Feral paused in the doorway, looking over at the two women who
were sleeping tangled up together on the small bed. The green haired
Lorna Dane had her head resting on the sandy haired Plasma's chest,
little smiles on both of their faces. The orange furred girl paced
across the room, looking down at them thoughtfully.
Feral reached out, gently shaking Lorna by the shoulder, "Wake
up." The green haired girl mumbled something softly, snuggling in a
bit closer to Plasma. Her claws gleamed as she raised her hand, then
reached over to hold her hand just over one of the curved bottoms. She
jabbed down once, then jumped backwards.
"Yeow!" Lorna jerked up, looking around her wildly, her green
hair messy around her face. "What the hell?" she stuttered.
"Sakura sent me to get you," Feral said softly. She smiled a
bit grimly, "We've got X-Men inbound, probably within minutes."
Lorna watched the catgirl slink out, then looked down at the
still gently snoring Linda. 'I love her,' she felt a moment of vertigo
as she admitted it to herself, 'and all hell's going to break loose.'
She shook her shoulder, smiling fondly as the sandy blonde looked up
at her woozily.
"Is it morning?" Linda asked, blinking dazedly.
"The X-men are coming," Lorna said quietly. Linda shook
herself, sitting up and rubbing at her eyes as Lorna continued, "We'd
better get ready."
"Right," Linda grabbed at her clothes, pulling her pants on
smoothly. As she was wiggling into her shirt she paused, "Last
night... it wasn't just fun, for me."
"Me, too," Lorna agreed as she pulled her own clothes on. She
smiled a bit wryly, "Is it too early for me to say I love you?"
Linda moved over to where Lorna was standing, gently pressing
her lips to the smaller woman's. "Not at all," Linda said softly, "I
was hoping you'd say that." She smiled, "I feel the same way about
you, too."
Dressed, the two women headed for the command center to check
in with Sakura. The slim, white haired martial artist was studying the
tracking screen as a blip rapidly moved across the outback. Without
turning she said, "Stryfe is still sealed away with McCoy, so we'll
have to defend the town until he can emerge."
Lorna quickly scanned the tactical updates, "Looks like the
Reaver- bots are deploying as planned. Is Nemesis still in
containment?"
"For now," Sakura agreed. "He's not the most precise
operative, so I'm holding him back to hit the X-Men with later," she
noted.
"Where do you want us?" Linda asked crisply, fully in her
combat mode.
"Move in on the X-Men after the Reaver-bots attack," Sakura
crisply ordered, "that way Lorna can use their metal parts with her
powers."
"You haven't much confidence in McCoy's babies?" Plasma raised
an eyebrow curiously.
"No, I don't," Sakura admitted. "They're robots, no matter how
enhanced, and the X-Men train against such things." Her eyes narrowed,
"Get into position, please."
"Got it," Lorna lead Linda out of the command center at a fast
jog. Silently Sakura watched the two of them go, her expression
thoughtful.
"You think they're going to pull something?" Feral emerged
from the shadows, the catgirl giving Sakura a seductive glance.
"Probably," Sakura answered quite calmly. She felt Feral move
up behind her, pressing her body up against her own. A soft breath,
and a raspy tongue stroked against the back of her neck. "We'll be
ready, if they do try something," Sakura said softly. She pushed Feral
away from her, but with clear reluctance.
Sakura activated a communication device, and McCoy's voice
came through clearly, "No interruptions! We've reached a critical
phase."
"Can you hurry it up?" Sakura made the threat all in her tone
of voice, "We've got X-Men almost sitting on our doorstep."
"I'll put every effort into expediting the process," McCoy
answered, then disconnected.
Not that far away the sleek black jet skimmed dangerously
close to the ground. Kitty gazed out the window intently, slight
nudges of the controls shifting the Midnight Runner aside from the
many towers of rock and the occasional man made constructions.
"ETA less than two minutes," Kitty reported softly.
Sage looked up from the electronic countermeasures station,
"I'd like to think we've made it this far unobserved, but I don't
think we should depend on it."
"Reasonable," Storm agreed. The tall black woman met their
eyes steadily before adding, "We'll be ready." With that, she moved
into the back and addressed the other members of the team. "We should
be ready to evacuate the plane at any time," she quickly briefed them,
"just in case something unexpected happens."
