The final confrontation went just as well as Kassandra expected, much to her dismay. Her investigator had perished, along with everyone else in the cult. Not one of them survived. This bitterest of victories was no Waco. It was even worse than the mass murder-suicide that was Jonestown. Even those who managed to leave the cult went missing. Those whom they could find all turned up dead, despite Kassandra's orders that they be put under witness protection. The two at St. James Hospital, despite everyone's best efforts, disintegrated right before their doctors' eyes, before Kassandra could question them. And even the X-Men did not come out of this unscathed. Logan, Scott, and Lorna were all wounded.
Back in Salem Center, Kassandra needed a break before returning to McLean, Virginia and preparing for her eventual grand jury investigation. She had just checked in on Jubilee and Magma, then warmed up her fingers and now sat at the piano staring at the keyboard, for once at a loss regarding what she felt like playing.
Kurt slid beside her. "I know I have forgotten a lot of things lately, but I do remember this."
"Was ist das?"
"You issued a challenge. And I accepted."
Kassandra for once wasn't sure she felt at all up to fencing, but there was more than honor on the line. "Das ist wohl wahr, Kurt. You choose the weapons and styles."
"Sabres, unrestricted styles, and…" Kurt thought for a bit. "For some reason I feel like listening to Mendelssohn."
"Mir ist's recht," said Kassandra. "But just to make things even more interesting, I will not use my mutant abilities, though I hope you don't exercise similar restraint."
In the Danger Room, at last, Kassandra cued the music, then saluted. Kurt noticed that though she held the sabre in her left hand, she had both hands gloved.
"Bis zum ersten Kontakt," she said.
This shouldn't take long at all, thought Kurt. "To the first touch," he agreed.
The piano played a charging theme, as they engaged. Nightcrawler attacked immediately. Kassandra parried and riposted. A tenor began lightly singing the words to a Heinrich Heine poem.
"In dem Mondenschein im Walde sah ich jüngst die Elfenreiten..,"
"You won't let me get a point in, nicht wahr?"
"Just as I said. I'm fighting to prove my point. Besides," Kassandra grinned, "I know something you don't know."
"Ihre Hörner hört' ich klingen, ihre Glöcklein hört' ich läuten."
"You're not left handed." Kurt smiled as he parried and retreated. So she'd seen The Princess Bride, too. And she was actually pretty good with the left hand. Forget about switching hands. Time to switch styles. He grabbed another sabre. But had Kassandra fought this match before? She was already attacking with a blade in each hand, and some style that wasn't strictly Florentine, but seemed oddly familiar anyway.
"Was ist das?"
"Unglaubich, nicht wahr?" said Kassandra. "I adapted a few techniques from Zulu stick fighting."
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"Was ist das?" Kurt was almost taken aback by how Kassandra, now just finishing her second year at the Institute, had taken so well to fighting with two blades, despite the fact that he'd only been working with her on Florentine style for a few minutes. While she was barely within the rules, she was throwing in tricks that weren't familiar even to him. And this element of surprise enabled her to get in the first point, for the first time within normal time. She possessed the speed and ferocious agility of a sabrist, but typically fenced with the patient endurance of an epeeist. While she had beaten Kurt before without using her mutant gifts, she usually took a hit or maybe two before she could anticipate his plans for attack and rally.
"Zulu stick fighting, Kurt," Kassandra replied. "It did originate as a two-sword form, after all."
"This will be interesting. Let's see what other African tricks you can adapt."
"Nun gut. You asked for it!"
Kurt smiled as Kassandra attacked with everything she had. "Just bear in mind, I don't think you'll be able to fence competitively like that."
"Oh, and like your typical style is all competition legal?"
"Touché."
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The song was now in its second verse. "Ihre weissen Rößlein trugen gold'nes Hirschgeweih' und flogen rasch dahin; wie wilde Schwäne kam es durch die Luft gezogen."
Kurt decided he'd start using the advantage he had. He began teleporting about Kassandra, trying to steal her tempo. It didn't happen. She was always right where he was with a parry or counterattack.
Kassandra smiled. "As I expected, you put even Errol Flynn's footwork to shame. Too bad I know all the ways you telegraph."
"Was?"
"Those little cues you don't know you provide. You always smirk when you think you're going to surprise me." And Kassandra did appreciate seeing that again.
"Lächelnd nickte mir die Kön'gin,.."
But speaking of footwork… Kurt's tail darted for Kassandra's right ankle. Well, she agreed to suspend the rules for him.
"…lächelnd in Vorüberreiten."
She allowed him to pull her- into a back aerial, and as she parried with her right, her left hand's blade smacked him across the abdomen on the way up.
She landed, saluted, then promptly transferred her sabre to her right hand, removed her mask, and tucked it under her elbow. Kurt did likewise, and took her left hand in his. "Sehr gut. Who taught you to do that?"
"Galt das meiner neuen Liebe? Oder soll es Tod bedeuten?"
"Du, mein Liebster," Kassandra replied. "And I didn't mention how your tail always twitches when you think about trying to trip me up."
Kurt rubbed his chin in thought. "Well, now that you've proven pretty conclusively that you have fenced me before, I feel the need to discuss the ramifications of this revelation. Perhaps over dinner tonight? My mind must have been scrambled pretty badly for so brilliant und so eine schöne Schwertkämpferin to escape my memory, and we must get better reacquainted."
"Du bist unmöglich, Kurt, wie immer. I accept. I'll be at St. Anne's until 6 for choir rehearsal. I'm filling in for their regular organist. Maybe you could meet me there?"
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