X-Men: Special Threats, Issue Five

X-Men: Special Threats
Issue Five

“Shoot them! Now! You damn—”

Takahashi’s words were drowned out in the roar of the RPG sending its payload, very rapidly, toward a cluster of the feminine robots outside the fortress. Almost immediately afterward, there was the heart-shaking-crack of the explosive going off and a cloud of smoke and steam.

As it faded, Takahashi cursed. Both Valkyrie androids that were closest to the blast were barely harmed. One was limping a little as it and all the rest continued slowly advancing on the fortress.

He cursed again and ripped a .50 caliber sniper rifle from the hands of a guard lying in the prone, who had been looking out one of the narrow windows of the second-story fighting position of the fortress. Takahashi rested the barrel in a window higher off the floor, aimed at the limping robot’s head, and fired.

After the heavy recoil that almost knocked him off his feet, he cursed a third time, in English and much louder, as he saw the robot still walking forward, but with its arm limp at its side and a deformity in its cloak. The adamantium cloak.

“Damn their quick eyes.” He handed the rifle back and ran inside.

* * *

A lethargic rumble of bass shook the room in the underground belly of the fortress, sending dust falling from the ceiling. Shelving units on one wall rattled. Those sitting around Xavier, the most eclectic group of “X-Men” to ever join with him, looked up.

Xavier sighed. An eleven year old girl looked at him with a face that seemed very calm. “Are they going to be okay?”

Xavier nodded, but in his mind he was listening to the fear and panic in the hearts of the multiple guards outside, armed with inadequate weapons for dealing with the thirty-six Valkyries surrounding the fortress.

He reached out to those who were slightly more prepared. He felt the uneasiness in Hank McCoy, who kept up a brave face despite his anger at himself for being frightened by such a large number of enemies. He felt the unsteady emotions of Kurt Wagner, who was trying to push away his uncertainty toward his fragmented relationship with Illyana Rasputin so that he could work with her to help defeat the surrounding hoard. He felt the anger and excitement and anticipation in Ororo Monroe as she prepared a new attack against the robots, hoping that it would be enough. Desperate that it would be enough.

He felt the crisp irritation of Illyana as she looked out at the cold field of enemies. She’d known this would happen. She’d tried to warn Xavier, but he hadn’t listened. She could have proved her suspicions to him, but there was a memory she was ashamed of sharing.

Xavier opened his eyes and sucked in a deep breath as the intense emotions blocking that memory shoved him back to himself. He hadn’t meant to dive so deep into each of his friends’ thoughts, but their emotions were so strong right now that his simple attempt to see how they were doing had pulled him deep into their waves. He had been a master telepath for decades, trained many others, and he still needed more discipline.

The others in the room looked at him. They’d been watching him. His breathing calmed and he smiled. “They’re getting ready.”

* * *

Hank just ran. He ran straight for the ledge and jumped right off the three-story building, hammer high over his head, voice crying out at the top his lungs, his eyes flaming and wide, all the blue hair all over his body rippling wildly in the cold air blowing past him.

Down below him, a Valkyrie began to lift its head. It then began to lift up its arm, the cloak made of adamantium tiles draped over it. It then began to take a step back, but by then Hank and his hammer were fractions of a second away.

“Forever!” Hank yelled out as the hammer swung straight down and square onto the up-turned forehead of the hesitant android. Metal crumpled and shattered and exploded out as the stone brick of the hammer head drove down to through the body, splitting it as Hank landed onto the deep snow. Hank, eyes like those of an enraged wolf, turned around toward the next closest Valkyrie, which was busy deflecting bullets from the gunfire of one of the guards.

“Forever quarrelling is dear to your heart—” He charged the Valkyrie, which was just now catching on. It turned to him.

Hank’s voice was almost guttural, if it weren’t for the rich passion he projected it with. “—and wars and battles.”

The Valkyrie stopped blocking bullets to turn toward Hank, and inadvertently took one to the head. It bounced off, only slightly distracting it, but that was enough.

“And if you are very strong indeed—” Hank’s hammer came around full circle and slammed into the robot’s hip. It went tumbling across the snow for twenty meters, leaving a trail of bits of broken metal behind it before it ran into the wall of the fortress, collapsing next to it in a broken heap.

