MWAHAHA. FEAR MY STORY SPAM~

... I've been updating either every day or every two or three days. I think the longest I've gone without updating lately was a week. ... Does this mean I have no life? WHY YES. YES IT DOES.

I don't care though. This IS my life. I love it! And I love Warren. :D WHY? Well... seriously. YUM. *cackles*

Warren: *gulp* I don't even think I want to KNOW what she's thinking about doing to me...

Kurt: Some'sing impure, probably... knowing our Fraülein, zat's ze best guess.

Me: *chases Kurt with a candle* Come here, bitch, you're gonna get a new symbol!

Kurt: I told you it vas some'sing impure! *running*

Oh yeah... and did I MENTION... we've hit page 100? Actually... *looks at her word processing program* More like page 130. I kept forgetting to tell you guys. *smacks self* I was like "Okay, don't forget to mention it in the author's notes!" ... and then I DID. Many times.

Okay well, hope you enjoy the chapter and the fighting action sent your way!


Who if I cried out,

Would hear me among the angels' hierarchies?

And even if one of them suddenly

Pressed me against his heart:

I would be consumed in that overwhelming existence

For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror

Which we are still just able to endure

And we are so awed

Because it serenly disdains to annihilate us.

~Rainer Maria Rilke


"Logan. Logan, can you hear me? Please tell me you're not just rushing in mindlessly! Please tell me you've got a plan."

"Sure I got a plan, Ororo," Logan answered with a smirk, looking over at Cadence who had already climbed off the motorcycle. "I kick Magneto's ass, while Demon finds our little Angel Boy and knocks some sense into him."

"That is not a plan!"

"Are you kidding me? Best plan ever. Gotta go, Demon's not going to wait much longer."

"Logan-"

He'd turned the communicator off before his superior could finish her sentence, and gave a glance to Cadence who was staring at the building with her fists clenched. "Well, Demon, looks like there might be some hell to pay when we get back. Is he worth it?"

"You dumbass..." She tightened her fists so hard her nails were probably digging into her palms. "You should know that answer, Claws."

He nodded almost imperceptibly. "Right... shall we get going? No sneaking in or anything?"

She scoffed, but she was smiling. "Have you met me, Claws? Sneaking in is... so not my style."

"So... just head-on attack?"

"You distract Magneto, I'll distract Mystique until I find out where Warren is."

"How are you gonna figure it out?"

"There are limited rooms, duh. He's gotta be in one of them, not gonna be hard to investigate."

"That'll take some time, Demon."

"You take over kicking everyone's collective ass once I leave. I know you can do it, Claws. Don't you let me down now."

"Gotcha. So... now?"

"Now!"

They both burst in the doors to find Magneto and Mystique standing before a kneeling girl who was breathing out a cloud of something. "Check on Cadence James again," he was saying to the girl, who immediately took a breath, sucking the cloud in, and immediately blew it out again.

Cadence snarled, glaring at the magnetic master's back. He had a spy and was using this girl against her? Logan barely kept her from just going at him, grabbing her arm.

"Wait..." Mystique commented. "She's with the Wolverine, and doesn't that building look like..."

"Happy birthday, you fuckers, brought ya a present!" Cadence broke free of Logan's hand and ran forward, spinning around and delivering a kick to Mystique's face. "Doesn't feel so good now that you're on the other end, does it?"

Logan's claws ripped from his hands, and he charged Magneto. Caught off guard, the older man barely dodged in time, and Logan ended up rebounding off the wall. He quickly recovered and ran at the other mutant again, but this time Magneto was ready. He'd pulled a long staff to his aid and blocked Logan's next blow, sparks flying as metal hit metal. "Do you really think you're going to defeat me, Wolverine? You've never managed to do it before."

Logan grinned. "You know, you should keep your mouth shut." He spun around and took another strike, only to be denied again, though the actual flesh and bone of his fist managed to get a hit in, right on the bastard's jaw. He was grappling again, caught in a dead lock were neither of them had yet gained the upper hand in this battle. He kept pushing, and looked over at his friend. "How ya holdin' up, Demon?"

