Disclaimer: Forgot one for Ch 12, so once again this counts for two chapters. I don't own anything.
ldypebsaby: I'm glad you reviewed. You know, I didn't get too many reviews for Ch 12
Tao's Girl: Hope you like this one. Talk to ya later!
Karakin: I don't know if you got my reply, but if you didn't I'm sorry if I offended you and I have no problem whatsoever with your story.
Tailfeather: Here's the fight. Enjoy!
Ch 13- A Mutant Brawl
"You know this sucks, right?" Kaye said, watching the start of what promised to be a real nasty fight.
The rest of the kids grumbled in reply, quite disappointed that they weren't given a chance in the struggle.
"I've been in way too many fights like this, and trust me, they're not fun," Kitty assured her niece.
"Well, Mom looks like she's enjoying herself," Kaye retorted irritably, remarking on how Rogue was happily trying to get at Lance.
"Yeah, well that's because she was my best friend before she was my sister in-law," Kitty explained, "When I first started to date Lance, your mother pulled him aside and said, 'If you break her heart, I'll break you."
Kaye smiled at this and watched her mother with a bit more interest than she had before. Raina shifted uncomfortably as her mother's ear was very nearly singed by Pyro. Ron looked at her worriedly, obviously longing to get out there and help his mother and father.
"Does anyone know where Tao is?" Kitty asked, wondering where the curious girl had disappeared to.
"Who?" Nate asked, after which many others asked this question.
A voice was heard, from behind the truck everyone was sitting in.
"I'm ok, mates."
Tao appeared beside them and everyone looked at her as Joel said, "So that's your name."
"Yup." She nodded, looking at the scene in front of her. "Whoa, what did I miss?"
"A lot," Triss replied, flinching as Kurt's tail was stepped on sharply by Toad.
"So what are we standin' here for?" Tao asked, watching her cousin prey on Bobby.
"Tao, I can't let you get involved in this," Kitty said sadly.
"Oh I know, 'cause you couldn't live with yourself if I got hurt," Tao replied sarcastically.
"Tao-"Kitty said, being cut off by her younger companion.
"I can't sit here and watch my cousin hurt yet another person," Tao finished bluntly. Tao promptly ran off into the fray.
"TAO!" Kitty yelled after her, hoping she would reconsider her unwise decision. But Tao didn't come back; she instead quickly immersed herself in a scrap against her cousin, John.
The other children were heartened by Tao's unruly behavior, and were seriously contemplating joining her.
"Guys, please," Kitty pleaded, "Your parents would kill me if you got in that fight."
"Somehow, I don't think my Mom would," Kaye laughed.
"Kaye, you know your Mom is, well, different," Kitty said, smiling a bit.
"Hey, where's Raina?" Nate asked, noticing she wasn't there.
"Oh no," Kitty sighed.
"Raina?" Ron asked, looking a frantic that his sister was gone.
"She's up there!" Triss exclaimed, pointing up into a tree that was right beside the truck.
Raina was indeed high in the tree, conversing with some type of bird.
"What is she doing?" Kitty asked, as she didn't yet know of Raina's power.
"She's talking to it. A lot of us sorta got powers while we were gone." Nate explained, hoping his mother wouldn't question more about this.
Suddenly the bird shot out of the treetop, to reveal a raven, bluish black and gorgeously iridescent. Raina waved to it as it swooped low, attacking Kathleen, who had been tussling with Roberto. The crow fluttered around Kathleen's head, clawing and pecking at her face. The ebony bird flew back to its new found friend, to collect its prize, which happened to be a handful of sunflower seeds. The kids smiled and clapped for Raina, who was thanking the bird which she had affectionately named "Nevermore". Nevermore collected the seeds in a large, folded leaf, and soared off with them. Raina climbed down to meet her friends, who were quite impressed with her at the moment. Kaye then whispered something to them, and they nodded. Kitty was about to question them, when the group split in two and ran in opposite directions into the woods. Kitty stood up quickly in alarm as they ran in a circle around the spread out battle, leaving Kitty and Rosie wondering what to do.
"Does we have to chase them now?" Rosie asked.
"I don't know," Kitty replied, wondering whether she help or just get in the way in this situation.
"I knows you don't wanna sit here an' watch them fight," Rosie stated, pointing to Triss and Nate, who were currently plotting on how they were going to run at Drake and Lance, who had teamed up to start the earthquake to end all earthquakes.
Kitty was mildly surprised at Rosie's simple logic, and inquired, "So, what do you think we should do?"
