Chapter 26

A fight unlike any other

The Brotherhood spots Achilles in full uniform pumped up and ready to fight, "Put him down!"

Daken does as he says only out of anticipation for a real challenge.

The second Spyke hit the floor Phantazia blasted him rendering him unconscious and Blob carried him over to where the rest of his teammates were tied up.

'Looks like I'm on my own for now' Dean thought to himself. Logan left Dean to handle the situation by himself, not knowing the Brotherhood had someone new with them and that his team had been taken out.

"What took you so long?" Daken asked.

"Oh I just went to the store to buy you some deodorant, but I couldn't find one that was strong enough to mask your smell." He said mocking him.

Daken grinned, "Talk all you want, you're just giving me more reasons to beat on you"

Dean came closer to him, "Then let's do this" he said getting into his stance.

"Yeah let's" Blob said.

"No!" Daken reacted immediately, "I fight him alone, anybody who interferes with our fight will regret it" he said getting into his own stance getting closer to Achilles.

"But Mystique said-"Toad was about to say.

"I don't care what Mystique said! I fight him alone or not at all" Daken said.

Achilles and Daken stare each other down, waiting to see who's going to make the first move.

Finally the silence is broken by Achilles as he rushes forward.

Achilles jumps up and attacks with a high kick and as Daken blocks it he continues with a right punch which Daken catches with his hand.

Daken swings at him with his other hand but Achilles ducks and then jumps over an incoming sweep.

As Achilles is in the air he goes for a kick to the head but Daken ducks underneath it using one hand to keep him off the ground.

Daken goes to sweep Achilles as he lands with one arm keeping his body up but Achilles saw the incoming attack and moved just far enough that the sweep couldn't touch him.

Achilles then uses his arm to launch himself up over and behind Daken for a swing with his right leg.

Daken ducks underneath it and then blocks an incoming elbow that was aimed at his neck. He then throws Achilles away from him but Achilles lands safely on the ground before rushing back in.

Achilles starts throwing fast punches testing his opponents' defenses.

Daken blocked whatever attacks came at him and returned some of his own.

Achilles blocked the incoming attacks but as one got through his defenses he acted quickly and kicked Daken in the jaw.

Both of their attacks collided simultaneously and they both immediately leaped back for breathing space.

"They're both so fast" Avalanche said.

"Still faster" Quicksilver said.

Achilles and Daken both stared at each other and waited to see who was going to blink first.

Daken rushed forward but was stopped by Achilles' attacks. He blocks every one of them and kicks Achilles in the chest sending him skidding back.

Achilles rushes back at him pulling back a heavy right fist and Daken prepares to block it. But at the last possible second Achilles comes up with a powerful knee to the gut and proceeds with a kick to the chest that sends him flying.

Daken is on a collision course with a car and seems as if he's going to crash in it but he jumps off the car and lands back on the ground, "Sorry, but did you really think that was going to work?"

"Ha, I won't fall for your cheap pranks" Achilles replied, "I knew all along that it wouldn't be that easy to take you out."

Daken shrugs, "I thought it would be funny to play a little joke since you weren't fighting me seriously."

"Only because you aren't either" Achilles said.

"Well then the warm up is over, time for the real fight" he said simply standing there.

"Bring it on" Achilles said getting into his stance again.

Achilles used his top speed to cover the distance between them in a second. He punched Daken in the face with his full strength.

Daken's head cocked back from the force of he hit and he was forced to take a step back, only one.

Achilles stood there waiting for his opponent to do something besides stand there.

Daken rose his head revealing a trickle of blood that travels down the side of his mouth. He wipes the blood off his mouth with his hand and grins, "All too easy"

Achilles wasn't prepared for the fast front kick that hit him right in the gut, followed up by an elbow to the face and a kick to send him flying. He crashed right into a pile of scrap, 'Ok note to self, don't stand so close to him' he grabs his aching head, 'and get better healing abilities' he got up only for Daken to continue his assault.

