Clash of Titans Part 1
Mac and Jesse ran down the stairwell to the lowest level of the huge hospital. The basement held pipes, ducts, tanks full of chemicals, all the veins and arteries needed so the whole building would function as a living body. Three columns, as the body's spines, stood in line, supporting the bulk of the building's weight. Other columns shot up from the corners, assisting the three pillars in their structural job. Quickly, Mac and Jesse spotted the camera high up on the central column, innocent looking, but much bigger than the other cameras found around the building. Jesse turned to Mac, "You know, if this thing goes off, we're toast power or no power."
"Then we musn't allow it to go off," retorted the older man, as he carefully unscrewed the side of the camera.&&&Outside, dark clouds were rolling and gathering above and thunder could be heard in the distance. Light was fading fast as a storm formed in the sky over the hospital."Adam Kane, I presume." Nickolas Lareou grinned. He had them outnumbered and surrounded. "Hello, Lux. Long time, no see.""Not nearly time enough, Nick," returned the Ring's leader. "You got St. Mike's, but missed the orphanage, you know?""Too bad. Your visions have always been a nuisance, Lux," answered the renegade, pleasantly. "Your safehouse in Cascade was my consolation prize, though."The hearts of all Cascade Group sank. What had happened to their friend Joel Taggart?&&&
MacGyver studied the small timer in the palmtop linked to the mass of plastic explosive. On the pillar's surface, more plastic explosive was attached to the concrete, it's color perfectly matching the surface. The bomber had used a handheld computer to rig the explosive's trigger. To a mere human explosives expert, it would have been impossible to disable. With the help of a certain molecular, though, they might stand a chace.&&&
"I'd hoped I'd see this architectural masterpiece of yours blow up sky high with you inside, Kane." Lareou let a long sigh out. "Nothing is perfect, is it? Pity! What a show it would be." And he picked a palmtop from his back pocket.Three telekinetics shot their hands and snatched the device from the New Order leader, holding it in midair. Lareou wasn't intimidated. He just looked at the Oriental woman. Yukio Mishimoto withdrew two steps behind Ntobo and the ferals, picked up her own handheld. Numbers, symbols, icons started running through her skin and her eyes glowed bright blue."To me!" yelled Donna Gryphon, pulling the floating palmtop to her hand."NO! You're not strong enough!" shouted the bird feral.Too late. Clutching the small device, Donna turned her back to the mutants and humans below and sank behind the railing, her body glowing equations, icons and symbols. Pink light glowed from the top of the building like a beacon.Blond surfer Bree Williams bent her knees in a ballet movement and hit the ground with her fist, sending a ripple through the earth as if hitting water directed to the center of the parking lot. Brennan Mulwray rolled his hands in a circle, gathering energy for a blast. That very moment, Windell Mann lifted his arms and brought them down fast. Rain poured from the sky like a shower, electrocuting the young elemental. Cat screamed and lunged at the nearest feral. Lux Windsor ran to the stunned elemental and spread her palms over his heart. Her eyes and Brennan's skin under her hand shone white. Lux withdrew her hand as soon as the young man opened his eyes, preserving her strength for the fight.&&&
Donna's glowing cyberbody stepped into the circuits of a huge motherboard. Everywhere, information in the form of sparks ran through brightly lit conduits that looked like freeways
photographed at night, headlights leaving brilliant collored trails through the picture. Reaching out with her mind, she located her foe and jumped into one of the light tubes, flying like a rocket to the exact point where Yukio Mishimoto was about to trigger on the software that would blow the hospital, everything and everybody in it to smithereens. As the Oriental lifted her fist to hit "return", a missile smashed against her chest, sending her flying against a wall of lead lights, disrupting the cyberhighway and exploding in cyphers and blinking sparks."Donna Gryphon, we meet again," hissed the Japanese woman."And again you're just leaving," Donna shot back.&&&
In the hospital's bowels, MacGyver delicately unscrewd and detached the palmtop's front panel. The tiniest circuits and boards appeared beneath the plastic surface. One wrong movement and they'd be fondly remembered by their loved ones.&&&
The parking lot had become a battle ground.The earth trembled under their feet as Bree Williams hit the pavement with her fists as if it was a drum. The tarmac broke in a crack that ran in the direction of Jack and Makenna Coniglario. The reptillian feral, eyes glowing green, grabbed his wife by the waist and rolled to safety, pushing her to a corner, protected by a large garbage bin. His retractable fangs grew in his mouth, giving him the appearance of a vampire and his forked tongue darted out as a lizard feral from the New Order jumped at him, clawed hands reaching for his throat.Mumbata Ntobo shot vines from the cement floor at Ellison and Buchanan, who were fighting the feral soldiers. Though human, both were sentinels and highly trained, their heightened senses giving them an edge to fight the mutant animals that lunged at them. Blair and Sam, Swiss army knives opened and sharp, cut the vines that threatened to tie and strangle them, as they tried to get to Ntobo and cut his connection to the ground.Jax McManus faced a woman feral. They circled, eyeing each other. Suddenly, the woman cackled a high pitched laugh and leapt at Jax's face. The lioness tackled the hiena woman
