In the sewers, during certain times of the year, temperature changes in the air and water could make fog. Evan knew this, he'd paid attention in class enough to know that. Which is why he was surprised when the Morlocks awoke in the morning, to see a very thick fog filling most of the tunnels and almost all of the Alley. An unnaturally thick, chilling fog.
Callisto, wrapping her blanket around her shoulders like a cloak, grabbed her staff, as Spyke moved to stand alongside her, both tensing. Instincts had taught them how to recognize danger, and this was one of those times. Callisto couldn't sense anything though, or see anyone beyond the faces of her fellow Morlocks.
Suddenly a low, eerie whistling pierced the air, that Spyke recognized immediately.
"Get down!" he shouted, as the whistling pierced the fog, as the Morlocks ducked and dodged the flying barbed darts.
After that, chaos ensued.
Spyke was roughly knocked aside by a heavyset dark man, who's features were indistinct in the fog. But Evan could clearly see tattooed onto his face the white skull-mark he'd seen before, when Auntie O had been captured, and he knew what it meant.
The Hungan.
He had no time to ponder this, however, as flaming spikes shot from his arms. He had to defend the others.
Façade had vanished, none of the Morlocks or tribesman had seen where he'd gone, which was not surprising. Torpid rushed over to Cybelle, out of the line of fire, as the two ducked down behind a pillar of broken stone, avoiding the toxic darts that filled the air, as well as a few machetes that were being thrown with deadly accuracy. Lucid and Calliban had overturned the wooden table, using it as a shield as they searched for their opponents, while Spyke and Callisto caught the brunt of them.
Spyke threw up his left arm and jutted out some spikes quick, forming a makeshift shield to prevent him from being injured as he lay on the ground, unable yet to regain his feet. Alongside him, Callisto twirled her iron staff through the air, deflecting the darts with the skill and gace Evan admired in her. Unfortunately, it proved to be inadequate, as one such dart slipped past her guard and lodged itself into her neck. Callisto growled, instinctively yanking it out and continuing, trying to make her way forward to combat the tribesmen. A roar caught their attention, as Scaleface joined the fray, fighting off one of the tribesmen. The fool tossed a bullwhip at her, wrapping it around her foreclaw in a vain attempt to prevent Scaleface from using it. To his astonishment, the great lizard picked him up and tossed him aside, ripping the bullwhip off her arm with her massive teeth, snapping the thick leather like it was tissue paper.
The tribesmen had come prepared, however, three of their number tossing a great net over Scaleface and bringing her down, even as still more appeared, raining down darts on Evan as he finally managed to regain his feet, but remained pinned down, unable to go to Scaleface's assistance. Calliban and Facade were quickly brought down by two more of the tribesmen, and the Morlocks were slowly being overwhelmed. Cybelle had joined the fray with her deadly hands, but with the longer reach of her enemies weapons, it was ultimately proving to be not enough.
Spyke growled, the fear of seeing his newfound family harmed giving him incredible strength as he flung out his arms, jutting huge flaming spikes along them, as new bone plates slid into place to cover what little skin he had exposed, and he took off at a ran, launching himself at the tribesmen, flinging his flaming spikes with deadly accuracy. Not to kill, for he remained enough of an X-Men to be abhored by the thought of dealing death, but to maim, to incapacitate, to disable and to disarm. Three unfortunate tribesmen found themselves without their weapons, which burst into flame or shattered. Spyke backflipped, sliding an extra long and sharp, flaming blade from his right wrist, slashing at the net holding down Scaleface and freeing her, then circle kicked the nearest tribesman out of the way.
"Callisto!" cried out Lucid, jumping behind one of the Hungan's minions and knocking him out, drawing Spyke's attention to their leader, who was being hauled away into the thickening mist by the heavyset tribesmen who'd first knocked Spyke down. Growling, he sprang at them, but was cut off by a spear flying in his path, as Callisto and her abductor vanished into the mist.
"CALLISTO!" he cried out, angrily, fearfully.
Spyke growled fiercely, as the other tribesmen slowly started to vanish into the mist, and launched his spikes (not flaming) at one, who stumbled, and Spyke quickly pinned to the floor. With a speed that would've done his former rival proud, he leapt on top of the tribesman and place a red-hot tipped spike at his throat.
"Where have they taken her?" he asked angrily. The tribesman, though fearful, did not respond. "ANSWER ME!" he roared, thrusting the spike's point just a little closer for emphasis. Suddenly a hand was laid on Spyke's wrist, and he glanced angrily at whoever had dared to stop him. But his eyes opened wide in shock as he saw it was none other than Torpid, who was watching him almost fearfully, shaking her head. Evan, coming back to his senses, and realized how he must've seen, relaxed... marginally. Callisto was still in danger.
"You came here for her, didn't you?" he asked the tattooed tribesman. "You only wanted her, that's why you wanted to disable the rest of us. Why? Why's she so important?"
The dark-skinned tribesman did not reply, and Spyke was beginning to wonder if they were even capable of talk.
Growling, Evan retracted his red-hot spike and just decked the guy, as hard as he could, right in the face, knocking him unconscious and leaving him pinned to the floor. He then turned his attention to the wounded. Scaleface had reverted to her human form, and her wounds had healed marginally, so she was in no immediate danger. Calliban and Lucid, however, had both been pierced by the tribesmen's darts, though both seemed otherwise alright. Experience from Logan's lessons had shown him how to recognize a fatal poison over a non-fatal one, and thus he could tell neither was in any serious danger. Calliban was already starting to stir.
"What... what happened?" he asked, the cold, monotone voice of his still managing to convey enough of his confusion and fear.
"They took Callisto," stated Evan, quietly, as he knelt by Torpid and raised her head, trying to gently waken her.
"Impossible..." Calliban started to say. But the expressions of the other Morlocks confirmed it.
Their leader had been kidnapped.
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Author's Notes:
That's right, the Hungan's back, with yet another nefarious scheme. Prepare to be shocked!