Disclaimer: I do not own the Gargoyles; they're from Disney, nor do I own the X-Men or the Incredible Hulk- they are property of Marvel.
Note: The X-Men team here consists of: Wolverine, Jean Grey, Beast, Angel, Iceman, Psylocke, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Bishop, Gambit, Rogue, and Storm.
Wormhole 262, part 3
X-Men Mansion, the next day
"Damn it, why the Hell isn't he back yet?"
Logan was pissed off. Hank hadn't returned. He had been gone for over twelve hours, apparently waiting on the person that would accompany them to the other dimension. Hank had told him who he was just before he left. The Hulk, he thought. Why the Hell is that goddam jumbo-sized son of a bitch so hard to find? It wasn't as if you could hide a seven foot, eleven hundred pound, green giant just anywhere. Yeah, but he probably learned to be a ghost from running from the army all those years, he thought, pacing back and forth across the carpeted floor of his and Jean's bedroom.
He heard the shower stop. Jean came out of the bathroom wearing a towel that just barely went past her hips. Normally, at the sight of this, he would jump her, and they would begin one of their morning rituals. But, today was different. Logan was anxious and in a very bad mood over the abduction of his "little darlin'". He hates this, she thought, he can't do anything but wait. She had never seen him wait for anything; he was always the first in line, whether it was engage in a fight or do something as simple as eat lunch. He was always the one who went directly into the heat of things, without even a second thought.
"Logan, darling, are you going to be alright," she asked, embracing him, putting her head on his shoulder, her wet hair falling on his black T-shirt.
"Yeah, I'll be alright, Red. I'm just real pissed off at that fuckin' wild animal," he said, referring to Sabertooth. "I'm a wonderin' what Magnus wants wi' Jubilee."
"Yeah, me too."
On the other side of the mansion, below the surface, a computer-generated image of Juggernaut was attacking several members of the X-Men. As he went to punch a woman in a one piece, purple latex suit, a man with metal skin came up behind him and put him into a full nelson. As Colossus was trying to keep the armored giant from moving, the same woman produced a katana and proceeded to try to disengage the Juggernaut's helmet, to no avail. "Rogue, I really do not know how Wolverine can get that damn helmet loose," she said, as the image disappeared.
"Well, that's easy, sugah. His claws are made o' that adamantium. That stuff can't break. And besides, it takes more than just him to take off the helmet. It usually takes all o' us. An', even then, he ain't easy ta take down."
"Hey, Betsy, do you know who Hank's bringing back?"
Psylocke turned around to see her boyfriend, Warren, flying down with his white, feathered wings and blue complection. "No, love, I don't. Do you Piotr," looking at the big man with metal skin.
"Nyet. I do not know," he said, as he shrunk in size, his metallic skin disappearing. "But I do think that he must be very strong. Maybe stronger than I."
"Piotr, who's stronger than you, sugah," Rogue asked, getting more than a little curious.
"Other than you, there are only three people that come to mind. The first is the Juggernaut, and he is probably one of the ones we will fight. The other two, I believe are cousins."
"Yeah, and who are the other two," Angel asked, his wings drawing back, as he dreaded the answer.
"The other two are the She-Hulk and her cousin, the Incredible Hulk," he said, looking the winged mutant square in the face as the others fell silent.
They all knew the reputation of the strongest thing on the planet.
Castle Wyvern
It was almost five o' clock when Elisa Maza arrived to the room in the immense castle where the girl was. As she arrived, she noticed that Xanatos was still there, although he seemed to be sleeping. Next to him was his wife, Fox, who was apparently reading some kind of a novel. She was so engrossed, she didn't see Elisa come in. The kid seemed to be doing better, she seemed to no longer have a fever, but Elisa wasn't quite sure.
"Fox, how's the kid doing?"
"Wha . . . Oh. It's you, Elisa. She's doing pretty well," the redhead said, looking up from her book. "But, I keep on having a disturbing feeling. It's almost as if something bad is going to happen tonight. I don't know, but, I think it may be a precognition."
