All Too Easy



Huntress and Stalker dropped into a fighting stance. And in what seemed like slow motion they attacked. The second they attacked things seemed to go back to their normal speed. Stalker was next to Cyclops in a mere moment. He kicked in the stomach and in the head quickly before dodging a punch from Colossus. He bent backwards slightly to avoid Iceman's beam of ice. He ducked under another swing form the metal giant. Stalker jumped up and onto the top of a booth that was next to Colossus. He shifted back into his stand and leaned slightly away form the group. With one hand he motioned for them to attack him. Wolverine let out a vicious snarl as he launched himself at Stalker. Stalker ducked under the deadly claws with relative easy. The mutant garbed in black and jumped into the air, spinning about and landing a kick in the face of Wolverine. Wolverine, caught off guard, stumbled back and fell form the booth. By that time Cyclops was up and sending an optic blast towards Stalker who merely leaned forward to dodge it.



Huntress kicked Kurt in the head, sending him spiraling onto the ground. She leapt over Shadowcat and threw her over her shoulder without much effort. With easy she did several back flips to dodge the lightening bolts being hurled at her. Jean had risen up into the air and held her hands to her head. Huntress kicked off of the side of a wall and spun in the air and kicked Jean twice, knocking her down to the ground. She landed in a crouch as she looked upon the X-men with no emotion written on her face. She jumped away from another lightening bolt. She glanced up at Storm. With a short run she jumped into the air and held her hands together as she brought them down on Storm. As the two became victims of gravity, Huntress spun around and kicked Storm. Storm collided with Iceman.



Gambit dodged a swing from Stalker and dropped to the ground to knock his feet out from under him. As Gambit swung his bo staff at Stalker Pyro encircled the two with flames to try and keep Stalker form moving too much. Stalker leapt over the staff and tried to punch Gambit in the head. Gambit rolled out of the way as Wolverine launched himself at Stalker once more. Pyro separated the flames as Gambit rolled away so he could avoid being burnt. Beast and Colossus were unable to continue the fight thanks to Stalker. Nebula stood next to Pyro.

"Can ya get a good shot shelia?" He cackled. Nebula rubbed her hands together.

"Yeah, I can nail this bastard as long as you limit his movement." Nebula held her hand out in front of her and focused. She pushed threw her mind, trying to find the correct use of her powers. Finally, she found what she wanted. Blue firefly like lights swarmed around Nebula's outstretched hand. She narrowed her eyes as she watched the mutant called Stalker. She moved her hand to the left slightly to get a better aim. Just as she was about to attack her hair was pulled on hard causing her to yelp in surprise and miss because of the sudden movement. Venom had pulled on her hair. The young boy smirked.

"My mother didn't put me through all of that training for nothing." He laughed. She glared at him before throwing a ball of blue light at him. He jumped to the side. Nebula took a deep breath and threw another ball of light at him. This time he did not get out of the way and fell to the ground in shock. Nebula glanced at Pyro with worry. He was beginning to sweat. Nebula threw a few more blue lights at him and hit him only a fraction of those times. Nebula did not show signs of tiring any time soon. The boy was a different story. Nebula cleared her mind as she put the weakened boy into a deep sleep with a last ball of blue light. His chest moved up and down in a stable motion as his eye lids grew heavy and closed. Nebula looked over at Pyro. He had fallen to one knee from the amount of power he was using. Nebula pulled forth her power in its first form that she knew of. She knelt next to Pyro and placed her hand on his. He looked at her briefly with confusion. The white lights danced about her hands and soon Pyro felt his strength come back full force. As this was happening to her teammate Nebula felt the energy she had gather from Venom drain out of her along with some of her own.



Wolverine was knocked off his feet and into the air form the uppercut Stalker had given him. As Stalker moved forward to attack Wolverine Gambit leapt in front of him, ready to fight. Stalker avoided a few swings from Gambit and jumped into the air. He aimed a kick to where Gambit was standing. The red eye mutant rolled out of the way a second before Stalker landed in his previous spot, leaving a small crater in his wake. Gambit dropped to the ground and tried to kick his feet out from under him. Stalker merely did some back hand springs to avoid it. He stood in his stance once more and blocked Gambit's punch. He threw a punch which Gambit dodged. However, Gambit did not dodge a kick to his mid section. As he stumbled back Wolverine threw a deadly punch with claws out. Stalker grabbed his arm and twisted it to the side whilst spinning towards him in order to land an elbow in Wolverine's face. He held to the arm as he spun to the side and flipped him over his shoulder. Before Stalker was able to bring his foot down Gambit tackled him, causing him to release his grip on Wolverine. Stalker rolled for a moment before freeing himself from Gambit's grasp and coming up once more in fighting stance. But before he could attack he was struck by a blue light. He felt his energy flow from him and he spun around to see Nebula and Pyro. Nebula's hair was mostly pulled from the pony tail she had had it in earlier and Pyro looked slightly tired. The flames danced about, keeping his movement at a minimum. Stalker smirked and shot forward, threw the flame and towards the two.



Huntress dodged a blow from Artemis. Out of the group she had been fighting Artemis was the only one left to fight. Huntress smirked.

