Fanfic Time: X-Wars, part 14

Continued from yesterday:

  Kurt looked up as Spiral’s trademark flash of light lit the underground, little-used chamber. Across from him, MacAllister groaned, a large bruise starting to form on his temple. He was cmoing to, but his tied-up state made him of little concern to the Morlock leader.

  Spiral stepped out, two bodies in four of her six arms. She smiled triumphantly, and said simply, “They were snooping around. Worked out I’d been there to get Mr. Monopoly over there.”

  Kurt cursed, bounding to her side and snatching the smaller of the two forms from her. “Shit! They’re just *children*, Spiral!”

  She frowned. “They’re the enemy. They and a whole bunch of others broke in and started rampaging through the place, looking for MacAllister and those two.” She gestured at where Alex and Scott sat, unconscious so as to be less of a problem. The two men were bound and gagged, and Leech sat nearby, playing a doleful melody on a harmonica, while keeping his pupil-less eyes trained on ‘his’ captives.

  The room was strange in shape, since the floor dropped away half way across, leading into a tunnel that in turn showed up in Orpheus’ lair. A cluster of mutants sat in the corner, muttering to themselves and watching intently as the leader and his second-in-command conversed.

  Spiral dropped her voice to a low whisper, and hissed, “I *told* you that keeping those two prisoner was a bad idea. We should’ve just killed them outright. So much simpler - but no, you wanted to play hostages. We already *had* a hostage. We didn’t need any more.”

  “So your explanation for kidnapping these two is?” Kurtt lay the two girls on the floor, tnding their injuries wirth a surpringly gentle hand.

  “Are they from the Xavier place?” Marrow appeared at his shoulder, arms folded and expression inscrutable.

  “What do you think?” he snapped. “Don’t ask stupid questions.”

  “What are we gonna *do* with 'em?”

  Spiral sniffed. “Killing them was my first idea, but now you’ve decided to go all pussy on us, boss - ”

  Kurt snarled, and bared his fangs. “Idiot. I have reasons behind what I do. I see the bigger picture. *You* just grabbed these two because they were there and in the way. Couldn’t you have just called Analee to wipe their minds or something?”

  Marrow cocked her head to one side, and dropped to her knees beside the one that looked like a mixture between canine and human. “*These* are from the Xavier Institute? How the hell do *they* stay on the surface looking like that? Surely, they can’t pass…”

  “They’re shapeshifters, fool.” Spiral toed the dirt, putout that her small victory had been doused so quickly and so thoroughly. “They can look human if they want.”

  “They can?” Marrow narrowed her eyes, then blinked, an idea coming to her in a blinding flash of inspiration. “But what if they couldn’t?”

  “Entschuldigung?”

  “I mean, what if they *thought* they couldn’t.” Sarah tapped at her chin with one bony finger, a slow smile worming its way across her mouth. “We’re always looking for new members, right boss?”

  Spiral reached down an knocked a fist on her head. “Wake up in there, Marrow. They’re already aligned with that Xavier 'we-love-normies’ jerk and his thuggie X-Sell-Outs.”

  “Yes, but what if they didn’t *think* they were. What if they *thought* they were Morlocks, like us?”

  Kurt’s golden eyes grew brighter as her idea transferred itself to him. “Analee,” he breathed. “If we could get her to change their memories, make them think they’re stuck half-way between forms - ”

  “Freaks like us?” Spiral seemed scepitcal. “Nice idea, but why go to all the trouble when killing them is just so much simpler?”

  “Always with the blood-letting,” Kurt shook his head. “Think about it, Spiral. If we could get two of the X-Men’s own proteges onto *our* side - think about it. Think of the bad press for them. They’d be fighting off reporters while we go around cleaning up this Operation Mutation debacle, unhampered.”

  “Still seems like a lot of unneccessary work, to me. I mean, even if - *if* - we got them to think they were born half-formed, they’d still think they were part of Xavier’s rabble. They’d take off, and he’d fix 'em again, quick as anything.”

