X-MEN
ETERNITY
THE CROSSROADS
by
R. John Burke
(Note: X-Men is a copyright of Marvel comics. Just
fan fiction, no infringement intended.)
*********************
CHAPTER EIGHT: THE BIG DAMN FIGHT CONTINUES
BAMFBAMFBAMFBAMFBAMF!!!
Kurt Wagner dropped a bruised and bloodied Angel in the corner of the room, then turned to address the others.
"Why the grim faces, mein freunds? Life is merely a circus! I wonder how many of your corpses I can fit into one of those little cars?"
BAMF! He reappeared over the Beast, who rolled away and came up swinging. He missed cleanly, and Nightcrawler bounced right over him, hitting him with an acrobatic kick as he turned.
Cecilia Reyes hung back-- partly because she didn't know how to help, and partly from a kind of fascination. It was almost beautiful, watching the two men go at it-- each so fluid, inhumanly skilled. If she pretended they were only sparring, she could have enjoyed it like a ballet.
WHAM! The Beast connected with a solid kick, knocking Nightcrawler across the room. BAMF! He disappeared in midair, but reappeared right next to Hank--
Who was ready for that, too, pounding Nightcrawler into the ground. But the elf's tail wound around his ankles and yanked him off his feet.
*Dammit,* Cecilia thought. *Gotta do SOMETHING...*
That was when she heard Scott in her mind, via one of their umpteen telepaths: --X-Men, we're under attack!--
*Not exactly breaking news, bossman,* Cecilia thought. *Listen, I've got Nightcrawler here and he's going ballistic...*
--Subdue him, Doctor. Whatever you have to do. If you can hold him still, the Cuckoos should be able to boot the Slayer's influence from his mind.--
*Still. Right.* Cecilia took a deep breath. *Still I can do.*
She returned to the battle in time to see Kurt on top of Hank, pummeling him viciously, while Hank tried only to defend himself. Cecilia took a deep breath, manifested her psioplasmic forcefield, and extended it to its limits. She'd never really tried this trick in quite this way, but...
Kurt delivered a solid blow, knocking Hank senseless, then looked up, sensing Cecilia's approach--
"GOTCHA!" she cried, and enveloped him in a force-field bubble.
Kurt laughed. "Ah, Fraulein Doktor, a commendable effort, but you cannot hold me--"
BAMFBAMF! Kurt disappeared and reappeared inside the bubble, but except for the brimstone swirling around him, achieved no effect.
"Sorry, compadre. I kinda adjusted for that. Now, just relax, and..."
"No... YOU WILL NOT HOLD ME!"
BAMFBAMFBAMFBAMFBAMFBAMFBAMFBAMF...
Kurt screamed with every teleport, but couldn't break loose. If nothing else, he had to be choking on his own brimstone by now...
*Uh, Scott,* Cecilia sent, *We've got a problem...*
--What is it, Doctor? We can't take much more time dealing with this. It's distracting us from the main effort with Bobby...--
*Yeah, but look, Nightcrawler's spazzing, Scott... I think whatever it is the Slayer does to turn people evil took hold of Kurt's sense of humor and created this bizarro evil clown personality.... he's killing himself, and freaking me out.*
--Deal with it, Ceci. We have to get the Slayer out of him to help him.--
*But--*
--NOW!--
Cecilia looked at Kurt, alternately giggling maniacally and choking, and took a deep breath. "I'm really sorry, amigo."
Simultaneously-- allowing no time for him to port away-- Cecilia dropped her forcefield bubble and swung her other arm in a punch-- with a forcefield spike on the end of it.
"ARRRRRRGH!" Kurt cried, as she skewered him to the floor. She'd avoided all the major organs, but she couldn't imagine that mattered a lot to him at this moment.
"I'm sorry," Cecilia whispered, stroking his sweaty brow. "Aw, Kurt, I'm so sorry..."
He looked at her, eyes black at first-- then glowing white under the influence of the Cuckoos, as Cecilia heard their soothing voices over the mental connection-- then back to his usual yellow. Kurt squeezed her hand.
"Thank you," he said, and passed out.
****
Monet St. Croix regained her feet, glowering. "Jono, I want you to know three things: First, I am genuinely sorry the two of you never got together. You were a cute couple. Second, I respect you as much as anyone who isn't me. Third, I have to kill you now. Please don't take it personally."
"Monet, NO!" Paige cried as she took off. Jono's chamber glowed bright-- either Monet was going to beat him to a pulp, or he was going to blow her away. M streaked forward--
Then bounced off to the side, deflected by a beam of energy. Lucas Bishop stepped into the breach, just as Jono let loose a blast: ZRAAAAAAAAAKOW!!!
