Jamie Maddox's psychotic self grabbed one of the guns Jean had left. He
giggled like an insane kid as he started shooting. Meanwhile, the
pyromaniac Jamie was busy lighting matches and throwing them into people's
hair. Carelessly, he lit and threw another match.
Lance Alvers was busy making an earthquake down the middle of the army's front line when he smelled something burning.close. Very close.
"Ya 'air's on fare 'arthquake boah," he heard Sam shout at him. Immediately Lance's hands flew up to his hair, sure enough there was a slight blaze on the tips. Panicking he smacked his head, struggling to put it out.
A slight rain fell over Lance's head and thunder cracked from the clouds ahead and towards the nearby soldiers.
Sunspot dodged the small patch of rain as he dove through the crowd of soldiers, singing some, and scalding others as he flew past.
Jean was too busy shooting people near Lance with bullets and mental bolts to notice the rain. This is what I call fun! She thought as she did a quick telepathic check to see who was alive.Creed, John, and Rahne were dead and Wanda appeared to be hurt. All the more reason to kill them! She growled to herself angrily, her face becoming lighted by her gun's fire.
Shadow was next to Jean firing guns, and phasing through ones aimed at her. The rain, unlike Jean, was bothering her. It was clouding her vision and making it harder to aim. She moved out of the patch of rain and wiped her eyes. Vision cleared, she rejoined the battle.
Wanda was still firing hex-bolts, pausing for only a split second to see what was wrong with Lance. That second was all that was needed for a lone human to fire an energy blast from a gun he had received from the Shi-Ar at her chest as she turned back around. She opened her mouth and gave a shrill scream as the pain surged through her body and her knees collapsed. She wasn't dead yet.but she would be soon.
Magneto heard his beloved daughter's scream and rushed over to her, anger boiling in his eyes as he watched her body go limp, "Ungrateful bastards!" he roared, "We help house you, swear to defend you, and give our own lives to better human kind and THIS is how you repay us?!" He shouted to the crowd. "Fear me now Homo sapiens and tremble! For I and my kind will bring your pathetic species to an end, and from your ashes, the new race of HOMO SUPERIOR shall prevail!" He raised his fists in anger as cars rose up and slammed into the front lines of the humans, metal all around lifted up and impaled any soldier that stood in his path.
***
Pietro was busy creating whirlwinds around his attackers when he heard his sister's scream, soon followed by his father's booming voice. He fought back a couple of tears.he had loved his sister, even though he never really got close enough to tell her.
***
Gambit watched as Magneto gave his speech. He was right, they'd given their lives to help humanity, and now humanity was repaying them by killing their friends. "Den les' git dis parteh started," he commented as he tossed a slew of cards down at the army that was dwindling slowly.
***
Iceman gave a loud whoop in reply to Magneto. They help those pathetic people and all they can do is make his headache worse! And kill his fellow mutants too.but to Bobby, the first reason was the most important. He threw down some ice slabs shouting, "That's for making my headache worse!" and then, "And that's for making me have to go sober so I can fight in this shitty battle!"
***
Magneto was at the height of his glory. He could feel his comrades' enthusiasm to end the battle with them as the victor. "We will be victor-" his sentence was cut off as a blast of energy ripped through his rib cage from behind. He fell atop his daughter's now dead form, gasping in pain and surprise. Grunting, he rolled over to see his attacker, "You.," he growled to the Queen, then in a last effort to encourage his troops, "Fight to the death! Don't let this Shi-Ar bitch walk away with an easy victory!" His last words having been said, his eyes rolled back into his head, and he breathed his last.
***
Jean gave a vicious grin, "Don't worry Mags, I'll make sure the bitch dies myself. Move outta my way bub!" Jean said pushing Lance out of the way. Her first attack was a mental bolt, capable of paralyzing a normal human. but instead of showing a pained reaction, the Queen only laughed and turned at Jean, gun raised.
Up in the pub's second floor, Scott let out a roar of fury as he spotted Jean starting to face off with the Shi-Ar Queen. He wouldn't let her kill Jean the way she killed Magneto. Lowering his visor, he let the Queen have it.full blast..
The Queen turned at the sound of Scott's raging roar.and anticipated his blast.she stepped sideways as the stream of red beam shot past her and straight into her opponent.Jean.