  Sarah smiled. “Not if we make them think they aren’t *wanted* back there. Analee could make them remember anything we want them to, right? So why don’t we have them remember being driven out by those guys? Implant a few memories of how our misunderstood leader offered them shelter, and a place in the Legion of the Unwanted that they *wanted* to take.”

  Kurt’s fangs flashed, and he turned to the gathered mutants. “Filch, go tell Analee to meet Spiral in my chambers. We have a little job for her. Spiral, Marrow, take these two there and wait for her. Clean them up while you’re at it.” He got up and went toMacAllister, thwacking him back into the oblivion he was just starting to blink his way out of. “We’re about to get two new members.”

~

  While preparations were made to “initiate” Wolfsbane and Catseye, Kurt went to take one last look at the captured X-men.

  _That’s odd. Cyclops seems to be looking right at me. There’s no way a norm could see me in this darkness, much less someone with those shades. Heh. Havok seems more typical. He’s captured in an enemy stronghold, held captive by a giant squid, and what does he do? Falls asleep. Definitely a surface dweller._

  Kurt startled when Cyclops called his name.

  “Nightcrawler?”

  “…How did you see me?”

  “I didn’t. I just…felt that you were watching.”

  “…How?”

  “I don’t know. I just did…You know, we don’t really want to fight you.”

  “Ja, then why do you?”

  “For the children.”

  “Was?" 

  "For the children. As long as we do what Dann and his PR sharks say, the children at the institute will be left alone. If it wasn’t for them the X-men would have broken up long ago. We’re in chains so that they can be free.”

  “Why are you telling me this?”

  “I don’t know. It just seems like I…know you, somehow. Before you caught me, I thought you were just a bigot against normal humans. Now that I’ve seen what you and your league live like, I guess I can understand why you are the way you are, but I’ll still fight you. It’s like this is the wrong world, and we were meant to be friends…almost brothers. Heh. Now I know Jean’s gotten me to watch too many of her old movies with her. Sorry, I’m never this…whatever I am right now. I blame the snakebite. So, what are you going to do with us? Nightcrawler? Are you there?”

  But Kurt was gone.

  Kurt was walking back to where the “initiation” was to take place, thinking about what Cyclops had said. _Me and him, te'sorthene?[40] Impossible…isn’t it?_ But all the way back to his quarters, the same phrase kept echoing in his head, “For the children.”

~

  “Broken,” Juliet sobbed, struggling in Meggan’s arms. “*Broken*! BROKEN!”

  She was getting hysterical. All because they wouldn’t let her heal the two young prisoners.

  Analee was getting a feel for their minds. “This one,” she indicated the purple cat-girl, “is already half-animal. She thinks herself a cat that can be a human… She will be - a problem.”

  “*BROKEEENNNNN*!”

  “Let her go to them, Meggan. Analee?”

  “Just about to start, sir.”

  “Don’t.”

  “*Boss*!” Spiral looked startled.

  Under Juliet’s ministrations, Catseye began to purr. The little girl looked so much at peace when tending the wounded. Even when she was bleeding.

  “I’ve had an epiphany, Spiral,” said Nightcrawler. “If we do what you suggested, we become as bad as that flatscan I captured. We shouldn’t harm the children. *Any* children. Mutie or norm, they deserve a childhood.”

  “You *ARE* getting soft,” Spiral barked. “Once you’d do *anything* for another member of the team. *Anything*.”

  “What? You want to take over?” he said. “Force any who can pass to come down here and be another mouth to feed? You *want* to spend your spare hours desperately searching for enough food, for enough medicine, for enough clean water, for enough clothes and shoes and blankets and little bits and bobs - for *everyone*? Be my verdammt *GUEST*!” He tore off his shoulder-pads and plunked them solidly on Spiral’s bemused shoulders. “But know one thing before you start. If we fire the first shot, if we escalate this war, then we will all *die*. Humans aren’t as scared of themselves as us mutants are. They will *destroy* us if we make one wrong move.”