It hit Bishop dead-center, then radiated through his body as he absorbed it, redirecting it to his own use. He extended both hands:
"Nice shot, kid. Very filling. My turn..."
ZZZZAAAAP! Bishop's blast didn't hit Jono as hard as it might have a person with normal physiology, but it knocked him down and weakened him, and in that moment came Scott's announcement; the Four-in-One stepped into his brain and set things right.
"Was that necessary?" Monet asked Bishop as he helped her to her feet.
"Ask Sparky," he said, jerking his chin in Jono's direction.
Chamber looked away. --Argh, Monet, he saved yer life, luv. There was enough energy in that blast to incinerate even you. I-- I don't know what got into me. I remember... anger. I was so angry about...--
He trailed off, looked across the room at Paige, who had tears in her eyes, and hung his head. There didn't seem to be anything much to say.
****
Remy LeBeau felt his life disintegrating with Rogue's kiss. He remembered the sensation well, the queasy nothingness that took him every time he dared touch his lady love. He knew it well enough to know he was beyond the point of struggling. Rogue had taken too much of his strength already. If she chose to kill him, she could, and....
SHIKT. Rogue came up for air, half-turned, and--
"Hey, Rogue. Sorry in advance."
SLASH! Rogue dropped Gambit and held up her hands in self-defense as a small, feral fireball threw herself into the fray. X-23's adamantium-laced claws might not have been able to kill Rogue, but they could sting even her, especially the way X wielded them. And the girl was inhumanly fast, dodging her every blow, backing her into a corner, howling with berserker rage like Wolverine at his worst. She slashed and kicked with her foot-claws and then drove two more straight at Rogue's stomach.
Rogue caught her wrist. "Mistake, honey. Too bad you ain't Wolvie. *His* bones don't break."
SNAP! X-23 howled as Rogue crushed her wrist and tossed her aside, aiming both fists at her for a finishing blast of fire... and then a huge shadow fell across her.
"Okay," said the Juggernaut. "So I got pounded by a girl. I can deal with that. It's the 21st Century. *But*... I get to hit back now, right?"
WHAMMO! Rogue crashed through the wall and into the next room as he unloaded on her. She sat there in a pile of debris, stunned, while Gambit found his feet and ran to her...
--Remy!-- said Scott's voice in his mind. --Try to subdue her! The Cuckoos can...--
*Pardonnez, Monsieur Summers, but no kiddie telepath's gonna break into that cher's skull. There's nobody knows what's inside her... but me.*
Before Scott could argue, Gambit fell to his knees beside Rogue and kissed her again, this time summoning to his mind all his memories of who and what she was. What they meant to each other. He felt those memories siphon out of his mind and into Rogue's... and then he felt the shadow draw back, repulsed by them.
"Remy!" Rogue gasped, and pushed him away. "Are you loco? What d'you think y'all're doing, kissin' me like that? You could get killed!"
"You was doin' a pretty good job of that anyhow," the Juggernaut observed.
"'Sides, cher," Remy flashed his famous grin. "Some things are worth it..."
Then he passed out, even as Sabretooth was stirring on the other side of the room. He sniffed the air and, past the stench of his charred skin and clothing, caught scent of X-23.
"Holy *crap*, I hate that there's two of 'em..."
****
Alex Summers wondered if superheroes had any kind of a disability plan, and if so, whether he could qualify for it on the grounds of Fractured Everything. Storm swooped into the upper floor of the Mansion unopposed, accompanied by crackling lightning and swirling wind. Her first blast had kayoed him, Lorna... pretty much everybody.
But one. Hawk, the tiny, jitterbug-like mutant with the looks of a gargoyle and the personality of Speedy Gonzalez, had been agile enough to avoid the blast, and now hopped to and fro in front of Storm as she approached, drawing her attention.
"Yoo-hoo! Over here! Can't catch me! I'm the gingerbread man! Or am I the muffin man? I never remember which is which. Oh! I could be the Michelin man! Or Mister Stay Puft!"
"Insolent fool!" Storm hit him with everything but the kitchen sink-- and actually, on reflection, Alex might have seen a kitchen sink fly past. Lightning, ice, waves of drastically altered air pressure... any one of her attacks would have killed the fragile mutant instantly, but none of them hit home. He remained a half-step ahead.
"Lorna, c'mon," Alex nudged her. "We've gotta help him..."
"I'm trying," she whispered, but she was badly burned and barely conscious.