Jean didn't have enough time to scream as the blast went through her stomach, only a frozen look of pain and confusion was on her face as she fell to the ground.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Scott screamed as he fell to his knees, tears of anguish streaming down his face. Amara rushed up to him and started to give him a comforting hug when he jerked back, a red glow emanating from his now closed eyes. He replaced his visor with a determined and grim frown. If Magneto's death hadn't been enough to move him to kill the bitch.Jean's would. He turned and dashed down the stairs, blasting everything in his path as he started to clear his way to the Queen.
***
The soldiers were at their best now, revved up by the Queen's appearance and the death of the mutant's leader. With their confidence boosted, their aim and courage did as well.
Mystique had lost her morph as a soldier and now stood by Colossus, morphing into a huge spider to scare and intimidate the oncoming soldiers.
One of the soldiers smirked, "Ya think that's going to scare us?" he said while a Shi-Ar one added, "What a pathetic creature you've morphed into earthling. Too bad it doesn't have as many lives as it does legs."
The two smirked and pointed their guns and fired at the now shocked Mystique.
She howled in pain as he spider morph withered and shrunk, turning back into her true self. She fell back onto the floor of the pavement, eyes staring lifelessly up at the sky.
Colossus had been too busy with other soldiers to aid Mystique. now seeing her lifeless form on the ground, rage bubbled up inside of her. "Nov Illyana vu haf gone too far," he growled, still in his fantasy where all the soldiers who opposed him had taken on the visage of his sister. He picked up the two who had killed Mystique, banged their heads together and threw them both into the nearby wall with all of his strength. He smiled when he heard the bones crunch and break on impact.
Evan was panicking and scared. At first his plan had been working. but now he was not so sure. The front lines had thinned to almost half of what was there. Granted, Jamie could multiply to replace them, but from what he had gathered from Kurt, four was all he could manage. that would be of any help. He turned and saw Cyclops heading for the Queen, his blasts illuminating his bloody path. "Everyone, split up! Kurt, Cannonball, Lance, come with me! We're helping Scott, everyone else, keep the homos distracted!" he called as Kurt teleported over to him, his holoprojecter evidently broken, since his appearance now was the blue fuzzy.
Cannonball and Lance nodded and headed to the queen, Sam flying while Lance used his earthquakes to clear the way. but it didn't seem to be helping much because the humans he killed with the quakes were soon replaced by new ones. Cannonball seemed to be the only one who would be able to reach her quickly when. he flew right past her, "Damnit! Ovashooted!" Sam cried as he continued to fly past, trying to stop.
Kurt and Evan also made their way together to the Queen, "Why don't you just teleport us over there?" Evan asked him as he spike a few humans in their path.
"Can't eet makes me seeck, and Ehy don zhink shat peuk vill be very effective against zhe Zhi-Ar Queen."
Evan nodded, "Right-O," he said as soldiers again blocked their path.
***
Meanwhile, back on the front lines, Shadow had become leader, "Ok, Jamies, you take the left Side, Roberto takes the right, I got the center ok?" She said without really waiting for an answer and started shooting the humans in front of her.
Sunspot nodded and raced towards a pack, full energy, making sure to run into as many as possible.
All four Jamies (the first two had bumped into each other) started attacking the left side, Pyro Jamie was setting people's hair on fire, Psychotic Jamie was kicking people in the shins and shooting, gay Jamie and fashion designer Jamie were both punching people side by side (the two got along very well).
***
Scott was having his own troubles reaching the Shi-Ar Queen. The more people he blasted, the more that seemed to take their place. He'd already gotten a bullet in his left arm and one had grazed his calf and thigh. He kept on though, "For Jean,." he muttered bitterly as a human in front of him lost his head from one of Scott's blasts.
Lance created several more tremors knocking people away. He was getting a killer headache from using his powers so much, and it didn't help that more humans were getting in his way. Finally he managed to get close to Scott and began to help clear the way to the Queen.
***
Sweat dripped down Gambit's forehead as he let loose another trio of cards. He smiled slightly at Marie,
"How ya holdin' up chere?" he asked as he used the back of his hand to wipe the sweat from his brow.
Marie too was sweaty, "Prettah good sugah. Powers lak startin ta fade though," she admitted. It was getting harder and harder to use Pyro's power, Marie just hoped it would last the rest of the battle.