avoiding her outstreched hands with a somersault, at the same time kicking her in the back, as her eyes seached for her real intended target, but it was now impossible to know where Aidaan Malone, the shapeshifter, could be found.At Jax's side, Shalimar Fox jumped as the dark man in a ponytail shot her a cloud of acidic gas. The blonde feline feral landed low on bended knees and swept her leg under Yanos Panarides, kicking his feet from under him. The chemical elemental rolled over his side and rapidly stood up, attacking Shalimar with tear gas.Viciously kicking the fearl she fought in the face, Cat turned directly to Lareou and lunged at him. "Knock me out," she whispered. "I don't want to fight you." Turning her over and imobilizing the cat in a half-nelson, Lareou shot her a sonic blast that exploded her eardrums, turning the light of the world off for her. He shoved her limp body to the side.From her vantage point above the building, Revolution watched as the tiny man in a turban clenched a fist. His hand turned into a blue ball of fire and he hurled it directly to Lux Windsor's turned back, a killing bullet of horrible death. Leaping from the ceiling, Riley Jackson hovered over the battle ground. One hand outstretched, she stopped the ball of fire midway and hurled it back at the Sikh, who ducked and let it pass over his head, hitting the garbage bin in front of Makenna Coniglario. The human doctor screamed and jumped to the side. Lareou looked up and released a sound blast that slammed Riley against a wall, stunning her.
&&&
Two glowing bodies floated in cyberspace, their movements in slow motion were a deadly dance that sent sparks and fireflies all over the information highway every time they connected. A kick from the slant eyed digicyber sent a weakened Donna Gryphon against the strands of light running behind her and only her telekinetic power could stop her from disappearing into the depths of the system. Flying back on determination only, the multi-psionic slammed against the digicyber making her body crash against the motherboard. To Donna's horror, the Oriental mutant seized the chance to slam her fist against the return key, but her arm passed all the way through the board as it flickered and blurred. The Japanese woman retrieved her hand fast and looked up to Donna in total confusion. The board seemed to be pulled out of the system, disappearing before their very eyes. Donna jumped in action and grabbed the digicyber's arm and twisting it, the sole of her boot found Yukio's back and pushed hard. With a round kick of her right foot, Donna knocked the New Order operative out and her glowing body dissolved through the circuits and lead lights covering the bright cybernetic world. Sinking to her knees, Donna Gryphon let her cyberbody dissolve back into her solid form on top of the building. Her exhausted body slid to the side and her limp hand let go of the now blank palmtop.
&&&"Good, now mass the tip of the pincers just a little, around the chip," instructed MacGyver."I can feel it." Jesse Kilmartin's brow was covered in sweat, his concentration unwavering. This was precision work, extremely dangerous. One mistake and they'd be history. First Donna, now this. Tough day at the office."Now, phase it and pull the chip out. Slowly.""I did the same thing fifteen minutes ago, with Angela." And Jesse pulled out a tiny round black dot, the size of a head of a pin, from inside the palmtop. The screen went blank and he blew out the breath he was holding inside.&&&
The ground was shaking under their feet, rain poured relentlessly from the overcast sky. The Alliance fought with valour but the tips were favoring their foes. It was necessary to cut Bree Williams connection to earth, put her out of comission. Leaping over Brennan's still unconscious body, Adam slammed his feet against Bree's chest, sending her sprawling against the hospital's front steps. For a moment, the earth stopped it's tremor and Adam straddled the stunned terraformer. Pinning her shoulder to the steps, he lifted his right hand to strike a blow that would have knocked the elemental out. A man's hand grabbed Adam's and jerked him back up to his feet. "I should have killed you when I had the chance, Adam Kane," growled a triumphant Alex Tremayne. "Time to correct my mistake." And a violet light enveloped the older man, glowing darker by the second.From violet to purple to black, the sickening light of Tremayne's power shot from their locked hands to dominate and surround the man in black's whole body. Adam felt his knees buckle under him, his sight blurr as his body temperature skyrocketed. The renegade molecular drove the full force of his deadly power, turning whatever microorganisms Adam Kane might naturally carry in his body into a lethal carrier of unrelenting death, congesting lungs, infesting blood, infecting membrane and killing his victim of natural causes. Want to stop an army? Stop the general. And this one was dead already.From her perch up the building, Angela saw her falconer attacked and protective instinct took her over. Diving down, talons first, she aimed at Tremayne, ready to rip his face off. "Get the harpy!" shouted Lareou. A ball of fire hurled by the Sikh hit the bird woman directly in the face, sending her tumbling backwards until she hit the pavement.&&&
