Disclaimer: Any recognizable characters belong to Marvel and/or 20th Century Fox. Any others belong with the rest of the voices in my head.
Note: Although this was written to be in the 'movie' story line, many of the X-men are true to the comics.
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Arioch 3: Hurt
"Goddamn it, Arioch—you're supposed to be covering us!"
Mystique's shrieking order exploded in Arioch's ear through the comm. Quickly she hissed back through the microphone,
"I'm watching the back, just like you ordered, bitch. Nothing's gotten passed me—"
"That's because all the action is in here!" the shapeshifter interrupted. "Now move your ass and do your job—"
Mystique's voice was disconnected with a large explosion. The outburst was so loud Arioch ripped the earpiece from her head. The damage was done, however; her left ear felt numb and her hearing was deadened.
"Shit!" Arioch swore, spitting out her gum and scrambling up from her spot outside the rear entrance of the museum. Simultaneously readying her assault rifle and re-adjusting the comm to fit her right ear, she kicked open the jimmied back door.
"Mystique!" she called into the microphone. "Can you hear me? Can anyone hear me?"
None of the Brotherhood answered coherently. Swearing, more explosions, and the unmistakable sounds of hand to hand fighting filled her ear. Again she tore the useless comm from her head.
Giving up trying to contact another mutant, Arioch barreled down the hallway, to the exhibit area.
"Stupid Erik—insisting on breaking into a fucking museum!" she muttered to herself as she ran. "Who the hell cares about some stupid junk left over from the Holocaust—"
She cut herself off as she entered the large exhibits room and got her first look at mutant fighting mutant.
Per her and Magneto's oral contract, Arioch had accompanied other members of the Brotherhood whenever Magneto requested it. Usually it was breaking into high tech companies for hardware and software to supplement his latest doomsday device. Usually by the time the authorities and, presumably, the X-men were alerted, the Brotherhood was long gone from the premises.
Up to date, Arioch's skills hadn't been needed. The X-men had never come in time.
This time they had.
Quickly Arioch scanned the area, picking out members of the Brotherhood. Sabretooth was in his glory, taking huge swipes at Wolverine. Both of the feral men were already bloody, and both were laughing maniacally. Arioch pivoted her gaze to Mystique, who was being boxed in between Storm and Jean Grey. Toad, faced off with Beast, seemed to finally have met his match athletically.
"All righty then," Arioch whispered to herself, trying to determine who she could target first.
In the few seconds it took to decide, a sudden explosion of brilliant lights blinded her. Startled, her assault rifle was torn roughly from her grasp. Still half deaf and now sightless, Arioch stumbled backward and tripped. The breath was knocked from her, and she lay flat on her back.
"Loser!" a teenaged voice shouted at her. "Magneto sure picks real good ones, huh?"
"Come on, Jubilee," a woman's voice answered her. A deep Southern accent marked her as Rogue. "Ah got her gun. Let's just tie her up an' go help someone else."
"Right!"
Slowly Arioch's breath steadied. Her vision was still clouded with burned out spots, but not as much as before. She could sense the girl lean closer to her, and feigned unconsciousness. She cataloged the weapons available nearest to her left hand.
When Jubilee took her right arm, Arioch twisted and grabbed the girl. Jubilee shouted for help. She plucked a knife from the sheath on her thigh and was about to overpower the teenager with it, when she was suddenly flat on her back again, Rogue's foot on her shoulder. Rogue made a quick kick with her other foot, and the blade flew from Arioch's hand.
The kick made her hand numb.
"Son of a bitch!" she swore.
"Don't you be messin' with Jubes," Rogue said sweetly. "She's got good friends an' we don't want her hurt."
Arioch grimaced in reply.
Rogue turned her attention to Jubilee. "You okay, girl?"
Shakily, she nodded.
"Good. Now, since this degenerate seems to have a buncha playthings, let's relieve her of 'em."
Jubilee nodded again and gingerly started going through Arioch's pockets. Even with Rogue's heavy foot on Arioch, the girl watched her out of the corner of her eye. She pulled various knives and another gun from the woman. From one pocket she retrieved a pair of handcuffs.
"You're missing the one in my boot," Arioch said with a sigh.
Jubilee searched it and discovered a nine-millimeter.
"We ain't fooled by ya actin' all sticky sweet now," Rogue informed her. "Jubes, take that paira cuffs. We'll put 'em to good use."
The stronger mutant forced Arioch to a sitting position with her hands behind her back. Jubilee handed her the cuffs and Rogue snapped them into position on her wrists.
Patting her on the head, Rogue said, "Now don't be goin' anywhere sugah. The cops'll wanna have a word with ya."
