Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek or Doom

Chapter Seven

"Blaise?" Xavier questioned, when Blaise stumbled back into the room as white as a sheet. "Where's Ty?"

"M-mutant," Blaise stuttered in reply.

"Where?" Xavier demanded, tightening the grip on his weapon.

"Downstairs," Blaise answered. "Ty-Ty couldn't get away."

"Is Ty still alive?" Xavier asked nervously.

He didn't know what they'd do if they lost Ty. Because Ty was their leader and the glue holding their group together. He was the one who kept them calm, even when he himself was petrified and wanted to do nothing more than run away and hide.

Without Ty they'd be lost.

They'd be dead too.

"Blaise. Is Ty still alive?" Xavier asked again, when Blaise didn't answer.

Blaise just stared at Xavier, as his shoulders began to shake.

"Is. Ty. Still. Alive?" Xavier hissed slowly and sharply.

Blaise nodded slowly.

"Y-yes." He stuttered. "When I l-last s-saw him, he was a-alive."

"Right," Xavier muttered, picking up all the weapons he could find that wouldn't make a noise that would attract other mutants when used. "Stay here and don't make a sound. If you hear something that isn't me and Ty returning, wake the others and hide. Do not, I repeat, do not go outside unless you have no other choice. Am I clear?"

Blaise nodded.

"That isn't good enough," Xavier hissed. "The lives of everyone in this room are relying on your ability to do what I told you! Am I clear, Blaise?"

"Y-yes!" Blaise stuttered out.

"Good." Xavier nodded, getting to his feet.

He stared at Blaise for a moment.

He was taking a risk leaving Blaise on his own.

Maybe he should wake Zina, or one of the others. There was a chance Blaise would panic and that would doom them all. But if Blaise was going to survive this, he'd need to find his nerve, which had been Ty's aim when he had taken Blaise with him or that's the reason Xavier believed Ty had done it.

If they were going to survive this they needed to be able to stand their ground and not run away screaming at the slightest sound or slightest of dangers. None of them would survive if they acted like that and none of them would survive on their own. They needed to work as a team, which meant everyone needed to play their part and pull their weight.

Because when it came to the crunch, they were all they had to rely on. They only had each other to watch their backs. It was like a chain, strong and unbreakable if every link was strong. But a chain was only as strong as its weakest link and they couldn't afford to have even the slightest of weaknesses.

Weakness meant death here.

Turning Xavier made his way out of the room and in to the hallway, keeping his footsteps as silent as he could. There was a very good chance Xavier was going to have to kill the Imp if it hadn't moved on. And his only chance of killing the Imp was to get as close as possible and strike before the Imp even knew he was there.

Then it would be a fact of whether Xavier found Ty alive and quite possibly injured or whether he just found the ripped up flesh and pool of blood that would be his remains.

)o(

Xavier reached the bottom of the stairs, he almost stumbled at the sight which greeted him. Across the hallway was an open doorway, but it hadn't open by choice. The frame of the door was buckled and the door itself looked like it had been torn apart. The metal which had once made up the door lay scattered around the floor in razor sharp pieces.

But that wasn't what had caused Xavier to stumble.

Beyond the door, the floor was covered in liquid, which glittering in the low light. Xavier could smell it was blood and if the smell hadn't told him what the liquid was, the body pieces which lay around the floor would have. The body pieces were torn apart in such a way, Xavier couldn't tell if it was Ty or not.

He really hoped it wasn't Ty.

Taking a deep breath, Xavier began moving once more and as he stepped down the last couple of steps he could see the Imp through the doorway. It was stood on one of the counters which filled the room, looking around and sniffing the air with its back to the doorway. It seemed to be looking for something.

Maybe, just maybe, Ty was still alive.

But the blood and remains near the door were fresh. So it was most likely that the Imp was just looking for its next meal. And Xavier wasn't about to let himself or the others be that meal, as he slowly moved forward and silently picked up on of the metal shards which lay on the flop from where the door had been destroyed.

He'd have a much better chance of killing the Imp with the piece of metal than the weapons he had bought with him. The shard of metal was longer, he could probably force it straight through the Imps body, which would do far more damage than the shorter weapons he had on him.

