Across the sand and dirt he ran as fast as he could, the blue
furred figure almost bouncing as he put as much space between himself
and the small outback town. 'Stryfe should have listened to me,' McCoy
thought grimly, 'taken down the X-men as fast as possible.'
Instead, the armored figure was up there playing games, Stryfe
enjoying using his enhanced telekinesis to toy with the X-men. The graft
of Nate Gray's DNA onto him had only barely been completed, and it
hadn't had any chance to stabilize yet. He should have been resting,
letting the changes set in and discovering the full depths of his power.
'But the X-men didn't give us that time,' McCoy thought. The
blue furred man bounced over a rise, feeling just a bit of regret that
Feral was staying behind. 'She made her choice,' he mused, 'she'll just
have to live or die by it.'
Skidding McCoy slid down a rise, coming to rest there as he
waited to see if there were any pursuit. He frowned, looking around,
wondering what was bothering him. His eyes widened as he say the
particles of dust hovering in the air, the gleam of metal.
"Oh no," McCoy muttered softly.
THUMP!
Everything around there with even a bit of iron in it seemed to
come alive, rolling like a wave right over the blue figure. In less than
a second the metallic dust had formed into a set of heavy bonds, the man
restrained from the neck down. Powerful muscles strained as he fought to
break free, fought to escape, but it was useless.
"Why was I not surprised to see you run away?" Polaris asked,
moving out of the shadows, her long green hair flowing around her
shoulders.
"Do you want me to.." Plasma offered, her sandy brown hair
falling into her eyes.
"Please don't kill me," McCoy begged then pitifully, "I wasn't
working for Stryfe willingly, you have to know that!"
Plasma and Polaris exchanged a long look, then Polaris spoke up
wryly, "You certainly can lie with a straight face."
"Practice," McCoy flashed a smile.
"I was thinking," Plasma gave her lover a slight smile, "it
might be a bit more.. fitting, if we just turned him over to the
authorities."
"Just what I was thinking," Polaris agreed, "do you think you
could you hit the bonds with a bit of plasma, fuse them solid?"
"Done," Plasma's namesake flickered golden from her fingers and
along the restraints, sealing McCoy's bonds without burning him. "Good
luck, McCoy," she added as the two women began to walk away, "you're
going to need it."
McCoy cursed softly as he fought to get free, sweat pouring from
his body as he struggled in his bonds. Polaris and Plasma had done a
good job, locking him down do that he couldn't move arms or legs. He
shifted, wiggling, then blinked as he slowly began to roll.
"Oh, bugger," McCoy muttered as he bounced uncontrollably down
the hill, slamming right into a stubby tree, "OW!"
There was a flash of light in the sky, and as McCoy lay there
helplessly he prayed that Strife would win...
Rogue met Stryfe in the sky, a shockwave hammering the other
fliers back as she went toe to toe with the megalomaniac. Stryfe seemed
startled as how easily she broke through his first telekinetic barrier,
but he recovered quickly, thrusting her away.
Oddly, Rogue only bobbed backwards a bit, then she threw him a
dangerous smile. "You'll have to do better than that," she grinned.
"What have you done.." Stryfe looked startled.
Rogue closed the distance again, her body shifting from flesh to
metal. 'Thanks, Peter,' she though as she used the combined strength of
both of her and Colossus to hammer him down to the ground with a loud
crash.
Stryfe pulled himself up from the ground, a thin trickle of
blood running from his nose, only to jerk back as claws nearly raked
across his face. Lady Deathstryke pressed forward, trying to keep him
off balance as she struck at him with her cybernetic claws. From the
corner of her eye she saw a flicker of red, and leapt back and over.
"Got you!" Thunderbird grinned, unleashing a wave of fire on
him.
Stryfe cried out in pain as his cheek burned a moment, too slow
in shifting from a physical defense to an energy one. "You will die for
that," he growled, "all of you will."
"Wanna bet?" Rogue nailed him with Cyclops' optic blast, the
crimson energies punching right through his shields.
Craka-Thoom! Storm called a massive burst of lightning down, the
sand and dirt around the armored villain turning into glass from the
heat. "Yield, villain," Storm cried.
"Never," Stryfe cried, lashing out with a massive burst of power
even as he reached up to try and stop the increasing blood flow from his
nose.
"Sage," Lifeguard cried out in alarm. The golden skinned figure
tossed herself in front of her pale lover, stretching her arms out to
try to protect her. The energy seemed to stop in midair, Lifeguard's
eyes flashed, and the energy boomeranged back!
