#nils styger

[comicwaren]

From Dark X-Men Vol. 2 #004, “Up Jumped the Devil”

Art by Jonas Scharf and Frank Martin

Written by Steve Foxe

[heckcareoxytwit]

A preview of Dark X-Men #4

DARK X-MEN #4

HOSTILE TAKEOVER! The fiend taunting the Dark X-Men from afar leaves a trail of bodies in her wake as terror falls over the Limbo Embassy. Will CHASM join the fight against Orchis…or become Madelyne Pryor’s ultimate downfall? And can the Devil ever truly be trusted?

Written by: Steve Foxe Art by: Jonas Scharf, Frank Martin Cover by: Stephen Segovia, Rachelle Rosenberg Page Count: 28 Pages Release Date: November 15, 2023

[marvelheroperil]

While they are out patrolling, Strong Guy gets caught in the tendrils of Abyss and he’s flung far away before Wolfsbane could reach him.

- X-Factor v3 #19, 2007

[slingers]

sometimes i make memes based off what i’m currently writing. here’s an oldie but a goodie

explanation: Nightcrawler (Kurt) and his half brother Abyss (Nils) are “working with” Azazel, their dad, while actually plotting to kill him. it was really fucking funny at the time. now i just want my followers to see how stupid i am

[bamfoftheundead]

I know absolutely NOTHING about nils other than

1. No nose

2. Son of Azazel and now my favorite plot device :3

No but really, he seems like a neat character, kinda wanna do stuff with him

Art by animon (DeviantArt)

[djinmer4]

Multiplayer Mode (Demon General AU)

“You know, in a real fight the enemy is not going to give you time to change clothes or load your gun or whatever it is you’re doing over there Abyss.”  Seir didn’t turn around but he heard the younger mutant fussing behind them.

“But this isn’t a real fight, Seir, just a practice spar.  Let them take their time.”  Shadowcat’s preparation had been the least fussy, simply trading her boots for plimsoil flats, while Wanda had insisted on changing her entire outfit.  Squinting up at the clear sky, Seir decided to take advantage of the time and pulled off his shirt.  Genosha was cooler than the Brimstone Dimension, but the Brimstone Dimension had nothing on Genosha’s humidity.

“Oh wow!”  Looks like Wanda had finished dressing.  “How far down do those go?”  Then she blushed as red as her outfit.

Seir looked down.  What did she-oh.  He’d never removed his shirt in front of them before and thus this was the first time the Acolytes were seeing his scars.  Slipping his thumb into his waistband, he smirked at all of them.  “As a matter of fact, they go all the way.  Care to see?”

“Keep your pants on!” Four scandalized voices screamed.

“Then hurry up.  I’m getting bored waiting for all of you.”

Lorna exchanged a glance with her still blushing sister.  “We’re ready.”  With that, both Polaris and the Scarlet Witch started to levitate.

Seir threw a knife at the Scarlet Witch, then turned to intercept Shadowcat as she raced up to him.  Behind him he heard the knife doppler, indicating that Polaris had taken control of it.  Just as Shadowcat got near enough to punch him, he teleported away, leaving her open to the blade that Polaris had aimed at his back.  This forced Shadowcat to phase, letting the knife pass through her to bury itself in a tree trunk.  Just as the Jewish girl stopped to take a breath, Seir reappeared behind her, hitting her in the back of the neck.  It would paralyze her for about five minutes, while Seir took care of the other quartet members.

As Shadowcat went down, the Scarlet Witch started firing hex bolts.  These were more difficult to dodge than expected, due to the curving and irregular trajectory, but- ah!  Here came Abyss to cover Shadowcat.  Scarlet Witch stopped shooting, afraid of hitting her ally.  Seir teleported up, high enough that he was just in range to grab the knife with his tail., then took out his swords.  Falling back down, he drove them through Abyss’s ribbons (eliciting a high pitched yelp from the other blue mutant) and into the stone that made up the floor of the courtyard, trapping the younger man in place. 

Using the momentum from his fall, he rolled out of the tangle towards the Scarlet Witch.  Even as she fired hex bolts at him, he teleported away again, this time showing up in front of Polaris, who had been attempting to free the Swiss.  Not giving her a chance to reorient herself, he started hammering at her solar plexus.  One, two, three blows, and she folded over and started retching.

Another speedy teleport, and he was back behind the Scarlet Witch.  The knife he reclaimed earlier was quickly held to her neck.   He grabbed the Witch’s arms then forced her to kneel, with enough pressure on her joints to prevent her from twisting around to get a hex bolt into him. “Yield,” he ordered Shadowcat, who had just recovered and freed Abyss. 