"Nyah, nyah, nyah-nyah-nyah! I'd like to see Spider-Man do this. No, seriously, I'd like to be home watching the news, seeing Spider-Man do this instead of... URK!"
This came as Storm violently reversed course, blowing out the opposite window and causing the winds to blow from the other direction, sweeping Hawk right into her arms.
"That's better," she said. "How do you prefer to die, little man?"
"Of old age?"
"You shall die disappointed, then."
"NO!" Alex unleashed a salvo that knocked Storm off-balance. She dropped her prey, turning on Havok with her power, but--
WHAM! Something streaked in and hit her from behind. Alex recognized Northstar-- or thought he did. Jean-Paul moved so damn fast, hitting Storm from one direction, then another, battering her down. Alex breathed a sigh of relief; if he could just hold her until he or Lorna recovered, then--
FOOOOM! Storm unleashed a blast of furious wind and ice in all directions, knocking Jean-Paul away. He hit the wall hard, and she poured enough voltage into him that Alex wasn't sure he'd ever get up...
"She's like a whole X-team unto herself," Lorna muttered.
"Then we'll take her as a team," Alex said, thinking: *Scottie, link me up.*
He explained to the others what he wanted, simple and direct: Metralla, with the power to disrupt molecular bonds, recovered enough to reach out and explode the floor under Storm's feet. She started to fall, but the winds caught her. Alex blasted her next, just barely missing on purpose, but making her dance, dodge, and swoop into position for...
"Sonja, NOW!"
The hulking, scar-crossed mutant found her feet and hit Storm *hard*, legs pumping, driving her into the wall. Storm hit *her* with the works, too, but the tough scar tissue of Sonja's hide could hold out long enough for Lorna to put a magnetic bubble around them, locking all that bad weather in place.
*Scott, send in the kids fast or we're gonna have to kill her,* Alex thought.
--We can't,-- said a new voice in his head. Sophie Cuckoo.
*WHAT?* Alex demanded.
--Her mind's too strong, and she's not listening. Reinforced by the Slayer... there's just no way to talk to her. You might have to...--
*Let me try,* thought Barnabas.
Alex looked at Lorna, who shrugged. She had nothing else, and delay meant death for *somebody*.
He nodded to Barnabas. The big mutant approached Storm by degrees, looking in her eyes, muttering things that weren't anything in particular under his breath.
"You dare approach the goddess, peasant? You will suffer when I am free!"
Barnabas didn't answer, only stared. Storm locked eyes with him-- it resembled a contest of wills, but Alex doubted that, because with Storm there was no contest at all. Instead, she seemed to be... looking at something, something Barnabas could show her, and while she stared, her resolve faltered...
"No," Storm whispered. "No, it cannot be..."
Her lightning faltered, just short of killing Sonja. Storm pounded on the walls of the magnetic bubble, but Lorna was dogged. Barnabas just kept staring.
"NO! I WILL NOT! NEVER!" The Wind-Rider cried, and her eyes turned their familiar white as something-- some blackness-- was blasted from her mind. Storm hit the ground, barely conscious, and at length Lorna relaxed the bubble. It was done.
Alex rose and helped Lorna to her feet, then tapped Barnabas on the shoulder. "Nice work, pal... what exactly did you do?"
"Showed her the future," said the big mutant, and he walked away.
****
Two figures sat in Bobby Drake's room, concealed by darkness. They didn't move when the sounds of battle kicked up, or when Scott sent his mental summons, or even when the shadows in the room began to dance of their own accord. Only when those shadows assumed a billowing, vaguely manlike shape, did one of them stir.
"Welcome," said Forge, the Maker. "You remember me, don't you?"
--In another life, you were significant. Not now.--
"Aw. I think I'm hurt."
--Why are you here?--
Forge shrugged. "I'm keeping him company."
--I was not aware you were close.--
"We have something in common now. Our connection to you."
--My only connection is with Robert Drake. They think they have defeated me, but all proceeds as it should. They have weakened themselves fighting each other, and now they are ripe for the picking when my power is complete. You and I together, Robert, are stronger than all of them. Together, we shall remake the world.--
"Wow," said Bobby. "The ol' Iceman can do all that?"
--Indeed.--
"Then I bet you wish you *had* the Iceman."
--Wha...--
It perceived the ruse then, a second before Forge pressed a button, activating the energy force-field he had installed in the room. A millisecond before the form of Bobby Drake morphed into Mystique. Calmly, she stood, loaded two automatic pistols, and aimed at the Slayer.
"You spoke to me of a coming storm. Think of this as a change in the weather."
She unleashed a hail of bullets in its direction.