"Good enough!" Apparently the new bruise on Mystique's face had upset her, because she was swiping at Cadence with everything she had. Her damaged face was nigh constantly changing too, into everyone from Kurt to Logan to Ororo and in between. Cadence meanwhile was dodging almost every hit, bending over backward and even going so far as to do a flip. However when she landed from that, she was so busy trying to catch her balance that she didn't see Mystique's foot coming at her. It connected almost with the same place as before, right in between her chest and stomach.

"Fuck!" Cadence dropped to her knees and for a minute her vision went double and she got dizzy. She shakily got to her feet, gasping for breath, and looked up to see... "J... Jean?"

The false telepath smiled warmly at her, just as Jean would have done when Cadence was injured or upset. "Come on now," she said in her soft voice, that beautiful and comforting tone before she'd become Phoenix. "It doesn't have to be this way, and you know that. Just take a deep breath... relax. Why are you always so violent?"

For a moment all Cadence saw was red. Pure red, clouding her vision, exactly like the night when she'd killed Akira's parents. Desperately wanting to avoid reliving that, she tried to snap herself out of it. She didn't want to kill anyone else... not like that, caught in a tornado of rage. But when she finally blinked enough to shake the fury from her mind, she was already beating Mystique with hands and feet. "How dare you!" she screamed. She was out of it but she didn't want to stop. It was bad enough what Mystique did to everyone else, copying their bodies, but turning into Jean was unforgivable.

"Bitch! God-damned fucking whore!" With each word Cadence delivered either a punch or a kick. She could feel the anger starting to take her over again, and she didn't want that. She tried to stop. She forced herself to stand still, and looked at her opponent, wondering how Mystique was still standing with how much she was bleeding. She wasn't using Jean's face anymore, but she was staring right at Cadence which was a little creepy. It didn't look like she was focusing well; maybe she was going to give up?

Regardless, it was an opening and she had to take it. "Lights out, bitch!" She ran at the other woman and swung her leg up, hitting the side of Mystique's head hard enough to knock her out for a few minutes. She jumped over the unconscious mutant and looked over at her teammate. "How's it going, Claws?"

"Peachy, Demon, just peachy!" He and Magneto were basically taking turns trying to get a hit in, then dodging, then trying again. "But you better hurry, okay? I ain't sure how long I can keep this up!"

"Hurry with what?" Magneto demanded, throwing Logan backwards.

Logan shook himself off and ran at the older mutant. "Like I'd tell you!"

Cadence looked around to find where Warren might be, then suddenly noticed that redhead on the ground, trying to crawl away from the battle. If she was a spy and this crystal ball cloud thing was her power, she obviously wasn't suited for combat. Well, if Magneto didn't have any idea of privacy, she supposed she didn't either.

She flipped forward and landed in front of the girl. She grabbed her shoulder and pulled her up. "Show me Angel!"


He'd managed to do something he'd never done before in his life, and had never thought about doing. His body was clearly angry at him for it, and it definitely hadn't helped his stomach any. That didn't mean he really regretted it though. It had blown away the fog in his mind, and now he had a glass bottle and a cork to amuse himself with, because really he was easily amused. Of course, if his father ever found out he'd be so disappointed...

Warren Worthington III was just barely immersed in the euphoric state of being drunk for the first time in his life.

It was kind of a letdown once he drank the whole bottle. After all, he wasn't going to get any drunker now, unless he went and asked John for another bottle. He wasn't going to though. This was fine for him, especially for the first time. He didn't want to get too drunk, he'd seen what that looked like and usually it was not pretty.

It burned his throat on the way down at first, but the feeling did go away. Then he was stupid enough to take another sip. And then another. And eventually the burning wasn't an issue, it became more invigorating than painful. Like he'd woken up after a night with little sleep and had some coffee - basically like a blissful slap to the face. Sort of like what he imagined Cadence might do...

Wait. Why was he thinking about her now? Thanks to the alcohol he hadn't been thinking about her, or anyone at Xavier's, since he'd slipped into this stupor.