Achilles tried block as many blows as possible but his opponent's superior speed and strength were simply too much for him.

Daken throws an overhand right to the jaw followed by a left elbow to the gut as he spun. He then goes for a kick to the midsection but it is caught by his opponent, Achilles grabs Daken's leg and start's spinning him around in circles faster and faster until he releases him into an old thrashed car.

Achilles quickly presses his momentary advantage and goes to beat on Daken while he's down but he kicks Achilles in the chest sending him a few feet back, enough of a distraction for Daken to sweep his opponent's legs from under him.

He then starts to beat on Achilles while he's down but Achilles grabs his hands stopping him from hitting him anymore.

They both struggle to try and overpower the other but before they can see who the winner is Achilles head-butt's Daken and proceeds with a right hook to the jaw getting Daken off him.

They both get up still ready to fight.

Achilles notices all the wounds that had opened up on Daken's body when he crashed into the car before had healed. Not good.

Achilles felt something trickle down his lip. He wipes it with his hand and see's that it's blood, he squeezes his fist in anger and his face shows his rage.

Daken grins at his success at humiliating him.

'This doesn't look good, not at all. If I'm going to have any hope of getting out of here alive, I need to use it.' Achilles unzips his vest and tosses it to the side, he doesn't want anything getting in his way.

"Looks like this is getting interesting" Phantazia said.

Achilles's whole mood changes right then and there. He goes into a completely different stance, he stands upright with his hands ready and slight but constant movement with his feet, Jeet Kune Do at its best. His eyes change along with his stance, not many people have ever seen Dean look at someone like this, not even Logan has pushed him this far.

Achilles made the first move, his punch was aimed for the center of Daken's chest. Daken brought up his arms in a cross pattern to block, Achilles's fist struck soundly against the block, neither fighter flinching as they tested one another's strength.

Daken then quickly pushed his arms forward, in between Achilles's fists, and spread them wide. Now with a wide opening to attack, Daken kicked upwards into his opponent's gut. But Achilles brought up his knees to meet Daken's at just the last second. His thick, muscular hips absorbed all the impact of the blow as the two pounded their knees into each other. Achilles could feel his bones aching from the impact.

Daken quickly punched him in the stomach with his left but his right, aimed for the face, was blocked. Achilles jumped off his chest trying to get some space but Daken dashed forward and launched an immediate barrage of punches at his opponent. Each blow collided with Achilles' defenses with the crushing weight of a mountain, and he found that he was the one being pushed back this time.

Daken sees an opening and sidekicks Achilles in the midsection, when the kick connected there was a crack noise, a broken rib. Dean slowly backed away holding his side in pain.

Daken seeming as if he were enjoying himself thoroughly so far, walked towards him and grinned before launching himself at Achilles again.

Achilles acted quickly and grabbed a sizable piece of scrap and threw it at Daken. Its speed, however, was laughable to Daken. With a simple swipe from his right arm, he sent the piece of scrap spinning away over his shoulder. But that was when Achilles's real attack came.

Achilles had moved himself behind Daken and swung a hard uppercut into his foe's back. Daken's grin still there, he dodged it with ease, turned, and he swung at Achilles with greater speed than before. Catching him full on the jaw.

Achilles tried to counter attack but Daken caught his punch and used his left leg to attack. Achilles was knocked into the sky, Daken's attack followed swiftly but wasn't what Achilles was expecting.

Daken launched himself off the ground and quickly closed the distance between him and Achilles. Daken then started to pummel him mercilessly until he ended their brief aerial battle with a double axe handle to the head sending him crashing down to the ground.

Achilles collided with the solid ground kicking up clouds of dust. As the dust cloud cleared he could see a black figure from his blurry vision coming towards him fast. The X-man seemed to be caught, beaten, for that one second. But before Achilles could pick himself up, Daken smashed into his lying corpse, breaking three more of his ribs, knocking the wind out of him and making him spit out blood. Achilles' eyes almost popped out of his skull from the amount of force of that blow.

