A/N: Yes, the Leper Queen is involved...along with some other villains. My driving plot is different than the current X-force plot, and will not involve that funky time traveling nonsense, nor the
necrosha event. Thought it would be cool to "flesh out" some of the attacks made by the queen in words :-D
( Volume: 4 Arc: "first strike" 4 Issue: 2/2 )
Chapter 139 : pressure
Nori was sitting on a chair, her hands tied behind her back. Her head lolled forward in unconsciousness; she wallowed in an uneasy, dreamless coma. Her blue hair fell into her eyes,
almost completely covering them, and her lips parted to allow a bead of drool to roll down her chin.
"Disgusting," a man watching her cooed.
"No," said a woman's voice. Muffled, from behind a hockey mask. "What's disgusting is being forced to work with you. You know that I will kill you as soon as our contract is through?"
"The feeling is mutual, I assure you," the man replied easily. He was younger; a few years older than Noriko Ashida, perhaps; his skin was covered in elaborate tattoos, and his hair rose
in an impossible crest-like Mohawk along the center of his head. His expression was cold as he watched the girl in the chair; mocking.
He smiled slightly.
"I must admit curiosity," the woman beside him said. "Why are you doing this? What do you have to gain from assisting in the destruction of your species? Is it just revenge, or…?"
Daken paused.
"Allow me to tell you a fable," he said. "A fox and a scorpion reached the riverbank at the same time. Both required passage across the river.'
"'Help me across; I will ride on your muzzle,' the scorpion told the fox. The fox was a good-natured animal, and saw that the scorpion really
needed assistance to cross the river.'
"But the fox feared for his safety. 'What is to stop you from stinging me?' the fox asked the scorpion, who replied: 'What have I to gain from
stinging you? I would die too, as I cannot swim.'
"The fox accepted this explanation, and allowed the scorpion to ascend his muzzle. Halfway across the river, the scorpion stung him. As the
fox began to die—and they began to drown—the fox asked the scorpion, 'Why?'
"To which the scorpion replied…" Daken paused again, smiling slightly. "'It's my nature.' "
"I see," the Leper Queen said, although she didn't. She checked her watch, then waved her hand to someone on the side; a hypodermic needle was pressed into the palm of her hand, and
she approached the girl in the chair. She brought the needle to her neck, pierced the skin, and slowly but surely depressed the plunger.
"Get her in the truck, now," the Leper Queen said.
Daken slipped out the back way. In the alley, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number.
"I've tracked them to the Rockefeller Center," he said. "They are going to release her in precisely five minutes."
…
"They've captured the Ashida girl."
"…" Laura froze, her eyes wide, as she heard the words.
"Oh shit," Julian said. "Fuck. Ok, Daken, head to the jet. We need to go back to the school and—"
"Are you crazy?!" Laura almost knocked the phone out of Julian's hand as she grabbed it. "DAKEN, you little shit! How could you—you know what, nevermind, I don't care about your
incompetence. Track Nori." She snapped the phone shut and glared at Julian, who had been glaring at her.
"Laura—"
"Nori's life is at risk if we don't do this right. Get the team, we need everyone. We're going after her. Then you fly this turd back to the jet and lock her in the washroom where she
belongs. NOW, you understand me?"
"Who the fuck do you—"
"If you don't leave in two seconds, I will turn the Shrimps against you."
"…" Julian stared at her, speechless. There was no doubt in his mind that Laura would carry the threat out; he failed to see how it was a related threat.
"ONE!"
He shook his head, then decided that Laura was probably right; if this was the group they thought it was, then Nori was going to be the next Legacy victim. He approached the
girl (still hanging like a rag doll over the edge of the garbage bin).
"Wait," Laura said. She marched over to the bin, reached up for the lid, and slammed it down on the girl as hard as she could manage (Julian thought he head a rib break). "Now you can take her."
…
"I've tracked them to the Rockefeller Center," Daken's voice, on Julian's cell phone. Laura snapped it shut and handed it to the owner. "Beam us up, Scotty," she ordered. "And make
it snappy. We have like two minutes to get there."
"—uh—" Julian paled. "Shit, can we get there in time?"
"We have to."
"It's 50 miles. The X-wing doesn't go that fast."
"But you do."
"Not carrying everyone!" Julian said, exasperated. "There's eight people here! Nine, including myself! That's like a thousand pounds of dead weight, maybe more!"
"Nobody likes a pussy, Keller. Just do it."
Julian glared at her; then he suddenly swept everyone off their feet (in a vacuum like effect) and projected them towards the Manhattan city center, the air behind him suddenly making a
sharp crack! that tapered off into a roar of sound waves crashing together behind them.
…
Nori sat on a bench, holding her bare arms and shivering. She didn't feel so good; she couldn't remember what had happened beyond five minutes ago—when she'd woken up on this
bench. The gloves she was wearing kept making funny beeping noises, rising and falling, like warning sirens; she was too groggy to investigate.
"You ok, honey?" someone asked her. She looked up through her hair slightly—a bum, quite dirty and ragged.
"I—I don't have an-ny change so b-bugger off," she mumbled as she turned away. She didn't want to talk right now.
"Fine!" the bum snapped, insulted. She heard a shopping cart being pulled away in an indignant manner, but she didn't care. Her teeth chattered together as she fought waves of nausea.
Suddenly the shivers stopped—she wasn't cold anymore.
Now she was itchy, and burning hot, so hot. She leapt to her feet and ran into the middle of the street, completely disorientated. Cars screeched to a halt, horns blared, but it was as if she was in her own world.
"Huh—what—MAKE IT STOP!" Nori shouted, sparks of electricity dancing in the air around her. "MAKE IT—makeitstoppleaseitsbad—"
She began to zip through the halted cars, a blur of motion. The movement felt good, felt right, eased the itching. Faster and faster she ran, the pavement smoking behind her.