Gambit frowned and glanced down at the battle. Beside him, Amara was busy throwing tossing fire every which way to pay much attention to the Cajun and Marie. The battle didn't look like it would be over soon as well, the mutants had the strategic edge, but the humans had the sheer numbers. He ceased throwing cards and walked over to Marie, "Den take some o' mine," he said as he took off his biker's glove and held out his hand to her.
Marie looked at Gambit's eyes, searching, "Nah, Ah'm lak fine fah now," she said quickly turning back to the battle, hoping Gambit would take the hint. She didn't like absorbing people's powers and memories, it was invading privacy. In a few minutes though.she might have to take him up on his offer, but she wouldn't until it was absolutely necessary.
Gambit nodded and replaced the glove, charging up an ace once more.
***
Lance put forth one final earthquake knocking about five humans out of his way. He was now nearly at his goal, the Shi-Ar Queen. He looked at Scott before making another earthquake, unsure of how he would react being this close to his lover's killer.
***
Sunspot risked a glance over at the Shi-Ar Queen , he could see Cyclops, Lance, Kurt, and Evan almost within a few yards of her. He punched another guy with his fist as more kept coming. Shadow fired several more bullets, her eyes concentrating on the humans, not a thought towards the Shi-Ar Queen. Sunspot could tell Shadow was in complete commando mode. She hadn't been bothering with phasing for the past five minutes, her energy completely focused on shooting.
****
The Shi-Ar Queen glanced around, her gun poised. She searched the fight for an open shot among the mutants. Her own men blocked most, and she couldn't risk shooting one of them, lest the rest change their allegiance. Finally, her searching eyes found a target. She leveled her gun as she aimed.
***
Evan jumped up, "We're almost there my elf-man!" he whooped as he stabbed another gunman with a spike.
Kurt glanced up to see the Shi-Ar Queen through a space in the crowd. She was aiming at someone. his eyes followed her gaze to see her target, "Zhadow!" he cried, forgetting about Evan and the main objective. He closed his eyes quickly and BAMF disappeared into a cloud of sulfuric smoke.
The Shi-Ar Queen pulled the trigger, letting loose a ball of lethal energy hurling straight towards Shadow.
Shadow turned around at the sound of the gun, wondering who the Queen was shooting at now. It was. her! She gasped and struggled to phase.she knew she wouldn't make it in time.but she had to try.the blast was only inches in front of her.
BAMF Kurt appeared in front of her, the energy ball hitting him full force, knocking both him and Shadow down with it's force. Kurt blinked, then winced in pain and clutching his gut.
Shadow scrambled to get out from under Kurt. When she did, she quickly knelt beside him, "Kurt-" was all she could get out, rare tears coming from her eyes. She grabbed his three-fingered hand and attempted to say something, but no words coming out.
Kurt grinned up at her, it was the only emotion he could manage, oddly enough. "Don't look eht me like zhat," he mumbled as he reached a blue finger to wipe a tear from her face.
Shadow gave a weak smile, "You saved my life," she found herself saying. She was still shocked that someone would have risked their own life for hers.when she had always been such a jerk.
"Dohn't mention eet," he said with a weaker smile as his face started to turn a slightly lighter shade of blue.
Shadow suddenly snapped out of her dazed state, "No Kurt! Don't die on me now! Who's going to stop me from teasing people? Who's going to threaten me with garlic? You can't die!" She sobbed. Kurt laughed, but it came out as a light cough, "Promise me zhat vou'll look ahfter zhem."
"I will elf," Shadow said in a voice just above a whisper. She gripped his hand tighter, as if by doing that she could stop the inevitable.
"Ehn don call me zhat," he murmured as he coughed again.
Shadow gave another weak smile, "Sorry Kurt," she said softly. She bit her lip in an effort to stop crying. She didn't want Kurt to.to die seeing her like that.
"And vone last zhing," he whispered.
Shadow released her lip and the tears came back, "What?" she asked in a shaky voice.
"Dohn forgeht zhat ehy love vou."
"I love you too," she said as the tears came freely. She kissed the furry hand that she still held in her grip.
"Please don't die Kurt! No! Not yet!" She cried out, knowing it was too late.
Kurt didn't respond, his eyes gazed lifelessly into hers, and his hand was limp in her grasp.
Shadow reluctantly dropped the hand, her eyes filling with hate as she looked up at the Queen.