MacGyver and Jesse ran from one corner to the other of the clinic disconnecting cameras full of plastic explosive. Havind disabled the main trigger, the other units weren't that hard to disengage.&&&
He was dying. With his feverish eyes, he saw his allies fighting for their lives. The reptillian Zack Coniglario slaming a lizard feral against the small Pandiat Singh, knocking the Sikh off his feat and stopping the balls of fire from flying around; Shalimar tackling two ferals at once, punching and kicking like a she-devil; Jax, the lioness, rolling and sweeping Lareou's feet from under him, Brennan standing up and backhanding one of Shal's attackers. He was dying and his legacy with him. The New Order would dominate all mutants without Mutant X and the Ring to stop it. Mankind wouldn't stand a chance against a highly organized gang of renegade superpowered beings. His labored breath came in gasps, bringing a taste of blood to his mouth. The grip on his right hand was like a vise, burning and robbing him of whatever strength he still had. He was dying. He reached with his left hand, trying to grab something, anything that he might use to pull himself out of Alex Tremayne's killing grip.The hand that held his was cool and soft, yet strong and firm, infusing his ailing body with a refreshing shot of white light. In a superhuman effort, he turned his head to the source of relief. "Lux..." he whispered.Lux Windsor had Adam by the hand and poured all her healing power into him, seeking to drive Alex's black light back to the renegade mutant. The killer and the healer looked each other in the eye, a tug-of-war over the fate of the man who unwittingly created mutantkind, and now was a mere pawn in the struggle for his own life and the future of the whole world. Without him, Lux would be alone, the only force to block Lareou's power crazy march over the planet. Adam would not die, she wouldn't let him. There was much to be done, and she needed him. Tapping into the well of her own life force, drawing strength from her very soul, Lux Windsor pushed her white light against Alex's blackness.As the tug-of-war raged over him, Adam looked around, alternatingly through dark and white light. The fight was almost over, those who remained standing from the two bands stopping to watch the combat between light and darkness. The winner of that clash would triumph that day. Only the most strange of battles still went on in full force. He thought he was surely delirious... That couldn't be... He was either hallucinating or altogether losing his mind... A wolf, a jaguar, a tiger and a hawk were attacking a forest of living, howling trees... From the right corner of his eyes, he saw a fox coming out of the hospital, his hospital and lunge at the moving trees, tipping the battle's odds in favor of the animals. Not ferals... animals... Painfully, he turned his head in Lux's direction and saw an owl flapping it's wings over her head, hooting angrily and showing its talons to Alex Tremayne.Lux herself was sinking to her knees, her life force drained, her white light dimming and running back into her body, chased by the black light emanating from Tremayne, who laughed out loud, anticipating the glory of singlehandedly killing both Adam Kane and Lux Windsor.
Coming back to reality, Revolution and Donna Gryphon took in the situation. The fight was at a standstill, both the Alliance and the New Order were holding their breaths, waiting for the outcome of the tug-of-war between Lux and Tremayne, and Lux was losing, her light fading fast. With no time to think, both telekinetics floated to the healer's side and joined hands with her, adding their life force to fuel hers and using their power to push Tremayne's back. Lux Windsor's head snapped up and she came back to her feet, as three hands were clasped together in their own version of the power of a triad, the two additions to the white light side feeding their living energy to the healer. The Alliance's remaining forces fell back around their leaders in a protective circle. No one else would interfere. Come what may, this battle would be fought to the end.The bright white light now blazed, dazzling and pushing the black light through Adam's body back into the stunned Tremayne, now incapable of resisting the power of the psionic molecular healer aided by the two telekinetics. Shining ever more brightly, a pool of white light surrounded the three women and forced all the blackness into Tremayne's body in a rush of energy that exploded in a heart piercing scream as the owl plunged its talons into the renegade's chest, making his body fall flat on his back, eyes open and dead.