Storm's team was faring only slightly better against the superhumans.
Angel and Storm had taken to the air, gaining a considerable advantage over the land bound human forces and superhumans. However, whether or not God had intended it, Man had his own ways of flying. Two fighter jets had converged on the battle field, and Angel and Ororo found themselves the primary targets. Force to abandon her team, Storm flew higher up into the clouds, dodging the fighters as she sought out nature's aid.
Storm turned, her white hair flowing out behind her in the wind.
Her eyes went white and pupilless, and the dark clouds shuddered in response, lightning crackling as she aimed her hands. Lightning bolts poured forth, obliterating both the fighters in a single burst, sending them screaming towards the ground. Their pilots ejected. Storm floated down lower, her eyes narrowing as she regarded the helpless parachuting men. Lighting crackled, thunder split the air as she watched them... considering what to do with them.
Kill them? Why not... they sought to end her life, it was only self defense. Kill them as they'd killed her sister and her husband, for trying to protect their mutant son. For trying to kill Spyke countless times. If not them, then other humans.
Storm stretched out her hand...
... and, with a sigh, dropped it back down to her side.
She couldn't do it. Not in cold blood. It wasn't who she was.
Angel gave his characteristic war-cry as he swooped down through the clouds, swinging his sword. He'd grown rather fond of it, after finding it in an abandoned museum a few years back. He rather liked using it to, as he called, it 'putting the fear of God' into his opponents. And over the years, he'd become quite good at it.
The white-haired weather witch closed her eyes, as Angel swooped in and cut the cords of both pilot's parachutes, letting them plummet to the ground. She didn't want to see what she knew would happen next.
Around her, the storm raged on.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Avalanche roared, thrusting out his hands, making the ground shudder and shake, roll like the waves of the ocean and send a crash wave of solid rock rolling towards his enemies.
They hadn't been expecting this sort of resistance. But the superhumans had back up. Another whole squad of tanks was giving them back up, and Avalanche was finding himself right in the middle of it.
Good, he thought. More fun for me.
Roaring, he increasing the power of the earthquake, his eyes rolling back into his head. His head hurt like hell, but it was worth it to watch enemy tanks get knocked over like children's toys, crushing those within. And each human he killed, he got that much more satisfaction.
"I'll make those rat bastards pay, Kitty," he whispered, thrusting out his hand and over-turning another tank. "I'll make them pay for what they did to you!"
And so battle continued, and the Avalanche continued to slaughter troops gleefully.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dodge, dodge, dodge, swoop, slash, decapitate, catch the uptake, and fly upwards.
Angel smirked, drawing his wings back and circling around, preparing to make another swoop on the ground troops, drawing his sword back for another swing. Try for a two-for-one this time.
Suddenly a shot rang out, and Angel narrowly dodged aside, this blast coming from the trees, where he hadn't been able to see it coming. Snipers, he thought, damn their cowardly hides.
The man with wings spread them wide, drawing himself up on a current of air and riding it as he flipped over, changing direction and taking himself down towards the trees now. As he did, he exchanged his sword for the gun at his belt, sliding it into the sheath on his back. He may've been dramatic, but he wasn't stupid. In a gun fight, you bring a gun. Nobody brings a knife to a gun fight.
Another shot rang out, and he swooped by, returning fire and letting the unfortunate sniper fall to the ground with a sickening thud. One down, he thought. Plenty more where that came from.
"Show yourselves you cowards!" he shouted, taunting them, hoping to get them to reveal their positions.
Unfortunately, Angel's eyes were not everywhere, and thus as he turned to take out another sniper, a third finally managed to hit him. The blast sliced through his wing, wrenching a scream from the blonde man's lips as he started to fall, his wing unable to continue to flap. And then, its twin joined it, and he plummeted, seventy feet up, straight down.
Warren Worthington the Third sighed, closing his eyes, and accepted his death, falling to his doom, and prepared himself for what lay in the next life. Like most mutants, he'd long ago given up his belief in Heaven and God. No God could leave the world broken and shattered like it was.
Ah well... maybe he'd come back as a butterfly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jubilee ducked down, dodging another shot aimed for her head and retaliated with one of her own. And she didn't miss, no less. Iceman and Pyro joined her, taking out his buddies, and soon the three were all alone surrounded by a bunch of dead and broken bodies. With some burnt and frozen ones thrown around for good measure.
"Alright! High-five!" shouted Pyro, receiving said gesture from Iceman. The two made a particularly good team, provided they could get along. Pyro made it... difficult.
Suddenly three shapes appeared on the edge of the field, and started marching towards them. Jubilee filled her hands with energy, but made no move to attack... just yet. They were walking too confidently to be humans who slunk around with their tails between their legs. Maybe it was members of the team.
Then again, maybe it was.
Three superhumans, dressed in the bright red, blue and white uniforms. Two males and a female, same as the mutant team. Both the males were blonde, the only real distinction between the two was their size, the first was much taller and broader, and characterized by an arrogant smirk on his features. The girl was shorter than both the males, but didn't make her look anything less threatening. She had a faint oriental cast to her features, and long dark brown hair. And definitely didn't look happy to see the mutants.
