Ultimate Battle: Sabretooth
At Wolfe's Den…
The hooded man and the Sabretooth used the Wraiths as a distraction for the Phantom when they encountered them across the river. A diversion it was, so that the hooded man could deliberately dispense the defected Wraiths while he went with Sabretooth to go find the subject of Project Orion at the location where the weak signals had originated from.
There, they were both attacked by the pack of wolves that protected the mutant's location, his den. Both the hooded man and Sabretooth swiftly killed each wolf that came near them, slaughtering all of them as they left behind a bloody scene filled with the bodies of dozens of wolves. The hooded man entered the den, only to find it empty, voided of their mutant.
Sabretooth sniffed around for any clues, but he didn't find anything aside from the hunter mutant's musky scent around the whole den.
"Sabretooth." The hooded man sternly called for the mutant as he walked out of the den.
Sabretooth looked at the hooded man. "What?"
"When we unleashed the Wraiths upon Phantom and his little group of heroes… was he with the hunter mutant?" The hooded man placed his palm over his face as he realized their flaw, and Sabretooth's eyes widened as he realized it too.
"Uh… I think… maybe he was." Sabretooth stammered as he kept looking around. "You sure he isn't here somewhere?"
The hooded man approached Sabretooth and grabbed the taller mutant by his collar. "You moron, we attacked this place without him here!"
Sabretooth growled as he shoved the hooded man off of him. "Grr… I'll find him!"
The hooded man shook his head as he glanced at the dead wolves. "I'm going to return to the jet. You, on the other hand, will search for this hunter and get us that blood sample."
"What?" Sabretooth angrily asked. "What about getting him to join the brotherhood?"
"I don't want him to join the brotherhood, idiot." The hooded man snapped. "I want his blood sample so we can use the solution to add to the formula to create more Wraiths."
"So what do you want me to do after I get his blood?"
"Eliminate him." The hooded man darkly replied as he disappeared into thin air, out of the area.
Sabretooth growled, shaking his head in frustration as he began to walk back towards the river to find the hunter mutant.
Suddenly, he heard the sounds of paws racing towards the den; he turned to see the hunter mutant come racing in on all fours, a few wolves at his back. The hunter mutant stopped and stood up, his bright yellow eyes fixed on Sabretooth, who flashed his sharp teeth back at the hunter. But then, the hunter glanced at the scattered bodies of his dead wolves.
"No… No…" Wolfe sorrowfully wept as he slowly approached the dead wolves. He fell to his knees beside the slashed up body of his most trusted wolf, Romulus. "Romulus… No…"
The hunter mutant, with all his might and courage, wept in tears holding Romulus's body, trying to keep the memories of when he had him as a pup away from his mind. He looked up and saw the rest of the bodies, of all the wolves who defended their home against the invader.
"You." Sabretooth grinned menacingly as he stood behind the hunter, ready to attack Wolfe. "The subject of Project Orion…"
Wolfe looked up at Sabretooth with the most pissed off look, all tears gone from his face. He growled at Sabretooth with the most ferocious growl as he stood up, almost level with Sabretooth's height and took his rifle off his back, throwing it aside to the snow.
Without warning, Wolfe disappeared out of sight as he shed his hooded fur skin off his chest (exposing the upper half of his body) and pounced on Sabretooth as he reappeared and began clawing the mutant's face. "You son of a bitch!"
Sabretooth growled, kicking Wolfe off and getting back up as he charged at the hunter and knocking him down to the ground, clawing him back and forth as he tried pinning him down. Wolfe quickly grabbed one of his knives and stabbed the mutant on the side, causing Sabretooth to growl in pain as Wolfe sank his claws into Sabretooth's chest.
Wolfe head-butted Sabretooth off of him and then stood back up as he withdrew his large serrated knife, growling at his attacker. "Who in the hell are you!?"
Sabretooth ignored the question as he charged at him once more, swinging his claws left and right trying to attack Wolfe, but the hunter made his entire upper half disappear as he dodged the swings left and right, trying to repel Sabretooth with his knife.
