for a few reasons. The first one was to find this place.” Everyone but Leech slightly tensed their muscles as Ezekiel finished.
Ezekiel smirked at their reactions before he said, “Next I was looking for Leech, I need his help with something.”
Leech looked over and asked, “Leech friend, need Leech?”
“Yup, some friends of mine are working on something and having issues with it. I think your unique gift will be able to help them finish it. That is, if you want to help us. You can say no if you want to.”
Leech looked over to Annalee’s door before he said, “Leech need stay. Annalee not good. Only now good.”
Caliban nodded in agreement as he said, “Annalee’s power most days makes everyone around her sad and depressed. It’s why we have Leech stay close to her.”
"Don't worry, I was planning to help her out also. Actually that's the main reason I came down here. Someone I work with wants to help out everyone down here."
Ezekiel cast a quick glance at the three men still crying on the ground before he said, "Even the assholes."
Callisto and the others became guarded as she said, "We all live down here for a reason, who would want to help a bunch of freaks like us?"
Ezekiel smiled and spun his right hand in the air a couple times which formed a portal. As the area was engulfed in light Callisto and her people jumped back. Sunder even dropped his pizza as he took up a defensive stance.
They glanced between the portal and Ezekiel until a man in a black suit with a red tie floated out of the portal. He looked around as the portal snapped closed behind him.
Leech didn't move but watched the new person carefully as he glanced at Ezekiel. The new person looked at Ezekiel as he asked, "Why couldn't we do this in my office? It smells terrible here."
Ezekiel pointed to Callisto and her group as he said, "They would have refused."
Ezekiel pointed at Magneto then Callisto as he said, "Callisto, this is Magneto. Magneto, this is Callisto, she’s the leader of the Morlocks.”
Callisto sneered as she said, "That's not Magneto. Magneto is an old man with a shitty red super villain costume and cape."
Ezekiel couldn't help himself and burst into laughter. Magneto didn’t move but the metal around them started to shake slightly, followed by a groaning sound. After a few moments a metal ladder bolted into the wall ripped out of its mounts and flew towards Magneto. The metal ladder started to compress as it moved closer and slowly formed a ball. Afterwards it expanded out and turned into a chair. As the man sat down Ezekiel calmed himself enough and said, "That was pretty good, you've been practicing."
The man nodded as he said, "We can discuss that later.”
Magneto turned back to Callisto and her group as he said, “You were saying something about how I dress?”
Callisto gulped before she said, “I apologize, I might have misspoke. I happen to think red looks good on you.”