A/N: Hey! Chapter 5 has arrived! LOL. I do hope you all enjoy this chapter. Oh, and I should warn you…this chapter is sort of…gruesome. It happens when Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha, Wolverine and a demon assassin start beating on people…but I thought I'd warn you anyway. If you really don't like it…I apologize. I don't mean to offend anyone. That said, please read on!
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or the X-Men…I only own those characters that I made up, as I've listed in previous disclaimers.
Chance Encounters II: the Hand v the Fang
Chapter 5:
The assassins stared, briefly amazed, at the demon who'd just slain their comrade. Then his words sunk in, and they tensed once more in preparation for battle. Currently, there were 19 of them left.
Hiryu didn't need to wait for his lord's approval before leaping into the fray. This was one area where he excelled, and Sesshoumaru was well aware of that. As four of the assassins turned towards him, intent on removing such an obvious threat, he teleported two swords into his hands.
One male assassin lunged at him, his daggers extended in what could have been a fatal blow. Hiryu sidestepped and swung around behind him, ruthlessly bringing his two blades down on the man's head. With his demonic strength, he had no problems slicing the swords through the man's body. Even as his first opponent split apart, Hiryu quickly tossed each sword to the sides, where each managed to slice through two other Hand agent's throats. The fourth, a woman, attempted to deliver a sharp kick to his head. He spun again, grabbed her ankle, and threw her into a wall, before flicking his wrist in her direction. His bullet-like claws flew, impaling her and ending her life almost instantly. Then Hiryu moved on to his next set of opponents, hoping they were more fun than the ones he'd just eliminated.
Five more men swarmed Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha. The dog demons allowed the assassins to surround them, putting their backs to each other. One of the men swung his sword towards Sesshoumaru, and the powerful demon scoffed. Then he lunged forward, bypassing the human's sword altogether and wrapped his poison claws around the man's throat. Within a moment, the man was dead.
Another assassin jumped up, thinking to get an advantage in the air as they hauled back and tossed down a flurry of throwing stars. Sesshoumaru spun and slashed through the projectiles, while Inuyasha flexed his claws and aimed up. With a shout of "Iron Reaver, Soul Stealer!" the assassin was dead. But while he was distracted, another one snuck up and slashed him across his chest, drawing blood. Inuyasha grunted, more from surprise than pain, and dipped his claws into the wound. "Blades of Blood!" Was the last thing that assassin ever heard.
A fourth man came at Sesshoumaru, swinging two double-bladed swords at his side tauntingly. Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes and raised his right hand calmly. "I do not have the time for you." Was all he said before he sent a wave of poison to the human. His swords crashed noisily to the ground as the man slumped, dead. The final assassin of the group believed he'd won when Sesshoumaru allowed him to slip his dagger around his throat. The man sneered arrogantly in the instant before a sharp kick to his side dislodged his grip and sent him tumbling sideways. Sesshoumaru then flicked his striped wrist towards the fallen assassin and ended his life as well.
Wolverine and Jubilee were facing the final ten assassins. Jubilee smirked. "Guess Viper told 'em about your reputation."
"Appears that way." Wolverine growled with a smirk of his own before popping his claws again. Small sparkles around Jubilee's fists let him know that she was ready, too. With a roar, he lunged toward the nearest two and started slashing. They both had swords, which they swung down towards him, obviously intending to try and impale him. He raised a clawed fist and their swords shattered into pieces. Then he grabbed one, threw him into the other, and impaled them both.
Jubilee paffed the three closest to her, blinding them long enough to let her kick her foot out and trip one, causing him to topple into another. Then she jumped, spun around, and kicked the third one in the face, knocking him backwards and into Logan's circle. When she landed, she felt the rush of air that preceded a sword blade, so she ducked and rolled. The blade cut empty air. Then she lashed out again, this time severely burning her victim. The remaining assassin tackled her to the ground and pinned her hands to her back, palms down. She felt him shift his weight, holding her wrists with one hand while drawing back, undoubtedly to stab her with the dagger she'd seen him carrying.
Then suddenly his pressure was gone and she rolled free, completely unsurprised to see Wolverine withdrawing his claws from the man's chest. Her burn victim lay bleeding a couple of feet away. She sprang to her feet, turning her back to her partner in time to see another one attacking. Leveling her hands, she focused briefly and let the power flow. A second later, the assassin was surrounded by multi-colored plasma balls. Which promptly blew up, taking him with them.
Wolverine leapt forward again, trading blows with two more agents of the Hand, slashing rapidly. These two were more careful, and he had a hard time landing a good blow. Fortunately, they were only focused on him. The woman nearest him gasped aloud in pain as her eyes rolled up in her head. A clawed, faintly glowing, hand was protruding from her chest. It quickly withdrew and she slumped. Logan easily finished off the other one.