A small cargo truck suddenly pulled out of traffic and headed her off; she hit the side; bounced off it, fell to her behind and stared up at it, dazed. Her manner was similar to that of a bird hitting a
window. Then she shook her head, scrambled to her feet, and ran back the way she had come.
In the truck she had hit, the man spoke into a cell phone: "The subject was running in the wrong direction, but I corrected her. She'll be there in thirty seconds; make sure she's in the
center of the buildings. What the—" he heard a loud crack, a sharp tearing noise, and then…
BOOM!
"ARRGH!" the cell phone flew out of the man's hand as the pavement beside his truck exploded, knocking his vehicle on its side and sending him tumbling against the passenger window, having not worn a seatbelt.
He blinked. Through the haze of pane caused by a broken arm, he saw yellow booted feet outside his cracked windshield.
"Shittt," he hissed.
…
"She went this way!" Laura shouted, running after Nori's scent trail. Julian remained on his knees, his arms shaking as he propped himself up on the pavement; the rest of the team ran
after Laura. Josh pulled off his gloves as he ran, wondering if he could heal this.
The trail lead to an enormous shopping complex—and a broken glass door, which Nori had obviously run through. Pale, Laura leapt through the glass and pursued; it was obvious the
shoppers had just seen her run by, as they were staring in the direction she had gone.
Another broken glass door opened the way to a courtyard.
Nori was standing in the middle, looking up at the buildings.
"I—I remember," she said suddenly.
"Nori…" Laura ran towards her. "Stop, don't think, don't do anything. Josh—"
"No, you can't…I can't…I have to…" Nori now looked at her sparking gauntlets, then held up her hands, over her head.
"Nori—"
"I love you, David. Goodbye." Nori closed her eyes as her gauntlets suddenly disintegrated into fragments of metal, forced apart by pure blue light that started to spread. It was
like being in the center of lightning.
"GO!" Laura shouted at the top of her lungs as the wave rushed towards them.
Sooraya exploded into a cloud of sand and swept to surround Nori, seeking to dampen the charge; Josh pulled off his gloves as Sofia picked him up with a current of wind and swept him
towards the sandstorm, her expressions serious.
"Do not be afraid, Josh. I will not allow the sand to touch you," she said.
Inside the sand-wall a moment later, Josh found Nori on her knees, a blue figure, her chest appearing to be cracking open as a large white gash split the center.
Her eyes, which were glowing, rolled wildly in her head. Josh crouched low, said a silent prayer that Sooraya was enough to ground the flow of electricity from Nori's hands, then moved in,
his hands reaching for the girl's neck.
Josh gasped slightly. He could feel it, Nori was about to explode, like the man whose body parts had plastered Times' Square—and she was going to take everyone with her, if he didn't fix it now.
He could also feel the pathogen in her blood. It was almost enough to make him explode, just from contacting it. He bit his lip—he had to do this.
"NNNNRGHH—" Nori gritted her teeth as he began healing desperately, the effort as great as when he had healed Laura of her burns. Harder, because now he did not have a healing factor to assist him.
He felt weak, but he felt the pathogen responding, cell by cell, slowly control mechanisms were turning off, the mechanisms that were malfunctioning to produce this—this—
He was beyond thought; he dropped to his knees as well, never breaking contact. After what seemed like an eternity, Nori gasped; her eyes cleared and the air made a slurrp noise as the
energy was withdrawn into her fingers again.
She and Josh hit the concrete at the same time, unconscious.
"It is done," Sooraya said, reforming to reveal their teammates, sprawled haphazardly on the ground. Sofia ran towards them, followed by her friends; Laura hung back.
"I'm going to go find Keller," Laura said to Cessily as she turned away. "Before he lamely gets hit by a car or something and becomes roadkill. It would be so like him."
…
Julian woke up slowly on the couch, an icepack on his head, and a small hand batting his nose repeatedly.
"JOO! Whazzat?! Whazzat?! Are yous dead?!"
"Nate, stop it," Laura's voice called. "Julian needs to sleep. He did something really big with his brain and he's not up to explaining things right now."
"Wan' know!"
"I can tell you."
"Wan' Joo!" Nate's fingers suddenly sought his eyelid and pulled it up. Julian groaned, but was helpless to fight the small, inquisitive face peering into his eye expectantly.
"NATE!" Laura snapped, hurrying towards the boy and sweeping him away. "Stop being such a prick! Let's have supper."
"BUT MUM!" Nate shouted, as loudly as he could.
"Christ," Julian whispered, reaching up feebly and pulling the icepack down over his eyes. He heard Laura haul Nate away (the boy kicking and yelling all the while) and then as she
wrestled him into his feeding stool, beside Rachel, who was sitting quietly and watching her brother make a fuss.
"Be quiet, Nate," Laura ordered.
Julian could practically hear the boy sulk.
"Don' wanna! Wan' Joo! WANT!" The last part was spoken simultaneously by the twins.
"Nett!" Rachel protested.
"The hell'r my pills?" Julian croaked.
A cupboard door opening, a rattle of pills, then a bottle was pressed into his hand. "Dr. McCoy said to go easy. Apparently, you were right…carrying that much weight at that speed really wasn't
that great for you." She paused. "You broke Mach 3 at one point, you know."
Julian was silent, his fingers feeling for the cap of the pill bottle. Laura watched for a few moments, then took it back from him, opened it, and dolled out a few into his hand (which was shaking slightly).
"Take two, have something to eat, then you can have two more."
He wanted them all, but he didn't have the means to argue. He thought of the illusion Emma had created of him being ripped in half, and realized this pain was worse. He felt like his eyes were about to pop.
Laura reached out and touched his hair. "Thanks," she said. "I love you."