13. Hammer and Anvil
The Mansion
Greenwich, Connecticut,
The two groups faced each other in the wreckage of the once beautiful mansion. Monet and Warpath, having already fought each other almost to a standstill. Blink and Chamber, two people sharing so similar lives. Jean-Paul and Domino. "This is just wonderful," Domino said in a singsong voice. "All the surviving members of my little motley Crew together again." Ignoring her, Jean-Paul turned to Blink and said softly, "Clarice…we can't afford to screw around with her. Don't try and reason with him." Glancing at him, Blink replied, "Get stuffed, Jean-Paul. I'm not going to kill Chamber. I'll figure out something." Before Jean-Paul could respond, Domino had whipped out a gun and begun firing rounds towards the two of them. Monet launched herself at the pale woman but Warpath tackled her on the way over, the two powerhouses slamming into the remains of the staircase, titanic struggle resumed. Blink vanished at the sound of gunfire, reappearing a few meters to the side whilst Jean-Paul dodged the bullets and hurtled towards Domino. Domino snapped a board up from the ground, hurling it solidly towards Jean-Paul, and retreating back into the house. The Canadian hurtled aside, dodging the board and zipping back on course as Domino slipped into another room. Seconds later, he slammed through the door at more than 100 kilometres an hour, not even bothering to open it.
Blink charged towards Chamber, calling out, "Jono! You have to fight them, Jono! You can't let them win! You can't let her win! You have to..." she broke off, vanishing in a flash of pink as the spot she had been standing was annihilated, barely pausing in her pleading, "..you have to fight, Jono!" she begged, dodging desperately around the tens of small balls of fire flying towards her.
Monet and Warpath struggled desperately, two immensely strong mutants. Trading blows that would have destroyed small buildings, the two fought back and forth on the ground at first, then took to the air. Monet caught Warpath a blow on the chin that send him flying directly into the unconscious bodies of two of his compatriots. The teenager didn't even make a sound, lifting off the ground again to slam a kick into Monet's stomach that knocked the air from her lungs. Following up with a knee to her head that sent her spinning backwards, Warpath caught the failing woman by the arm and began to spin. Round and round he spun, Monet unable to reorient herself for battle. Suddenly, he let her loose, the Underground agent flying through two layers of floor before being stopped by the ground, landing in a small crater. Coughing, Monet spat blood out of her mouth. This isn't working, she thought to herself. He's stronger than I am, I've only held him off this long because I'm trained. Curling into a ball, she felt her chest. I've broken a rib shethought, feeling the piercing agony in her chest that told her. I can't fight. Pulling her mind away from her injuries, Monet blocked out all her surroundings, the pain from her injuries, the faint sound of Warpath's feet landing on the cold concrete beside her. She centred herself, reaching inside her own mind to find her telepathic power. Warpath picked her up by her uniform, the straightening of her body sending spears of icy agony through her chest. Taking a shallow, gasping breath, Monet's mind struck out like a snake, shutting down Warpath's brain. There was something stopping her, another telepath was in his mind but she slammed through, not trying to force the telepath out. She was too tired for subtlety. With a last telepathic heave of effort, the man collapsed like a puppet with cut strings. He dropped Monet to the ground and she found that her limbs had gone cold, she could barely move. Breathing was agony. She must have pierced a lung. Settling down, she began to meditate, leaving her body behind and slowing her breathing. She had to do what she could to minimize the damage. She had to hope Blink and Northstar were ok.
Two floors above Monet, Blink was still frantically dodging Chamber's blasts. "Jono, I'm not going to hurt you!" she shouted. "Maybe a little," she muttered to herself, a blast singeing her hair as she rolled under it. Finally, giving up reasoning with him, Blink 'ported to behind and above Chamber, leg sweeping up behind her which should have clipped the back of his head. Unfortunately, she'd used that trick too many times with Chamber and he grabbed her foot as she appeared, slamming her into the ground. Blink hit with a grunt, the air forced from her lungs with the impact. Rolling desperately to the side, she was barely missed by the fireball that blew a hole through the timber floor where she had just been. Not bothering to get up, she 'ported again, back to near where had been originally which was now behind Chamber. As she swept her leg out, he blasted straight down in front of him, lifting him meters into the air and very nearly burning her leg off. Blink stared at him as he landed, chest glowing like a furnace, a sinister light gleaming in his eyes. Suddenly, she realised she'd been overconfident. She'd been promising not to hurt Jono but at that moment, Blink wondered if she could hurt him. He certainly hadn't been promising not to hurt her.