Daken then grabbed Achilles' leg and threw him into a pile of scrap trashing his body even further.

Achilles uses one hand to try and lift his body off the ground, 'What the hell do I do now?' he thought. Achilles holds his ribcage to try and keep himself from passing out from the pain, 'I might not like it, but this guy is just too much for me to handle alone. I need my team' he looks over to his teammates who were still out cold.

Achilles looked over to Daken and spotted him approaching ready for more. It was clear that Daken had superior speed, strength, and he had a much better healing factor than Dean did. Dean might have the slight advantage in technique but not enough to make that much of a difference. Achilles rose to his feet panting and holding his side trying to comfort himself as much as possible. He used his free hand to wipe the blood dripping from his mouth.

Achilles tried coming up with a plan but everything seemed hopeless at this point. But out of the darkness that he was trapped in, rose a golden light of hope. He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw Jean waking up. As long as she could remain quiet he might be able to pull this off. He tries to make eye contact with her without giving himself away, Jean noticed her surroundings and kept her eyes half closed make herself look like she's still out. Now all he has to do is come up with a plan.

He is shaken from his thoughts by an upward kick from Daken. He flips back avoiding it, feeling the sting of his broken ribs but trying his best to ignore it, and comes in for a leg sweep as he hoists himself with one hand. Daken jumps over the sweep and goes for a kick to the face, Achilles luckily managed to bring his arm up to his head in time and block but had to remove his other hand from holding his side causing a shock of pain to coarse through his body. Daken spotted the pain on Achilles's face so he aimed a punch for his midsection which hurt ten times more now than it did before.

Achilles uses the full strength of his legs to leap straight up into the sky trying to get away from Daken but he follows. Daken quickly catches up with Achilles, grabs his leg and pulls him down sending Achilles straight back down.

Achilles lands face first on the ground and can feel his muscles losing energy fast. 'Gotta get up' Achilles thought as he willed his free arm to lift up his body.

Right as he got up a massive overhand punch hit him in the jaw with devastating power. Achilles felt a crack in his mouth, his jaw was broken. Achilles drops to the floor from the burst of pain and Daken continues to mercilessly beat on Achilles' body.

Again Achilles grabs both of his opponent's hands and stops him from throwing anymore punches. He tries to push him off with all of his strength but his efforts seem futile.

"What's the matter meat bag, tired?" Daken said grinning. He pushed Achilles' hands lower showing his superior strength. "All that talk about you being a good fighter when in reality you fight like a puny human" Daken forced Achilles' hands to the ground. "You're nothing but a waste of my time" Daken head-butt's Achilles splitting his head open on his forehead. Daken placed his knee over Achilles's gut and proceeded to push down.

Achilles, almost passing out from the pain, managed to knee Daken in the back, taking him by surprise, and successfully knocking him off.

Achilles notices something from the corner of his eye, he jumps back avoiding an overhand punch from Daken as he punched into the ground.

Achilles lands on the ground safely and quickly tries to come up with a strategy of some sort, 'Come on look around, there has to be something that can turn the tables' he looks at Avalanche and see's Cyclops's visor hanging from his belt, 'why would he be carrying that?' he looks back over to his teammates and notices something that he missed before. Cyclops was never unconscious, they just took his visor preventing him from using his powers. 'Now I got an idea' he grins inwardly.

Achilles leaps at Daken with an overhand left punch, 'How easy' Daken thought. He ducked underneath the punch and sent a devastating blow to Achilles's gut knocking the breath out of him. Achilles's eyes bulge out from the impact of the hit and the pain that is constantly there from his broken ribs, and Daken finishes with a kick to the chin sending him flying right into where his teammates are standing.