BOOM! The plane was rocked by a sudden explosion.
"Like that?" Mystique swiftly reached out to grab at her
lover's arm before she was thrown right off of her feet.
"Thanks," Storm smiled.
"We're takin' heavy fire from the ground," Rogue used the
intercom to let the others know even as Kitty wrestled with the
controls to try to keep the plane as steady as possible. She checked a
reading, Rogue's eyes widening, "And sensors say it's superhuman power
signatures!"
"Let me off the plane here," Deathstryke said firmly, looking
out the window at the many shadowed figures that were moving around
below them.
"We're moving at..." Elizabeth started.
"I'll survive," Deathstryke said to her crisply, "and I may be
able to distract them from continuing to fire on the plane."
Storm met the Japanese woman's eyes, suddenly reminded of many
similar moments dealing with Wolverine. Making up her mind she nodded,
"Do it."
The hatch was forced open, wind whistled by, and Deathstryke
leapt out. She hit the ground hard, bouncing and rolling, but she came
up with a dangerous smile on her face, her long dark hair flowing
around her. She flexed her fingers, feeling them extend into the
deadly metal blades that had so often been used against the X-Men.
Deathstryke scanned the battlefield, quickly spotting the
shambling figures that were heading for her. Once human, now mostly
machine these Reavers came, odd, pulsing organic growths grafted onto
them. Nerves, blood and gore traced their forms, bizarre looking but
to her experienced eyes they were also clearly dangerous.
One of the Reavers gestured, the growth that was attached to
it's side swelled up and then darkened, and from it's hands a stream
of thermal energy emerged. Deathstryke ducked as she sprinted forward,
dodging yet another shot as she reached it. Her claws raked upward,
tearing it open in a move that she had learned studying Wolverine. She
was splattered with blood and engine oil, parts went flying, and it
dropped.
"One down," she murmured, Deathstryke looking up to see dozens
more coming at her. "This should be fun," she twitched her blades free
of gore and charged.
Not far above her Kitty struggled with the Midnight Runner's
controls to bring them into a controlled turn over the little outback
town. She hammered the controls once before finally growling out,
"We're losing flight stability."
"Which means we're going down, soon," Rogue said grimly.
"I'll go let the others know," Sage moved towards the back,
even as the plane was rocked by another near miss.
Storm nodded grimly at Sage's news, "Then we evac, now." She
raised her voice, "Kitten, can you slow us down a bit?"
"Already working on it," Kitty called back, "but the
autopilot's down. Everyone else gets off, while I try to bring this
down in an uninhabited piece of the outback."
"I am not leaving you here alone," Rogue said grimly, staying
in her seat while the rest of the team bailed, those with flight
powers helping the others down to the ground.
Kitty smiled slightly as she met her lover's eyes, knowing
that Rogue wasn't going to change her mind. "All right," Kitty
conceded, feeling a bit of relief as she saw the team assembling below
them through her window.
"You have a plan to get out of here, right?" Rogue asked.
"Oh, yeah," Kitty maneuvered the damaged plane, feeling a bit
of relief as it cleared a stone rise. Open, uninhabited sand stretched
out in front of them, and Kitty sighed with relief. She grabbed at
Rogue's hand, "Now!"
Using her power at one of it's highest levels Kitty phased
both women, letting them slide through the jet as it traveled onward.
Hovering they saw it fall belly down to the ground, wings tearing and
smoke pouring out of the engine assembly.
"At least it didn't explode," Rogue clasped Kitty close to her
as they flew to where the other X-men awaited them.
Mystique leveled one of Bishop's guns, blasting at the robots
as the rest of the team moved to disable them. "Thanks," she grinned
as bishop soaked up enemy weapons fire beside her and threw it back at
them, exploding the robots.
Storm tossed her a smile as she threw lightning bolts into the
Reavers, then using gusts of wind to throw the robots up against each
other. She used her height to get a feel for the situation and had to
smile. Deathstryke tore through the Reavers like a hot knife through
butter, Sage and Lifeguard fighting on one flank, Psylocke and
Thunderbird on the other, and finally Bishop and Mystique laying down
cover fire for them all.