"Well, this is an interesting twist. A former Fury is the only one left." She kicked at her head. Artemis bent back and stretched out a hand to stop her from falling back. She pushed herself off of the ground with that one hand and aimed a punch towards he midsection. Huntress jumped above her and landed behind her. She threw a kick and forced Artemis to stumble forward a small amount. Artemis spun on one foot and connected her knee with Huntress's stomach. Huntress was shoved back but quickly recovered and attacked. She swung her arm forward. Artemis grabbed it and swung herself around it and into the air. The former Fury kicked Huntress in the face as she spun up into the air. She landed in a crouch with an arm behind her and her head down as Huntress was thrown back into the dirt. Artemis threw her head up and sent a cold glare towards the other mutant. The ex-Fury stayed in that crouching stance and did not move. She her her head up as she watched Huntress shoved herself off of the ground. "Hmmm . . . so I see you are finally done playing . . ." Artemis felt a small wave of curiosity go threw her but showed no emotion. "I know you Artemis, there is no way that you would have stayed out off that stance if this was serious." Artemis felt her muscles tense and relax several times. She narrowed her eyes.

"Aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Artemis had shot forward in mere seconds and had punched Huntress in the face, causing her to be thrown back by the force. Once more Huntress landed in the dirt. Artemis leapt high into the air and came down towards Huntress. Huntress rolled out of the way in time to avoid what might have been fatal. Artemis shot towards Huntress. The woman was up and had caught Artemis's fists. The two had locked hands and were now in a war of strength and will power.

"Tell me Artemis, why do you waste your time with these fools!" Huntress grunted. "Join us!"

"I'd rather waste time with people worth the space they take up than you!" Artemis snarled.

"Why do you say that?" Huntress smirked. "You realize you only insult yourself when you insult me." Artemis glared at her.

"What the hell are you trying to say?! That we're alike?" She snapped. "I am nothing like you!" Huntress smirked.

"Do you really believe that? Why did you pick the name Artemis?" Artemis only glared at her. "Is it because you hunt your prey relentlessly? That you keep yourself pure unlike your prey?" Artemis narrowed her eyes. "You know what I mean! You and your prey are completely different! Your prey and you always has some big difference! But somehow, I believe that it is one prey you need to have! Humans!" Huntress hissed. "Humans deserve to be our prey! We are both hunters! We both over come the standards that men have of women and fight back! We hunt our enemies! That is why you are named Artemis!" Artemis glared. "I could bring you to Zillah! You can make a deal with Zillah!"

"Is that your master! Zillah?" Huntress seethed with anger.

"Zillah merely makes the deals for our little . . . organization. I answer to a much higher power!" Artemis smirked.

"So you are a lap dog, but not Zillah's. I'll remember that!" Artemis shoved her back a few steps.

"I doubt that you will last long enough for it to be of any use!" Huntress hissed.

"Did you offer Rogue that? Did you ask her to join you?! What did you do when she said 'go to hell'?!" Huntress shoved Artemis back a few steps.

"What makes you so sure that she said no?!" Artemis smirked once more.

"I thought you would have known. After all, don't you know all about me?! I was in her head*!" Even thoguh she was wearing sunglasses you could tell her eyes were narrowed.

"What makes you so sure that we are after Rogue?!"

"You KIDNAPPED her!" Artemis shoved her back a few steps.

"Things are not always so easy to see! Do not assume! And learn from your foolishness!" Huntress shoved back Artemis and let go of her. Huntress dropped to the ground and kicked her feet out from under Artemis. Artemis did several back hand springs to avoid falling and stopped a few feet away from her. Artemis blocked Huntress's kick before in connected with her head. She did a falling roll forward in order to avoid a punch towards her head. She swept her leg out at Huntress. Huntress leapt into the air to avoid it and Artemis had straightened up and grabbed her belt. She yanked her back down and threw her to the ground. She was by her in an instant and held her down with one arm and her fist pressing down on her throat.

"I always do!" Huntress smirked and twisted her body slightly and was behind Artemis. She hit her in the base of the neck. Artemis felt her body slacken and lost consciousness as she fell forward.

"Then you'll be prepared for that next time."





Stalker had tired to take another step towards Pyro and Nebula but a card landed under his foot. The explosion threw him back a few feet. He turned to face Gambit but was met by a sea of charged cards. He was barely able to get out of the way. Suddenly, the fire disappeared. Stalker smirked.

"I was wondering how long you would play." Huntress stepped over the unconscious bodies of Pyro and Nebula.

"I could say the same for you. Let us go."

"Wolverine and Gambit need to be taken care of."

"DONE!" Venom shouted gleefully. He skipped towards the two mutants. "They were so busy with you guys they didn't notice my snakes!" Huntress and Stalker turned and started to walk away. Venom ran and caught up with them. He skipped playfully about.

"Venom, Rogue is gone?" Huntress asked without looking at the boy. He nodded enthusiastically.

"Yep, yep, yep!" Stalker walked with his hands behind his back.

"Where do you suppose she is? Our leader will not be happy without knowing this." Huntress nodded.

"Yes, our leader will be very made. Venom, do you think you know where Rogue has gone?" Venom thought for a moment.

"Think I saws good ol' Mystic come in and take her out!" He grinned.

"Mystique." Stalker corrected without a glance.

"Her name is not the point. Now, we must report back. I do believe Morbid will be anger with you Venom. Gaia was not your mission." Venom shrugged.

"Morbid will live." Huntress smirked.

"Yes, Morbid will. Now all that is left is to secure Toxin's location and Hellwing's status. Then the next phase will be commence."



Reference to Curse of Life

*Artemis was completely absorbed by Rogue in order to save Artemis's life. When Faye Ma'at was brought back Artemis's mind returned to her body.