"What, is your latent magic developing? Are you gonna be another child of Oberon, or something?"
"Don't be silly. Oberon's only something like my stepfather. But, Tatiana is my mother, and she is the queen of Avalon. I mean you can tell that I have some of her in me," she said, referring to the blue, star-shaped birthmark on her eye. "I was trying to tell David about my feeling, but he was so tired that he simply fell asleep on me. He's very worried about the health of this girl." As she finished her sentence, Alexander started to cry. "Excuse me, Elisa, I have to go check on Alexander. Could you change the girl's bandages for me?"
"Sure," she said, as Goliath and Angela walked in. "Angela, Big Guy, could you two help me over here?"
"What are you doing," queried the lavender gargess.
"I'm changing her bandages. Could you two get the disinfectant and the bandages out of that middle drawer over there?"
"The disinfectant is the blue bottle, isn't it, Elisa, my love," asked the big gargoyle.
"Yeah, that's it," she replied, as he brought the items to her. As she began, she noticed that the kid had a number of other scars on her body. She must have had a pretty rough childhood, she thought. As she finished, the kid stirred a little. It looked as if she was about to get up. Her fingers started twitching as she began to stretch her back and let out a low moan. She was obviously in a lot of pain.
"Wh-Who are you," Jubilee asked, her mouth as dry as the Sahara Desert.
"I'm Detective Elisa Maza, NYPD, and this is my stepdaughter, Angela, and my love, Goliath. Who are you?"
"Jubilee," she said, sitting up and grimacing from the pain. "How long have I been here?"
"You have been here a little over a day, young one," Goliath answered. Seeing her expression, he told her that she should lie back down, and get some rest.
"Nah, I'll be alright. I just need ta take it easy fer a while."
"Out of curiosity," an awakened David Xanatos began, "what caused the large wound down your back?"
"A killer by the name o' Sabertooth. He's the one that dragged me here."
"So this Sabertooth, he's a man?"
"Not exactly. He's more of an ani-," she began, but was interrupted by an old looking version of Goliath, only with bronze skin, and a protruding stomach. He had white hair and a dead eye, which looked as if it was injured in a battle long ago. With him, was a rough-looking dog creature that had nearly teal skin and small brow spikes above his eyes.
"Goliath, lad, we 'ave a problem. Th' others were 'bout to go on patrol, whe' they 'eard th' sound o' 'elicoptors a comin'. It be th' Quarrymen attackin' us, ag'in."
"Then let us prepare for battle," the leader of the clan said. "Xanatos, Elisa, we may need your help. Bronx," he said, addressing the dog, "look after the young Jubilee, here."
Meanwhile at the X-Men Mansion
Beast had finally returned with the MTD's, enough for each of the team, plus one for his companion. As Hank walked into the War Room, where everyone had assembled, awaiting his arrival after the call he made in advance, he place two large, metal briefcases on the center table. Behind him came a very large man with a handsome face, green eyes, green hair, and green skin. Everyone knew who he was, although only Logan and Hank had met him before.
"My fellow teammates," Hank said, "allow me to introduce Dr. David Bruce Banner, the Incredible Hulk." As Banner looked around the room, he recognized only one face, that of his ex-teammate, Wolverine. The wild man gave him a slight nod from where he was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Nothing more could be expected of the old fighter.
"Now," Beast began, "let me explain how these things work. You have to type in the number of the dimension you wish to go." As he passed out the devices, he continued, "After typing in the number, press the enter button. The little gem thing will begin glowing. When it has reached full power, you will be transported instantaneously."
As he was putting a device on his wrist, he remembered something else. "Forge programmed the devices so that we will be within fifteen feet of Jubilee's location. The devices are able to track brain waves and DNA signatures. One other thing, the number of the dimension that we are going to is 2-6-2. Remember that. When we come home, we will only have to press 0-0-0. So, if you don't mind, I think we should get going."