The two younger mutants looked at each other, then at Polaris who had thrown up and was still on her knees coughing.  “You win.” said Shadowcat wryly.  “That was amazing.  I don’t think that fight lasted ten minutes, and we couldn’t even lay a finger on you.”

“Thank you.” preened Seir, letting go of Wanda so that she could go and help her sister.  

Once everything had been cleaned up and everyone had recovered, Seir gave them his analysis of the fight.  “First, the two of you,” he started by pointing at the two sisters.  “You both are very powerful in different ways, but you have the same weakness.  You rely too much on your powers, and aren’t in very good physical condition.  Lorna, you could have dodged my attack had you been faster, and Wanda, my initial hold on you was very loose, you should have been able to squirm away, or get an angle to counter-attack.  I recommend that both of you get more physical exercise in general.  Start slowly and build up.”

Next he turned to Abyss.  “Good instinct on your part, to go to protect your downed teammate.  However, two glaring problems.  You need better spatial awareness; Wanda was forced to abort several attacks for fear of hitting you.  Try fighting blind, or at least going through an exercise routine blindfolded.  The other problem is that you’re too afraid of getting hurt.  Tell me, was there any real damage from my swords when you pulled yourself together?”

Nils sheepishly ducked his head.  “No, not really.  It just hurt a lot.”

“In fights, you are going to get hurt, but better hurt than dead.  Keep up this practice and you’ll learn to power through the pain when needed.”

“And what about me, Mr. Backstab?”  Kitty put her hands on her hips and smiled.

“Not much you can do against a teleporter, I suppose.  Your only mistake was assuming I’d take out Lorna first.”

“She is an Omega Level mutant.”

“True, but your assumption allowed me to set up the scenario to get you.   Toss the dagger at Lorna, knowing she’d send it back to me, then use it to force you to phase with the intention of attacking you when you took a breath.  You can’t prepare for everything, but there were only four possibilities here.  You shouldn’t have gotten stuck on one.”

Yellow eyes took in all of them.  Seir thought about going over the fight in blow-by-blow detail, but then felt the telltale call of Ginniyeh in his mind.  He sighed.  “Duty calls.  But I’ll be back next weekend and we can see how far you all progressed then.”

The chorus of agreements (not to mention the applause from the spectators) had him smiling even as he left. 

[djinmer4]

Everything is Relative (Demon General AU)

I still have no timeline! Hahaha!

“Go on.”  Kitty nudged Nils gently in the arm.  “You won’t know the truth until you ask him.”

The blue mutant made an agreeing hum but still didn’t approach where Seir and Wanda were mingling.  The cleanup from the invasion of Dire Wraiths was finally done, so Hammer Bay was celebrating with a city-wide block party.  The other blue person (mutant? alien? demon?) had hung around helping rescue people from piles of rubble and getting them out of other predicaments.  The invasion hadn’t been bloodless, but Seir’s help, both during the actual attack and during the recovery had reduced the number of casualties.

But that wasn’t why Nils was nervous.  He had a question to ask the other, one that had been bothering him his entire life.  The answer could change everything for him or it might mean nothing at all.  But in order to find out, he’d have to ask the question in the first place.

“Do you want me to stay in the room with you?” Kitty offered.

“No, this is something I have to do by myself.  But if you know a private spot-”

“Alcoves, off the corridor at the left entrance there.  They’ve got doors but they don’t lock.”

“Perfect.”  Abyss downed his glass of champagne in one go, then grabbed the X-Woman’s half-filled flute and finished off hers.  “A kiss for luck?”

She leaned up and brushed her lips across his cheek.  “I’ll go distract Wanda.”

When Seir had been separated from Wanda, Nils came up to him.  “Hey, mind if we talk in private for a second?”

One dark eyebrow raised at him.  “Not at all.  Lead the way.”

The Swiss lead him to the alcoves Kitty had suggested.  The first housed an arguing couple, loud enough to be heard from outside, but the second was empty.  After letting the other enter Nils closed the door and at Seir.

They really did look uncannily alike.  Same deep blue skin (although Seir’s was furred), same gold eyes and fangs.  Seir’s hands were malformed (not that it seemed to inconvenience him at all) and he had a tail, but it was easy to see how Kitty had first mistaken one for the other.  They were even the same height.  “So what did you want to talk about?”

Nils took a deep breath.  “Are you my father?”  He was proud that his voice hadn’t shaken or cracked at all.