  Spiral stared at him, fingering the impromptu mantle of responsibility. “Just like that? No fight?”

  “No fight,” said Nightcrawler. “After you make a decision here, you’ll have to go 'shopping’. There’s quite a lot of us to feed. And I know one member of the team who hasn’t been eating regularly or enough. He’s been giving most of his food to the kinder, surviving on the bare minimum. He’s going to kill himself if he keeps it up. So, along with everything else, you’re going to have to browbeat him into looking after himself.”

  Spiral made to give an order, then shut her mouth with an audible click. She sighed. “You spend hours out at night, getting stuff for the kids. Hell, most of 'em are non-combattants… I’d turn 'em into what the flatscans want - monsters.”

  Nightcrawler pulled up a seat. “Ja… And?”

  “Humans only do one thing with monsters.”

  “Ja.”

  Spiral took the shoulderpads off. “This thing is *fucking* heavy, did you know that?”

  “Every day, liebe.” Nightcrawler took them, and put them back on. “Just blur any memories of the underground those two might have, Analee. Put 'em back topside. Let them have the sun.”

  That phrase used to be a sort of spiteful curse, Spiral remembered. _Let them have the sun, and when they die of skin cancer, we will inherit._ It had made her feel better in her darkest hours. Made her laugh.

  But who was making Nightcrawler laugh? He was alone.

  And he just told her he was killing himself - very, very slowly.

  *Fuck*.

  Leech stood to attention when he felt Nightcrawler enter the 'pet chamber’.

  “You don’t *have* to drain them,” their leader, and his personal hero, said. “Orpheus’ pet seems to have them under control. Besides, I don’t think Heroes shoot at children.”

  “No. We don’t,” said Cyclops.

  Nightcrawler laid an arm on Leech’s shoulder. “We need to talk.”

  _Oh *fuck*. Fuck, fuck, fuckitty, fuck-fuck, fuck…_ Leech spent a vertiginous moment rewinding everything he’d done between now and the last time Nightcrawler had said anything to him. He couldn’t *remember* stepping over the 'fragile line’ between order and chaos… But that’s why it was such a fragile line.

  Leech swallowed nervously and followed their leader, allowing himself to be steered by that one tridactyl hand on his shoulder.

  “I hate to do this,” Nightcrawler began. “I *really* hate to do this, I do. You should be enjoying yourself, ja? Having *fun*…”

  _Oh *SHIT*. I am in it *SO* fuckin’ deep._

  “But… unfortunately, because of what you’ve done today… I have no choice.”

  _DOOMED! I’m doomed for the rest of my *life*! I’m gonna be stuck mucking out Orpheus’ fucking pets or looking after the babies or–_

  “Leech–” Nightcrawler made an extremely pained face. This hurt him real bad. “–you’re promoted.”

  “That is so totally un–” His brain caught up with his mouth. “*WHAT*?”

  “You’re on the taskforce,” Nightcrawler sighed. “Understand that I don’t really want it. You’re still young. Almost *too* young. But after the good job you did today with those two,” he nodded in the general direction of Cyclops and Havok. “I have no choice. You have the makings of a good soldier.”

  Leech saluted. “SIR, YES SIR!”

  “And my first order as your commanding officer is - to cut that crap out.”

  “Yessir,” said Leech. He forcibly restrained his saluting arm.

  “And next, we are going on a little trip to meet Doktor James D. Corban…”

  “Yes, *sir*,” Leech grinned. 

~

  'Dad?’ repeated Warren, eager to have the truth out.

  Warren Worthington senior sighed, and sat down, it was time to explain the truth.

  'Ju- Wa- Son.’ he said, settling on a name at last, 'I have something to tell you. Do you remember when you were younger? When your mutation first started appearing?’

  Warren junior nodded.

  'Do you remember all the treatments we tried? All the things we did?’

  Again, Warren nodded, he remembered them all well, the salves, the ointments, the potions the pills, the back exercises, the massages, the physiotherpy, the electric shock treatment…

  'Do you also remember why we didn’t take you for surgery?’ continued his father.