Jean-Paul followed Domino through the door, not bothering to open it. This nearly proved fatal. A table had been placed in front of the gap between the door and the opening of the room; the underside had large spikes driven through it. Examining them closely for a moment, Jean-Paul recognized them as the bone spikes that the teenage guy had been shooting out before. Planting his foot carefully, Jean-Paul kicked the table out of the way just in time to see Domino disappear through another door. A split second later, he kicked that door open too. "Domino!" he roared, furious and hate-filled. Entering the next room, he stared in amazement for nearly ten seconds. A hall of mirrors. In a mansion. In Connecticut. Jean-Paul took off, speeding forward and the sonic boom left behind shattered every mirror he passed, hundreds of images of him splitting into thousands, millions as he sped through. Suddenly, he caught a Domino standing in a mirror and, grabbing one of the larger glass shards from the ground, he hurled it directly at the woman. She shattered into a thousand pieces as the glass hit the mirror. The reflection didn't even flinch. Suddenly, she raised her hand and then her middle finger. Northstar screamed a sound of pure rage and sped through the corridors, the mirrors disintegrating behind him. He slammed to a stop in front of the next door, followed by a glistening silver cloud, more cautious. Opening it quickly, he ducked his head through. "Jean-Paul," a voice whispered. He slammed through the door, hoping to grab Domino before she could get away again. "Jean-Paul," Domino's voice chuckles, filled with madness. "I seeeeeeeeeee you, Jean-Paul." Jean-Paul turned his head quickly, searching for Domino, any hint as to where she was. "So, JP, let me ask you something," she continued. "Why is your sister in that loony bin up north?" Jean-Paul froze, threatening, "If you touch her, Domino…." The unseen woman just laughed. "If I touch her you'll what, Jean-Paul? Hmmm? What if I've already 'touched' her, what if she's bleeding to death in her little room now because you were too busy playing hero to protect her? What would you do, Jean-Paul?" she finished with a shout. Jean-Paul turned, a cold expression on his face. Where was she? He thought frantically. Where the hell was she? Domino continued, "Why does she hate you so much, Jean-Paul?" she asked, almost friendly, "What did you do to her?" Spinning around again, Jean-Paul searched for a hole in the wall, a speaker, anything that could tell him where she was. "Or was it something you didn't do? C'mon, Jean-Paul, there shouldn't be secrets between friends," she said, just before a gunshot burst out through the wall. Jean-Paul whirled at the sound of the gun, easily avoiding the bullet. He heard footsteps as Domino ran off chuckling. Slamming into the wall, he jammed his hand through the bullet hole and pried open the panels of the wall, entering the slight gap between the falls. Taking a guess based on the sound of her footsteps, Jean-Paul flew down the tunnel as fast as he could.
Sprinting through the tunnels between the walls that honeycombed the mansion, Domino flew along her way, hearing Jean-Paul tear into the tunnel system. Knowing it wouldn't be long enough to get to her planned exit, Domino made a viciously tight turn, heading flat out towards the light. Bursting out through the opening, she saw Monet and Warpath were both down and Blink was facing off with Chamber. No time to think, she vaulted the banister heading for the landing. With a thud, she hit what was left of the halfway point up the stairs, passing over the body of one of her people. Bedlam her mind whispered, which she acknowledged with a nod to herself. Sometimes her mind told her things, told her to do things. But sometimes it told her in a different voice. It didn't matter. Throwing herself off the now creaking landing, Domino landed with a roll, coming up firing directly at Blink.
Blink was still desperately trying to dodge Chamber, barely managing to avoid getting incinerated. Suddenly, there was a crash on the upper floor and Domino vaulted over the railing. Blink turned and had to drop at the last minute, getting a singed back. She heard a brief thud through the ground as Domino landed and 'ported herself out before she even heard the firing start. Landing on her knees a few meters away, Blink panted faintly, still exhausted from the chase around the globe. Breathing hard, she jumped as a blast annihilated one of the few surviving pieces of furniture behind her. More shots rang out, peppering the wall behind her and she vanished again, reappearing behind Domino. Blink's foot lashed out at the woman's head but Domino began to turn at the last second, saving herself from most of the blow. Spinning around, she fired directly at Blink and the bullets hit her in the arm, blood flicking out like black rain in the menacing glow emanating from Chamber. Blink hit the ground, unsuccessfully trying to dodge the bullet, screaming.
Jean-Paul finally found that Domino had split off, long after he should have caught her, and burst onto the scene just in time to see Blink go down in a spray of blood. Moments later, he hit Domino at forty kilometres an hour, slamming the woman into the floor. Jumping over her, he reached for Blink but a brief heat warned him and he dragged Blink off the ground, ignoring her cry and lifting off as fast as she would survive to escape the searing blast that had been fired at them. Dropping Blink off on the second floor, Jean-Paul blurred as he threw himself off after Chamber.
The boy's fire had dimmed a little, the extra strength he'd acquired from somewhere starting to fade. Jean-Paul flew directly at him, suddenly speeding up even faster to appear behind Chamber but the boy wreathed himself in his own fire, surrounding himself in burning psionic flame. Jean-Paul slammed his hands through, shouting with pain as his fist slammed into the side of the turning boy's head, knocking him to the ground. He looked at his arms, covered with painful burns. Was it bad that they didn't hurt?
