VI  Gods and Mutants

"Okay," the blonde bombshell said, "I've been very patient here." She reached down and grabbed the person closest to her by the collar, lifting Scott off of his feet.

"I think it's time I got some answers," Glory said, pulling him to her face, "Do you know what the question is?"

"That would be 'Why Shouldn't I Threaten Mutants?' Alex," Scott muttered, triggering a hidden button in his right glove, opening his visor as wide as it would allow.

The beam of force struck Glory directly in the chest, sending her flying backwards through the woods. Several trees were felled in the path of her decent. Scott closed the visor and shouted out: "Everyone, on guard!"

Glory stood up amidst the fallen trees.

"That's it," she growled, "Now I'm pissed off."

Before anyone could make a move, she was back among them again, delivering a blow to Scott that sent him flailing off to the side. He could tell that he only had another two or three blasts in him at full strength, and then his power would start dropping.

"All I want is my Key!" Glory was shouting, "Why do you all insist on denying me that?"

The demons that served her had started closing in on the perimeter, not unnoticed by Nicholas and Xander.

"Hell bitch is way outta our league," said Xander, "What say we keep the scab-street boys busy?"

"I'm with you," Nicholas replied, tapping Giles on the shoulder and pointing out the new arrivals.

********

Remy stood at the mouth of the passageway, now filled in with fallen rocks.

"Chere, hang on," he whispered, "We get you outta there."

Jean meanwhile was trying to get a status on everyone else. Nicholas informed her of Glory's presence when they exited the cave's mouth, and Alexis let her know that she, Rogue and Ororo were all still alive.

"Ororo's out for the moment," she heard in her mind, "I don't know if she's injured or not, but she's alive."

"How's Rogue handling the weight?" she thought back.

"She says she's fine, be able to hold on for quite a while. Look, Jean, the air is good. I'd say we've got a couple of hours before panic time. You'd better go help the others." Alexis sent. She felt Pangor jump into her arms. "Go! And take Remy with you. Glory's bad news."

Jean hesitated. Ororo was like a sister to her, and Rogue….

In her mind, she saw what Nicholas saw, and reached a decision.

"Remy!" she shouted. "There's nothing we can do here now, the others need us!"

"But…"

"No, Rogue and the others are fine for the moment, and if Glory isn't stopped, we're all dead," she took off running towards the front of the caves.

Remy paused for a moment, as Jean instructed Gunn and Spencer on basic techniques to look after Hank, and told Spencer to keep his link with her open.

"We'll be back, Chere," he promised.

********

"You really think we got that much air?" Rogue asked.

"I may have hedged a bit," admitted Alexis, "But we've got a little while yet. You sure you can handle the weight?"

"Ah'm good, for now," Rogue didn't mention the fact that she was starting to feel the strain. "How's 'Ro?"

"Pulse is good, she's breathing," Alexis replied, "Good thing I'm used to working in the dark."

Rogue smiled at that, not that anyone could see it.

Alexis felt the smile however, and it warmed her slightly. She hadn't had the heart to tell Rogue that while Ororo seemed to be knocked unconscious, her eyes were still open. Alexis wasn't exactly an expert, but she had seen catatonia before. She leaned over and whispered into Ororo's ear, so quietly that Rogue wouldn't hear:

"Whatever's going on in there, you can handle it. We need you out here…"

********

Ororo Munro was six years old, and she had been born in New York. But then her Mommy got a job that took them all back to the land Mommy grew up in. Africa. And she had spent the last four years of her life here.

She didn't even remember New York, not really. And it didn't bother her at all. She liked it here. Because Mommy and Daddy were here, and they were happy, and they loved her. And they had a nice apartment too. It was high up…

…no don't think about that…

…and Ororo could sit on the balcony and watch the city. She loved to do that. Particularly when she could see the airplanes…

…No! Don't think about that…

…taking off and landing. They always circled the city, and on clear days she would watch them while Daddy fixed lunch. Mommy was always working during the day, but at lunchtime every one would get together on the balcony. And then one day…

…NO! Don't…Think…About…That…

…Daddy was fixing lunch and Ororo saw something strange. One of the airplanes was flying funny. Instead of coming around the city in a nice big circle, it was kind of jumping up and down, and it was flying straight into the city. And then she noticed the smoke…

NO!! DON'T THINK ABOUT THAT!

…coming from one of the engines.

"Daddy?" she called out.

"What is it honey?" her Daddy called back.

"Come and look at the airplane, I think there's something wrong with it."

Daddy came out on the balcony and looked where she was pointing.

"Oh my God.."

NO!!! DON'T EVER, EVER THINK ABOUT THAT! NEVER!

…and then he was picking her up and running back into the house, shouting.

"N'Dare! We have to leave!"