Rosie's common sense made another appearance as she said, "I thinks we should wait here unless somethin' really bad happens."
Kitty smiled, marveling at how sometimes a child's simple judgment could surpass that of and adult, and spoke, "I think that's a great idea."
The children had come around the battle in their two groups, and had come up behind their enemies, waiting for a good shot at their separate opponents.
"You know, maybe it would be better to just go at them in one big charge," Raina reasoned.
"Hey, that's a good idea," Nate commented.
"Or, we could give them a show of force," Triss suggested.
"That would work too," Will nodded.
"Or, we could combine them both," Kaye said, smiling like a child who had found a piece of candy.
"How?" Joel asked, obviously puzzled.
"Well, we come out of here, giving 'em a show of force," she explained, "and then, when they're standin' there, thinking they can beat us with no problem, we charge."
"I like that," Raina complemented.
"Let's go," Ron hissed in excitement.
Everyone put on their fiercest faces and attitudes. Ron was suddenly in his wolf form, snarling and frothing at the mouth. Triss managed to flicker half way into invisibility, giving her the effect of changing colors with the background. Raina had a mini army of birds, foxes, a coyote, two enormous snakes, and Nevermore perched on her shoulder, cawing harshly. Will had conjured up an enormous, icy cudgel, equipped with the odd barb here and there. Nate still had Kaye's watch and had sent it into a jerky spasm. Joel still had no idea what his new power was, but his eye glowed an unnatural silver. To top it all off, Kaye appeared in the middle of the group, making a great show of baring her teeth, and extending her claws with each slow, sinister step. Their opponents turned around to see this menacing group, and laughed, though there was a fairly long pause before it.
"You thought a show of force would scare us away?" The Scarlet Witch asked, smiling as though she were actually baring her teeth.
"I'd say it almost worked," Rogue whispered to Remy behind Wanda's back, looking at Kaye in awe. Many of the parents like Rouge had not yet seen their childrens' mutant powers.
"Remy thought you had seen Kaye as the panther," Remy frowned.
"No," said Rogue breathily, "She must have turned back when I rounded the corner."
Just as Wanda finished talking, Kaye sprang, signaling the others to charge as well. Each of the children scattered to where their parents had been struggling with their opponents. The X-Men had been losing badly, because everyone apart from those living at the institute had not really exercised their powers for a long time. But combined with their children, sheer numbers were taking its toll on Pietro's team. The younger ones were also experimenting with their powers, even those who had had them for a while. Will was having much fun toying with the large club; he also broke one of Kathleen's metal weapons by icing it over, causing it to become brittle. Triss was helping her father with his opponent, Toad. She ran around him, invisible, emitting a loud giggle every once in a while, sometimes appearing to give him a taunting wave, only to disappear again, causing him to spin around wildly trying to find her. Finally he made the mistake of turning his back on Kurt, to be kicked hard in the head, knocking him out cold.
A lot of people were trying to get to Drake and Lance, which was not an easy task. They were situated back to back, creating a massive quake that surrounded them in a circle. Almost every time someone tried to brave the tremors, they were knocked over almost instantly. Jean had even been knocked unconscious as her foot sipped on a dislodged rock and she fell hard on her head against the roots of a towering oak. Those who might have been able to stop the team of father and son couldn't get away as they were way too preoccupied with their own assailants. Wolverine was being held by Kathleen due to the indestructible metal that was worked into his bone structure. Many people were being held up by the Scarlet Witch, including Roberto, Bobby, Jubilee, and quite a few Jamies. Joel and Will were both trying to get a shot at Kathleen, which was extremely difficult. Kathleen was equipped with large metal orbs, about the size and weight of a shot-put ball. Will was trying hard to keep the whirling weights from his friend's head, while Joel tried to figure out how to help Will. Somehow, Kathleen had figured out how to keep a good hold on Wolverine, and still send the deadly metal missiles at Will and Joel's heads.
"You know, maybe you should just try to use your power, even if you don't know what it does," Will gasped, ducking as one of the metal globes nearly hit him in the jaw.
"What if my dad did that? He might blow away half the Institute!" Joel exclaimed.
Another shot put ball zoomed past Will, ruffling his hair and he shouted, "Just do it!"
Joel agreed after one of the balls whipped past his ear, scraping it badly. His one silver eye glowed as Kathleen sent one of the metal orbs strait at him. Suddenly, he sent it right back at her. Will grinned and said, "I know what your power is, you're a copycat."
"What?" Joel questioned, watching Kathleen duck.
"Remember in that cell? You copied Kaye, when she was trying to get away, and now you just copied her," Will replied, pointing at Kathleen.