None of them carried any weapons.
"So that's your game, huh?" asked Jubilee, closing her fists, letting the energy dissipate. "One on one, unarmed combat? This some sort of macho human thing?"
"Whatsa' matter?" grinned the first of the humans. Obviously he was their leader. He smacked a fist into his open palm. "'fraid you can't beat us without your powers?"
Jubilee smirked, tracing the 'M' tattoo over her eye. "The big ape's mine," she said, spreading her legs and bending her knees, assuming a ready stance as she'd been taught by her mentor, the Wolverine.
"I guess I can treat the lady to a dance then," remarked Iceman, de-icing himself and offering a smirk towards the brunette. She looked disgusted.
"Leftovers are fine with me," stated Pyro, cracking his knuckles and grinning at the third human.
"You all know what to do," said Jubilee. They nodded, then turned to face their chosen opponents. "We gonna get introduced too? I wanna know what to carve on your tombstone."
"Duncan Mathews," replied her opponent.
"Paul Spears," stated the second blonde.
"Taryn Fujioka," said the brunette, flipping her hair back defiantly.
"Jubilee."
"Iceman."
"Pyro."
No more words needed to be exchanged. They locked eyes with their dance partners, both sides equally filled with disgust, hatred, and perhaps a little fear. But as any good soldier could tell you, a little fear was good. It made you hit harder and run faster. Adrenaline could keep you alive in a fight.
Both sides leapt at the same time, fists and feet in the air, determined to take down the other as quick as possible. The superhumans, believing they'd goaded the mutants into a fight against their obviously superior physical abilities, arrogantly thought they'd win.
They were wrong.
Jubilee reared back her hand as if she intended to slug Duncan full across the face. Instead, as he raised his arm to block, she shot out a point-black burst of light and energy, blasting Duncan right in the eyes. Unprepared for the attack, he growled and stumbled backwards, bringing up his arm to cover his eyes. Jubilee followed up her attack with a vicious kick to his stomach, sending him reeling.
Pyro wasn't fighting any cleaner, he'd already shot a warning blast of fire at the other superhuman male, narrowly singing his hair as the man barreled into Pyro's waist, knocking the redheaded mutant to his back. Pyro kicked him up and off of him, and Paul flipped gracefully in mid-air, landing on his feet in a crouch. The two regarded each other with newfound respect as they rushed at one another again, though more carefully this time.
Predictably, Iceman wasn't taking his opponent near as seriously.
"You know you're kinda cute for a psycho human... you doing anything later?" asked Iceman, dodging her blows, not returning any of his own.
"I'll be dancing on your grave!" shouted Taryn, angered by Iceman's infuriating flirting.
"Oh come on babe... no need to show me the cold shoulder," he said, twirling out of her next swing and laying a hand on her shoulder... which immediately froze solid. The rest of the super human warrior Taryn followed suit.
"Awww... no need to go to pieces on me," he said with a smirk. Then, he reared back his fist and slammed it right into Taryn's frozen face, knocking it clean off her shoulders. The rest of her body followed suit and quickly shattered, falling to the ground.
Jubilee leapt up and slammed her knee hard into Duncan's chest, cracking his ribs as she filled up her hands with energy and blasted him at point-blank range. Her little fireworks weren't very powerful over long distances, but they packed a punch up close. What was left of Duncan she didn't care much for. So she gave him another good kick to make sure he was dead.
The final human super human, Paul, quickly realized he was outnumber and outmatched and turned to run. He made it exactly three paces before being frozen, burnt, and blown to bits.
"God I love this job," said Pyro, mock wiping a tear from his cheek.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Willow crouched down, hiding in the grass, covering her ears and trying to block out the sounds. They wouldn't stop. All around she could hear death, she could smell gunpowder and blood. It was horrible. She hated all of this. She wanted to wake up back in her room and find out this was all some horrible nightmare.
But it wasn't.
Nature had two sides. Plants had two sides. Willow knew this as an inevitable fact of the universe. Nature could be nurturing with gentle rain, or it could call down storms like her mentor Ororo did. Roses could smell nice, or their thorns could prick your hands. Up until now, Willow had been content to use her powers in a gentle, nurturing way.
But now it was time to show nature's wrath.
Willow stretched out her powers, and the nearby grasses swarmed over her, wrapping around her body. She curled up into a ball, closing her eyes, letting it, letting the long grass wrap around her body in a tight cocoon. And inside, she began to change...
... and change...
... and change...
... and change...
... until finally she emerged. And she was not the same girl she'd been when she'd entered.
Willow's hair now was a brilliant forest-green, replacing her blonde wavy strands and flowing out down as far as her ankles, as thick and dark as vines. A few leaves lay in dispersed amongst her new green locks. Her ivory-pale skin was now the dark brown of tree bark, and even had a similar look and texture to it. Of all of her, only her eyes (now hardened by anger) and her uniform remained unchanged by her metamorphosis.
The extension of nature stretched out her hands, conjuring up enormous thorny vines with her power and letting them roll forward. They flowed like the ocean waves, carrying Willow along with them as she crashed down amongst the human troops, engulfing them and giving Avalanche some breathing room. The thorny vines wrapped around the overturned tanks and the helpless human soldiers, crushing them and piercing them with thorns as big and as sharp as iron swords.