“—that is a god’s gift.” Hank looked around, seeing that now three of them were walking toward him, electricity sparking along the fingers of their hands, which weren’t raised yet.

He grinned at them as they approached. “Go home then with your own ships and your own companions.”

* * *

Illyana frowned as she watched Hank quote poetry and fight off robots. She turned to Kurt, who was standing there, waiting, ready. She nodded.

He grabbed her hand and all the world, except for him, shifted around her in a flash. Now they were maybe fifty meters uphill of the fortress, standing right behind one of the Valkyries, which was wearing a long coat. Illyana threw out her foot in a kick right to the spine of the robot. Her foot slammed the thin fabric of the coat against its back, but it barely budged from the strike. No metal dissolved.

“What?” The coats.

They were wearing them because of her.

It turned around and swung a hand right at nose level. . Illyana noticed that it didn’t just have a coat on. It was fully clothed and had gloves on. The only exposed part was its face.

Illyana backed off, the fingers a centimeter from taking off her nose. She stumbled backward right into Kurt, who grabbed her arm and again the world shifted.

The Valkyrie was now ten meters off, walking toward them casually.

Kurt was still holding her arm. “What’s wrong?”

She frowned. “I don’t know. I can’t draw off the metal because of the clothes they have on, but I had shoes on last time, so it shouldn’t matter.”

“Is—” Kurt hesitated. “Is it a mental block?”

Illyana squinted an eye. “Probably. I’m taking my shoes off just in case.”

She pulled them off. The shock of standing bare-foot in the snow wasn’t as intense as she thought it would be. That could have been because the Valkyrie was getting closer and looked extremely confident. Feeling cold was one of the least of her worries right now.

“Kurt. Get me in close.”

“Should I—”

She turned to him. “Should you what? Just do it!”

“Never mind.” He grabbed her arm and swung her around.

The world spun around her as she ran in a semi-circle around Kurt, but then suddenly Illyana was a meter from the Valkyrie and swinging toward it. She had her arm out wide at her side, ready to knife-hand strike the robot in the face.

She wasn’t as close as she needed to be. The Valkyrie saw her and had time.

It deflected her arm away and threw a kick into her side. The strike sent Illyana flying into Kurt and both of them tumbling into the snow.

Illyana couldn’t breath. Her entire side was cramped up and pain was shooting up and down. Despite this, she struggled to turn around and see where the Valkyrie was.

Kurt was right behind her. “Illyana. We need a different approach.”

She shook her head as she lifted herself to her feet. “Not yet. I think—”

Kurt came up alongside her and opened his mouth to say something. Illyana heard something behind her. She turned just in time to see another Valkyrie fly down from high above to land right behind Kurt and throw a fast, sweeping kick right to his leg.

He cried out in pain as he went to his knees. The Valkyrie grabbed him by the neck. His body shuttered a moment and his face tensed up and his lips pulled back to reveal clenched teeth, then he went lip. The Valkyrie threw him to the side and turned to Illyana. It had a hand out, reaching toward her.

Illyana threw a fast and close crescent kick to try to bat the hand away. The hand neither dissolved nor showed any effect from the strike. It was like kicking a metal statue. Illyana backed away, her foot hurting, both feet getting very cold. The robot approached, the hand reaching out toward her, sparks of electricity arching between the gloved fingers. The other Valkyrie was right behind it.

It crouched back to charge at her, but then something shot into its eye. It froze and then went limp and the fell to its side. Something deep inside the socket where the eye had been was glowing.

Both Illyana and the other Valkyrie looked up to where the strange projectile had come from. Illyana’s mouth dropped open.

“What the—”

* * *

The door was pushed open, loudly, almost hitting a young boy sitting on the floor. Takahashi came in, his sunglasses on, as usual. Xavier looked at him and immediately knew. Illyana had been right. He was working with someone. He couldn’t exactly explain why he knew now. He wasn’t reading him. He didn’t want to. He never wanted to.

Takahashi nodded to him and looked around the room. Behind him were two guards, each with multiple rifles slung on their shoulders. Takahashi called out. “Anyone willing to help us defend the facility, you’re welcome to join us.”

Some of the older teenagers stood up, walking toward him. Xavier’s face grew warm and his breathing got uneasy.