“I’m not going to ask why, since your reason for wondering is pretty obvious.  However, I admit you look a little old to be mine.  What’s your age?”

“Twenty-six.  And wait, didn’t you say that most of the Neyaphem are thousands of years old?”

“Most does not mean all.  I’m only thirty-four.”

Oh.  Well that was- wait a second.  Nils opened his mouth to ask another question but Seir cut him off.  “And I only age at the same rate a human does.  I’ve had several one-night stands, but the oldest any child of mine could be is eighteen.”

The younger man’s shoulders sagged.  He was slightly disappointed but more by the fact he still had no answer to his question than by being rejected.  Seir was talented and helpful but rather arrogant and overbearing.  Whoever his father was, Nils hoped he had a better personality than that.  “Well, we’re probably related in some way.  We look too much alike for that to be coincidence.”

“Probably,” agreed Seir.  “But just for the record, I do in fact know who my father is.  And he has a nose more like mine than that flat plain on your face.”

“My Mom had this type of nose.  Besides better a plain than the mountain that sits on your face.  Nothing can hide that!”

“Better?  You mean worse?  At least everyone can tell I have a nose, you look like you don’t have any!”

They left the alcove and the banter continued as they rejoined the party.

[djinmer4]

Hunting Grounds (Demon General AU)

“Seir?  Come back to bed.”  The blue demon turned to look at his winged counterpart.  

"No thanks.  I’m too restless to sleep.”  He continued to put on his clothes and armor.

A clawed hand traced a pattern over his bicep.  “Who said anything about sleeping?”  He carefully disengaged and stood.

“Sweet dreams, Jillian.”  Seir left the room, shut the door and to his surprise, almost immediately ran straight into Ginniyeh.  Despite the bandages covering the upper part of her head, he clearly saw the raised eyebrow she sent him.  “And here I thought you’d still be busy with Jillian.”

He ran his hand through his hair, trying to put it in some sort of order.  “I got a feeling in my gut.  That I was needed somewhere else.  Do you have a mission for me?”

“I do not.”  She waited but instead of calming down, the General went outside, hunting for the source of his disturbance.  Finally taking pity on him, his older sister spoke again.  “I have no mission for you, but you might want to check on those contacts of yours on Genosha.”

A puff of sulfurous air and the younger Neyaphem was gone.  Ginniyeh frowned to herself.  “This is getting out of control.”

“Where are we?” asked Nils.  “This doesn’t look like anywhere on Genosha.”

“I don’t recognize those constellations.” agreed Wanda.  “I don’t know where we are, but we can assume someone’s used teleportation to kidnap us.”

Kitty had just phased through a tree and now was checking out her communicator.  “At least our powers still work.  Wanda, I don’t suppose you happen to have a better communicator than I do?  I’m getting some local static, so I’m pretty sure we’re still on Earth, but I can’t reach anyone.”

“Sorry.  I wasn’t even carrying mine when we were abducted.”  A trio of small metal spheres appeared in front of them, zooming way too close to everyone’s faces.  Kitty ducked, Wanda staggered back and Nils split into ribbons, reaching out to try and grab them but the orbs dodged away.

"Welcome!  Welcome, my esteemed guests!” A large hologram appeared in the air.

“Jabba the Hutt.” deadpanned Kitty.

“No, he’s floating in the air.  Clearly, it’s Slimer from the Ghostbusters.” Nils contradicted her.

“Rejoice for you have been specially chosen for this week’s episode of Mojo’s Hunting Grounds.  This is the perfect opportunity to test your mutant mettle.  All I ask is that you survive for fifty-two minutes, plus commercial breaks!”

A montage made up of Shadowcat and Abyss’s fight on the ship suddenly took the place of the mound of fat.  “Witness the return of the graceful Shadowcat and her sidekick, Abyss for a long-awaited rematch.  But how will they fair when they have to protect the fragile Scarlet Princess?”

“It’s Scarlet Witch and do I look fragile to you?”

“Exactly!  The action, the drama, the ratings!”

Wanda fumed.  “I’m the tallest person here!”

“Cameras are rolling!  Lights and action!”

“Wanda,” said Nils.  “Just in case we don’t make it, I’d like to apologize for you getting abducted by chance along with us.”

“Better me than Lorna.” she sighed.

Shots fired at them from the underbrush.  Shadowcat grabbed the witch’s hand and started running away.  Abyss just turned himself into ribbons and followed.  Kitty’s ability meant they didn’t have to worry about obstructions, but Wanda simply didn’t have the stamina to keep going.

“I thought you were working on your physical abilities?”