Kitty and Rogue soared over a rise, dropping down on to the
battlefield. "Fastball special," Kitty yelled with a grin, leaping up
agilely on to Rogue's hand. Rogue flung her, the fully phased girl
passing through the robots and shorting out all the electrical
systems.
Rogue ran over to where the most Reavers remained, Deathstryke
right in their midst, her metallic claws gleaming. A thought and Rogue
popped her own bone claws, leaping into the mob of robots and joining
in reducing them to piles of wreckage. In a few moments it was all
over, the last of the robots destroyed.
"That was enjoyable," Deathstryke cast the ruined arm of a
robot aside.
'Definitely reminding me of Logan,' Rogue mused. She offered a
grin, "The big fight's still coming up. The Brotherhood, and Stryfe."
The metal parts littering the battlefield shifted, rising
slightly, a soft green glow appearing around them. They began to
float, the green glow becoming even brighter as two figures walked out
of the shadows together.
"Polaris," Sage murmured.
Deathstryke sprinted forward, and the woman beside Polaris
gestured. It was almost like watching the sun rise, so much power was
called forth them focused into a single bolt. Deathstryke screamed,
rolling to put out the flames. She returned to her feet much more
cautiously, eyeing the two of them with a wary intensity.
"Plasma," Storm recognized the young woman's powers from the
datafile that Havok once compiled for the X-Men. "Spread out," she
ordered, looking back at her teammates.
Sage signaled Thunderbird, and the young man nodded to her
slightly. Mystique moved aside slowly, gradually disappearing into the
concealment of the shadows as Sage stepped forward, "Why are you doing
this, Lorna?"
"Awfully chummy, considering we've never even been friends,"
Lorna replied crisply, her eyes narrowed in anger. The green haired
woman tossed Plasma a cautious look, wondering if they should risk
making a move.
"But we have been friends, Lorna," Storm met her eyes frankly,
"and I too would like to know why you're doing this."
Lorna raised her chin defiantly to answer, "It doesn't really
matter, not anymore." Without really thinking about it she reached for
Plasma's hand, and felt relieved when those fingers gently wrapped
themselves around hers.
"I'll be damned," Kitty muttered under her breath, "I didn't
think that Lorna swung that way."
"Think it's something in Australian water?" Rogue whispered
back, and Kitty snickered.
"Stand down, Polaris, Plasma," Sakura commanded, the white
haired ninja standing upon a nearby rise, garbed all in white.
"What are you..." Plasma looked up in surprise.
Rogue's eyes widened, and tossed a look at Kitty only to see
her standing there quite calmly. "Aren't you going to get her?" she
asked softly.
Suddenly Polaris gestured, a green glow appearing around
Sakura as she yanked the woman off her feet. She tightened her
magnetic grip, Sakura's form shifted, and Mystique struggled in her
grasp. "What gave me away?" Mystique asked calmly.
"You didn't get the voice quite right," Plasma nodded
thoughtfully.
Mystique made a face. 'Next time, don't try to do an
impersonation based off of a recording,' she thought to herself
furiously even as she attempted to wiggle free.
"Neal, now!" Sage cried.
Thunderbird exploded into action, bathing both Polaris and
Plasma in a wave of fire. The mistress of magnetism fought to keep her
grip, her powers fading suddenly, then Plasma grabbed her and yanked
her backwards. Concentration broken, Mystique fell to the ground.
"Heat weakens magnetism," Heather murmured, looking over at
Sage admiringly, "That was pretty sharp."
"Thank you," Sage blushed slightly.
"You all right," Plasma picked up Polaris worriedly, her eyes
wide with concern.
"I'll be fine," Polaris smiled up at her comfortingly, "just a
bit scorched around the edges."
The figure emerged from the shadows, the orange furred catgirl
giving them a withering look. "Well. aren't you two pitiful," Feral
sneered.
"Where's Sakura?" Plasma asked.
"She's breaking out Nemesis if we don't stop them here," Feral
said casually.
"Nemesis?" Sage could barely hear them from where the X-Men
were standing, but if she had heard right, this could be as big of a
problem as Stryfe...
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