The other wolves rushed in to bite Sabretooth, one of them jumping on the mutant's back and gnawed at his neck. Sabretooth quickly clawed them off of him, stomping them dead into the snow.
"You're going to regret that!" Wolfe yelled as he disappeared into thin air again and rushed after Sabretooth, but the mutant quickly anticipated it, since Wolfe's lower body was still clothed by his fur leggings and was easily visible.
Sabretooth punched Wolfe hard in the head as the hunter charged forward with his knife, knocking him out onto the cold snow.
"Not so tough after all." Sabretooth chuckled to himself as he leaned over to grab Wolfe's blood sample from his bloodstream into a small little syringe that connected to a small glass tube.
Wolfe quickly woke back up and in the blink of an eye, dug his claws into Sabretooth's neck. The mutant struggled to breathe as blood began to come out of his neck.
"I will not be the hunted." Wolfe growled as he shoved Sabretooth backwards.
The beast of a mutant grabbed his throat as it began to bleed excessively, and fell backwards onto the snow. Wolfe got up, holding his arm as he realized Sabretooth had stuck something into his arm, causing him to growl in pain.
He walked over to his rifle and grabbed it as he slung it on his back, holding his abdomen as he felt the pain from the slashing that Sabretooth caused on him. He staggered towards the downed beast as he withdrew his rifle and pointed it at Sabretooth's head. "Tell me, who the hell sent you?"
Sabretooth only looked back at the hunter with hatred in his menacing eyes.
Wolfe's den, (Phantom's POV)…
Phantom, Spider-Man, and White Tiger raced to Wolfe's den as fast as they could on the trail of blood the dead pup left behind as it staggered to get to Wolfe back at the side of the river. As they reached the den, they saw Wolfe standing over another mutant with his rifle pointed at his head.
"Wolfe!" Phantom called out to him as they approached him. "What are you doing?!"
Wolfe growled in Phantom's direction, only glancing his way as he kept his rifle pointed at the mutant. "This bastard killed my pack, Phantom. He killed them all."
This is…a mutant? Why do I have the feeling this is one of Magneto's associates?
"Oh no…" White Tiger solemnly spoke as she saw the grisly scene with the scattered bodies of wolves all around the outside of the den. "He… killed them all."
Dear god… all of his pack… dead. But who…who would've done this?
"Grr… Answer me!" Wolfe growled again as he pressed the barrel of the rifle onto Sabretooth's forehead. "Answer me or I'll blow your brains out!"
Phantom ran over to Wolfe and pulled the barrel away. "Stop it, Wolfe! You're never going to get any answers from him that way!"
"He killed my pack, Phantom! He killed my pack, and I'm going to skin him alive for that!" Wolfe growled with sadness in his voice. "They didn't deserve that!"
"Stop, Wolfe." Phantom placed his hand on Wolfe's shoulder. "Let's get some answers first before we start shooting."
This monster deserves to die for what he did to Wolfe's pack, but I've learned that it's better to ask questions first before we go guns blazing. Besides, it seems that Wolfe really went on a frenzy with this guy.
Spider-Man walked over to Sabretooth, who continuously held his throat, looking at his attackers with anger of having been defeated. "I know who this guy is! That's Sabretooth! I remember when Wolverine and I switched bodies when we fought Mesmero, and this guy was out looking for Wolverine!"
"Sabretooth, eh?" Wolfe growled. "Looks like the feline couldn't best the wolf."
"Hey!" Tiger crossed her arms.
"I was talking about him, little lady." Wolfe smirked.
Sabretooth… Where have I heard that name before? Ah, of course! Victor Creed… one of Magneto's closest associates in his Brotherhood of Mutants.
"He works for Magneto." Phantom then stated as he crossed his arms. "His profile came up when I investigated Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants with Coulson."
"So Magneto knows about Wolfe?" Tiger asked as she looked at the downed mutant.
"It would seem so." Phantom pondered this.
"Well, it looks like we're not the only one looking for the Athena-Class mutants, Phantom." Spider-Man pointed out.
Sabretooth coughed out as he finally let go of his throat and slowly stood up, Wolfe readily pointed his rifle back up at him. Wolfe's injury had successfully healed on his throat, citing Sabretooth's regenerative factor.
