"Time to die," Stryfe said coldly.
"Never," Deathstryke growled and charged.
"Wait," Storm gestured, but it was too late.
The sleek cyborg ran right by Storm, her finger blades
extending as she dove at the four figures standing there. "Vengence
will be mine," Deathstryke leapt up, then she was simply stopped
there, floating in midair.
Stryfe smiled at her coldly, "Such a little thing." His
telekinetic energies firmly held the struggling woman there as he
mused, "I wonder if I should peel the cybernetics away, see how much
flesh an blood remains?"
"Psylocke, Rogue, Thunderbird," Storm quietly got their
attention, "go."
BOOM!
Rogue hammered right into Stryfe's defenses at top speed,
actually rocking the powerful being backwards. Thunderbird laid a
wave of plasma fire down, driving the three other Brotherhood
members back, and at the same moment Psylocke focused her own
telekinesis, ripping Deathstryke free before she attacked Stryfe as
well.
"Sakura is mine," Kitty said to the others calmly, her brown
hair blowing around her face.
Storm gave her a look, "Are you sure you should go after her
first..?"
"If I don't," Kitty said quietly, "she'll try to pick us off
on her own."
"She's got a point," Sage admitted softly.
"I'll be right back," Kitty walked away from the group.
Sakura met her gaze and the white haired ninja nodded slightly,
following her away.
Sage looked over to Deathstryke and asked, "Are you all
right?"
Deathstryke looked towards where the battle went on, her
eyes dark with barely suppressed fury. "I'm sorry," she turned to
bow slightly to Storm, "I let my eagerness overwhelm me."
"I know you want him dead personally," Storm said
coldly, "but this can't be a personal vendetta. If we don't work
together, we're dead."
Over on the other side of the field McCoy looked up,
watching the battle with a worried expression on his face. The blue
furred scientist had looked so confident just a few moments before,
but as Rogue and the other two pressed Stryfe, he began to look
nervous.
"What's wrong?" Feral finally had to ask. Her orange fur was
standing up slightly as she kept a close eye on the X-men, as well
as tossing a look up at Stryfe.
"He's playing with them, is what," McCoy scowled.
"What?" Feral looked at him in surprise.
"He's letting the fight drag on," McCoy said grimly, "not
finishing them off fast. The genetic splice is still unstable, and
the longer this fight continues the greater the risk the changes
will unravel."
Feral looked up, taking in the wild smile on their leader's
face as he casually fended off the X-men's most powerful blows. "He
doesn't care," she murmured softly.
"No, he doesn't," McCoy agreed, "which means it's time to
go. You coming?"
She looked over at him in honest surprise before Feral
asked, "You know Stryfe will go after you if he wins, right?" He
shrugged, and Feral looked up at the battle again, finally softly
murmuring, "No, I'm staying here."
"Sakura," McCoy said thoughtfully. He gave her a
smile, "Well, it was fun while it lasted. Good luck." With that, the
blue furred figure was off, running across the sands.
The shadows stretched out all around them as the two women
faced each other in the hills not far from the battle. Sakura's
white hair flowed out like a banner, her face grave as she stripped
her outer robes off, revealing a skintight bodysuit beneath them.
Kitty stood there casually, her own brown hair moving with
the breeze. Her blue and black bodysuit seemed to make her disappear
into the shadows, her movements becoming more catlike as they
circled each other warily.
"You could always giive this up," Kitty finally spoke
up, "walk away."
"Don't joke," Sakura answered.
"No, I guess not," Kitty agreed. "Honor, duty and obligation
bind us all, don't they?" The sand blew by, whistling through dead
grass, "I remember."
"Oh?" Sakura kept her voice level.
"All my training, sparring against you," and Kitty's voice
grew hard as she continued, "and the night that we spent together."
"I.. do not regret that," Sakura admitted, a slight smile
teasing her lips.
"I couldn't say no," Kitty said softly, "but that doesn't
mean I didn't want to."
Sakura flinched.
And in that moment Kitty moved. The first kick clipped
Sakura's temple, but the white haired woman recovered. Blade gleamed
in Sakura's hands, but Kitty dodged like a cat, catching one of the
slim throwing knives from midair to Sakura's shock.
The silvery blades clanged together, Kitty driving Sakura
backwards. The white haired ninja's eyes grew wide as she fought to
regain any advantage, and failed. With a simple sweep kick Kitty
sent Sakura crashing to the ground, driving the blade into the
ground beside her neck.
"Finish it," Sakura finally said softly.
"I don't need to," Kitty said, meeting her eyes. "Do you
know the real reason 'Ogun took me on as his apprentice? Because you
couldn't cut it."
"No," Sakura snarled.
"Who's been beaten, then?" Kitty asked her softly as she
began to move away, "Who's the one laying there on the ground?"
Sakura couldn't form an answer as Kitty walked away.
"It looks like McCoy is gone," Sage noted as she watched
Storm up in the sky, raining lightning bolts on the laughing Stryfe.
"Which leaves Feral and Sakura," Bishop noted, even as he
tried to get a clear shot at Stryfe.
"Make that just Feral," Kitty said as she walked out of the
shadows.
"You've won," Lifeguard murmured, the tall blonde standing
there protectively by her lover Sage's side.
"I destroyed her," Kitty said grimly, "took it all away from
her." She smiled weakly, "So why don't I feel happier about it?"
"If you did," Bishop said gravely, "you'd have become just
like Sakura."
"Maybe," Kitty agreed. She looked up at the battle in the
air before softly murmuring, "We need to get them down here,
overwhelm Stryfe somehow."
"But none of us are powerful enough," Sage said.
"One of us might be," Kitty said grimly. She touched her
communicator, "Rogue, break away, I need you down here."
Storm moved in, ripping the air around them, generating
massive turbulernce along with lightning flashes, generating enough
of a distraction for Rogue to get clear. "I hope you have a plan,
Kitten," she murmured.
Rogue dropped down beside the other X-Men, her white and
auburn hair messy from the battle, a bit of blood gently trickling
from the corner of her mouth. "You all right?" she asked, putting
her hands on her lover's shoulders.
"I'll live," Kitty smiled back. She took a deep
breath, "Remember that idea we had for an emergency, last chance
gambit?"
"This is it," Rogue agreed. She looked over at Sage, "I want
you to jumpstart my abilities, send them to their next level."
Sage's eyes widened, "We don't know entirely what will
happen, the side effects could be..."
"I'm hoping it'll let me use the powers I've absorbed like I
own 'em," Rogue said softly. "That might just let me take Stryfe on
equally."
"Not a bad idea," Bishop admitted. "But what if it's too
much for you?"
"I'll take that chance," Rogue said cvrisply. She turned her
head slightly, "Sage?"
"All right," Sage agreed. The pale mutant held her hands
just above Rogue's face, her eyes closed as she focused her
concentration. Little tendrils of lightning danced between her
fingers, then skimmed across Rogue's flesh. The light built up
around them, brighter and brighter, until finally there was a
blinding flash.
"Are you all right?" Kitty asked, blinking the spots away.
Rogue didn't look any different, until you saw her face.
There was an odd serenity in her eyes, a slight smile on her
face. "I've never been better," she murmured softly.
"But did it work?" Lifeguard asked her impatiently, rushing
over to help support a badly woozy looking Sage.
"Oh, yeah," Rogue smiled, "Stryfe won't know what hit him."
She gave Kitty a little grin, "Be careful, love, I'll be right
back." With that she took off, glowing with energy as she soared up
towards where Stryfe waited...
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