Chapter Eighteen, Part II

A fierce battle waged on the deck of the sleek Imperial Cruiser (1). The ship sailed through the sky like a cloud-dwelling whale, its masthead flags and pennants fluttering high above the roars of the combatants, and the clatter of glinting steel.

Kurt squirmed and twisted as he fell through the air, reaching for the thick, colorful fabric, but he'd gained so much momentum, the flags only managed to slow his fall, not stop it. He tried to shout a warning, but it came out more like a frightened yelp as he crash-landed right in the thick of the fight, flattening several blue-skinned pirates...whose fall flattened several others...and theirs several others...

"Aaaooowwwww," he moaned. Rubbing his throbbing head, he struggled to sit up and survey the damage.

Unconscious blue bodies lay scattered all around him, all of them scantily clad in gold and bronze with red bandanas tied over their black hair.

Cautiously, he rolled off the pile of softly groaning fighters and climbed to his feet. Only when he looked back did he realize the pirate he'd landed on was a woman.

"Oh!" he exclaimed, an embarrassed flush rising up his face to burn his ears. "I'm dreadfully sorry—"

"Sir?" a plaintive, female voice called out from behind him.

Startled, Kurt spun around to face her, his jaw dropping at the sight.

A tall, stunning blonde stood before him, draped in flowing cloth of white and gold. An elaborate golden headdress framed her pale, aristocratic features, bedecked with sparkling jewels. But it was her eyes that caught and held his gaze, her wide blue eyes so full of terror and pleading that, despite his own confusion and fear, Kurt's heart went out to her.

"Please sir," the woman sobbed, "I beg you - SAVE ME!"

Her words dissolved into a terrified shriek as she pointed over his shoulder with a trembling hand.

Kurt turned his head - only to see a fresh horde of angry blue pirates charging their way, cutlasses drawn and gleaming in the sunlight.

"Oh dear…" he said, pushing the woman back among some storage crates, where she could hide

"Kymri's down!" one of the larger pirates growled, his fury evident in his golden eyes.

"Have at 'im, mates!" an even burlier pirate shouted, the tip of his curved blade pointed straight at Kurt's heart. "Let's do for the swine what dropped our cap'n!"

"It was an accident!" Kurt protested, ducking under the pirate's slashing blade and falling into a roll, yanking a pair of swords from the gloved hands of two unconscious pirates and plucking a third from a nearby scabbard with his tail before rising back to his feet. "I assure you I had no intention—!"

But the pirates were on him now, and he had no spare breath for speaking. He stumbled back to avoid another powerful slash then, while the muscular pirate was bent over, he leaped up onto his shoulders and somersaulted over the heads of his attackers to land on the deck railing.

The pirates roared their frustration, and Kurt felt a confident, roguish grin spread over his features, certain now that he could meet their challenge.

"All right, then!" he shouted over the noise. "Have it your way!"

Thrusting his three blades out, he made a daring backwards flip and kicked out with his legs, knocking pirates left, right, and sideways as he dove straight into the heart of the fight. The blue-skinned pirates clearly aimed to gut him, but Kurt nimbly dodged their attacks, trading on his agility to turn their own momentum and size against them.

Kurt had no idea who these pirates were, or what they were actually fighting for, and he wasn't willing to fight to kill. So, rather than slashing back with equal fury, Kurt focused on his acute spatial awareness to sense where their blows would come an instant before they arrived, careful to use his blades only to parry their powerful attacks while relying on his feet, arms, elbows, and whip-like tail to whack the pirates unconscious.

The strategy worked. Before long, he was the only man left standing.

Grinning and exhilarated from the fight, Kurt rested the sword in his tail across his shoulder and leaned rakishly against the one in his left hand to survey the damage.

"Now," he said, smiling to himself, "that's what I call a workout!"

"YOU CUR!"

Kurt blinked in surprise, startled by the sight of a very angry, very beautiful blue-skinned woman - the same woman he had accidentally landed on. Apart from his mother, Mystique, it was exceedingly rare for Kurt to encounter a woman with skin and eye coloring so similar to his own, and he couldn't help but reflect that her proud, determined features were far lovelier when she was conscious.

Like the male pirates, she wore a red bandana tied around her forehead, but her long, curly black hair was adorned with an elaborate golden clip, and she was dressed very scantily in red and gold body armor. Her balanced stance and fierce expression marked her as a warrior, a leader, her golden eyes seething with barely contained fury as she brandished her two swords, beckoning Kurt to take her on.

"You've not won the day, paladin," she growled through clenched, white teeth, every word dripping with deadly threat. "Not 'till you've bested me!"

Kurt raised an eyebrow, noting with some concern that, despite her well-practiced stance, she had not yet recovered from his inopportune crash landing. She held her right arm a bit too close to her side, and her eyes kept unfocusing. Kurt could only imagine the incredible willpower that kept her on her feet. Respect filled him at the young leader's show of bravery; he was desperate to talk with her, to find out what she was fighting for.

But, such a conversation would be impossible as long as she was armed…

So, he smiled and bowed slightly to the poised warrior, saying, "If you insist."