Immediately she phased until she was beside her. She gave a very Xena- like scream as she began to attack the Queen.
The Shi-Ar Queen doubled over in surprise, then straightened back up and gave Shadow a swift knee to her gut.
It took a minute for the pain to register, then Shadow doubled over, still staring at the Queen with the same hate. if only looks could kill.
The Queen let out a haughty laugh. "Foolish girl, you have no idea who-" he boast was cut short as a red blast cut through her side. Scott came up beside Shadow, Lance and Spyke in tow.
"That," Scott growled, "was for Jean, you heartless bitch," he spat as he sneered at the wounded Queen who was now gripping her mutilated side in pain.
Shadow, almost on cue, managed to deliver a swift and powerful uppercut into the Queen's stomach, "That was for Kurt," she hissed showing her fake fanged teeth.
Spyke raised a spiked fist, "And this is for all of us," he declared as he rammed his spikes into her gut.
The Queen let out a howl and fell to her knees, blood gushing from her wounds and oozing out of her mouth as she fell the rest of the way to the ground.
Several of the surviving soldiers turned at the sound of their dying Queen. Seeing her dying, many ran. The few that remained were slaughtered by the fire and thunder above.
Life slowly drained out of the moaning Queen's body, her malevolent gaze unfading even in death.
Shadow watched, relishing the sight of the Queen's death. Finally satisfied, she turned and walked back to Kurt's lifeless body.
Lance looked over at Evan, "Is it reallah ovah yo?" he asked uncertainly.
Evan glanced around at the dead strewn over the alleyway. "I think so man, I think so."
Marie ran down the stairs smiling, "It's ovah! It's lak finally ovah!" she shouted happily. She looked around and her smile faded, 'Where's Kurt?" she asked. She had obviously been to busy trying to stop the army to notice what had happened.
Gambit had bounced down after her and spied Shadow kneeling by Kurt's body. Evan, however, spoke up before the Cajun could form words.
"He uh, didn't make it Marie," he mumbled, feeling his own face grow hot with tears.
Marie's mouth opened in shock, then she burst out crying, between sobs, and she gasped, "Who else?"
Lance shifted uneasily, "Rahne, Mystique, Magneto, Creed, Wanda, and John," he said and looked down at his shoes, fighting his own tears.
Gambit reached out to comfort Marie as Evan walked over to Shadow by Kurt.
Shadow was again holding Kurt's hand and crying. "He saved my life," she whispered quietly in disbelief as she rocked back and forth slightly.
Evan knelt down beside her, tears falling freely now, "Kurt always was that kind of a guy," he muttered to her.
Shadow didn't reply at first, just rocked back and forth. Finally she found her voice, "'How would you know? You've only been here one day!" she hissed bitterly, but her features softened. "But you're right, he was." Evidently she had forgotten about the different dimension thing.
Evan didn't reply to her, he figured now wasn't the time to correct her. He stood up to see Orus and Logan embracing and he started towards them.
"I'm so glad you made it," Logan purred rubbing her face against Orus'.
Orus smiled, "An' I you puddin'," he cooed as he nuzzled her back.
Evan fought back the urge to gag and headed back to Lance, Marie, gambit and now Pietro and Amara as well. They were all standing by Magneto and Wanda's bodies. Gambit's arm was around a shaking Marie, Pietro was kneeling by his father.
"Dad," Pietro was saying, "I-loved-you-too-you-know, it-wasn't-just-Wanda- who-did," he was crying. He brushed a stray hair back into place and gave his father a kiss on the forehead before standing up.
Amara walked over, closer to Pietro, "Now it is you who must carry on the Maximoff name," she said with a slightly suggestive smile. Pietro gulped and shook a little, but didn't move away, "Y-your-right," he said quickly, looking horrified, "I've-got-to-married-now-to-to-to-a-girl!"
Evan smirked slightly at this, but the sadness of the recent events. He glanced over at the others, Gambit still comforting Marie, who was still sobbing uncontrollably. Shadow was still with Kurt.
His thoughts were interrupted by a loud burp. Iceman joined the group with a few bottles of whisky. Evidently he had tested one of the bottles because it was half-empty. He was swinging them around carelessly, as he came towards Evan, "Hey man * hic* want a * hic* drink?" he said as he spun around and smashed Evan across the head with the bottles, "Aw, sor * hic* rey," he said as Evan fell, taking another drink.