She and Jubilee laughed and left Arioch.
"Bitch," Arioch muttered. "That girl better never get a job as airport security."
Carefully she fished the handcuff key out of it's spot between her cheek and gum. With a quick glance to make sure everyone was still too involved with other things to notice her, Arioch spit the key to the floor. She scooted across the floor until the key was behind her, and with little effort, picked it up from the floor and set to work unlocking the cuffs.
As she did, she watched the rest of the Brotherhood get very surely beaten. Mystique was shuffled back and forth between two X-men. Her particular ability only worked as surprise, and here there was no chance of it. Rogue had joined Beast in trying to contain Toad. Even on the ceiling he couldn't escape her flight. Arioch saw him attempt to knock her from the air with his tongue, but she easily dodged it. Beast climbed the scaffolding to help her, but as Toad shifted his attention to the blue mutant, Rogue managed to come up from behind him and land a solid blow on him. Toad scrambled to regain his hold but it was obvious he was dazed. Even as Beast reached out to catch him, the amphibian mutant fell. Toad landed with a resounding thud on the granite flooring below.
"Shit!" Arioch willed her fingers to work faster.
Mystique was tired and sore. She too saw Toad fall and his motionless body. A quick glance told her Sabretooth was lost in his own red haze, battling Wolverine. She could hear sirens from outside the building.
Taking advantage of a slight reprieve from the two women, she put her hand to her ear and screamed, "Fall back! Sabretooth, Toad, Arioch—GO! The cops are here, don't be captured!"
The piercing shriek found its way even through Sabretooth's lust, and he heard the sirens as well. With a quick sneer, he grabbed Wolverine and slammed the smaller mutant into the wall. Wolverine slashed at him, but Sabretooth laughed, even as more blood poured from his arms.
"See you later, runt," he spit at him.
He dropped Wolverine. Before Wolverine could retaliate, he made his way to Mystique, knocked the unexpecting Storm and Jean Gray away brutally, and followed Mystique out the back way.
"Let them go," Arioch heard Jean say. "We've still got two of them to turn over to the cops."
"Huh-uh," Arioch thought. "You most definitely don't have me yet."
The cuffs snapped open. "Let's move, feet."
"Toad seems injured," she heard Beast say. "Possibly seriously. A fractured skull or worse."
Arioch glanced back and saw the X-men gathered around the still unconscious Toad. No one had noticed her yet.
"Oh shit," she thought blackly. "Goddamn Erik and his goddamn 'protect the Brotherhood' contract shit! I have no weapons, but I still have to get Toad out of here! Goddamn Mystique bailing like a bitch! Goddamn it!"
Still swearing mentally, she snuck up behind the huddle of X-men.
Automatically she calculated a fifteen foot diameter from herself. It seemed that all the X-men could be caught by her mutant ability, if she could get close enough. Having been briefed on each of the X-men's particular mutations, Arioch knew Wolverine would be her biggest threat, even after being knocked out. He would recover the quickest.
They were all still crowded together, watching Beast attend the unconscious Toad. Arioch felt a stab of regret that the other member of the Brotherhood would be caught in her blast too.
"Sorry, Mort. But you're out of it anyway—this won't hurt too much."
She made her way as close to Wolverine's back as possible. It made her nervous, knowing at any second he could sense her and turn around. But amazingly he didn't, possibly distracted by his earlier fight and the ear-piercing sirens, and the second she thought all the X-men would be at least minutely affected by her blast Arioch concentrated and strained.
A sphere of blinding white light accompanied by a shock wave of sound erupted from her body. Immediately the X-men contained completely in the blast area dropped to the floor. The few that were slightly further away were forced to their knees, holding their heads. As quickly as the sphere exploded, it was gone.
Not wasting any time, Arioch hopped over the fallen X-men and grabbed the still unconscious Toad. She hadn't realized how much he weighed, however, until she tried to pick him up and carry him.
"Son of a bitch!" she swore. The police were in the building now; she could hear their boots on the marble floor.
Having come this far, she refused to leave Toad now. She grabbed the amphibian mutants' ankles and gracelessly tugged him over the bodies surrounding them. She stopped only a second to retrieve a handgun from Jubilee's pocket.
Once passed the X-men, dragging Toad over the smooth floor was easier than she expected. It was still exhausting though, and by the time Arioch had pulled him back to the service entrance she was sweating and swearing under her breath. Luckily she knew the area, and was able to maneuver Toad to a former hiding spot close by. There she waited, cursing Mystique for bailing out, watching anxiously as Toad never moved, until the cops had left the area, convinced that the members of the Brotherhood were long gone.