With a deft flick of his wrists, he encompassed her blades and disarmed her in less than a moment, raising the cutlass in his tail to rest just under her chin.

Although she was now at his mercy, the fierce, blue-skinned woman did not cower, nor did her firm gaze waver.

Kurt felt his respect for her rise several more notches.

"I want you to know I am very sorry about all the trouble my unexpected arrival has caused," he told her, hoping his sincerity was reaching her. It was impossible to tell from her stoic expression. "If I might introduce myself? Kurt Wagner by name, also known as Nightcrawler. I'm a stranger here, who'd much rather be romancing a lovely lady than dueling her."

The woman spat on the deck at his feet.

"I'd sooner snuggle with a sand shark," she snapped, glaring straight into his eyes.

Her defiant self-assurance struck a chord in his heart, sparking a strange feeling of déjà vu. He had been in this situation before, long ago…

The realization hit him with the force of a lightening bolt, and Kurt rolled his eyes, disgusted with himself for not realizing sooner. This was a memory! The memory of an adventure he'd had years ago, back when he had led the British superhero team Excalibur. His mind must have sent him there to save him from falling into that horrible lava pit of Belasco's—

Kurt gasped. Of course - Belasco was still out there…how could he have forgotten…?

The female pirate began to laugh, noting the change in his expression. Kurt stared in alarm as her narrow features began to shift, her voice deepening until, within moments, the noble Kymri had been replaced with a smirking Belasco.

The demon quickly snatched the cutlass from his horrified opponent's tail and stepped in close, pressing the sharp blade against Kurt's fuzzy neck.

"You really are a sap, aren't you," he snarled, fiercely backing his half-brother against the ship's railing. "I'm going to slice you up into pieces so small even Azazel won't be able to sew you back together again!"

Kurt grimaced, bending his back over the railing as far as he could. He darted his eyes around the ship, desperate for an escape route, only to see the sleek Imperial Cruiser deteriorate into a nightmarish ghost ship all around him, the polished metal corroding in spreading patches of peeling rust. The unconscious pirates sat up and lurched to their feet, their deep blue features twisting like horrific masks as they advanced on him, their golden eyes glowing red. Others swarmed up the masts, streaming up from the lower decks like a hoard of mindless zombies. With the chill of Belasco's blade against his neck, there was nowhere to teleport, nowhere to run—

Unless…

Kurt twisted his neck to peer through the clouds below the flying ship. He could see no sign of land, only an endless expanse of bright, blue sky.

Under normal circumstances, leaping out into that expanse could mean certain death. But, Kurt knew these weren't normal circumstances. This was his memory, his subconscious mind they were flying through. If Belasco could alter the environment according to his will, then Kurt should be able to do so even better.

He just had to concentrate.

Shooting Belasco a defiant grin, Kurt vanished in a puff of smoke, reappearing several feet off the ghost ship's starboard bow. To his delight, instead of tumbling helplessly through the air, Kurt landed with both feet planted firmly on a cloud, the surface of which felt as firm and smooth as a ballroom floor.

"Ha!" he crowed, pulling a thin, sharp rapier and a long dagger out of thin air.

Belasco glared at him from the corroded ship, slamming his fist down on the railing in fury.

Kurt laughed.

"What was that you were saying about cutting me to pieces?" he taunted, flicking the rapier back and forth like a whip.

Belasco snarled.

"You haven't beaten me yet, little freak!" he roared, leaping from the ship with his heavy cutlass aimed straight at Kurt's belly.

Kurt snagged his blade, pushing it away with a graceful half-turn, then coming back with a cut to Belasco's shoulder.

The demon clenched his teeth in livid fury, parrying the cut so forcefully sparks flew from their clashing blades.

Using his dagger in concert with his long rapier, Kurt entrapped his half-brother's notched cutlass, forcing it down to the solid cloud at their feet, then shoving Belasco away with his shoulder.

The demon stumbled and nearly fell from the cloud, his lone arm wheeling as he struggled to recover his balance.

But, Kurt wasn't about to give him that chance. Focusing all his concentration, he dropped his weapons and held out both hands, trying his hardest to picture an iron cage clamping shut around Belasco, cutting the demon off from accessing his mind for good.

Kurt gasped with the effort but, slowly, very slowly, ghostly bars began to solidify around the snarling demon.

Too slowly.

Before the cage had a chance to coalesce, Belasco made a swift slicing motion with his hand, cutting through the insubstantial bars and leaping off the edge of the cloud.

Kurt gaped, then dashed after him, thinking only of keeping Belasco in his sights as he tumbled helplessly through the air...

The cotton-like clouds parted to reveal a massive, raging whirlpool swirling just below them. Belasco grinned over his shoulder, his golden eyes wild as he straightened his back and dove straight in to the black hole at its center.

Kurt had just enough time to reflect that leaping after Belasco so mindlessly might not have been the wisest course of action before he, too, was swallowed up by the raging blackness.

To Be Continued...


NOTE: (1) The multi-pirate fight scene and much of the dialogue for the preceding was quoted from Excalibur #16: Warlord (Part of the Cross-Time Caper) by Chris Claremont and Alan Davis. The rest of the bizarreatude is all mine. :)