“Guns won’t work against those things.” They all looked at the old professor as his voice filled the room. “Better to not make yourselves out to look like threats.”

A wrinkle formed on Takahashi’s forehead. “They have a right to defend themselves. I thought that’s why you let me train them on marksmanship.”

Xavier didn’t reply. Some of the kids that had stood up backed away a little from Takahashi. Others awkwardly continued toward him and received weapons from the guards.

“These aren’t the kind of enemies you were training them to fight.” Xavier then frowned and turned to the side. “What is that?”

Takahashi shrugged. “What?”

A guarded mind, protected from his abilities. Xavier only ever felt something like this from one particular person, but this was definitely not him. “There’s a woman out there. A very—odd woman.”

Takahashi nodded. “The one with the mask.”

Xavier turned to him. “Who is she?”

Takahashi frowned. “I don’t know.”

A corner of Xavier’s mouth rose up just slightly. “Yes you do. Who is she?”

Takahashi sighed and turned half-way toward the door. “I have a fortress to defend. Those of you, who want to help, come along.”

* * *

Illyana and the Valkyrie’s eyes were fixed on Ororo.

Ororo was in the air, a narrow tornado of air spinning around her at violent speed. Above her was a tall, dark, and huge cloud of churning gray and blue, its far reaches slowly rotating and often lighting up with flashes of sheet lightning. That was not what was strange, though.

Spinning around Ororo in the air and steam of the tornado were small spots of glowing light. Occasionally, lightning would strike from the thunderhead above, then zigzag and bounce back and forth between the different spots of light. With each of these strikes of lightning, the points of light would glow brighter.

Then one of the points shot away. It flew down and slammed right into the temple of the watching Valkyrie, burning clean through and going on and impacting in the snow, the snow steaming where it landed. The Valkyrie began to move sloppily, as if very drunk, and then went to its knees, not looking very healthy.

Illyana walked over to the spot where the point of light had landed in the snow. She looked down and saw a tiny blob of orange metal. Copper.

She looked up at Ororo, her eyes squinted. “Pennies?”

Ororo smiled, the expression looking demonic with her eyes white and the points of light spinning around her, casting odd shadows. “Pennies. Go get Kurt. I’ll cover you.”

* * *

Hank leaned on the handle of the hammer, catching his breath, smiling. There were four smashed Valkyries surrounding him. Beyond, five more slowly approached, their electricity-charged hands held out in front.

“All this is unnecessary,” called out one of the Valkyries. “We are not here to harm you. End this fighting and no more will be hurt.”

Hank laughed. “As there are no trustworthy oaths between men and lions, nor wolves and lambs have spirit that can be brought to agreement but forever—”

“Enough. Shoot him.”

Hank turned to see another Valkyrie approaching the circle. He could see that some of the metal on its face was a different color than the rest. “I’ve heard of you. I believe a friend of mine gave you that beauty mark.”

It walked right up to the one that had been addressing Hank a moment ago. “Do it. Now.”

* * *

Illyana ran as fast she could with all of Kurt’s long frame draped across her small shoulders in a fireman carry. She ran down the hill, toward the top roof of the fortress where there was a cluster of guards shooting at the Valkyries down below. The Valkyries simply walked toward the structure and blocked shots with their cloaks, no urgency in their actions.

Hank was to the right, surrounded by half a dozen of the robots. Most of the gunfire was aimed over on the other side of the fortress, where Illyana only saw one destroyed Valkyrie near a black, smoking spot in the snow.

She shut her eyes as a blast of lightning discharged from one of the Valkyires and sent splinters of wood and hundreds of roof tiles and roof tile fragments from the second roof spinning up into the air. A couple guards called out, tumbling down to the snow.

She reached the top roof and collapsed. Two guards pulled Kurt off of her as her chest rose and fell rapidly with each deep breath. She wiped sweat off of her forehead. Her arms and legs went cold from the sweat soaked in to her clothing cooling in the frozen air.

“Okay?” said one of the guards, making eye contact with her and waiting for a response.

Illyana tried to remember the word in Japanese that meant she was fine. Sarah had taught her a handful, but right now she couldn’t remember anything. Her forehead furrowed, she pointed at the knife strapped to the guard’s leg. “Your knife.”