  'What’s this leading to?’ asked Warren impatiently.

  'Well, it’s like this. Origionally we said that you couldn’t have those… things removed because your skeliton was still growing. This is true, but there were other, more fundimental issues. In many ways your nerve system is linked with your wings, through the spinal cord, this seemed to make them irremovable. Then, a few years ago I was approached by some men, men asking for funding on a certain project, a project which might mean the erradication of all mutations. I accepted. Think of it, Warren, all those poor, mutated people, given the chance to be normal! To be what nature intended!’

  Warren said nothing, he just stood there, dumb struck.

  'That’s still a long way away of course,’ continued his father, 'but we did find get some information that will help you, that will allow us to remove your wings without damaging your nervous system. I know it’s hard to understand, I know that what you saw of that thi- that little girl was upsetting. But it was neccesary, neccesary for the good of all human kind.’

  'I can’t belive you did it,’ murmered Warren, sinking to his knees in shock, 'I can’t belive you funded this…’

  'I did it for YOU, boy,’ said his father, moving forward and clasping Warren’s head, forcing their eyes to meet, 'I did it for YOU!’

  There was silence for a long while, untill Warren junior’s soft voice split the air.

  'You never asked,’ he said.

  Worthington II looked bemused.

  'You never asked,’ continued Warren, anger and passion boiling up in his voice.

  'For almost 15 year’s I’ve had these wings, and in all that time you never asked what it was like? You knew I could fly, you knew I could soar, but you never asked what it was like! You never considered these wings as anything but an inconvenince did you, father? You never saw them as anything but freakish? Just like you never saw me as anything but… but a piece of meat! Lying around, waiting to succeed you! Wating to take over Worthington Industries, waiting to be the perfect little son! A third replacement in a grand line!’

  Warren rose from his crouch and gripped his father by the lapells of his fancy jacket. The security guards moved forward but did not take any action, they were uncertain of what to do.

  'THAT’s what this is all about,’ screamed Warren, 'succession, can’t keep my mutantcy secret forever, so you try to change it! Try to change me! For your own petty buisiness interests. Well no more! I’m through with this! Through!’

  He let go of his father, and took a step back, looking tried and angry and defeated all at once.

  'Son…’ Worthington senior began, but was cut off by a rage filled glance from Warren.

  'No,’ he growled, 'no, I don’t ever want to hear you call me son again, not untill I think you’re worthy to be my father.’

~

  “Just leave me alone, please,” sniffled Dr Corban. “I deserve everything that happened to the others and worse.”

  The lights went out.

  “Uh-oh,” muttered Collossus.

  “They’re here,” said Jean. I can feel them… sort of.“

  "Sort of?”

  “There’s something… wrong…”

  “Can you be more specific?”

  “No.”

  “Ho boy…”[41]

  “They’re coming,” said Corban. “They’re coming for me.”

  Jean glared at him. “You don’t have to sound so *eager*.”

  “You don’t understand. I deserve it. The things I caused to that little girl… It shouldn’t have happened to a *dog*. Even *lab* rats get more respect than she did. I deserve it all. I deserve it all…”

  Someone was walking down the hallway. Someone who hadn’t quite mastered the concept of moving undetectably.

  Collossus left the room, armoured up, and stood ready. “Come out, come out, where ever you are,” he said.

  “Okay,” said the voice of a kid.

  Collossus turned pink. “What?” He concentrated, strained, even grunted. “My powers. They–”

  “Yes,” said the kid. “They are.”

  {Bamf!} “I advise you to get into the room with the lovely lady, and Herr Doktor, here.”

  A woman with six arms barged into the place and raided the fridge, then the pantry.

  Jean tried to give her a psychic jolt, and found her head suddenly empty of other people’s thoughts.

  It was like listening to howling lonliness.

  Kurt got the shock of his life when Doctor Corban threw himself at their feet.