Evan had fallen to the pavement with a loud thud. He faintly heard a, "Hey man, are you ok?" as everything faded into darkness.
Lance Alvers was busy making an earthquake down the middle of the army's front line when he smelled something burning.close. Very close.
"Ya 'air's on fare 'arthquake boah," he heard Sam shout at him. Immediately Lance's hands flew up to his hair, sure enough there was a slight blaze on the tips. Panicking he smacked his head, struggling to put it out.
A slight rain fell over Lance's head and thunder cracked from the clouds ahead and towards the nearby soldiers.
Sunspot dodged the small patch of rain as he dove through the crowd of soldiers, singing some, and scalding others as he flew past.
Jean was too busy shooting people near Lance with bullets and mental bolts to notice the rain. This is what I call fun! She thought as she did a quick telepathic check to see who was alive.Creed, John, and Rahne were dead and Wanda appeared to be hurt. All the more reason to kill them! She growled to herself angrily, her face becoming lighted by her gun's fire.
Shadow was next to Jean firing guns, and phasing through ones aimed at her. The rain, unlike Jean, was bothering her. It was clouding her vision and making it harder to aim. She moved out of the patch of rain and wiped her eyes. Vision cleared, she rejoined the battle.
Wanda was still firing hex-bolts, pausing for only a split second to see what was wrong with Lance. That second was all that was needed for a lone human to fire an energy blast from a gun he had received from the Shi-Ar at her chest as she turned back around. She opened her mouth and gave a shrill scream as the pain surged through her body and her knees collapsed. She wasn't dead yet.but she would be soon.
Magneto heard his beloved daughter's scream and rushed over to her, anger boiling in his eyes as he watched her body go limp, "Ungrateful bastards!" he roared, "We help house you, swear to defend you, and give our own lives to better human kind and THIS is how you repay us?!" He shouted to the crowd. "Fear me now Homo sapiens and tremble! For I and my kind will bring your pathetic species to an end, and from your ashes, the new race of HOMO SUPERIOR shall prevail!" He raised his fists in anger as cars rose up and slammed into the front lines of the humans, metal all around lifted up and impaled any soldier that stood in his path.
***
Pietro was busy creating whirlwinds around his attackers when he heard his sister's scream, soon followed by his father's booming voice. He fought back a couple of tears.he had loved his sister, even though he never really got close enough to tell her.
***
Gambit watched as Magneto gave his speech. He was right, they'd given their lives to help humanity, and now humanity was repaying them by killing their friends. "Den les' git dis parteh started," he commented as he tossed a slew of cards down at the army that was dwindling slowly.
***
Iceman gave a loud whoop in reply to Magneto. They help those pathetic people and all they can do is make his headache worse! And kill his fellow mutants too.but to Bobby, the first reason was the most important. He threw down some ice slabs shouting, "That's for making my headache worse!" and then, "And that's for making me have to go sober so I can fight in this shitty battle!"
***
Magneto was at the height of his glory. He could feel his comrades' enthusiasm to end the battle with them as the victor. "We will be victor-" his sentence was cut off as a blast of energy ripped through his rib cage from behind. He fell atop his daughter's now dead form, gasping in pain and surprise. Grunting, he rolled over to see his attacker, "You.," he growled to the Queen, then in a last effort to encourage his troops, "Fight to the death! Don't let this Shi-Ar bitch walk away with an easy victory!" His last words having been said, his eyes rolled back into his head, and he breathed his last.
***
Jean gave a vicious grin, "Don't worry Mags, I'll make sure the bitch dies myself. Move outta my way bub!" Jean said pushing Lance out of the way. Her first attack was a mental bolt, capable of paralyzing a normal human. but instead of showing a pained reaction, the Queen only laughed and turned at Jean, gun raised.
Up in the pub's second floor, Scott let out a roar of fury as he spotted Jean starting to face off with the Shi-Ar Queen. He wouldn't let her kill Jean the way she killed Magneto. Lowering his visor, he let the Queen have it.full blast..
The Queen turned at the sound of Scott's raging roar.and anticipated his blast.she stepped sideways as the stream of red beam shot past her and straight into her opponent.Jean.