They weren't ready for this sort of surprise so none of them manages to get out of the way. He crashes into them leaving only Blob standing, Achilles rushes back in.

Daken hits Achilles with a kick to the side of the face sending his body skidding along the ground.

'No you can't let him win' Jean thought.

He tries to get back up holding his head from the pain, when Daken slowly walks up to him and throws an upward kick.

Achilles dodges it and flips back a good distance to get some space, when he stops he finds another kick to the face sending him skidding face first into the ground.

Daken takes his sweet time walking over to Achilles's lifeless body.

'Dean please get up' Jean thought losing hope.

Dean turns his head just enough for him to look at Jean.

'Huh, he's ok?'

He shows her Scott's visor in his hand.

'He's got Scott's visor!'

He uses his hand and points to his head, and then points to the rest of his team.

'Wait what…..oh telepathy!' she realized what he was trying to say.

As Daken stands over Achilles's unmoving body he's surprised when all of a sudden it jumps into action and sends a fast kick that almost hit him. Daken replies with an angry punch to the jaw which further aggravates Achilles as well. They both start trading blows trying to outclass the other but in his current condition Achilles couldn't do much.

'Come on guys wake up!' Jean spoke in her teammates minds, 'Dean needs our help, and he's all alone out there fighting a losing battle.'

One at a time her teammates start to slowly wake up.

'Don't let them know we're awake yet, we need to wait for the right moment to strike.' Jean said.

Achilles is hit with an elbow which staggers him back before going back at it.

'Why do we have to wait for Dean? Let's just bust out of here' Evan thought.

Scott cringes at the thought, 'No Jean is right, we have to wait for Dean's signal. And in case you've forgotten I don't have my visor'

'Oh, whoops' Evan thought.

'Show us what's going on' Kurt thought.

'Yeah ah wanna see' Rogue agreed.

'Ok' Jean shows the mental image of the fight.

Daken catches two fists aimed at him and their hands lock in a test of brute strength. Unfortunately Achilles is running extremely low on energy and his opponent is superior in strength and starts gaining ground fast. Achilles goes to do what Wolverine once did to him, he falls back and kick his opponent in the gut only for Daken to see it coming and head-butts him feeling the sharp sting of pain from where his head split open before.

Daken then throws his most powerful underhand punch he can muster hitting his opponent in the gut colliding with the ground simultaneously. This would be the definition of being stuck between a rock and a hard place, of pain.

Daken grabs his stunned foe by the neck and squeezes hard, Achilles starts to choke. It was already hard enough to breath with all the blood coming out of his mouth.

'Oh no' Kitty thought afraid of what might happen.

"Well it's been fun, but everything has to end at some point." He pulls back his right fist looking like he's going to punch him when all of a sudden four dark metal claws come out of his knuckles.

Achilles has to say that he did not see that coming. And he must admit that he's feeling something he honestly never felt before in his life…..fear. His body is surrounded with cuts and bruises, he has multiple broken ribs, a cracked jaw, and his face is barely recognizable. He jas been utterly humiliated and defeated.

"Time to die meat bag!" he goes for the kill.

'NOOOOO!' Rogue screamed.

The claws hit Achilles's chest but do nothing, Daken looks confused, he tries over and over again but his claws cannot pierce his opponent's skin. If only they were adamantium.

Achilles manages to use his full strength to punch his opponent in the groin sending pain throughout his body. He then kicks his opponent with both of his legs in his gut sending him flying. "Jean now!" he yells.

Shadowcat phases them all through the bent metal bar and they charge at the enemy.

Rogue absorbs Phantazia's life force rendering her unconscious.

Shadowcat phases Fever Pitch underground from the neck down leaving him unable to use his powers.

Toad shoots his tongue at Spyke who right now is holding one of his bone staffs, the tongue wraps around the staff "Hey wart man, lick this!" he throws Toad over him using leverage from his staff and he lands face first into a the roof of a car knocking him out.