That left two assassins to go. And Hiryu quickly dealt with them. One moment, they looked ready to pounce on the group, suicide mission or not, and the next, they both fell forward, weapons sliding from their lifeless hands. Hiryu straightened and sheathed his swords on his back, where he wore two criss-crossed sheaths.
Together, the group turned and looked up at the long, winding staircase before them. It was completely unguarded, now that they'd finished off the last of the guards. Sesshoumaru was about to begin climbing the steps when something unexpected caught their attention.
"Dad!" A young, familiar voice cried. It came from a room further down the hallway on the ground floor. Sesshoumaru didn't hesitate as he leapt over the banister and flew down the hall. Inuyasha nodded over to Wolverine, holding his hand up to Hiryu, before following his brother, and his nephew's voice.
Hiryu looked over to Wolverine. "I'm going to wait here for Lord Sesshoumaru. We'll join you as soon as Karu's safe." Logan nodded, understanding entirely, and pushed past the demon, starting up the stairs. Jubilee followed quickly.
Karu had tears in his eyes as he sat, bound by steel chains and a dagger that was being held at his throat. The man behind him was easily twice the size of Inuyasha. He was also completely human. Sesshoumaru flew through the door to the room as if it wasn't there. He landed five feet into the room, still ten feet away from his son.
"You will be alright, Karu." He said calmly. His son gave a half-nod, as the dagger was still pressing into his throat threateningly.
Inuyasha came in behind Sesshoumaru, growling. Sesshoumaru locked eyes with the man behind his son, but the man spoke first. "Viper wanted to make sure you saw your precious boy take his final breath." Then he attempted to slit the child's throat.
Sesshoumaru flicked his wrist, wrapping the large man's wrist in his poison whip, before drawing back. The man was forced to release the dagger. Inuyasha took the opportunity and jumped up, over his nephew's chair, and kicked the man. The man tumbled backwards. "Sesshoumaru! Get the pup outta here, an' I'll deal with this creep!"
Sesshoumaru nodded, stepping up to his son. "Hold still a moment, Karu." Then he grasped the chain in both clawed hands and pulled. The metal gave a loud protest before snapping in two. Then Sesshoumaru scooped up his son and exited the room. Barely a minute later, Inuyasha joined them in the hall.
They walked to the stairs, where Hiryu was waiting patiently. Sesshoumaru met the teleporter's gaze. "Take Karu home. This is no place for him. Then return."
"I wanna see Mom." Karu piped up from his father's grasp. Hiryu grinned down to the pup as Sesshoumaru passed him to the demon.
"Then I'll take you to see her. Ready to go home, pup?"
"Yes, Mister Hiryu!" And they were gone.
Rin and Kagome sat in the living room on the couch, Chikara across from them in an overstuffed chair. They had lapsed into silence when Hiryu suddenly appeared. "Delivery, my lady." He stated, putting the young half-demon on the ground. "If you'll excuse me, I've got to go back now."
"Karu!" Rin declared, jumping up and catching her son as he threw himself at her. She collapsed to the ground, crying as she held him tightly. Kagome smiled up at Hiryu.
"Thank you. Go back and help the others now, we're fine here." He nodded before teleporting away. Then Kagome and Chikara joined the mother and her son on the ground, hugging and talking all at once. Tai and Matt came running, having heard their mother's shout.
Hiryu returned and then followed Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha up the stairs. It didn't take them long to find Wolverine and Jubilee, who'd apparently run into a couple more guards. They'd just finished dealing with them when the demons approached.
"Was he ok?" Jubilee asked concernedly.
"Yes." Sesshoumaru said simply. Then they all turned and began walking. It didn't take a genius to figure out which room they were looking for.
Viper was waiting for them when they arrived. She was sitting in an extremely overstuffed black armchair, one leg neatly crossed over the other. She had a laser gun in her lap and a near empty glass of wine in her right hand, which was resting, elbow down, on the arm of the chair. She was wearing her usual, all green uniform. But the most important detail of the room was laying in a crumpled heap about five feet in front of her.
Yukio's body was curled in the fetal position beside the large, elegant, four-poster bed. Even Jubilee could tell that the woman was dead. Most likely, she had been for a while. For a moment, there was silence.
Viper was the one to break it, as she set her now-empty glass down on the small table beside her. She didn't bother getting up. "So sorry, Logan. She got in the way, I'm afraid. I had honestly intended to keep her alive…at least until Friday morning." A sadistic smile curved her poisonous lips. "I had, of course, been intending to kill her all along. She's always been such a nuisance to me."