  “Thank, God… Thank God…” the man sobbed. “Shave me bald. Put the numbers in my arm with a knife. *PLEASE*. I deserve it. Kick the living crap out of me. I don’t care. I deserve it all.”

  Kurt gently lifted the man up to a sitting position. “You do?” he asked, crouching.

  “I thought it all up. Everything. I came up with the blood test indicator to find the X-gene, dormant or not. The artificial augmentation. The sublimation program. The retrovirus. All of it. Even surgical correction…” He sobbed. He actually sobbed. “I thought up nothing else but unending *pain* for your kind… and it won’t stop… because I thought it was an *intellectual* excercise!” He broke down. “I’m worse than Mengele…”

  Kurt leaned across, and kissed the man on the forehead. “Confess,” he said. “Not just to me, but to the whole world.”

  “But I deserve–”

  “Shhh. Let them judge you as they will. You the only one who regrets what was done. You might yet stop it happening again. Or free the other little numbers still alive that lab. You might even give them homes, ja?”

  “…oh God… I didn’t even think of the children…[42]”

  Kurt patted the man on the shoulder. “Go forth,” he said, “and sin no more.”

  The mutant terrorists gathered. The six-armed woman danced. And they were gone.

  Piotr was left blinking as the lights returned. “What happen to the attack?”

  “Good question,” said Jean.

  Dr James D. Corban had picked up the 'phone. “Hello? Police? I wanna report myself for crimes against humanity… I’m the man who invented the experiments they performed on that poor little girl. Yes. I can wait.”

~

  Spiral was muttering to herself as she palmed off her armsfull of groceries to various other mutants. They guy was totally BEGGING for it, and Nightcrawler hadn’t done a damn thing!

  “It was the girl, wasn’t it?” She said.

  “What the hell are you talking about?” He frowned.

  “You just couldn’t go all medieval on that guy with that chick there…”

  “What…chick…?”

  “Oh, c'mon!” She rolled her eyes, a wasted gesture considering they were totally white. “The redhead…whatsherface…Miss Marvellous? Surely the world’s third most layable mutant wouldn’t miss an opportunity to…”

  “Second…” Said a voice from near by. They turned on Tech as he spun from his monitor. “You’re movin’ up in the world.” He beamed. “Chicks dig the fuzzy dude!” He wriggled his eyebrows.

  “Like I care.” Nightcrawler snorted.

  “Who’s number one?” Spiral demanded, leaning over Tech. He squirmed as a certain part of her anatomy, well TWO parts actually, brushed against his shoulder.

  “Uh.” He mentally slapped himself. “Um…” He busied himself in finding the appropriate webpage. “Miss Marvel…”

  “That red-headed X-skank?” She growled.

  “Yeah…that’s her.”

  She glanced at Nightcrawler who arched a brow at the picture now displayed on the screen. It was a rather provocative little shot of the aforementioned Miss Marvel falling out of a very small bathing suit…and she didn’t look at all happy about it. She smiled to herself when she noticed he didn’t look at all interested.

  “She was there?” He asked with totally and utter disdain.

  “You missed THAT?” Tech was flabbergasted.

  “Keep an eye on the news sites…make sure Corban was good to his word.” He ordered. “I’m going to check on the prisoners…” He muttered, stalking off.

  Spiral watched him go, then turned back to Tech. “So…” She breathed in his ear. “What’s the pic of our fearless leader look like?”

  “Artist’s impression…” Tech told her. “They don’t have a real photo of him…but you should read some of the comments chicks have posted about him…gonna keep me warm on a cold night.”

  “Oh really?” She smirked, putting her hand over his and guiding it to the 'Number Two’ link…

~

  Bobby slid gracefully on an ice ramp out of the warehouse, nursing several chinks in his sub-zero armour. Most noticable was the one just short of his temple, which turned into a bleeding cut when he resumed flesh-and-blood state.

  After him, Sam and Jubilee blasted clear and rolled to a thunderous stop on the ground. They lay there for a second, since it was obvious they weren’t being followed. Heck, there was barely anyone left *conscious* to fight them.