"Incredible," Sage murmured, her eyes wide as Stryfe screamed in
pain. The armored figure staggered, a tear of blood trickling down his
face and she gasped, "He's burning out. The graft of Nate Gray's DNA
didn't fully take."
"We've got to keep pressing him," Bishop opened up with his
pistols, wishing there was some kind of energy available he could absorb
and direct against Stryfe.
"Right," Thunderbird threw as much flame as possible, even as
Psylocke summoned up her telekinesis to hammer at Stryfe too.
"He just won't give up," Psylocke muttered.
"You will all pay," Stryfe roared, his white hair falling out
from his scalp, the power surging around him as he began to bleed from
the ears, "all of Xavier's brood will pay!"
"Not in this century," Shadowcat phased her hand right through
his head and directly into his brain's frontal lobe.
Boom! There was what only could be described as a telekinetic
explosion, with massive amounts of mental energy being released
uncontrolled. Stryfe howled in agony, hurling Kitty backward, his armor
falling away to reveal bleeding, torn flesh.
"Are you nuts?!" Rogue demanded, catching her lover from midair.
"It hurt him," Kitty grinned, "and yeah, probably. I don't think
he can take much more, but when he does loose control.. it's going to be
bad."
Sakura looked up at the morning sky, watching dully as the
flashes from Stryfe's battle appeared. It was all over, now, there was
simply nothing left for her. A skittering sound, maybe that of an
animal, caught her attention and she hoped her end would be quick.
"Sakura?" Feral's familiar voice asked.
The orange furred catgirl walked forward, coming into Sakura's
line of view. She looked worried as she grew nearer, and Sakura wondered
what she saw, what broken thing lay on the ground before her. "Go away,
it's over," she turned her face away.
"Well, Stryfe's going down," Feral agreed, the catgirl kneeling
down beside Sakura to grab her arm, tugging her upwards.
"Let me go," Sakura cried, tears in her eyes, "I'm done!"
"You're still alive," Feral met her eyes, "you can still get
Pryde for what she's done to you, for what you told me she did to your
master."
"She beat me," Sakura meat Feral's eyes as she said grimly, "she
defeated me in every way. I have nothing left, do you understand?"
Feral hesitated, clearly unsure of what to say. "You've got at
least one thing left, Sakura," she finally said calmly.
"And what is that?" Sakura shot back, ashamed of the tears on
her cheeks.
Feral reached out, catching those tears. Looking into Sakura's
eyes she said simply, "You sill have me, Sakura. If you want me, that
is."
Sakura looked at her blankly for a moment, then she turned her
face slightly, enjoying that feeling. "Thank you," she finally said
softly, "I guess I do."
Feral smiled back, stroking that cheek. "We'd better get out of
here," she said with a new urgency, "Stryfe is about to take the big
dirt nap, I think."
"Right," Sakura agreed, both women slipping away silently,
ignoring the battle that raged not too far away.
In the middle of that battle Rogue dove in towards where the
battered Stryfe waited, ready to finish it. A quick conference with Sage
and Kitty had brought forth the idea, but first she had to get them away
from the others.
"You," Stryfe growled out, blood in his mouth.
Rogue grabbed what was left of his cape, turning the attack
aside with telekinesis borrowed from Jean Gray. With a heave she tossed
him straight up, following at top speed as she switched powers once
again.
Stryfe recovered quickly, glaring as she rose up towards him.
"You think you can defeat me all alone?" he wheezed.
"Oh, yes," Rogue drove her fist as his face even as she called
on the powers of Magneto.
The human brain is very like a computer, running on electrical
currents. An electromagnetic pulse plays havoc with any form of
electronics, and that was exactly what rogue generated, focused in a
pocket containing her and Stryfe. There was a moment when Stryfe
realized what was happening, buy he was helpless as his higher brain
functions completely shut down.
And his borrowed powers turned on him, his will no longer able
to hold them in check.
The explosion lit up the sky, and some said it was visible all
across Australia. Out of the blast Rogue was flung, her clothes aflame
as she bounced off the turf, skidding to a stop with the assistance of
Psylocke's telekinesis.
"Rogue!" Kitty ran to her side, getting the flames out in a
moment. The woman looked fine otherwise, but she lay there so still.
"Kitty," Rogue opened up her eyes. "I don't feel so good," and
with that she collapsed bonelessly into Kitty's arms.
Klang! With a long crash a hunk of molten metal crashed to the
ground nearby. As the X-Men rushed over smoke swirled around it, the
twisted remains of Stryfe barely recognizable in the wreckage....
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