Jean didn't have enough time to scream as the blast went through her stomach, only a frozen look of pain and confusion was on her face as she fell to the ground.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Scott screamed as he fell to his knees, tears of anguish streaming down his face. Amara rushed up to him and started to give him a comforting hug when he jerked back, a red glow emanating from his now closed eyes. He replaced his visor with a determined and grim frown. If Magneto's death hadn't been enough to move him to kill the bitch.Jean's would. He turned and dashed down the stairs, blasting everything in his path as he started to clear his way to the Queen.
***
The soldiers were at their best now, revved up by the Queen's appearance and the death of the mutant's leader. With their confidence boosted, their aim and courage did as well.
Mystique had lost her morph as a soldier and now stood by Colossus, morphing into a huge spider to scare and intimidate the oncoming soldiers.
One of the soldiers smirked, "Ya think that's going to scare us?" he said while a Shi-Ar one added, "What a pathetic creature you've morphed into earthling. Too bad it doesn't have as many lives as it does legs."
The two smirked and pointed their guns and fired at the now shocked Mystique.
She howled in pain as he spider morph withered and shrunk, turning back into her true self. She fell back onto the floor of the pavement, eyes staring lifelessly up at the sky.
Colossus had been too busy with other soldiers to aid Mystique. now seeing her lifeless form on the ground, rage bubbled up inside of her. "Nov Illyana vu haf gone too far," he growled, still in his fantasy where all the soldiers who opposed him had taken on the visage of his sister. He picked up the two who had killed Mystique, banged their heads together and threw them both into the nearby wall with all of his strength. He smiled when he heard the bones crunch and break on impact.
Evan was panicking and scared. At first his plan had been working. but now he was not so sure. The front lines had thinned to almost half of what was there. Granted, Jamie could multiply to replace them, but from what he had gathered from Kurt, four was all he could manage. that would be of any help. He turned and saw Cyclops heading for the Queen, his blasts illuminating his bloody path. "Everyone, split up! Kurt, Cannonball, Lance, come with me! We're helping Scott, everyone else, keep the homos distracted!" he called as Kurt teleported over to him, his holoprojecter evidently broken, since his appearance now was the blue fuzzy.
Cannonball and Lance nodded and headed to the queen, Sam flying while Lance used his earthquakes to clear the way. but it didn't seem to be helping much because the humans he killed with the quakes were soon replaced by new ones. Cannonball seemed to be the only one who would be able to reach her quickly when. he flew right past her, "Damnit! Ovashooted!" Sam cried as he continued to fly past, trying to stop.
Kurt and Evan also made their way together to the Queen, "Why don't you just teleport us over there?" Evan asked him as he spike a few humans in their path.
"Can't eet makes me seeck, and Ehy don zhink shat peuk vill be very effective against zhe Zhi-Ar Queen."
Evan nodded, "Right-O," he said as soldiers again blocked their path.
***
Meanwhile, back on the front lines, Shadow had become leader, "Ok, Jamies, you take the left Side, Roberto takes the right, I got the center ok?" She said without really waiting for an answer and started shooting the humans in front of her.
Sunspot nodded and raced towards a pack, full energy, making sure to run into as many as possible.
All four Jamies (the first two had bumped into each other) started attacking the left side, Pyro Jamie was setting people's hair on fire, Psychotic Jamie was kicking people in the shins and shooting, gay Jamie and fashion designer Jamie were both punching people side by side (the two got along very well).
***
Scott was having his own troubles reaching the Shi-Ar Queen. The more people he blasted, the more that seemed to take their place. He'd already gotten a bullet in his left arm and one had grazed his calf and thigh. He kept on though, "For Jean,." he muttered bitterly as a human in front of him lost his head from one of Scott's blasts.
Lance created several more tremors knocking people away. He was getting a killer headache from using his powers so much, and it didn't help that more humans were getting in his way. Finally he managed to get close to Scott and began to help clear the way to the Queen.
***
Sweat dripped down Gambit's forehead as he let loose another trio of cards. He smiled slightly at Marie,
"How ya holdin' up chere?" he asked as he used the back of his hand to wipe the sweat from his brow.
Marie too was sweaty, "Prettah good sugah. Powers lak startin ta fade though," she admitted. It was getting harder and harder to use Pyro's power, Marie just hoped it would last the rest of the battle.
Gambit frowned and glanced down at the battle. Beside him, Amara was busy throwing tossing fire every which way to pay much attention to the Cajun and Marie. The battle didn't look like it would be over soon as well, the mutants had the strategic edge, but the humans had the sheer numbers. He ceased throwing cards and walked over to Marie, "Den take some o' mine," he said as he took off his biker's glove and held out his hand to her.
