Plasma and Lorna exchanged a silent glance, quickly weighing
what Feral had just told them. Plasma nodded to her partner
slightly, and Polaris struck!
"What are you," Feral yowled, as bands of metal bound her
fast, yanking arms back and securing her legs.
"X-men!" Plasma yelled, "We want to talk!"
"What do you think?" Mystique asked Storm softly.
"I don't know this Plasma," Storm frowned, "but I think I
trust Polaris." She paused, "Some, anyway." With that she waved the
two young women toward them, their metal clad captive floating
between them.
Deathstryke stood to the side, her finger-blades fully
extended. It was painfully clear that the Asian samurai did not
trust them, and would do what she must to prevent any betrayal.
"Stryfe has a psycho named Nemesis in containment," Polaris
said crisply, "according to Feral, Sakura intends to release him.
He'll kill anything he sees."
"He'll be furious over being held captive," Sage said to the
others bleakly, "we have to stop him as soon as possible."
"What are they talking about?" Thunderbird asked Psylocke
softly. His Asian lover drew him aside gently, away from the others
so they could talk.
"Nemesis is an energy being, trapped in a suit of
crystalline body armor," Psylocke explained softly. "He's immensely
powerful, and a firm believer in the survival of the fittest."
"All right," Storm spoke up, "here's what we'll do. Plasma,
Polaris.."
"No," Polaris cut her off.
Plasma reached out to take Polaris' hand in hers, "We're
leaving."
Storm met Polaris' eyes, "Are you certain this is what you
want to do?"
"Yes, I am," Polaris said seriously as she squeezed her
lover's hand, "I won't fight you, but I'm not helping you fight
them, either." With that, Polaris swiftly lifted both women into the
air, and they disappeared into the night.
"Let's move," Storm said softly, gazing towards the nearby
town.
"What do we do with the kitty-cat?" Shadowcat asked, gazing
down at the trussed up and softly cursing Feral.
"Leave her," Bishop said as the tall black man ran through
his arsenal.
"We'll come back for her later," Storm agreed as the team
headed towards the little Outback town. Among the buildings they
could see fires burning, and they knew what awaited them.
Feral continued to curse once they were gone, struggling
weakly against the alloy bonds. 'I am so going to make those bitches
pay for this,' she thought, completely unaware that a figure had
emerged from the nearby shadows.
"Hold still," Sakura ordered the catgirl crisply. A blade
gleamed silver in her hands, remarkably sharp, and with surprising
ease she cut Feral free.
"Why did you..?" Feral rubbed at her arms and legs to get
some of the circulation back into her tingling limbs.
"Get up," Sakura offered her hand, firmly pulling the
catgirl back to her feet. The white haired ninja lead her
away, "You're still useful to me, girl."
"Thank you," Feral said softly. Her eyes narrowed in
anger, "Why didn't you kill those two traitors if you were hidden
back there?"
Sakura smiled coldly, "If we win, I can attend to them at my
leisure."
"And if we loose," Feral said softly, "I guess it won't
matter anyway."
"Exactly," Sakura agreed.
Rogue was on point when they hit the town proper, swiftly
moving through a maze of oddly familiar buildings to try to sneak up
on Nemesis. It didn't work, the nearly eight foot tall figure
hammering her backward through a wall!
Nemesis was a fearsome figure, a human skeleton, crackling
with unearthly energies, contained within a nearly eight foot tall
crystal body armor. Glowing with an ominous golden light he threw
fire from one hand, striking out with inhuman strength with the
other.
"I'm going to try to disrupt his energy flow," Kitty said,
sprinting through a wave of energy like a ghost. She dove through
his body, praying it would work.
Nemesis screamed out in agony, his voice ringing, a wave of
power throwing them all backwards. "You hurt me..." he
growled, "you'll regret that."
Sage hung back, the pale X-Man studying him intently. 'He
seems to have no real weakness in his powers,' she calmly
noted, 'his only limitation seems to be the containment suit.'
High above the battle field, Storm manipulated the weather
systems. Positive and negative charges shifted, power surged around
her hands as she ordered, "Clear!"
The X-Men moved back a moment, and it was like the skies
opened up on Nemesis. The lightning bolt exploded the earth, sending
rock and debris flying, but when the smoke cleared he remained
unscathed.
Boom!
Rogue hit him with an sudden uppercut, driving the off
balance enemy backwards. But her blows seemed to do no real harm,
rocking him but otherwise leaving him unmarked. She ducked under a
blow, kicked out at his crotch and felt a bit of amusement when he
reflexedly flinched.
"Don't get to close," Mystique yelled, using borrowed guns
to blast away at Nemesis. The energy bolts seemed to do little harm,
but they helped keep him off balance.