“I did!  But I just don’t have the time to devote to training that you and the others do!”

Still, they kept going until Shadowcat found a clearing where they could regroup.  Just as they entered though, she and the Scarlet Witch found themselves on the other side of a barrier . . . and at the bottom of the ocean.  Quickly phasing them back in, Kitty noticed the pile of ribbons that was Abyss feeling around the edge of the barrier.  “Don’t bother,” said Shadowcat.  “It’s just the water on the other side, and too deep for us to swim to the top.”

Abyss reformed himself.  “So flight isn’t an option.”

“I guess we’ll have to try fight then.”  Wanda stated grimly.  “You beat these people before, we can do it again.”  All three of them quickly dodged behind trees as more shots came.

When one of the shooters came out, Shadowcat tried to phase through his equipment but was repelled by a blue forcefield.  “Damn,” she said, scrambling back under cover.  “Abyss, they’ve probably got your abilities pegged too!”

“My turn them.”  Wanda stepped out and threw a hex beam at the shield.  It took a few moments but then it went down.  She threw another bolt at the cyborg, which knocked him out.

“Right then, if you can do that to the other two, Abyss and I can take them.”

When the other two shooters spotted the Scarlet Witch they raised their shields, but to their surprise, she didn’t run away.  Instead, she focused two hex beams on them, while slowly backing away.  They tried to get close to corner her, but right as they reached her their forcefields gave out.  Then a blue rope fell from the trees, wrapping around the shorter cyborg’s neck and lifting him off his feet.  When the other turned to look at his unfortunate coworker, Shadowcat dashed out of hiding, phased through him, and when that wasn’t enough, she kicked him in the groin, following up with several blows to the head and neck.

“Well played for the opening act.  But now it’s time for our celebrity guest to debut.  Spiral is he ready?”  The lump of lard’s voice rang out through the enclosure.

Above their heads, portholes opened and salt water poured out.  “Let me guess,” snarked Abyss.  “Something to make things more interesting?”

“Of course!”

The blue mutant hauled the two women up into the trees with him.  “So who do you think the special guest is?” he inquired.

Magneto was displeased.  When he got home Lorna had confronted him immediately, babbling that Wanda had disappeared.  Indeed, a quick scan through the surveillance video had seen his daughter, Kitty Pryde and Nils Styger all pulled through glowing blue portals while in the midst of their weekly meeting.

He’d had Dust investigating every nook and cranny of the island (she’d already been imprisoned, it’s not like there were any secrets left for her to find) and Scanner sweeping the surrounding area.  Scanner pinpointed them somewhere nearby, but there was nothing but ocean at the coordinates she gave him.

And now Wanda’s strange friend Seir had shown up, demanding a status report of his friends.  Magneto was still suspecting the man had something to do with it (he was a teleporter, even if he used clouds of disgusting smoke rather than portals of light) and was giving him the run-around as best he could.

The blue man was getting more and more impatient.  And he had the nerve to threaten him with an obsidian dagger.  How was Magneto supposed to take control of that?

Before either of them could answer.  The tree they were sitting in was rammed.  Below, a short man in jeans and with a weird head accessory snarled up at them.  A pair of metal claws shot out of his hands and he used them to start climbing.

“Logan?”  Kitty stared for a second.  “Oh God, move, move, move!”  She pushed at Nils and Wanda.

As Nils dragged them to another tree, he asked the obvious question.  “That’s Wolverine!  Isn’t he your friend?”

“My friend who is clearly being mind controlled right now.  And my phasing won’t work on him so we’ve got to keep moving.”

“Can Abyss hold him in place?  Maybe if I hit that helmet it will short circuit.”

“Logan weighs 800 pounds, how’s Abyss gonna hold that back!”

“Guys-”

“We’re all gals here except for you.”  Kitty was keeping one eye on Logan and the other trying to watch for obstacles.

“Gals, I think I see an access hatch.  Shadowcat can you phase us through to the other side?”

“Worth a shot.”

Abyss swung himself around a few times, then let go.  “One, two, three, NOW!”

Just as they were about to hit, Kitty phased them through the wall.  But it wasn’t over.  Even as they recovered, the shriek of metal on metal rang out behind them.  Within a few moments, Logan had managed to carve open the access port.

Fortunately, with Logan came a torrent of seawater, and the pressure managed to knock him out.  Seeing him go down, Shadowcat raced up and phased through the metal tubes.  She might not have been able to go through his head, but she could get the mind control device.  It fizzled, buzzed then died, allowing her to pull it away.