The guard looked at the knife and then past it at a pistol behind him that was leaning against the ledge. He offered it. "Kore?"

Illyana shook her head and again pointed at the knife.

The guard shrugged and unsheathed the knife, handing it to her. She took it and ran back up the hill and then down the steep slope alongside the fortress, toward Hank.

* * *

“Lieutenant Graze,” the Valkyrie bowed slightly to the approaching one. “We are under orders from Six to not—”

“I didn’t say kill him.” The lieutenant pointed her hand at Hank without looking at him at first. Bright and loud cracks of electricity shot from between fingers and snapped at the ground. Then she turned her head toward him and grinned.

Hank held the hammer in front of him, his eyes fixed on the lieutenant’s fingers.

There was a flash and bang and Hank cried out in pain. He dropped the hammer and reached up to clench his right shoulder, which was now smoking and smelled of burnt hair.

He went to a knee, rage-filled eyes fixed on the lieutenant. It, she, whatever it was, held the smile, then turned to walk away. “Stun him and take care of the rest.”

There was a muffed sound from behind Hank. He and most of the Valkyries surrounding him turned toward it.

A Valkyrie had its adamantium cloak thrown up and over its head. It angrily threw it back behind itself, but then another one of them had the same thing happen.

A shrill, small voice called out over the confusion. “Dr. McCoy! Now!”

He frowned as he picked up the hammer with his uninjured arm as another Valkyrie had the cloak pulled over its eyes. Those free of such distraction were jogging toward him, so he ran from them and toward the closest one fumbling with its cloak.

With a yell he swung the hammer around with one arm in a very wide circle and right through the robot’s legs. He kept it spinning around him, which was quite effective at keeping two pursuing Valkyries from getting any closer just yet. Then one of them had the cloak thrown over their head and Hank shifted his weight and sent the hammer to swing over and knock its head clean off.

More of the robots flew in; more of them were crushed by Hank with the assistance of his unseen companion.

* * *

Illyana left a trail of damaged and disabled and dead robots behind her as she ran to catch up with Hank.

She ducked as a Valkyrie came out of nowhere and almost took her head off with a round kick. Illyana ducked to the side, held up the knife, and readied for the next strike.

It threw two fast, low kicks at her with its metal, clothing-covered legs. Illyana stayed out the way. It punched right at her head. Illyana leaned to the side and slid in close, scraping the tip of her knife against the whole length of the robot’s arm as she did so.

The robot flashed its teeth as it angrily swung that arm right for Illyana’s head. Illyana didn’t breathe as she leaned back and reached in at the same time. She grabbed on the arm, pulling at the torn clothing. As her hand came in contact with the metal of the arm, she felt the cold limb dissolve like melting ice and flow onto her own arm.

Like with the others, the Valkyrie’s eyes went wide as it watched its arm be melted off. In that short moment of shock and panic, Illyana pulled back the fist that was now covered in metal and swung the back knuckles into the Valkyrie’s face.

The face imploded on her fist, joining the other metal to thicken and weight it down. The head now looking like a tooth with a huge, rotten cavity, the Valkyrie collapsed and sunk into the snow.

A distorted voice crackled behind her. “Not me.”

Illyana turned, but didn’t have enough time to put up her arms to block the wide knife-hand strike coming from another Valkyrie running at her from behind. Just as it was about to hit, a shower of points of light rained down, burning through the arm, head, and chest of the robot. It stumbled and ran into Illyana.

Illyana was pinned under it a moment, then squeezed out and looked up at Ororo. “Thanks.”

* * *

One more was blinded and smashed, leaving two standing out at a distance from Hank, plus the scar-faced lieutenant who was watching from further away. Suddenly that one charged forward and grabbed at someone moving almost too fast to see.

She lifted up her arm, a little green-skinned girl held up by her jacket.

“Let go! Dr. McCoy! Help!” Kristin cried out. The lieutenant touched her on the neck. She shuttered slightly then went limp and the lieutenant dropped her into the snow.

Hank’s lips curled back as he snarled and charged. The Valkyrie lieutenant lifted up a hand to blast him. Hank ran, taking huge strides toward the robot. It didn’t move or show any sign of doing so.