Marie looked at Gambit's eyes, searching, "Nah, Ah'm lak fine fah now," she said quickly turning back to the battle, hoping Gambit would take the hint. She didn't like absorbing people's powers and memories, it was invading privacy. In a few minutes though.she might have to take him up on his offer, but she wouldn't until it was absolutely necessary.
Gambit nodded and replaced the glove, charging up an ace once more.
***
Lance put forth one final earthquake knocking about five humans out of his way. He was now nearly at his goal, the Shi-Ar Queen. He looked at Scott before making another earthquake, unsure of how he would react being this close to his lover's killer.
***
Sunspot risked a glance over at the Shi-Ar Queen , he could see Cyclops, Lance, Kurt, and Evan almost within a few yards of her. He punched another guy with his fist as more kept coming. Shadow fired several more bullets, her eyes concentrating on the humans, not a thought towards the Shi-Ar Queen. Sunspot could tell Shadow was in complete commando mode. She hadn't been bothering with phasing for the past five minutes, her energy completely focused on shooting.
****
The Shi-Ar Queen glanced around, her gun poised. She searched the fight for an open shot among the mutants. Her own men blocked most, and she couldn't risk shooting one of them, lest the rest change their allegiance. Finally, her searching eyes found a target. She leveled her gun as she aimed.
***
Evan jumped up, "We're almost there my elf-man!" he whooped as he stabbed another gunman with a spike.
Kurt glanced up to see the Shi-Ar Queen through a space in the crowd. She was aiming at someone. his eyes followed her gaze to see her target, "Zhadow!" he cried, forgetting about Evan and the main objective. He closed his eyes quickly and BAMF disappeared into a cloud of sulfuric smoke.
The Shi-Ar Queen pulled the trigger, letting loose a ball of lethal energy hurling straight towards Shadow.
Shadow turned around at the sound of the gun, wondering who the Queen was shooting at now. It was. her! She gasped and struggled to phase.she knew she wouldn't make it in time.but she had to try.the blast was only inches in front of her.
BAMF Kurt appeared in front of her, the energy ball hitting him full force, knocking both him and Shadow down with it's force. Kurt blinked, then winced in pain and clutching his gut.
Shadow scrambled to get out from under Kurt. When she did, she quickly knelt beside him, "Kurt-" was all she could get out, rare tears coming from her eyes. She grabbed his three-fingered hand and attempted to say something, but no words coming out.
Kurt grinned up at her, it was the only emotion he could manage, oddly enough. "Don't look eht me like zhat," he mumbled as he reached a blue finger to wipe a tear from her face.
Shadow gave a weak smile, "You saved my life," she found herself saying. She was still shocked that someone would have risked their own life for hers.when she had always been such a jerk.
"Dohn't mention eet," he said with a weaker smile as his face started to turn a slightly lighter shade of blue.
Shadow suddenly snapped out of her dazed state, "No Kurt! Don't die on me now! Who's going to stop me from teasing people? Who's going to threaten me with garlic? You can't die!" She sobbed. Kurt laughed, but it came out as a light cough, "Promise me zhat vou'll look ahfter zhem."
"I will elf," Shadow said in a voice just above a whisper. She gripped his hand tighter, as if by doing that she could stop the inevitable.
"Ehn don call me zhat," he murmured as he coughed again.
Shadow gave another weak smile, "Sorry Kurt," she said softly. She bit her lip in an effort to stop crying. She didn't want Kurt to.to die seeing her like that.
"And vone last zhing," he whispered.
Shadow released her lip and the tears came back, "What?" she asked in a shaky voice.
"Dohn forgeht zhat ehy love vou."
"I love you too," she said as the tears came freely. She kissed the furry hand that she still held in her grip.
"Please don't die Kurt! No! Not yet!" She cried out, knowing it was too late.
Kurt didn't respond, his eyes gazed lifelessly into hers, and his hand was limp in her grasp.
Shadow reluctantly dropped the hand, her eyes filling with hate as she looked up at the Queen.
Immediately she phased until she was beside her. She gave a very Xena- like scream as she began to attack the Queen.
The Shi-Ar Queen doubled over in surprise, then straightened back up and gave Shadow a swift knee to her gut.