"Stand down, Sabretooth!" Phantom ordered the mutant. But Sabretooth slowly shook his head defiantly.
Wolfe's den, (Spider-Man's POV)…
Sabretooth charged at Wolfe, knocking the rifle out of his grasp as a round shot off but it just hit the bark of a nearby tree. Wolfe fell to the snow as Sabretooth clawed Phantom's face and kicked him down as he tried to make an opening to escape.
Jeez! He broke past both Wolfe and Phantom!
"Whoa there, big kitty!" Spidey webbed up Sabretooth's face and tried pulling him to the ground, but instead, Sabretooth ran right through, pulling Spidey with him with the webs that had attached themselves to his neck.
"Spidey, what are you doing?!" Tiger asked as she saw Spidey jump on Sabretooth's back and use the webs like reins on a horse.
"I have no clueeeee!" Spidey cried as Sabretooth moved around tried to shake the web-slinger off his back. "Tiger, a little help here!"
Well this brings a whole new meaning to my first 'rodeo'! I'll have to tell Nick this when I see him again! I rode on a Sabretooth, Nick!
White Tiger jumped in front of Sabretooth and clawed the webbing off his neck, but as Spidey fell off, Sabretooth grabbed Tiger by her waist and slammed her down onto the ground.
"Let go of me!" Tiger slashed Sabretooth across the face with her electric claws.
Sabretooth growled as he raised his right hand to claw her, but Spidey quickly webbed his wrist and pulled it back, pulling Sabretooth flat on his back and allowing Tiger to stand back up.
Spidey heard Wolfe's distinguishable growl behind him. He turned to see the hunter mutant run over and try to stab Sabretooth through the heart with his serrated knife, but the mutant quickly rolled over, dodging the knife.
Phantom then reappeared out of thin air and slashed Sabretooth across the chest with his sword that he powered up with the electricity from his bracers. The slash knocked Sabretooth down, but the mutant quickly got back up on his feet, realizing now that he was cornered by the four of them.
Sabretooth isn't so smart to mess with the four of us! But how in the heck are we going to capture him?
"Nowhere to run." Wolfe growled at him.
Suddenly, the team heard a loud roar of jet engines hover over the den. They looked up to see the same black jet that released the Wraiths fly over them. As they looked up, the jet provided the distraction as Sabretooth took the chance to escape.
Oh, no!
"He's running away!" Spider-Man pointed out.
"Oh, no he won't." Wolfe ran to grab his rifle and pointed it back up to aim down at Sabretooth, who was rapidly disappearing into the forest.
Whoever was flying the jet realized that Sabretooth had escaped and started to fly in his direction, away from the den. Wolfe, now clear and concentrated, aimed down on Sabretooth just as he was about to get clear out of sight into the forest, and pulled the trigger.
It hit Sabretooth right on his left shoulder, slowing him down as he escaped.
It would've been cool if he headshot him!
"Bastard…" Wolfe murmured as he lowered his rifle. He looked at Phantom, Spider-Man and White Tiger as he turned around to look at the dead wolves.
"Wolfe, we can still go after him." Phantom assured him.
"I…" Wolfe just stared with much sorrow at the sight of his dead pack. "I must mourn them, first."
Mourn? So this guy does have some feelings. I didn't really realize that until now.
"I'm sorry, Wolfe." Tiger placed her hand on Wolfe's shoulder. "For what it's worth, we'll go after Magneto for what they did."
Wolfe ignored her, just taking a deep sigh. "Yeah…"
He turned to face Phantom and glared at him with his bright yellow eyes. "I want Magneto's head."
Straight to the point now that Sabretooth practically killed his home. We really could've gone after him on foot but he probably would've escaped on his jet and we're in no position to following that thing, unless we had The Eidolon nearby.
Phantom realized that Wolfe was now willing to join his group. "You sure about this, Wolfe?"
"Do I look like I have anywhere else to go, Phantom?" Wolfe angrily asked him. "I want Magneto's head, as well as Sabretooth's... so I guess… I'll join your little club."
The hooded mutant extended his hand to Wolfe, who shook it. "Welcome to Specter Haven, Wolfe."