He was going to kill the Imp if it was the last thing he ever did.

A grin slowly made its way onto Xavier face, he'd take great pleasure in killing the monster before him. After all it had killed Ty and countless others. It didn't deserve to live, even if it had once been Martian just like himself. He was going to kill it in honour of Ty and all the other Martians it had killed. And once it was dead, he and the others would have one less mutant to worry about.

But Xavier had seen what was in 'Kodos' handbook of monsters' as Ty had taken to calling it recently. If what had been in the book had also been created, Imps and the zombie like creatures that they had crossed paths with, would be the least of their worries and with Ty no longer among the living, their chances of survival were now even lower.

Bracing himself, Xavier gripped the piece of metal in his hands, ignoring the way it cut into his palms as he readied himself to attack the Imp. He was going to stake the metal straight through the Imp's heart. There was no way the monster would be able to survive something like that. Nothing would be able to survive it, not even the strongest of Martian in history!

Taking a deep breath, Xavier lunged forward, driving the spike of metal straight through the Imps flesh and then through its heart and clean out the other side of its body. The Imp howled and Xavier let go of the metal as he stumbled backwards, watching as the Imps blood oozed out of the wound around the piece of metal and run down it's back.

The Imp let out one finally howl, before an odd squelching noise filled the air and its body went still before falling sideways and crashing to the ground.

)o(

Ty gripped the handle of his blade and listened carefully to the movements of the Imp above him. There was no doubt it was looking for him. He could hear it sniffing at the air and letting out growls as it failed to find his scent, as it had been masked by the previously killed Zombie. If it hadn't been for that Zombie…

Ty shook his head to clear it and listened once more, only to nearly jump from his hiding place in fright as the Imp above him let out a howl. Never before had Ty heard an Imp make a noise quiet like it and he had no idea what had caused it to make such a sound.

As much as he tried to, he couldn't hear anything other than the howling of the Imp above him. The howling had even blocked out the beating of his own heart, which had been hammering so loudly, Ty had been worried the Imp would hear it.

And then Ty felt something wet hit his hair and run done his face in drops and it smelt like blood.

Without a second of hesitation, Ty jumped to his feet and spun round to face the Imp, before driving the blade of his knife straight through the Imp's right eye, causing it to howl once more as the blade cut through it and into its brain.

The knife only stopped moving forward once it hit the back of the Imp's skull. Ty then pulled his blade clean of the Imp with a sickening squelching sound and watched as the body of the Imp feel sideways to the ground with a thump.

It was only then Ty allowed himself to look closely at the Imp. He couldn't help but be slightly impressed by what he saw. Someone had driven a spike of metal straight though Imps chest, no doubt going through its heart the process. The aim had been dead on and the metal had cut straight through the Imp like it had been made of paper. Ty couldn't believe the Imp hadn't died straight away.

An injury like that would have killed any normal Martian…

… Which could only mean one thing:

Mutated Martians were stronger than non-mutated Martians.

"Ty!" A shocked voice exclaimed, breaking him out of his thoughts.

Ty glanced up quickly to find Xavier standing across from him with a mixture of shock, joy and relief on his face.

"You're alive!" Xavier grinned. "I can't believe it! You're alive!"

Ty frowned slightly, before realising that Xavier must have thought the Zombie's remains by the door must have been his. Ty smiled and quickly walked round to Xavier and pulled him into an embrace.

"Yeah, I'm alive." Ty muttered. "Did you really think one Imp would be able to kill me that easily?"

Xavier laughed slightly. "You're right. What was I thinking?"

"Beats me." Ty answered moving back and quickly checking Xavier over.

Xavier almost rolled his eyes. "I'm fine. It should be me checking you for injuries! You're the one who nearly made it onto the Imps menu!"

Before Ty had a chance to answer, a shriek filled the air and it certainly didn't sound like it belonged amongst the living.

"What the hell was that?!" Xavier whispered.

"If I had to guess," Ty answered, keeping his voice just as low. "I'd say it was a 'Lost Soul'. Kodos wrote their screams and shrieks could wake the dead."

)o(

Hey, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Until next time,

Blessed be,

TreeOfLife1997.