Castle Wyvern
The Quarrymen had gone all out this time. Ten choppers had come, carrying nearly eighty men. All of them had Kevlar vests and were carrying laser rifles, 9mm Berettas as well as 5" hunting knives. Some of them also had grenades and other explosives. Five of the choppers had Miniguns mounted on the floor behind the cockpits. The other five had rocket launchers on weapon pods mounted on the port sides. All of them had special weapons for capturing a live gargoyle, if any made it out.
Needless to say, the gargoyles were outnumbered and outclassed. Although they had the advantage in strength and speed over their human enemies, they were no match for the weapons and choppers they were using. Lex had already been knocked out, and was being ignored by the other combatants. Brooklyn and Broadway both had minor injuries due to shots from the laser rifles. Hudson, on the other hand, was not fairing so well. He had a large cut on his scalp, causing some blood to leak into his eyes, somewhat blinding him, and a long cut on his arm beginning at his elbow and ending at his wrist, causing a lot of blood loss. Angela was barely conscious, after receiving a blow from the butt of a rifle. The man had almost cut her throat, but Xanatos had pulled him off of her, breaking his neck with the added strength of the gargoyle-shaped armor he was wearing.
Elisa, although she hadn't wanted to at first, was clad in armor similar to that of Xanatos, and was carrying a laser rifle. Goliath and her had been fighting side by side throughout the fight, when a concussion grenade nearly knocked him unconscious. Several men were now trying to kill him with their hunting knives, but they kept on being thrown like they were rag dolls. She kept on pulling them off of him, when a rifle shot hit her in the middle of her back, causing her to fall to her knees. The men were tearing the suit off of her and beating Goliath into a pulp when a singular bright light suddenly appeared on the top tower, where Goliath roosted in the day. As the light faded, someone appeared. Whether he was gargoyle or human, she was unsure, for he had blue skin and blonde hair, as well as white, feathered wings. He appeared to be talking to someone.
Wolverine was the first to arrive. As he hit the ground, he rolled, and landed in a crouch. He looked to his right and saw Jubilee, apparently being protected by a blue dog. The seasoned fighter went to his "daughter", but before he could reach her, the dog began growling at him. Wolverine looked directly into the dog's eyes, meeting its challenge, and growled, a deep, ferocious sound. The dog backed away only after she looked up and hugged the great fighter.
"Wolvie, I knew you guys would come," she said, looking into his eyes gratefully.
It wasn't until all of the others were there, that the fierce leader of the X-Men heard the sounds of a battle. Before he could say anything, Angel's voice came over his radio. "Angel to Wolverine, do you read?"
"Yeah, whadda ya want, flyboy," the grizzled combatant asked.
"There's a bunch of bat-men out here fighting a bunch of commando-looking guys. It looks like the bat-things are losing, big time."
"Wolvie, those GARGOYLES helped me."
"Listen, flyboy," Wolverine said, speaking into his radio, "Jubilee says those bat-things helped her. I think we should do th' same. Start engagin' those commandos, an' we'll be right there." Talking to the rest of the team, he said, "Bobby, I'm gonna need ya ta stay here an' look over Jubilee. Red, you're comin' with us, so that Doc Jumbo here doesn't get too pissed off and attack the wrong people."
As Elisa watched, the man took flight. She thought he was going to leave them be until she felt a large thump as the winged man knocked several Quarrymen off of her as he took a diving course, ramming his fist straight into one of their chests. Two of them were knocked out from the blow, and the other two were only dazed.
As she watched, a number of men and women came out of the castle and started attacking the Quarrymen. A large, blue furred man jumped, knocking two men to the ground as he landed on his hands, and kicked a third as he flipped right side up. A large black man came up to her, with an odd scar over one of his eyes carrying what looked to be a futuristic shotgun. "Are you alright, ma'am," he asked, helping her up.
As she stood upright, one of the men that had been attacking her got up and tried to run the big man through with a knife. The man with the scar dodged the knife with ease, grabbed his attackers knife hand, spun him around, and said, "Can't you see I was talking to the lady?" And then shooting, the big man said, "Duck!" Her reaction was too slow. As she looked, the Quarryman's stomach exploded, exposing his intestines as they fell to the masonry floor and spraying her with small chunks of viscera and a great deal of blood. "I told you to duck."