Then Ororo's Mommy came into the front room, saying: "David, what is it?" And then her eyes got really large as she looked out the window, and she …

NONONONONONONONONONONONONONO

…said: "Oh, no. Ororo, honey, I love…"

And then there was this noise, this big noise. The whole building shook. And then they were all falling, and there was screaming, and fire, and then…

…and then it was dark. Ororo heard the sound of water dripping, somewhere. She was cold. And she hurt, all over. Why couldn't she see anything?

"Mommy? Daddy? Where are you?" she called.

No one answered.

She tried to move, but her legs were trapped, so she reached out and tried to find something to pull herself out with. She had to feel around, because it was dark. And then she felt the hand.

"Mommy?"

The cold, unmoving hand.

"Mommy!"

********

Spike arrived at the cave's mouth just in time to catch Angel as Glory flung him to the side.

"Watch it, Peaches," he said, "This one plays for keeps."

"Know that from experience, Spike?" Angel asked.

"Matter of fact, I do. Permicidal over there damn near killed me, and that was just for jollies," he took on a more somber expression, "Look, I don't like you, you don't like me, fine. But this isn't about us, it's about Buffy, and it's about Dawn."

"And you're telling me this because?"

"Remember Constantinople?" Spike asked.

Angel thought for a moment: "The Gractor?"

Spike nodded.

"Could work," Angel muttered, "I'll go high, you go low,"

"…and I'll be in Scotland afore ye…" Spike snorted.

As Glory tossed Logan the other direction, Scott hit her with another blast from his eyes. This was his fourth blast now, and the strength had dwindled. At this point, he simply knocked Glory on her back.

As she climbed back to her feet, Remy threw a fist full of charged cards at her, knocking her back down.

Angel shouted out, and he and Spike sprung into action.

Thunder rumbled as they made their move.

********

Nicholas had the unfortunate luck to be standing directly in Logan's path as he crashed through the brush.

"You okay?" the Canadian asked, helping Nick back to his feet.

"Bitch, I think she broke a rib," Nicholas muttered holding his side. "Yeah, I'm fine." He stopped suddenly, looking up.

"Ah, Logan?" he asked.

"Yeah?"

"Where did the stars go?" he pointed up and Logan followed his arm.

Sure enough, where ten minutes ago the sky had been a panorama of points of light, there was nothing but black. Then a flash of light in the distance, and thunder rumbled.

"Uh oh," said Logan, "I think that's 'Ro."

********

"MOTHER!" Ororo shouted, sitting up. She looked around, trying to figure out where she was.

"Ororo, it's alright," soothed Alexis.

"No, the dark! I cannot be in the dark!" Ororo pleaded. Then suddenly there was light, as Ororo's body began to glow with electricity.

"I must be free…"

"Ororo!" shouted Rogue, "Keep it together, gal!"

"I must be free!" Ororo screamed.

"AND I SHALL BE FREE!"

********

 "Damn it, man!" Hank McCoy was shouting, "I'm fine I tell you,"

"And I'm not about to tell Jean I let you outta here without checking you out first." Gunn replied. "Do I look like an idiot to you?" Thunder rumbled again, much closer this time.

"Don't answer that," Spencer said as Hank opened his mouth, "Would you want to piss the redhead off?"

Hank thought for a moment, and then opened his mouth to reply, when he suddenly noticed something.

"Where's Ororo?" he asked.

"Trapped in the cave with Rogue and Alexis," Spencer told him.

"Oh my stars and garters," muttered Hank, realizing why his fur was starting to stand on end. He jumped up grabbed the startled Gunn and Spencer around their waists, effortlessly.

"We must get away from here!" he shouted, leaping into a small ravine and covering the other two with his bulk.

At that point a bolt of lightning split the night sky, drilling down into the mountainside above the caved in entrance. As the three men watched, it seemed to withdraw back into the clouds, carrying with it a joyful figure.

"FREE!" Ororo shouted on her way into the night. The sound was barely swallowed by the massive thunderbolt that accompanied it.

********

That was it, all he had.

Scott Summers was exhausted, and he fell to his knees in the dirt. He wasn't sure, but it felt like his eyes were bleeding. And the last blast he shot hadn't fazed Glory in the slightest, it simply rocked her back a step or two.

It did, however, give Angel and Spike a chance to regroup. Despite their mutual dislike of each other, the two made a fearsome tag team. Every time Glory thought she had the drop on one of them, the other was instead coming at her from the other direction. They didn't speak. It was simply a rhythm built from years of knowing each other.

Buffy, meanwhile, had pulled herself back to her feet after a less than successful attack. She looked up as Logan came over to her.

"You okay, kid?" he asked.

"I'll survive, assuming any of us do," she replied.

"We ain't dead yet," he growled, "And until we are, it ain't over," he turned towards the battle, waiting the next opening.