It took a minute for the pain to register, then Shadow doubled over, still staring at the Queen with the same hate. if only looks could kill.
The Queen let out a haughty laugh. "Foolish girl, you have no idea who-" he boast was cut short as a red blast cut through her side. Scott came up beside Shadow, Lance and Spyke in tow.
"That," Scott growled, "was for Jean, you heartless bitch," he spat as he sneered at the wounded Queen who was now gripping her mutilated side in pain.
Shadow, almost on cue, managed to deliver a swift and powerful uppercut into the Queen's stomach, "That was for Kurt," she hissed showing her fake fanged teeth.
Spyke raised a spiked fist, "And this is for all of us," he declared as he rammed his spikes into her gut.
The Queen let out a howl and fell to her knees, blood gushing from her wounds and oozing out of her mouth as she fell the rest of the way to the ground.
Several of the surviving soldiers turned at the sound of their dying Queen. Seeing her dying, many ran. The few that remained were slaughtered by the fire and thunder above.
Life slowly drained out of the moaning Queen's body, her malevolent gaze unfading even in death.
Shadow watched, relishing the sight of the Queen's death. Finally satisfied, she turned and walked back to Kurt's lifeless body.
Lance looked over at Evan, "Is it reallah ovah yo?" he asked uncertainly.
Evan glanced around at the dead strewn over the alleyway. "I think so man, I think so."
Marie ran down the stairs smiling, "It's ovah! It's lak finally ovah!" she shouted happily. She looked around and her smile faded, 'Where's Kurt?" she asked. She had obviously been to busy trying to stop the army to notice what had happened.
Gambit had bounced down after her and spied Shadow kneeling by Kurt's body. Evan, however, spoke up before the Cajun could form words.
"He uh, didn't make it Marie," he mumbled, feeling his own face grow hot with tears.
Marie's mouth opened in shock, then she burst out crying, between sobs, and she gasped, "Who else?"
Lance shifted uneasily, "Rahne, Mystique, Magneto, Creed, Wanda, and John," he said and looked down at his shoes, fighting his own tears.
Gambit reached out to comfort Marie as Evan walked over to Shadow by Kurt.
Shadow was again holding Kurt's hand and crying. "He saved my life," she whispered quietly in disbelief as she rocked back and forth slightly.
Evan knelt down beside her, tears falling freely now, "Kurt always was that kind of a guy," he muttered to her.
Shadow didn't reply at first, just rocked back and forth. Finally she found her voice, "'How would you know? You've only been here one day!" she hissed bitterly, but her features softened. "But you're right, he was." Evidently she had forgotten about the different dimension thing.
Evan didn't reply to her, he figured now wasn't the time to correct her. He stood up to see Orus and Logan embracing and he started towards them.
"I'm so glad you made it," Logan purred rubbing her face against Orus'.
Orus smiled, "An' I you puddin'," he cooed as he nuzzled her back.
Evan fought back the urge to gag and headed back to Lance, Marie, gambit and now Pietro and Amara as well. They were all standing by Magneto and Wanda's bodies. Gambit's arm was around a shaking Marie, Pietro was kneeling by his father.
"Dad," Pietro was saying, "I-loved-you-too-you-know, it-wasn't-just-Wanda- who-did," he was crying. He brushed a stray hair back into place and gave his father a kiss on the forehead before standing up.
Amara walked over, closer to Pietro, "Now it is you who must carry on the Maximoff name," she said with a slightly suggestive smile. Pietro gulped and shook a little, but didn't move away, "Y-your-right," he said quickly, looking horrified, "I've-got-to-married-now-to-to-to-a-girl!"
Evan smirked slightly at this, but the sadness of the recent events. He glanced over at the others, Gambit still comforting Marie, who was still sobbing uncontrollably. Shadow was still with Kurt.
His thoughts were interrupted by a loud burp. Iceman joined the group with a few bottles of whisky. Evidently he had tested one of the bottles because it was half-empty. He was swinging them around carelessly, as he came towards Evan, "Hey man * hic* want a * hic* drink?" he said as he spun around and smashed Evan across the head with the bottles, "Aw, sor * hic* rey," he said as Evan fell, taking another drink.
Evan had fallen to the pavement with a loud thud. He faintly heard a, "Hey man, are you ok?" as everything faded into darkness.