"That's what this is called, huh?" Wolfe shook his head. "Jeez, even the group has a weird name."
I'm glad we agree on that! One down, two to go!
Wolfe refused the team's help to pick up the bodies of the dead wolves. He wanted to do it himself since they were his pack, his family, the ones he helped raise for such a long time. However, he didn't know how to exactly mourn them in the right way possible. So instead, he buried them, each, one by one into the soil inside the den. He even returned to the river to retrieve the bodies of the dead wolves that laid there.
He laid a pebble on each mound where they rested, and murmured a prayer to himself with each one. As he selected the weapons he wanted to take with him from his cavern, he killed the ever-burning fire in the middle of the larger cavern of his den, and moved a large boulder from near the rocky base of the mountain to cover up the den's entrance, so that nobody could disturb the resting place of the wolves.
As he readied up, he walked towards the team with his slung rifle and bag of belongings, seeing now that the day was about to end. He turned to face his den one last time. "I'll return again, someday."
He turned to the team and said, "Let's go. I've had enough of this place…"
You and me both, man…
They marched the long trek and journey back to The Eidolon in the cold environment of the Yukon. Wolfe handed Spider-Man a fur skin to keep him warm through the journey back, but for the majority of the trip, he remained quiet, making it clear that he was deeply and emotionally hurt by what happened to his pack.
In the distance, the team could hear the mourning howls of wolves from around the region, as if they all knew that this night was one of sorrow for the hunter mutant. Wolfe howled alongside them as they walked, giving his last farewell to the Yukon.
As they reached The Eidolon, Wolfe settled himself in one of the empty cots, and placed his belongings underneath of it. He slept on his front side, and covered himself up in one of his furs, not even remotely disturbed as The Eidolon did its rapid ascension into the sky. The team, however, could hear Wolfe whimper to himself through the flight, still sadly hurt by the death of his wolves, who were practically his family for years.
Author's Note:
So Wolfe's been recruited into Specter Haven! I really wanted to wrap this part off since I started Wolfe's portion of Specter Haven months ago and I wanted it to be done and over with so I could move on to the other two mutants.
I also summarized the parts I didn't want to write out to make this chapter longer than it should've but highlighted the parts that seemed most important as the team finally left the Yukon and now set a course to head to California, where they'll meet Drake Ashbell, the subject of Project Vulcan.
So let me get to address your reviews:
The Night Hunter: Thank you for the suggestion, I'll definitely keep an eye out for it and see if I can pull out more examples that I can use for Ava when she uses her powers and what not. I appreciate it!
TheOnyxDragon12: Well, I kind of already answered this question through PM, but thanks again for the review!
JimmyHall24: Yes, I wanted to emphasize Fury's fear of knowing it was Deadpool all along. Deadpool's an interesting character that I like to add the most ridiculous humor with, only because it fits his character so well. Thanks for the review!
Burke23: 1.) I can tell that you enjoyed the romance chapter quite a bit. 2.) Not really, the blue is a bit of a throw-off but the actresses that have portrayed Mystique in the live-action films are actually pretty attractive. 3.) Thanks you for your continued support in the story!
latinoheat151: The whole scenario with Luke flirting with Selena was just an added twist into the story, I want Selena to be a close friend so that Luke can find a peace of mind from everything that's going on, rather than a love interest. I had considered adding Powerwoman but her involvement in the story might just over-cumber the number of heroes I actually have here, not even saying the ones I haven't added yet. However, there will be more Selena liking Peter moments! Thanks buddy.
Sport21: I'm glad you like the combat scenes, they're hard to write out, especially having to think up of ways that each hero could logically fight while also synchronizing it with the combat of the other heroes. It's a lot of summarization, but overall, thanks!
fangirl7287: Thanks, I'm glad you've kept up with it as best as you can. I know the chapters are really long and hard to follow, so I'm trying my best to keep it short so that people aren't too intimidated to read along. Also, I'm doing my best to keep the other team members involved so that this doesn't become a solely Phantom-based story. Thank you though, I really appreciate that!
As always, feedback is appreciated :) Thanks!