Angel and Spike had found themselves flanking Glory's sides, and took the opportunity to deliver a crushing double-roundhouse to her jaw. Glory flew backwards into the bushes, cursing.

When she stood, she held a rock in her right hand, preparing to hurl it at the first target available. Then the sound of gunshots rang out, six times, and the rock fragmented into dust.

"Fight fair, babe," muttered Nicholas, then he turned to face off more of her demonic lackeys, only to discover that they were running away.

"Great, bullets won't do dick against hell-broad herself," he said. Giles and Xander came up to him, out of breath.

"The scabbys are taking off," huffed Xander.

"Let's hope that they are getting an idea of the outcome," murmured Giles.

Meanwhile, Buffy and Logan had taken advantage of Glory's surprise when the rock shattered, both of them delivering every blow they could manage, attempting to weaken the god if at all possible.

Glory, however, had other ideas. She managed to grab Buffy's arm, and flung her towards her cousin, then turned and delivered a blow directly to Logan's forehead.

The blow only slightly staggered Logan, and seemed to have much more affect on Glory.

"Clang?" she said, "Who the fuck goes 'Clang' when you hit them?"

She still had the rather confused look on her face when something shot out of the hillside and carried her into the woods.

"That'd be Logan," the blur said, delivering a solid blow that sent Glory flying.

********

Alexis had felt around after the blast hit. She assumed from the sound that it had been lightning, but Pangor was still a bit blurry eyed. Slowly the vision she shared with him returned, and she could see the hole blasted through the rock that Ororo had created.

"Rogue," she called out, "You still with me?"

"Ah'm here gal, but I caint see anything. The lightning kinda blinded me."

"It'll pass," Alexis assured her. Then she noticed that the blast had weakened the cave's structure even further. The passage was going to collapse soon.

"Rogue, we have to get out of here, now," she said solemnly.

"Soon as Ah can see, we can fly out," the mutant replied, "But if Ah let go this section, the whole thing comes down. We're gonna have one shot at this."

"Then we better get you seeing," Alexis said, making her way over to her companion. "Do you trust me?" she asked.

"Trust you?" Rogue returned, "What do ya mean? Ah, mean, sure, Ah trust ya well enough, but Ah don't…"

"Then hush," Alexis said, and she reached out and laid her hand against the young woman's face.

"ALEXIS!" Rogue shouted, "You gone loco, woman?" Then she stopped, and realized that the only thing she was drawing from Alexis was her ability to see through Pangor's eyes.

"What the hell…" she started.

"Just work with me here," Alexis whispered, straining, "I can't keep this level of concentration up for long. Pangor!"

As she called his name, the Norwegian Forest jumped into his Mistresses' arms. Rogue took the hint, and in one swift move, grabbed the two of them, and flew out the same opening that Ororo had used earlier.

As they cleared the opening, the cave collapsed beneath them. Through Pangor's eyes, Rogue saw a huge lightning storm high up above.

"Ororo's lost it," she said.

"She'll be back," commented Alexis. "You feel up to using that strength of yours?" She pointed towards the battle on the ground.

"Consider me there, gal," Rogue said. She flew towards the hillside. Her own vision was returning as she dropped Alexis and Pangor down onto the hill, and then she took off towards the battle.

As she approached Glory she heard: "Who the fuck goes 'Clang' when you hit them?"

"That'd be Logan," she replied, laying in with everything she had.

********

Jean had run to Scott's side the instant he fell to his knees. She felt the rush of air behind her, and heard Rogue's remark to Glory, so she knew they still had a chance.

"Scott, are you alright?" she asked.

"I'm out, Jean," he replied, shaking, "Nothing left…"

"Hush," she soothed, "Save your strength." In her mind, she desperately hoped that this wasn't an indication of things to come. She had telekinetically thrown huge chunks of earth and rock at Glory with little affect what so ever. And now it seemed the heaviest hitter they had was out for the count, except that no one really knew what Rogue was now capable of. She very well might be able to take on Glory, with what Essex had done to her.

Her hopes fell as a blurred shape buried itself into the ground not three feet in front of her.

"…oh, that hurt…" muttered Rogue, digging herself out. It was clear that even her newly enhanced strength and stamina were being tested. Jean once again found herself wishing she had more power….

…and again, the spark deep inside her mind lit up…

…so that she might be able to take on Glory directly. She ran over to help Rogue.

"Anyone else getting tired of this little game?" she heard from over her shoulder.

********

Alexis, meanwhile, was doing something she hated to do.

"Alright, Lady," she said, "You know how this works. Whatever it takes, I've got to get a message to the woman up there," she looked in Ororo's direction.

"If you can get the Hammer Wielder to get a message to his avatar, we need her now." She pulled one of her knives from its holster, and made a small slit in her palm.