A voice rang out from the upper floor. "Hold up, amigo!" It was the purple-haired boy whom Jean-Paul had fought before, the blond girl standing where the foot of the stairs had once been. The boy was holding an unconscious Blink, bone dagger to her throat. "You let us go or the girl gets it!" the boy shouted, a Mexican accent thick in his voice. Jean-Paul stared, dazed. He normally would be able to get to the boy and do something incredibly painful with that dagger before he could stab but this kid was fast. He'd seen that before, and Jean-Paul was tired. The blond girl advanced forward confidently, surrounding herself with little yellow energy balls. She grabbed Domino from where she lay on the ground and slapped her face. "Wake up," she said emotionlessly, as Domino began to stir. Dropping the pale woman to the ground, leaving her to recover, she walked towards Jean-Paul. Close enough for him to see the two drops of blood trickling from her eyes through the dust and grime on her cheek. He stared at her in exhausted horror, the two drops one of the most sinister thing's he'd ever seen.
Domino crawled to her feet, the blond girl not reacting. Wiping her mouth, she said, "Meltdown, get Bedlam. Riptide, keep the girl. If our dear, dear friend Jean-Paul moves an inch, kill her." Walking over to the hole where Monet and Warpath had landed, Domino spat out of the corner of her mouth. "Great," she said in disgust. "He's down in the bloody crater. Just perfect." Spinning around, she opened her mouth when a group of figures in black combat armour appeared with a snap. Jean-Paul easily identified Vanisher as their transport, noticing the man at the back disappear after a second. As the corners of Jean-Paul's mouth turned up a modicum in relief, Psylocke stepped forward and said coldly, "Stop. Sit. Stay." Shadowcat whacked Multiple Man on the shoulder a few times, the dupes running over to Cecilia and Chamber's unconscious bodies. Domino shouted, "We have a hostage! We're giving the orders!" Psylocke looked at her and Jean-Paul saw her whisper into her microphone. Rogue and Shadowcat nodded slightly and a moment later, Psylocke spun into action, turning to face Riptide on the second floor. The younger man was slammed back hard against the wall, the sound of his skull bouncing off echoing through the other sounds in the room. Blink immediately dropped to the ground.
As soon as Psylocke had moved, Rogue and Morph had run directly at Meltdown. The blond teenager had been standing near Bedlam's body on the landing and she reacted immediately to the attack on Riptide, hundreds of tiny glowing balls surrounding her hands. She threw them along the ground towards the two agents like marbles but Morph grabbed Rogue's armour encased shoulders, his legs changing and throwing the two of them to the landing. Meltdown was already preparing more bombs but Rogue's hand brushed her check as they flew past and the blond girl convulsed and collapsed.
Shadowcat had run towards Domino when the others had moved. She approached the pale woman who pulled a gun and fired automatically. The bullet passed right through Shadowcat and the woman smiled as she advanced. Growling, "This isn't over, Jean-Paul! It will never be over!" the pale woman grabbed something from a pocket on her side. Recognizing it, Jean-Paul shouted, "No!" and pushed the Multiple Man duplicate aside, wincing as his burned hands screamed in agony. He took off, pushing himself as fast as he could but Domino blew him a kiss and flicked the switch on the teleporter. With a barely audible sound, she vanished. Jean-Paul roared in frustration, spinning around desperately needing to punch something. He saw Riptide had vanished from the wall where Psylocke had left him pinned, Meltdown and Bedlam from the landing. With a sinking stomach, he spun to see one of the Multiple Man duplicates turn from the hole and hold up one finger. Jean-Paul nearly collapsed. He dropped to his knees, surrounded by the destroyed house and his injured squad. Barely moving his head, he automatically sought his team. Monet was in the crater, Blink on the balcony. Cecilia and Chamber…wait, Chamber? He whirled and spotted one of the duplicates tending to both the unconscious people. His feeling of defeat returned as Jean-Paul realized that Chamber being there might create even more trouble than it originally seemed. He dropped from his knees onto his back and lay for a moment staring at what was left of the ceiling. "Jean-Paul?" Betsy's voice asked quietly. "She's gone," he said emotionlessly. "Without Blink we can't track her." His voice was flat, exhausted. "You need to get your arms tended to, Jean-Paul. Come over here with Chamber and Cecilia," Psylocke said gently. Jean-Paul tried to sit up, managing to lift his shoulders off the ground before dropping back. "Betsy…." He started but trailed off, eyes glazing over. "Have to tell you…." Reaching down, she gently took his temples between her thumbs, Jean-Paul sighing at the cool pressure of her digits. He did his best to drop all barriers in his mind, opening himself as much as possible. Psylocke gasped as his battle with Chamber flashed through her mind, her hands dropping down to brush his burnt arms. "Multiple!" she shouted. "Full restraints for Chamber, inhibitor collar, the works." The nearest duplicate opened its mouth but she snapped, "Don't argue, just do it." Turning, she reached down and grabbed her radio. "Psylocke to base," she snapped out angrily. "Things were unpleasant. We have a very serious problem."