Wolverine and Jean had paired off and were doing pretty well. Suddenly, a large group of them attacked at once. He was able to at least injure some of them with his unsheathed claws, but a few were too bright. They kept away from him, trying to lure him into a trap. Finally, he killed the last one, and turned around to see his wife get a rifle butt to the head. "Jeannie!" As he ran over, he saw that she was bleeding a little and slightly dazed, but was alright. Nevertheless, his berserker rage began to boil. The man that had just done it jammed the barrel of his rifle into his neck, yelling at him to get his arms up.
Before the man had any idea what was going on, Wolverine turned around, backhanding the rifle with his right claws. As he came around, he unsheathed his left claws, and with unimaginable speed and accuracy, uppercut the man from his right hip to left shoulder, cutting through the Kevlar vest, and splitting the man in half. As Wolverine watched with the cold eyes of a trained killer, the bottom half of the man's body hit the ground, his guts spilling out onto the floor, his blood making a dark, red moon around the remains.
As Colossus came out of the castle, he noticed an old gargoyle, bleeding immensely from numerous wounds, being encroached by a single commando. The old fighter could obviously not see anything; he had blood dripping in his eyes. The commando kept on sadistically jamming the barrel of the rifle into the old creature's stomach, forcing him to move back against a wall. The old soldier had his hands in front of him, trying vainly to prevent the commando from getting him again.
"In my homeland, we are taught to respect our elders, Comrade," Colossus said, holding the man's rifle down and decking him with his other hand in his flesh and blood form. He noticed the man was almost as big as himself, with heavily muscled arms and legs. As the man slowly started to get to his feet, Colossus took a boxer's stance, getting ready for a fight.
"You're one stupid mother fucker," the man said lashing out with his left fist. Just as the man's fist was about to hit, Colossus' body changed almost instantaneously, making his body a living piece of metal. The man's fist struck with a sickening cracking sound. "You broke my fucking arm, asshole! You broke my fucking arm." His knuckles had been crushed upon impact and one of his bones was sticking out of his elbow, dripping blood on the ground.
"No, you broke your own arm, Comrade," he said, taking the man's head in his now massive hand, and ramming it into the wall behind him, knocking him out. "Da-svidan'ya. . . asshole."
Colossus bent down to the old man, and taking his hand to get him up, asked, "Will you be alright, old man?"
"Aye, lad, I will be jus' fine wi' a li'l' time ta get ova me wounds. Yer hands. . . they feel as if they were metal, lad."
"They are metal, Comrade."
Goliath, Angela, and Broadway were now fighting alongside the Jade Giant. A large group of the Quarrymen had attacked them, forcing the three gargoyles into the green behemoth. The Quarrymen had discovered a little too late that while the Kevlar could protect them from the attacks of the smaller guardians of the night, the vests could not withstand the full might of their leader. But, they still had the technological advantage.
As several of the men fired their laser rifles, the gargoyles jumped out of the way, leaving the Hulk standing in the line of fire. As each of the shots from the rifles hit him, they bounced off, seemingly unaffecting him except for making him angrier. As one of them tried to get his rifle to start firing again, the Hulk took his hand, and in a show of phenomenal power, pulled him to his body, giving him a fatal clothesline that caused his head to go flying into the night. One of the other Quarrymen started backing away, trying to hit Broadway, when he was cut short by a katana slicing through his spinal column. As the man fell, Psylocke stood holding a bloodied sword.
Seeing that most of the Quarrymen had either been killed or knocked out, Goliath asked the purple clad woman who she was. Before she could answer, an explosion rocked the castle, knocking her and several of her teammates to the floor. Thinking that their ground unit could take care of the gargoyles, the helicopters had begun to circle several miles out. When they heard an S.O.S. from the others, they flew in and were now attacking.