“Stay where you are!”  She turned, and saw Spiral, the leader of the slavers, holding a knife to a struggling Wanda’s throat.  Shadowcat tried to get closer, but the blonde had clearly learned her lesson from last time and moved back instead.

But so had Wanda.  She abruptly went limp, and when Spiral staggered at the unexpected weight, she managed to knock two of her arms out with hex bolts.  Abyss lashed out, tripping the cyborg and then Kitty was close enough to pull Wanda away.  The three of them retreated.

“Well, we seem to be at an impasse.”  Spiral summoned two more swords.  “You may be free of the cage, but you’ll be trapped here without our help.”

“We’ll risk it.”  Logan had apparently woken up during the fight.  He did a sliding kick across the floor, slicing off the legs of Mojo’s walker, and then getting the guns.  When the lump of lard tried to aim with the walker’s tail, Wanda hit it with a hex bolt, causing it to explode.

Oddly, the lump of lard didn’t seem the least bit put out.  Even as Spiral teleported them away he was still giggling.  “This demands a sequel!”

The four mutants stared at the empty space where their adversaries had been.

“Well, fuck.”  Logan sat down and started picking rocks and metal splinters out of his feet.

“How are we going to get home?” panicked Wanda.  “My father and sister must be frantic by now!”

“Just wait.  I’m sure Frost is looking for me by now.  Since I’m not being mind-controlled anymore, it’ll only take the X-Men a few hours to find us and send help.”

Kitty looked over at the controls.  “I’m sure I can get this tub moving faster than that.”

When the strange ship surfaced just off the coast of Genosha, Magneto immediately realized that his daughter and her friends must have been on it.  He tore out his palace, not even bothering to finish his argument with Seir.  When he got to the ship, the only one on deck was Logan. 

Tearing off bits and pieces of the ship to use he glared at the X-Man.  Behind him, he heard the bamf of Seir’s teleportation but ignored him.  Magneto surrounded Logan with a wall of makeshift swords.  “Where is my daughter?  Where is Kitty Pryde?” he ground out.  “Where is Nils Styger?  What have you done to them?”

“Whoah, not my fault this time bub.”  Before Magneto could skewer him, Wanda came out on deck.

“We can’t take the whole- Father!”  She glanced over the situation, Magneto menacing Wolverine, Seir with swords unsheathed and looking for a fight.  “Father no!  It’s not like that!  Logan was a victim too!”

The metal clattered to the ground, and Erik quickly ran to his daughter to embrace her.  After a brief check (plenty of bruises and scratches but nothing else), he asked her where the other two abductees were.

“Oh, um, Kitty was fascinated by the technology.  Nils is still trying to pry her away from the control panel.”  Wanda did a double take at seeing Genosha so close.  “Father, how did you know we were here?”

“Scanner.”  That was all the explanation needed.

The Lensherr and Maximoff turned back to Wolverine . . . who was incidentally still being threatened by Seir.  “Did he really not have anything to do with this?”

“He was also kidnapped.”

“Then we’ll call the X-Men and let them pick him up.”  Wanda nodded, then abruptly ran back to the hatch.  “Come on Kitty, Nils, it’s time to go home!”

The two remaining mutants made their way up, Kitty’s arms filled with what looked like technical manuals.  Erik and Logan shared a brief moment of solidarity.  “Put those down, Shadowcat.  Now that I know you’re all safe, I can bring the whole ship back to Genosha.”

“Oh, okay.”  She reluctantly released her horde, letting Nils and Seir grab them and bring them back downstairs  As the two blue mutants forcibly divested her of her treasures, Logan also came up to speak with her, while Magneto guided the ship back to Genosha.

“I’m heading back to the X-Men.  Are you sure you don’t want to come with, Half-Pint?”

“No Logan.  I’m doing a lot of good here.  Besides, we agreed that having a contact between our two groups was important.  Maybe in the future, you’d consider allowing one of the Acolytes to join the X-Men.  Maybe Wanda.”

“Me?  Why me?” Wanda had been explaining what happened with Mojo, but had caught her name in the conversation.

“I think a new perspective might help you grow more.”

Epilogue:

Mojo tapped his fingers together while watching his pawns return to Genosha.  Logan would be a good challenge if they could get him again; Magneto’s power was not something even he thought could be controlled.  But yes, there it was, another blue mutant, but clearly more oriented towards combat than this Abyss.  Oh, and look how sweetly he acted towards the little action star!  Yes, that would be a much better dynamic than pairing Shadowcat with her sidekick!

“Spiral, I have a new target in mind.”