  Rogue looked at them all, nibbling her lip. To her left, Tabby was cradling the original Jamie, currently out-cold and bleeding in several dozen places. A large, egg-shaped bump graced the side of his skull, and it was clear that would leave a sizable bruise come morning.

  Finally, Sam sat up. “Nobody left in there from our side, Rogue,” he said, a hint of concern making his southern twang all the more noticable. “They’re gone.”

  Rogue, as eldest and since this had all been her idea, had ostensibly undertaken the role of field commander. Now she twisted her fingers, letting gobs of bluish energy not her own drip onto the ground and fizzle away in puddles.

  The mission had been both success and disaster. There had been no sign of MacAllister, Scott or Alex *anywhere*, but they’d kicked the butts of those Legioner kids truly and soundly, Logan’s training doing them proud. Unfortunately, they’d lost two teammates in the process. Literally lost, not just figuratively. Since the conclusion of the battle, neither Wolfsbane nor Catseye were to be found anywhere.

  For Rogue, this was more than a little worrying. If anything had happened to them, the buck would stop with her. She already suspected Xavier was going to be less than pleased at thier running off unnanounced, but losing two people… that would just about cap off everything.

  Jubilee struggled to her feet and pounded to Rogue’s side. “So what do we do now, oh fearless leader,” she snapped, venting her frustration on the nearest available target. “You seemed to have all the answers before. Let’s hear some now.”

  Rogue chewed her lip, and downturned her eyes. “I…” she started, then stopped, unsure how to continue. “I… don’t know.”

~

  “Congratulations,” said Stacy. “You just found yourself a set of adamantium cojones…” She grinned wide. “Wanna try them out, sometime?”

  Warren glared at her. “Not until you tell me who you *really* are.”

  A blank blink. “I told you, I’m Stacy Xarellai…”

  “Yes, but you’ve never told me who your *boss* was,” he said. “But that’s okay, I worked it out for myself.”

  Stacy looked worried. “Warren…”

  “Save it. You work for that blue, demonic *psychopath* on the *television*!” He stabbed a finger at CNN’s replay[43]. “Don’t you?”

  Stacy lowered her eyes. “He’s not a psychopath, Warren. He’s just fighting to live. He’s fighting against injustices against our *kind*…”

  “He’s going to kill my *DAD*! Even though I disowned him, he’s still my blood… and he wants me on his *side*?”

  “Nightcrawler wouldn’t kill your father,” said Stacy. “Death is too final. He likes to give people a chance to repent.”

  “Hardly a comfort. Four people are in hospital. One’s missing. As for the other two, I only know where *one* is, and I just found out he’s a sonofabitch!”

  “This just in,” Burbled the announcer on the TV “Doctor James D. Corban, a research physician linked to Operation Mutational Solution, has just confessed to crimes against humanity. Police are currently investigating his files, all turned in as evidence, and Dr Corban has called a press conferance about the matter.”

  A very scared, teary-eyed and startlingly young man in a dishevelled white coat stood before a microphone-infested podium. “I know, my crimes are against mutant kind… but mutants are as human as the rest of us. They think. They feel. To paraphrase Shakespeare… if you prick them, they bleed. If you wrong them, they seek justice.” He looked down and wiped his eyes. “I thought justice would come as an eye for an eye, and surely I deserved it… but I received something very rare - even by human standards.” He sighed. “I received mercy.”

  Flashes popped in his face.

  “I can only hope that the courts are just as merciful. Thankyou.”

  The media exploded in a flurry of questions.

  “Gambit know why dat man get off. He repent.”

  “Sehr gut, Cajun.”

  The whole room whirled. Nightcrawler had snuck in under their guard. So had the two other women and a young boy with green skin.

  “Good God,” muttered Worthington II. “They’re *breeding*.”

  A bone knife narrowly missed his head. “Thou shalt not take the Lord’s name in vain,” said the bone-woman.