He groaned, clutching the bottle and looking through the clear glass as if some secret to life could be seen through it. "Why?" he complained with a strenuous exhale. He let his forehead drop down to meet the table. "Even when she's not here, she's still here."

He didn't have much time to continue the discussion with himself, because all of a sudden the door burst open. He snapped his head up, and he expected to see John standing there. But no - it was... Cadence. He looked back down at the bottle in his head. "See what I mean? Everywhere."

"Warren!" In an instant, she was closer, waving her arms in the general direction of the door. "Come on, we gotta go. Claws isn't going to be able to fight for much longer. Hurry up!"

However, Warren didn't feel like hurrying up, and he wasn't concerned with it at the moment. He moved slowly, getting up from his chair shakily letting go of the bottle. He focused on her face, forcing his eyes not to go any lower even though, in his currently addled mind, he really wanted to. He grinned and took a few steps toward her, reaching up to cup her cheek in his hand. "Hi, baby," he said softly, leaning forward. "What are you do... doing here? Shouldn't be... you'll get hurt..."

Before he could kiss her as was his intention, she pulled away from him and stepped backward. She gave him a half-confused, half-disgusted look. "Warren... the hell... are you drunk?"

"Nooooo," he slurred, sounding as though he were offended of being accused of such a thing. When he noticed her giving him a "Look" look, he glanced down and blushed, smiling and nodding. "Y... Yeah."

"Alright. First of all: you fucking idiot, I'm going to beat you senseless. Second of all, will you come on already? Claws is holding off Magneto so I could find you! The evil bastard is going to start kicking his ass soon, so you march your drunk ass right along behind me so we can go back to Xavier's!"

"Nooo." He tried to step backward, but tripped over himself and just ended up stumbling. "No way, Cady... can't go back. I can't."

When he raised his head to look at her he shrunk back at her intense, blatantly furious glare. "And why the hell not? Huh?"

He shook his head, feeling himself get a little dizzy, and clutched onto the nearest piece of furniture he could find, which turned out to be another table. He took a breath before trying to speak. "Bad choice. Not a good idea... not good. I gotta stay..."

His head swam even more, and all of a sudden the room was just a blur. He groaned and brought a hand to his head...

And that was the last thing he remembered before he blacked out.


Soooo... does that mean Warren's a happy drunk or one of those drunks that just broods about how bad their life is? I dunno... but clearly he can't hold his liquor. XD

I wonder what kind of drunk Kurt would be... he'd probably go around all grinning and holding up crosses and trying to convert people. HAHAHA Now that I've got to write... he's going to get hammered at the reception. I don't think he can hold his liquor either. D

Poor Warren though... what a hot mess he's become in this chapter. Warren, you know you should drink alcohol when you're sick! You've barely ever had any before this!

Warren: *throwing up* Y-You MADE me do it! You think I w-wanted the highlight of my night to be THIS?

Me: ... Good point...

I LOVED writing the battle action. A nice change from romantic tension... but that WILL COME BACK SOON. Like, next chapter. XD

ALSO. I'm planning a quick oneshot about how Kurt and Gigi first met (you know, in Amsterdam XD) because I got into a Kurt-mood last night. Why? ... My mom rented all three X-Men movies from the library even though I just wanted X-3, and I was delighted in searching for Kurt's scenes. HAHAHA IN THE CHURCH. POOR GUY GETTING HIT BY LIGHTNING. He was so adorable, screaming 'cause he thought he was really gonna fall. But anyway, when that one's up (and I'll tell you) it'll be called "Breathe (2 A.M.)", after the song by Anna Nalick.

ALSO ALSO. In addition to that oneshot, I'm writing a poem addressed to Warren, written from Cadence's point of view. When that one's up, it'll be "Lips of an Angel". Yes, yes I write too many things that are inspired by songs. *pout* Well, that one's not too much, but hey, it's a song with the word "angel" in it. Can't go wrong there.

Thanks for reading, everyone, and reviews are loved and appreciated! And they feed my inspiration, which is the part of my body RIGHT by my liver that makes me want to write more! MWAHAHA. ^^