A wild stream of power shot from Nemesis, and Lifeguard
threw her body over her lover's. "Are you all right?" the golden
skinned blonde asked.
"Yes," thanks," Sage smiled reaching up to stroke her love's
cheek before going back to studying their foe. 'The armor has to
go,' Sage thought to herself bleakly, making her way over to
Bishop's side. "Do you have any armor piercing rounds?" she asked
"Of course," Bishop pulled the clip out of one of his
weapons with a slight frown, "but it wouldn't hit with enough force
to penetrate all that crystal."
"Leave that to me," Sage smiled before yelling, "Rogue!"
Psylocke and Thunderbird took that as their cue to move in,
double teaming Nemesis with a thermal strike combined with
telekinesis. Again and again they hammered at Nemesis, trying to
find any weakness in his armor.
Rogue took a breather, quickly moving over to Sage's
side. "What's the plan?" she asked, knowing the living computer
probably had one ready.
Sage tossed the bullet to her and asked, "When I give the
signal, can you throw this at Nemesis point first?"
Bishop's eyes widened slightly. "Of course," he grinned.
"No problem," Rogue tossed the bullet up and down in her
hand.
Sage pressed her 'X' symbol, "Storm, I need you to be ready
to use your winds to push large amounts of sand into the town."
"I can do it," Storm agreed, beginning to build the winds
she would need from the storm system she had already called up.
Sage tapped the 'X' symbol once again, "Thunderbird, I want
you to be ready to generate as much heat as you possibly can."
"Do my best," Thunderbird replied, the Mediterranean man
sounding obviously stressed.
"Now," Sage commanded Rogue.
Rogue grinned, holding the bullet carefully as she combined
her normal strength with the abilities of other beings she had
absorbed over the years. The bullet flew from her hand, a small
sonic boom in it's wake, and punched deeply into the startled
Nemesis' shell. Cracks spread rapidly, Nemesis trying to hold that
armor together, then it simply shattered.
"Storm!" Sage cried.
Sand flowed in on the winds, striking the blazing energy
being, melting into a layer of glass. Sage gestured and Thunderbird
melted more sand, pouring it down onto Nemesis until he was sealed
in a block of glass, frozen like a statue. The skeleton within
flared with energy a few times, but finally the light died down to a
dull glow.
The control room was deathly quiet as Sakura and Feral gazed
at the monitor image. "Damn," Sakura finally said softly. She hadn't
really expected the X-men to be able to defeat Nemesis, honestly.
She thought he was enough to kill them.
"What do we hit them with next?" Feral asked from her side.
Sakura was a bit surprised that the girl hadn't fled
already, honestly. Feral had to know that things were going against
them. As the X- Men began to move forward on the monitor screen,
Sakura hit a few switches. "The boobytraps and defenses in the town
should slow them down," she said.
"What can I do?" Feral offered, a dangerous smile on her
face.
For a moment, Sakura considered sending Feral out against
the X-Men, but swiftly decided against it. It would be a pointless
gesture. "Come with me," Sakura turned from the control room, "it's
time to go see if McCoy is done."
Up above they plowed through the town's defenses, handling
the weapons emplacements, explosives, and traps quickly and
efficiently. Lifeguard seemed to have a real gift for it, telling
them where the traps were and often changing form to deal with them.
"This is almost too easy," Deathstryke scowled as she cut
another robot down.
"We haven't seen Stryfe yet," Mystique reminded her softly.
"If we don't beat him," Bishop agreed, "none of this will
mean anything."
Suddenly, there was a gentle shaking deep below them. Then
once again, a slight shifting of the ground. Buildings, already
battered, began to fall, as if a wave was moving through the earth
itself.
"What in the world," Lifeguard murmured.
"Is it Avalanche?" Kitty blinked, wondering if there was a
Brotherhood member that they were yet unaware of.
A stronger shaking, then the ground vomited in front of
them. As Storm, Psylocke and Lifeguard used their abilities to try
to shield the others, a figure rose up from the torn earth. As the
dust began to settle, there was a flash of silver.
Sakura emerged first, pristine in her white garb, her mane
of white hair billowing around her. On one side McCoy stepped
forward, the mutant geneticist grinning a dangerously mad smile
through his blue fur. On the other side of Sakura Feral waited,
ready for any cue her mistress might give. And just above them, he
floated.
Stryfe had abandoned his helmet, his prematurely white hair
blowing around his face, His long red cloak flowed in the
telekinetic energies, his armor shining. His power was incredible,
washing over everyone like some evil wave.
"Time to die," Stryfe smiled coldly.
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