  “Thankyou, Marrow.” Nightcrawler helped himself to some nibbles left in a tastefully-appointed bowl. “I do so dislike it when people blaspheme. The next blade probably won’t miss. Be warned.”

  Storm was gritting her teeth.

  The green kid smiled. “Sorry. All powers have been temporarily suspended. We appologise for the inconvenience.”

  The six-armed Spiral snorted. “Newbies…”

  Warren stood in front of his father. “I can’t let you kill him.”

  Nightcrawler nodded. “Even after everything he did?”

  Warren nodded. “Even after that. He’s still family.”

  “Then we may be at an impa–”

  {Th-kunk!}

  Remy had hit him on the head with his retractable bo. “Gambit think he solve it,” he said.

  Then all hell broke loose.

~

  Marrow had flown at Gambit before Nightcrawler even finished slumping to the floor. Likewise, Storm had tripped Spiral and was holding her, face-down on the carpet.

  “Warren!” Storm cried, then, at the blank looks of the two Warrens, “Angel, restrain the child. Don’t hurt him, though.”

  Warren cast one look over his shoulder at Daddy Dearest, then opened his wings and beat them hard. Leech was just about close enough to be clipped upside the head, and slid into a dazed heap. He wasn’t unconscious, though, and retained enough of his wits to keep his powers active - and thus everybody else’s turned off.

  That done, Warren turned on the only other Legioner left.

  Stacy backed away, trying to throw out a few pheramones to dull his emotions and finding that Leech’s wooziness was inhibiting *all* mutant powers, not just those of the X-Men.

  _Oh, faboo._

  Warren advanced, and she shrank away, letting him stand over her like some helpless damsel in a 1940s movie.

  “You were trying to recruit me this whole time,” he spat, each step slow and deliberate. “Did it ever occur to you that I might like to make my own decisions? That I might *like* my life the way it is?” He threw a caustic glance at his father. “You’re just as bad as him. And here I was, thinking perhaps you actually cared. What was I, just another job?”

  Stacy frowned. “Warren, it wasn’t like that. I-”

  “Save it.” He flapped his wings again, narrowly missing her throat with the tips. “Save it for someone… who cares.” The words sounded somewhat choked, and for the first time, Stacy had the merest inkling of the betrayal he was feeling.

  “I really did like you.”

  “Pfft.”

  “Hey, Angel-boy,” Gambit shouted from across the room where he was grappling with spiked-up Marrow. “What you playin’ at, eh? Either take care of her or don’t, but do *somethin’*, a'ready.”

  Warren’s eyes narrowed. “I’ll do something, all right.” And with that, he turned around, gathered his father into his arms, and swept out of the open window.

  Spiral cried out, rage muffled at the sight of their lost objective, and with a burst of strength she three Storm off her back, whirled and landed a hard punch to the dusky woman’s jaw. Storm saw stars, and it was enough of a pause for the angry Legioner to grab her genera and Leech both.

  “Snap out of it, kid!” She smacked the green-skinned boy’s cheek, and he came awake with a start.

  “What’d I miss?”

  “Give me my powers back, or a whole lot more,” Spiral growled, and let out a small hiss as he did just that.

  She stood up and danced out a few complicated steps. A glowing portal appeared in the centre of the room, and Spiral wasted no time in throwing both Leech and Nightcrawler into it. “Stacy! Marrow! Time to go!”

  Marrow growled, ejecting one last bone spike from her palm that drove into Gambit’s forearm and made him cry out with pain. His distraction allowed her to step backwards, spit, and then take a running jump at the portal.

  Spiral turned, a snarl rippling her upper lip. “Stacy!”

  Stacy hesitated a moemnt longer, looking after the winged form vanishing over the rooftops. Then Spiral grabbed her arm and literally tossed her through the white light.

  “This isn’t over. Not by a long shot,” the Shiva-lookalike growled before following suit.

  With a crackle, the portal vanished. Then, for the briefest of moments, absolute silence reigned.

~