Then it looked up and jumped into the sky. It hovered a dozen meters off the ground, drifting backward quickly. Hank swung across in the air where she’d been, out of frustration. Off to the right, one of the two remaining Valkyries took tiny, glowing spots of light to the face and went limp.

He turned around to see Ororo approaching from the air, stars spinning around her. Illyana approached from behind, holding a bayonet in one hand. The opposite hand, arm, shoulder, and much of that side of her chest was covered in thick, glistening armor. It looked medieval and heavy, but still feminine. There was armor over the arm that held the knife, but it was not as thick and substantial.

Hank nodded to her and then ran over to Kristin, leaving the hammer behind, standing on its head. It stood in the center of a wide field of a dozen broken, gray robots littering the white snow. A loose strip of fabric from the grip blew in the wind.

Hank went to his knees and pulled the little girl out of the snow. She felt stiff, but he could see that she was still breathing. Stiff from the cold. He held her in his furry arms. “Thank you.”

He heard Illyana walk up beside him. She looked to the left, and he matched her gaze as they watched the entire front entrance area to the fortress collapse in a cloud of dust. They were still surrounded, at least half the Valkyries still alive.

They watched a guard jump up from the debris of the collapsed entrance and shoot a rifle at a Valkyrie walking toward him. The Valkyrie was not bothered by the bullets at all, and in one sudden motion rushed forward and grabbed the man’s arm. His body clenched up and he groaned and fell limp to the ground.

“Takahashi’s soldiers bought us invaluable distraction.” Hank heard himself saying. “We are greatly indebted to them.”

Illyana did not respond. She was looking downhill. Hank took in a breath as he realized who she was looking at. “Ah yes, the masked madam of destruction.”

The Valkyrie with the scarred face, Lieutenant Graze, fell from the sky and landed at the side of the masked woman. They spoke together a moment before the woman began walking toward the three X-Men. The lieutenant followed.

“You did well.” The woman’s voice was calm and level. “But we’re done now. I don’t want any more people getting hurt.”

Ororo chuckled, and a bright star shot from the many circling around her and right at the lieutenant. The masked woman simply swung her arm around, backward, into the neck of the lieutenant, knocking her to the ground but out of the way of the projectile.

The woman took in a deep breath loudly as Lieutenant Graze got back to its feet beside her. Hank was surprised by how quiet the mountain had become all of a sudden. He looked around and realized that everyone was watching the confrontation: all the robots, all the guards.

The woman took two steps forward and folded her arms. “Your abilities work well against these wind-up toys. They won’t work against me. Not even yours, Rasputin.”

* * *

Illyana had been watching the woman carefully. She was dressed just like the Valkyries, or they had been dressed just like her. Except that she wore a mask. Illyana was quite sure she was just another one. Maybe a really, really smart one; smart enough to talk like a human. But she couldn’t be more than just another robot.

She looked at herself, at her armor and then at her knife, and began to walk toward the woman.

Then Illyana froze. It felt like a piece of ice was running down the back of her neck. She closed her eyes a moment, and saw Xavier in her mind’s eye. Or his mind in her mind. Or his eyes. She opened her eyes again. “What?”

“Illyana,” Xavier’s voice echoing in her head calmed her like a cool, refreshing glass of water. She’d forgotten how good he was at doing this. “I’ve been listening in. This is not another robot. This is a person.”

“A person-person, or a robot who’s so human that she’s like a person?”

“A person-person. Be very careful.”

Illyana reopened her eyes. The woman in the mask had not moved. Illyana hesitated a moment, then ran full-on toward her.

She jumped up, switching her feet in the air to swing one around in a head-high roundhouse kick. The woman simply leaned back, not putting up a guard.

Illyana kept her forward momentum going, throwing a punch with her armor-covered left hand and then a thrust with the knife in her right hand. The woman just weaved and dodged slightly to one side and then the other.

Illyana threw a kick that landed solidly on the woman’s hip and then yelped out in pain. It was as bad as hitting the Valkyries, and Illyana didn’t have any armor over her legs yet.

Illyana limped backward, hoping she hadn’t broken any bones in her foot. With her adrenalin going like it was, it would be a minute or so before she’d know if she had or not. It hurt nearly enough. The woman just waited, the eyes peaking out from behind the mast fixed on Illyana’s.

