Disclaimer: I do not own and am making no money from the X-Men. Vixen belongs to her creator Corrinth. Blaze is mine. That is all.

Scene Ten

The figure was humanoid, but swollen to a grotesque size. It was over seven feet tall, with a hunched posture and bowed legs. The swell of muscle around its arms and neck spoke of great strength, whilst its angular head moved from side to side as though it tasted the air like a snake. It was hard to distinguish colour in the spasmodic streetlight, but it seemed to have mottled greenish-grey skin. Weirdest of all, the mutant sported tentacles like an octopus or perhaps vines spewing forth from its back. Four of these appendages waved in the air, contorting like earthworms, each independent of the next. A flat nose with flared nostrils drew great intakes of breath as the creature shuffled towards the edge of the roof. Bleak, poisoned eyes roved the darkness relentlessly.

"Is it…hunting us?" Kitty asked breathlessly.

"Man, sure looks that way," Tabitha shuddered.

"Shush," hissed Blaze, "it'll hear you."

"What do we do," Shadowcat asked, "fight or run?"

"I don't know," Blaze answered, "I don't know…"

With three of the girls hiding in a shop doorway and the mutant lurching on the rooftop across the street, the situation was a stalemate. The creature was between the girls and Marjorie's house, blocking their escape. Just then Jean and Rogue rounded the corner and strode out into the open, heading towards the phone booth.

"No one here," Rogue pointed out.

"Where are they?" Jean was worried. As the joint-eldest (with Blaze) and the longest serving X-Man in the group, she felt she had the responsibility of leading them. Certainly the Professor would hold her most responsible if three of the others went missing.

"Maybe Marjorie's cats got 'em," offered Rogue unhelpfully.

"Y'know Rogue, all this is your fault. If you had just stayed quiet about Angel then none of this…" Jean was cut off by a colossal thump that made the ground shake, followed by the snap of a whip. The college girl screeched as she was thrown through the air. Jean landed hard against a water butt at the side of the hardware store. The barrel split, and water burst forward in torrents that flooded the street and drenched Jean.

Rogue barely had a second to look up at the huge beastie before it lunged for her too, using its tendrils rather than its arms. Reacting quickly, Rogue side-stepped then back-flipped her way out of range. The mutant growled its annoyance, taking a moment to realise it needed to walk forwards to close the gap down again. As it made a shuffling motion towards Rogue, the X-Girl's team-mates made their entrance.

Kitty, Blaze and Boom Boom burst from cover to help. Tabitha ran to offer a bedraggled Jean a hand to her feet. Shadowcat only just got to Rogue in time to phase the Southern belle through two snapping vine whip attacks. As the monstrosity loomed large over Kitty and Rogue, Tabby let rip with a cascade of thundering yellow bombs. They bounced up off the road, exploding in bright yellow flashes that caused the creature to cry out and pull back. His beady red eyes narrowed at the piercing light, whilst his tentacles flailed wildly.

Blaze, who had been dashing to help her team mates, suddenly had to dive out of the way as a tendril slammed down towards her. She dropped and rolled, but the thing had turned and was slamming down tendril after tendril upon her. Blaze rolled to the left, flinching as she looked up from lying flat on her back to see yet another tendril heading straight for her. There wasn't time to move, so she tried to brace herself. Yet the blow never came as Jean waved her hand and telekinetically stopped the descending tentacle.

Getting her feet underneath her, Blaze kicked herself upright in a deft salmon leap. Wrenching his tentacle free of Jean's mind grip, the creature turned back to the psychic and raised his colossal fist. Rogue saw the danger and ran in between Jean and the creature to distract it, calling out as she did so.

"Back off, yah great lump!" Rogue fended off two tendril attacks with a roundhouse kick, before taking Kitty's hand and phasing through the mutant as it tried to punch them. As the two girls disappeared behind the beast, it first seemed confused and then bellowed its frustration. Blaze raised her hands and sent a blast of fire across its bare midriff to stop it in its tracks. Recoiling from the flames, the creature staggered backwards. Tabitha tossed in a couple of firecrackers to further the cause, just as Jean gave the beast a telekinetic shove.

With a lurch, the creature went crashing backwards, hitting the sidewalk with a resounding thud. The paving stones cracked at the impact. Kitty ran forwards and grabbed its tentacles, phasing them halfway through the phone booth to imprison the creature.

"Is it over?" asked Tabitha.

"I think so," replied a winded Jean, rubbing her shoulder tenderly.

"What the heck is it?" asked Rogue.

"I dunno," answered Blaze, "never seen nuffin' like it."

"Anything," Kitty corrected the English girl automatically. "You've never seen anything like it."

"Whatever," Blaze shrugged, "at least we stopped it."

But they hadn't stopped it. With a show of brute strength the creature wrenched his tentacles free of the phone booth. Shattered glass, sundered metal and machine parts rained down on the street as he clambered back to his feet. Eyes glinting with fury, he grasped Jean and Rogue in his two hands a squeezed them tight around the midriff, making them yell. Kitty didn't have time to phase as a tentacle grasped her ankle, spun her upside down and shook her violently. Tabitha yelped as her hands were clamped by her sides and she was hoisted into the air. Blaze danced away from one tentacle and managed to get a blast of fire away before the same fate befell her and she was lurched away from the ground. With fury oozing from every pore, the mutant began to squeeze the breath out of his captives…