"Freya, hear me, and do as I ask, please," she asked, letting the blood drip into the roots of the Primrose bush she'd found. She looked down at where Rogue had just landed, digging a huge ditch as she went. "Or we're all dead…"

********

Ororo was lost. She had gone from her worst nightmare into absolute bliss. She was one with the elements. All around her, the full force of her power had been let loose.

She spun in the wind, letting the forces of nature drift and dance around her, laughing.

She was free, and she would never be held again.

"…aren't you forgetting something…" the storm said to her.

She stopped, uncertain what had just happened. Even when she was hailed as the protector of the small tribe in Africa she had adopted, the elements had never spoken to her directly.

"…Glorificus…" the thunder said, and this time she heard it clearly.

She looked down, and saw the terrible situation her teammates were in, and without a thought flung herself down, towards the earth, to assist them.

As she pulled out of the dive, just above the battle, she heard a woman she could only assume was Glorificus call out, "Anyone else getting tired of this little game?"

********

Glory was getting really tired of this.

"Anyone else getting tired of this little game?" she asked as she approached the one she'd just buried. "I know I am."

"Game?" she heard from above her, "You dare call this a game?" Looking up, Glory saw a newcomer to the battle, a dark skinned woman with pure white hair. Electricity danced around the newcomer, like a lover.

"Hey, I like the hair," she said, "But that's beside the point. Of course this is a game, I am a God after all…"

"Beware, for I too have been called 'Goddess' in my time. But the flagrant disregard for innocents you show declares your true nature," Ororo said. She pointed towards Glory, and the electricity that had been dancing around her focused into her finger. Energy flowed from her eyes, lighting up the night.

"THIS IS NO GAME, GLORIFICUS!" she declared, calling all the forces of nature to do her bidding.

Lighting struck, and the sheer force of the impact threw everyone in the area to the ground. The thunderbolt that followed was deafening, and for just a moment, it seemed that the entirety of the world consisted of sheer power, focused on one spot.

Where Glory had stood, there was a crater, and the ground around it was melted into a glass-like substance.

Ororo fell to the ground, exhausted. She had never pulled that much power before. Over the heads of the assembly, the sky started clearing, stars showing through the clouds.

 Alexis had been coming down the hill as all this happened, so she was the first to Ororo's side. As she checked the African's vitals for the second time that night, she spoke to Hank and Jean, both of whom were rushing to check on their friend.

"She's alright," Alexis sighed, "Just wiped out."

Hank looked at the damage the bolt had done. "I'm not surprised," he commented, "I don't think any of us knew that she could do that."

"Took me by surprise," said Jean.

They prepared to carry Ororo down to join the rest of the group when everyone around heard something that made their blood run cold.

"If that's the best you've got," said Glory, pulling her way out of the crater, "You'd better just give me what I want right now…" The look on her face was more than enough indication that things were about to get ugly.

Glory ran to the first person she saw, grabbing them by the throat and squeezing.

As Jean Gray tried to breathe, Glory stated: "Now I start killing until you tell me what I want to know."

********

Jean Grey had seen many things since she'd come to Xavier's Academy, but this was the first time she had felt pure terror. They had all thrown everything they had at Glory, and it wasn't enough. Right now, it looked like they were all going to die, and she'd never even told Scott just how much she loved him.

…and deep in her mind, something exploded….

Suddenly, everything seemed different…

…and the spark expanded, covering her entire essence, showing her just what she was capable of….

…as though she had just woken up from a bad dream. She could see the power emanating from Glory, but it didn't frighten her at all now. She looked at her arms, noticing that there was energy there as well. She willed Glory's hands away from her throat, and was not at all surprised to see it happen.

"How…" Glory started, "You're just human…"

"Wrong," Jean/not Jean said. "I'm far more that simply human," and she gestured with her hand, throwing Glory up into the sky.

As Glory came hurtling back towards the ground, Jean simply reached out with her mind, and held her in place, about one mile above the earth. Glory started feeling as though she were coming apart, literally, on a molecular level.

"You just keep 'er there a minute," said Rogue, getting to her feet. Then she was gone, flying the opposite direction.

A moment later, a huge booming noise shook the region.

"Thunder?" said Spencer, looking into the clear sky.

"Sonic boom," corrected Nicholas, pointing to the rapidly moving form headed towards Glory.

Jean noticed the form as well, and a spit second before impact, she let go her hold. As Rogue came flying back down to join them, she muttered: "Going, going, gone…"

"Ah think that oughta keep her outta our hair for a while," said Rogue as she landed.

As they looked into the distance, the group could see a meteor making it's way to earth. It seemed that it would probably land somewhere in the middle of the Pacific. All of them knew however, that this was no meteor. They also knew this fight wasn't over.

Jean felt the power leave her, and suddenly she was overcome with weakness.

"Jean!" shouted Scott Summers as the love of his life fell to the ground.