The gunner on the chopper, John Olson, had aimed at the big green man in the courtyard, hoping to get some of the other freaks. After firing the rocket, they started on another run but were stopped when something big grabbed the tail section of the helicopter. "Johnny, look outside and tell me what's hanging onto the tail," the pilot said. As Olson looked out the door he almost fell out of the copter. Hanging onto the tail was the green man that he had just blown up. He seemed to be crushing the part he was holding onto, causing the chopper to tilt backwards. Before he knew what was happening, the helicopter tilted forwards, and began falling at an incredible speed. That giant green man had thrown them to the ground as if he was a football player and chopper was the ball. As the helicopter landed, it blew up in a brilliant fireball, the Hulk landing just seconds before the explosion, making him even angrier.
Back in the castle, Gambit was trying was trying to dodge the barrage of bullets raining down on him from one of the Miniguns. It was taking all his energy to trick the gunner. Finally, in a desperate attempt, he hit the ground and rolled, throwing a fully charged card at the man as he retargeted the Cajun. The card hit the man full in the nose, destroying an already disgusting face. As the Cajun ace looked away to see how Rogue was doing, the remains of the man's head splattered across his face.
"Gambit did no' want dis," he said, taking a piece of gray matter off of his cheek and throwing it on the ground. Just as he turned to go away, he looked up to see another of the crew of the chopper taking the pin out of a grenade and chucking down to his feet. "Merde," he swore, as he picked up the grenade, charged it, and threw it into the cockpit of the chopper. As the co-pilot began to scream and the copter started moving off, a massive blow caused it to seemingly tip backwards, its rotors down, and fall into the night. Before he could say anything, the Incredible Hulk landed on the masonry, making a large dent in the old stone. Gambit looked over just after the explosion, surprised by the size of it. It had destroyed most of nearly ten floors on the building below the castle.
"Gambit did no' expect dat."
One of the other Minigunners had targeted Elisa. She was running for her life. Paying too much attention to the gunner, she didn't notice how close she was to the edge she was until it was too late. She began to fall. She couldn't think of anything but screaming. She had her eyes closed, so she didn't see who the person flying down to rescue her. So she was surprised when she was caught in somebody's arms, like she was being carried across the threshold. She thought it was Angela, the body of the person being too small to be any of the other gargoyles. She opened her eyes and was surprised to see a brown-haired woman with a white streak running the length of her hair.
"Hi, sugah. I thought ya might need someone ta rescue ya," she said, in a southern accent. "Don't worry 'bout that gunner. He ain't gonna like what's gonna happen to him." Sitting Elisa down in the courtyard, Rogue circled around to the unarmed side of the chopper.
"Hey, big boy, why don't ya pick on somebody yer own size?" With that, she charged at the chopper, going through the open bay doors and snatching the gunner with one hand. Flying low, she picked up speed, ramming his head into the side of the castle so hard that the only thing left of his head was a greasy smear.
After seeing five of the choppers destroyed in less than five minutes, the rest of the choppers decided to leave, outgunned and outclassed. As the two groups of heroes started to gather together, they began looking at the carnage about them. Finally, Goliath, seeing that the short, hairy man with metal claws was the leader of these extraordinary humans, he held his hand out for a shake and said, "I am Goliath of Wyvern, and the others behind me are my clan."
Wolverine, taking the giant gargoyle's hand in the old fashioned warrior's greeting, said, "I'm Wolverine. Ya can call me Logan, if ya'd like ta. We're all X-Men, here, 'cept fer Doc Jumbo there."
"Well, we seem to have quite a mess here, Mr. Logan," Angela said, watching Xanatos as he threw up all over the wall at looking at a man whose head was crushed with his spinal column still attached to the base of his skull, a number of nerves still intact. She didn't blame him; she was feeling queasy herself.
"We sure do," cried Bobby, coming out of the castle with Jubilee and Bronx in tow. "Damn! It looks like someone was playin' the last level of "Doom II" with the god mode on and didn't know how to get out."
Logan, lighting a cigar, looked up for the first time that December night, and saw the full moon, smiling down on them. It seemed to be glowing slightly red. "Blood on the moon," he muttered, glancing down so as not to step in anything.