Thank you for the review! And yes, getting the speech patterns of Mojo and his cohorts right has definitely been an interesting experience...

CHAPTER TEN

"So what do you want us to do?"Juggernaut asked.

"Beat me up,"Bishop replied simply.

"Okay. Any reasons?"

"You two are the strongest here. If you strike me, it could create enough kinetic energy for me to blast out of here."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"Storm asked him quietly.

"No."

"Any idea what we do when we get out?"Angel asked.

"I'm thinking violence,"Wolverine replied.

"Head for the arena,"Xavier told them. "We have to halt what's going on there before Rogue or Avalanche is seriously hurt."

"Leave it to us,"Cable assured him.

Bishop looked at the two Brotherhood members. "I'm ready for you."

Juggernaut glanced at Blob. "Well, you heard him. Let's get to it."

The attack that followed was ferocious, neither of the Brotherhood pulling any punches. The X-Men stood and watched, fighting the urge to intervene. Then Bishop threw off his two attackers and stood there, beginning to glow.

"Everyone get down,"Xavier stated, quietly but with authority.

As the mutants hit the floor, energy burst out from Bishop's body in every direction. The others kept their heads down, only looking up when the onslaught had ceased.

The cage had been blown to fragments and the guards all lay still on the floor.

Unaware of what was going on at the other end of the tunnel, Avalanche was sending shockwaves all through the arena. Rogue zoomed through the air in all directions, avoiding the blasts easily. Avalanche stepped up his efforts and the arena began to come apart, chunks of masonry flying everywhere. One struck Rogue a glancing blow but only served to enrage her. She flew at Avalanche feet first, kicking him into the wall. She picked up one of the chunks and lifted it above her head, preparing to bring it down on Avalanche and finish the contest.

Then she stopped and threw the masonry aside. She turned and faced Mojo, anger in her eyes. "Well, go on, then!"she shouted. "Kill me! Because I'm through entertaining you."

Mojo stared at her in confusion. "What's she saying?"he asked.

"I believe the lady has decided not to fight,"Major Domo explained.

"Not fight? But she was going to kill him!"

"I suspect it is a matter of some tedious moral scruples."

"What are you doing?"Avalanche hissed. "They'll kill us both!"

At this, Mojo's face cleared. It was something he could understand. "Guards! Kill them both!"

One of the guards stepped forward to comply but at that moment a crowd of X-Men and Brotherhood came bursting up the tunnel from the cage area. Dazzler fired a laser beam that struck the guard in the temple and downed him.

"Guards, with me!"Spiral shouted. She leapt down into the arena, a group of guards following her. But the mutants were enraged now. Wolverine tore into them with claws, while Jubilee and Dazzler launched their own light powers at their opponents. Angel was flying about amongst them, delivering punches and kicks.

Iceman generated a large ice club and forced his way through to where Rogue was standing. "You okay?"he asked.

Rogue let out a breath she didn't even know she'd been holding. "Well, I thought I was going to be dead now, so better than expected."

Cable and Bishop had grabbed weapons from the fallen guards and were raking the air with laser fire, driving back the attackers. Beside them, Longshot was hurling knives with deadly accuracy. Storm forced her way through the melee to Spiral, who stood with swords raised. "You want to challenge me, mutant?" Spiral demanded.

"It's not much of a challenge,"Storm retorted.

Spiral leapt forward with a snarl but Storm was already generating a wind. Spiral was thrown around helplessly, flailing at the vortex as she struggled to keep her footing. Then she was lifted up into the air. Storm took her up a few feet and then dropped her. One of Spiral's swords fell from her grasp and landed, blade up…just in time for Spiral to fall on top of it, impaling herself. She gave a gasp of pain, then she was still.

Juggernaut and Blob had smashed their way through any guards that got within reach, arriving near where Avalanche was scrambling to his feet. "Time to go,"Juggernaut decided.

"What about the X-Men?"asked Blob.

Juggernaut shrugged. "Good luck to them. If any of them live, we'll beat them another time."

The trio clambered up the side of the arena, heading towards the exit. Most of the guards on the upper level were concentrating on the battle below. Only Major Domo moved to block their path. "Really, this behaviour is quite intolerable…"

Juggernaut smashed his skull in with a single blow.

Mojo was watching the battle with glee. "At last! At last! They're killing someone! The audience will love this! What are they saying?" He looked round for Major Domo and saw his broken body lying a few feet away. Mojo scowled. "Why are you never here when I need you?"

Wolverine glanced in the tyrant's direction before looking across at Longshot. "Hey, Fingers! You want to go and say hello to your pal there?"

Longshot followed his gaze and understanding dawned. "I think that would be a good outcome."

Wolverine broke off a piece of the railing, forming a makeshift pole, and threw it to Longshot. Longshot caught it and used it to somersault his way through the battling opponents and upwards. It was a one in a million chance. No-one else could have done it. But no-one else was Longshot. Mojo realised that just seconds before Longshot ended his journey by ramming the pole through his forehead and into his brain. It stuck fast, adding a macabre touch to the corpse.

Wolverine gave the ghost of a smile. "Now that's a ratings winner."