Achilles wastes no time. He struggles to get up but when he does, Achilles quickly knocks out Avalanche using the rest of his energy and collapses to the floor.

Marvel Girl uses her telekinesis to keep Quicksilver from moving, "So what happens now red? We've done this before, you know you can't stop me." He says with a cocky grin.

"Oh I won't have to do anything, your friend is going to do all the work for me." She said.

Quicksilver is confused as to what she's talking about when all of a sudden he hears above him, "Look out below!" he looks up to find Blob falling right for him. He looks at Marvel Girl, "I hate you" and Blob falls right on top of him.

Nightcrawler teleports by Marvel Girl and they give each other a high five.

"Um guys? Still can't see here" Cyclops said.

Achilles notices Daken getting back up looking furious, he holds Cyclops's visor in his open palm "I think you dropped something Scott"

Daken sees this and runs towards Cyclops.

Marvel Girl telekinetically moves the visor to Cyclops's eyes, "Scott open your eyes!" she yells.

He trusts her and he does, he releases his eyebeams into the visor sending an optic beam straight ahead which hit Daken head on sending him flying away and out of the scrapyard.

All of the X-men come together and celebrate, "Yeah we won!" "We rock!" "Nobody messes with the X-men!"

Rogue looks around but can't find the person who they owe their victory, "Where's Dean?"

They all spotted him laying lifeless on the ground.

"Oh my! We need to get him back to tha institute!" Rogue said as she ran over to him.

At the Institute

"Well it's been fun, but everything has to end at some point." Daken pulls back his right fist looking like he's going to punch Dean when all of a sudden four dark metal claws come out of his knuckles and stare right at him.

Dean was frozen in place, he couldn't move an inch.

"Time to die meat bag!" Daken goes for the kill.

Dean woke up from his dream in the infirmary. He looks over his body and can see no trace of injury of any kind. How long was he out? A day? All his broken bones even healed so it must have been at least a day.

But even though all his wounds healed, Daken had left a scar in his mind. "Time to die meat bag!" a scar of his defeat. Dean squeezes his fist and punches a hole through a wall in a fit of rage.

Jean and Rogue both were curious as to how Dean was doing. He skipped school due to his condition.

When they arrived in the infirmary they didn't see Dean anywhere.

"Where do you think he went?" Jean asked.

Rogue thinks about it but can't seem to understand what happened, "I don't know, let's try the Danger Room."

They enter the observation room to find Logan watching Dean, using the gravity simulation.

"There he is" Jean said, "I'm going to go talk to him"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, red" Logan said.

She stops in her tracks, "Well why not?"

Logan takes a good look at Dean, "When the kid came in here earlier he looked pissed off, more than I've ever seen him. I didn't know why at first but I do now. He lost didn't he?" Logan asked.

"No we didn't, we came close to losing but in the end we beat them" Rogue said.

"No you're not understanding, I said did he lose?" Logan asked again.

Both girls seemed to be silent at realizing what he meant.

"That's what I thought. Now tell me what happened exactly" Logan said.

They go through the whole story from beginning to end.

"But why would he just leave the infirmary so early? Ah don't get it" Rogue said.

"He lost, the team itself might have come out victorious but without your help he would have lost that fight for sure. Hell he would have been killed" He sighs, "Losing isn't an easy thing to experience, especially for those who are used to winning. The kid spends day and night trying to be the best and all off a sudden some chump comes along and just beats him, that hurt him more than any punch ever could."

Rogue looks inside at Dean and can see the anger and ferocity on his face as he battles an invisible opponent, struggling to keep up with the increased gravity.

"His pride was hurt more than anything yesterday, I'd say that this will give him a new incentive to try and get better" Logan admitted.

Dean struggled as he pushed up and down on his one handed pushups, his angry and determined face showed that he simply wouldn't allow his muscles to give out. 'I will get better, and I will show him who the better fighter is when I do.'