Illyana cursed and ran over to one of the Valkyries that Hank had shattered. She grabbed the adamantium cloak and it immediately began to dissolve and join the metal on her arms. She slapped it down onto her legs and it wrapped them and her feet tightly.

“That’s better.” Illyana ran toward the woman again, who was still waiting patiently. Illyana faked a kick, threw two punches. The woman dodged the first then blocked the second. Illyana threw a back-fist around toward the woman’s face and hit the mask before a hand could get up to fully stop the blow. The mask cracked from the forehead to the chin.

The woman cursed, gingerly touching the crack in the mask as if it was her own flesh. She then charged. Illyana smiled.

They exchanged blows. Illyana breathing fast and sharp as kicks and punches came at her like someone swinging lead pipes in a fury. Her armor took the blows fine, the metal ringing dully after each strike, but she was getting more and more fatigued after each. And when she got a good kick or punch in, it hurt almost as much as when she was blocking the woman’s attacks.

She realized that she was backing up. The woman struck fast and sharp, her discipline and control flawless. Illyana felt out of shape, or seemed that way in comparison to this woman.

The last time she’d been this frustrated in a hand-to-hand fight, she’d been sparring with her brother. Illyana wondered if this woman was like him, able to turn her skin into metal, but she had a feeling something stranger was going on here.

Illyana blocked a punch, slipped to the side, and was able to kick out a foot and put the woman stumbling to the side, hunched forward a little. She dropped her left hand behind her, with all the over-large metal covering it, and swung it up and over her head in a huge hammer-fist arch aimed at coming down right on the small of the woman’s neck. She made contact and the woman lost her balance.

Illyana hopped up off the ground with both feet, her body going into a spin. As she came around in a complete 360, she whipped her foot up and around and slammed her metal-covered heal right into the back of the woman’s head.

The woman went to the ground. As she hit, face-first in the snow, her fingers gripped into the white turf, she pulled a foot back, then threw it right into Illyana’s gut just a second after Illyana touched back down onto the ground

Illyana saw stars and red and felt cold snow slam into her back. She could not move and it felt like her lungs were sealed in place.

The woman stood over her, pulled her hood up over her head. Her mask was cracked and revealed a good deal of her face. A face of metal similar to the Valkyries, but very human in expression.

She looked tired.

* * *

Hank looked for his hammer, but he was still holding Kristin, who was still cold and unconscious.

A majestic, female voice boomed down from up above: “I’ve got it.” The points of light around Ororo sped up faster. Lightning struck her several times and the lights burned twice as bright as before, then four spots shot out, right for the face of the woman.

The woman was still looking down. Down at Illyana. Her face was concealed in the shadow of her hood.

The points of light stopped a hand’s breath from her head. A ripple of blue, little more than smoke, moved away from the stopping point. Four little, blue, transparent disks held the points suspended in the air. The disks flickered, glowing. The light cast from them and the hot metal points lit up the cream-colored surface of the cracked mask.

The woman lifted up her head, looking up at Ororo. Her hand rose and scooped up the four spots of light, smoke rising from the fabric of her glove. The four transparent disks faded into the air, into nothing. She squeezed her fingers down, opened the hand, and looked at the merged glob of metal.

She let it drop and brushed off the hand with her other.

She then jumped up with impossible speed, throwing her foot straight up into the air and into Ororo’s gut. Bits of hot, glowing metal seemed to strike her over and over as she did so, but all simply fell to the ground and hissed in the snow.

The Valkyrie lieutenant appeared below Ororo, caught her, and dropped her into the snow.

Hank looked back at his hammer, ten or so paces from him. He then looked up, seeing the woman in the mask standing over him. She was adjusting the cracked mask so that it would better conceal her metal face. “My name is Six. You’re now under my protective custody until further notice.”

Six looked over at her lieutenant. “Get the restraints and call in the helicopters.”

TO BE CONTINUED IN OCTOBER!
(I'm going to be finishing up getting my novel Imperfect ready for self-publishing, as well as starting a whole new project, so there may be a bit longer wait for Issue Six...you can follow my progress with getting my novel ready and find out when it's available by checking out facebook.com/LowerKnights or LowerKnights.com)

Very exciting story so far, you are making it very hard for me to wait a month for your next story.