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Shattered Like Glass: Scene 04Huge about covered the size of this human Juggernaut. Blaze recognised Xavier's brother instantly, dressed in his garish red body armour and fish bowl helmet. She may never have fought him before, but she knew enough about Cain Marko to know she didn't have a chance.
Briefly the X-Man glanced over her shoulder, catching Shockwave's eye as the girl helped the last few slow-moving passengers out into the relative safety of the tunnel. Sam nodded once, recognising the silent plea in Blaze's eyes. Blaze didn't watch her pupil leave. Instead she observed Juggernaut, as he looked her over dispassionately, chuckling.
"What's this, some kinda joke?" Cain asked, eyes hard behind his helmet. "You come as a half-drowned rat or somethin' titch?"
Irritated, Blaze used a fraction of her power to dry herself off after the rain. Steam evaporated from her glistening skin and hair. Looking up at the gigantic man who towered over her, Blaze kept telling herself that all she had to do was keep him busy. Give the passengers time to get away. He may be strong, but she'd bet that she was quicker.
"Let me guess," She taunted him while taking a half step backwards, "It was raining outside so you thought you'd take a stroll through the subway? Can't have your helmet rusting now, can we now Juggernaut?"
"Ho-ho." Juggernaut smiled cruelly, "You don't happen to know my irritating brother do you?" Blaze tilted her head and gave him a soulless lopsided smile, watching the huge muscles tense in Cain's neck as he readied his attack. His swinging punch would have knocked her out cold, but Blaze leaped lithely onto a seat at the last second. Grabbing hold of a vertical bar, she wrapped one hand and one long leg around it, using her momentum to swing her round. The action confused Juggernaut. Now she was behind him, and he was forced to try and turn around in the confined space.
"Didn't know," Juggernaut grunted, punching a seat out of the way, "That my goody-two-shoes brother consorted with pole dancers. Maybe there's hope for him yet."
"Maybe," Blaze agreed, not rising to his slur on her. Ducking under his outstretched arm again, she knew she couldn't keep this up for long. Time to heat things up. Backing away with her hands extended, Blaze summoned the well of red-hot power that resided inside of her. Opening her clenched fists, blasts of her scorching firepower exploded in bright orange contrast to the gloomy darkness.
"What the?" Juggernaut cried, raising a hand to protect his eyes as the fire pounded off his body. It sprayed this way and that like champagne against a crystal glass. "That tickles!" Blaze wasn't done, although her fire wasn't strong enough to burn him through the armour. With a step forward this time, she let the fire loose. Black and crimson, the flames flowed like larva over the ceiling of the train. It drank gallons of oxygen and created scorching heat. Invincible or not Blaze didn't think Juggernaut could stand either of those changes for long.
She was right, but Blaze had to be able to breathe too. The realisation accompanied a moment's gasping breath and a loss of concentration. Juggernaut roared his defiance. He thudded his massive fist into her stomach and sent her flying up the other end of the carriage. Unable to resist Blaze's body clattered seats and handrails, leaving her in a heap. The Juggernaut put his head down and charged, picking up speed. Blaze rolled and half-lurched to her feet, dragging herself up the carriage and out the 'door' Sam had created. Then she collapsed.
Juggernaut's eyes were only on the stubborn girl who'd dare to face off against him. He charged thunderously down the train and raised his fists to bash through the second rent in the train's fabric. Only when he hopped down onto the gravel and the tracks did he notice that something had changed in the blackness. The girl was not quivering afraid as she looked up at him. Cain couldn't understand it. He'd given her a taste of his power, and shown he was intent on crushing her completely.
Blaze smiled sharply, dragging herself up into a sitting position and caressing her stomach. Dark shapes moved behind her and Cain realised what had happened. Damn it, his brother's interfering cavalry had arrived! The X-Men…
A powerful blast of scarlet red light lit up the tunnel like daytime in hell, as Cyclops grimly held the trigger on his visor open. He hit Juggernaut straight in the chest, making the bigger man grunt and his eyes dilate. Yet it would take much more than Scott Summers was capable of to bring down the Juggernaut.
Ororo Munroe stood next to Cyclops, the weather-witch and African goddess known as Storm. Her hair was long and illusively white, almost translucent like the clouds. It danced in the breeze she called about her. The strength of a gale at her behest pummelled Juggernaut so much he had to raise a hand to break the sting of Blaze's ashes filling his eyes, as the wind stirred the flames on the train into a new frenzy.
A surreal and unnatural fuchsia-orange glow swept through the air in the fingertips of a tall man stood just behind Blaze. His trench coat distorted his dark silhouette. Remy le Beau, Gambit, threw the playing card he'd charged directly at Juggernaut's face, gritting his teeth grimly as the explosion knocked the goliath backwards slightly.
The amazing Nightcrawler knew how to pick his moment. He bamfed beyond the explosion to kick the Juggernaut further over the brink into a fall he could not recover from. The earth shook as Juggernaut hit the ground. Kurt Wagner teleported to safety with his tail flicking the air around him in a self-satisfied way. Iceman blasted Juggernaut then, Bobby Drake's blue eyes cold as he pinned the bigger man in a cocoon of ice.
Shadowcat passed through the train itself to approach Juggernaut from behind, bringing along her former classmate Jubilation Lee. The two girls went straight for the buckles that kept the telepathy-disabling helmet secured around Juggernaut's shoulders. The girls then backed off quickly as the ice that held the big man started to crack.
Wolverine was not so easily spooked. Claws of adimantium raced through his knuckles as the feral man charged in with a roar. A fluidic movement of Logan's left arm and the helmet was knocked away from Juggernaut's head. It flew for a moment before clattering to the ground, rolling in circles like the top from a beer bottle. Wolverine snarled, turning back to his prey with his teeth bared, ready to slice this loser's throat…
A pale hand on Logan's shoulder and a wash of calming thoughts stopped the animalistic mutant in his stride. His brown eyes locked briefly with the deep Xavier blue ones, before the woman broke away. She flicked a long blonde ponytail back over a slender shoulder and looked down on Cain Marko with stark scepticism.
"Well, if it ain't my little niece," Juggernaut spat, unnerved at having to look up at someone for once. "Ilehana, how are you keeping?"
#Sleep, # Ilehana Xavier didn't bother with being drawn into an argument with this man. The Vixen put a hand to the sweaty forehead of the ginger-haired man and sent him into a telepathically induced slumber. Cyclops gave Xavier's daughter a nod and a small smile at a job well done, one that Vixen appreciated.
"Good timing," Blaze thanked her teammates, accepting Gambit's hand up, clutching her stomach as it spasmed with pain. The wetness of blood under her fingers combined with a wave of dizziness, and she was very glad that Gambit didn't let go of her.
"No problem," Logan told her, letting his claws slide back through his knuckles with a smooth snickt. "Now lets get outta here…"