Willow had no mercy for the humans. They had destroyed the world to get at mutants. The world was hurting, and they felt nothing. The world could not defend itself. But the extensions of its will, Storm and Willow, could defend her themselves.
"You... do not... fuck... with mother nature!" she roared, sending more thorny vines crashing down amongst the humans.
When the war was over, the world could become Green again. But for now, she had to take care of some weeds.
Author's Notes:
The battle scenes were decidedly too long, so I've broken them up into four chapters. This is part four, comprised of Storm's team and the super humans. AU Storm showing mercy on the humans? Come on, not everyone is totally heartless in this universe. And especially not oh-so-lovable Storm. Also for differentiation from all the hatred, vengeance-seeking mutants you see everywhere else. Variety is good. Angel's thoughts about bringing a gun to a gun fight? Basic rule of fighting. I'll be damned if I remember the other rules though. Coming back as a butterfly? Simpson's reference. Nobody ever suspects the butterfly. Paul's last name was inspired by entirely too much caffeine. But still, maybe he's Guy's nephew or something. Its possible, damnit! Iceman making lame puns? It's practically his job. Don't hurt me for that Kinomi-sama, its true! Willow's transformation was partially inspired by Starfire's in 'Metamorphosis.' And also by future plans for Comet-hime's 'Triangle' story. Next time, back to Rogue and the plot, promise.
DoubleL27: I always try to make little nods and tributes to the comic incarnations of the Evo cast, while keeping them distinctly Evo. And odd to see those Pietro and Evan as friends? They were friends in the regular universe until they got split into their respective groups. And yeah, gotta love that rage-inspired-by-love stuff. Potent.
Nessie6: Poor Quickie. But yeah, happy in death. Magneto on a rage? Well maybe, we'll see about that. And Tabby's blind now, her own power did it to her. Next chapter coming at the speed of Quicksilver, fast as I can. I'll be spontaneously channeling the little speedster to get it done.
Spectra2: You've become desensitized to violence. Shame on you. I poured my heart into those death scenes. When Rogue goes home, you'll know... but don't worry, I have an epilogue planned. Just like the prologue showing how she winded up in the AU. This is not done by a long shot.
ViciousAssassin: Actually, in general, I write it so that Tabby -isn't- hurt by her little time-bombs. The big ones, as you can see, are slightly different. And here's your final part of the battle before I return to Magneto and Rogue's team. Hope you enjoyed it all, I know I did writing it.
Risty: It's also my only rated R story. Shoulda clued you in. As for Amara's eyes, they're brown regular, but when she powers up they turn startling green. I saw for myself during 'Cruise Control.' As for Magneto losing his son? It'll impact things, but you'll see how later. I try to tie up loose ends.
Princess Myra: Nonsense. You think they're all cold because that's how they treated Rogue when she arrived. But to most she's a stranger, how would you treat them in the middle of a war? I try to keep the characters realistic while making them darker and placing them in this AU. But don't worry, I have a bad habit of making happy endings.
Star-of-chaos: As you can see, he did. Took out stupid Paul and sent him crying home to his momma. He loves his job.
Insane Sketchbook: To clear up some concerns. No, Mystique is not Rogue's mother in this universe. Biologically, by adoption, nothing. No relationship. And Rogue will not be going up an OC. Just an AU version of one of the regular Evo characters, I promise. As for your Romy devotions, relax. Using this story, I am guiding Rogue towards Remy. As she compares her Scott to the AU Scott, her crush is going to end. An interesting and ironic twist, no? For your final questions: Yes, Kinda, Yes, Not a chance in Hell, No, No and Hell No. Jean's not dead, no one ever found her in this dimension. That'll be cleared up later. And you forget that Evo Mystique learned how to blow shit up and fight. AU Evo Mystique never learned a damn thing except how to please a man.
Rogue14: What, and leave behind a dead, empty world? Aww, where's the fun in that? Believe me, my ending is both happy and a fitting fate for both Rogue and the Alternate Universe. Have faith in me. Have I ever done otherwise?
Todd fan: As I keep telling everyone, it's AU Quicksilver, not the lovable and egotistical Pietro from our world. I can kill off anybody and everybody I want, except maybe Rogue, and still put her back in her world at the end like nothing's wrong. But it makes for good reading, no?
DaughterofDeath: Your parents? Both your Mom and your Dad are Death? Cool. I kinda wonder how that works but gladly I'll keep giving them work to do. New chapter coming up, super speed.
X00001: We've got about six or seven chapters left, give or take, plus an epilogue. You've got a while before you see the story ends. Glad you're enjoying the passing chapters as they continue to pour out.
Comet-hime: Because of my limited knowledge of Nova Roma, I try to portray Amara as best I can. Greek mythology is one of my strong points. All I really need to do is change their names to Roman. Berzerker and Scaleface yeah... poor them. I don't think their Evo selves were ever that close (considering she once tried to rip him apart) but we'll see. And yes, there's Willow... was she everything you hoped she ever was? Hehe.