"Like Kaye's Mom?" Joel asked, hoping he could question more before Kathleen started attacking again.
"No, I don't think so," Will shook his head, "I think it's more like one move, mutant or not."
"Really? Prove it," Joel said in exasperation, looking at Kathleen prepare herself for another strike.
Will kicked Joel lightly, and immediately kicked him back in the same style. Joel nodded, but then started to feel tired.
"What are you doing?" asked Will, watching Joel sink to the ground.
"I don't know why, but that took a lot of energy," He said, not sounding as scared as he should.
Joel then collapsed, but not unconscious yet, as he watched Will try to block one of the globes go straight at his forehead. He was wondering how Will would handle this, when in a blur of color, Pietro moved Will out of the way, leaving Joel exposed to Kathleen's weapon.
Ron, Rahne, Raina, and Kaye were trying desperately to bring down Fred. They were sending all of their efforts towards him at once, attempting to overwhelm him. Kaye was just about to take another shot at the Blob, when she saw Joel lying on the ground with a metal ball aimed right at his head. She dashed across the space between her and Joel, hoping to get there in time. Joel truly thought that Kathleen really was going to hit with that heavy orb, when a black blur hit Kathleen, causing her to shoot backwards. The shot-put ball missed Joel's head, but barely. He sat up to see Kaye, breathing heavily, standing over an unconscious Kathleen.
"You saved my life," He said, looking at her in wonder. Of all people, Kaye was the one to rush over. He was greatly surprised that someone so defensive and reserved, someone who was the complete opposite of him, would make an effort to make sure he lived to see another day.
"Don't read too much into it," A human Kaye replied, helping Joel up.
"Why did you?" he asked.
Kaye, who didn't really want to answer the question, said, "You know, I can put you right back into the line of fire any time I want."
Joel fell quiet, thinking long after Kaye had left to go back and help Ron, Rahne, and Raina.
Pietro was probably the biggest problem in the whole skirmish. He was way too fast for anyone to catch. Jean was unconscious, so she couldn't stop him using telekinesis; therefore, he had no limits. The only reason he hadn't stopped Kaye from saving Joel, was because he never thought she would. He held a struggling Will by the shirt collar, while Bobby and Jubilee were absolutely terrified to see their son in the grasp of such a powerful mutant. Wanda smiled as she watched the boy's parents writhe helplessly, panicking in her grasp. The majority was tussling with Quicksilver, and were not accomplishing anything. Evan had tried pinning him down with spikes, Scott had tried shooting him down, as had Amara and Ray; Kurt was attempting to catch him using teleportation, but that had failed also. Triss had gone invisible, but that didn't help, for even if Pietro couldn't find her, he was too fast to catch. Nate had even tried to stop time altogether, to find he had only slowed it down. Nate looked around him, to see that everything was in slow motion due to the time lapse. He then saw Pietro, who seemed to be moving normally.
"Score," Nate whispered, seeing Pietro whirl around in shock. Quicksilver was used to being able to outrun everybody, and for the first time in many years, someone caught up with him. Nate hit him hard on the back of his head, knocking him unconscious instantly. He then brought time back to its normal pace, to find everyone staring at him. While all the bystanders were sitting there doing nothing, Lance took the chance to send a small earthquake towards Nate, sending him forward, where he hit his arm badly on a boulder that was jutting out of the ground. The arm snapped with a sickening crack. Nate lay stretched out on the ground, unable to move, his arm grossly distorted. Kitty and Kurt were at Nate's side immediately. Kurt lifted him up, letting Kitty look at his arm.
"It's definitely broken," she said.
Triss by now was there too, whimpering frantically in worry at her brother's face which was contorted in anguish. Nate was trying his best not to cry, in fear of being laughed at for being a baby. Raina, seeing this, came over and said, "Nobody's going to make fun of you Nate, you can cry if you want."
Nate either took this advice, or couldn't bear the pain any longer, and let the tears run down his face. Nate's tears dropped on Kurt's sleeve as Kitty let go of her son's shoulder, turning around sharply to face Lance. Her ex-husband didn't have time to fight back as she reared back and slapped Lance, leaving a vast hand print on his face. The group looked on in amazement, having never seen someone hit another human being that hard. Kitty was shaking in pure rage, and in the excitement, her water broke.
"Why now?" Rogue asked the heavens, looking up at the sky as Kitty put a hand over her mouth in surprise.
"It's Murphy's Law," Kaye replied, "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, and in the worst possible way, place, and time."