Wolverine growled low in his throat, his rage coming dangerously close to consuming him. He crouched low, preparing for the fight he knew was to come. Jubilee stepped up beside him, wordlessly reminding him that, this time, he was not alone.
Inuyasha cut a sideways glance over to his brother, and Sesshoumaru shook his head. "She has been dead too long."
"Damn." Inuyasha growled, flexing his claws once more. Hiryu pulled out one of his swords, leaving his other hand free. Viper's laugh echoed off the walls as she stood, her gun in her hand.
"You intend to fight me, of course. But I should warn you, I am well prepared for this moment. I am not as defenseless as you might believe me to be." Then she snapped her fingers and the wall behind them exploded inward, sending pieces of wood and paneling flying everywhere. It didn't take a genius to know that Viper had used the opportunity to escape once again. But there wasn't much they could do about that just yet.
When the wall exploded, Wolverine reached out and grabbed Jubilee by the arm, yanking her in front of him, where he used his body to shield her from the debris. Beside them, Sesshoumaru flicked his wrist and the green whip snapped outwards, shattering the larger, more dangerous, pieces of the wall. Inuyasha growled low in his throat as the strong scent of multiple demons reached his sensitive nose. Thought somethin' felt off about all o' this. Damn. On the bright side, I don't have to hold back any more. He thought, unable to suppress the grin that rose as he realized things were about to get fun.
When the dust cleared, the group was face to face with at least four dozen full-blooded demons. Many of whom barely fit in the now-extended room. They were all snarling and flexing their claws in preparation for the fight to come.
"This is pathetic. Viper expects to delay us with these vermin?" Sesshoumaru said evenly. He looked over at his brother. "You may start off this battle, if you so desire."
Inuyasha smirked. "Don't have to ask me twice. These demons ain't even worth our time!"
"That's what you think, half-breed!" The nearest of them shouted as he lunged for Inuyasha, his own elongated claws pointed outwards. Inuyasha pushed off from the carpeted floor of Viper's former bedroom and grabbed the sword that had been resting at his hip the entire time. With a shout, he unsheathed his favorite weapon and brought the mighty Tetsusaiga down upon the demon's head.
Off to the side, Hiryu simply teleported himself into the middle of the group of demons and began slashing and stabbing, effectively removing a number of opponents.
Sesshoumaru waited patiently as three demons descended upon him, snarling insults and threats in an attempt to frighten him. As they landed, he muttered, "You are not worth my time. Die." And then they fell.
Wolverine ran into the crowd, claws out and on the verge of a berserker rage, and Jubilee ran in behind him, picking off the demons who managed to slip past him. Which weren't many.
They'd been hacking their way through the horde of demons for a few minutes, but it seemed Viper had decided to employ every demon she could find, because they simply never seemed to dwindle. Finally, Sesshoumaru leapt back, out of the battle, and the others pulled away, until the two sides were once again growling at each other. Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes angrily and reached over, removing one of his swords from his hip. "I tire of this useless battle." Beside him, Hiryu sheathed his own sword. Inuyasha, meanwhile, lifted the Tetsusaiga off of his shoulder and aimed it once again at the demons.
"On three?" He asked as a joke. As he spoke, his sword glowed and shifted form. Wolverine and Jubilee watched in shock as the sword suddenly looked as if it were made of diamond. Swinging the sword first to his side, and then out towards their enemies, he shouted, "Adamant Barrage!" And then extremely large shards of diamond were flying, propelled by an unknown demonic force, towards the group of demons.
Sesshoumaru held his Tokijin at chest level while Inuyasha attacked, and then the sword began glowing an electric blue, and he said calmly, "Dragon Strike." Those words were followed by a blast of blue demonic power, which, coupled with the Adamant Barrage, proceeded to eliminate the remaining demons.
Jubilee looked over to Wolverine as the two dog demons sheathed their swords. "Did you see what I just saw?"
"Yeah, I saw it." He said, before turning around. Without another word, he walked over to where Yukio lay and knelt down beside her body. Gently, he reached out and rolled her over, not at all surprised to see four scratch marks on her face, where Viper's poisoned finger nails had scratched her. Undoubtedly the poison had killed her slowly, which was why she was curled up the way she was.
Everyone was silent as Logan grieved for his friend. A couple of tears slid slowly down his face, though he never sobbed. He murmured an apology to her, which the demons present pretended to not overhear. Jubilee, knowing he needed a moment's space, kept her distance this time. She remained silent as her own tears slid over her cheeks. Yukio had, after all, been her friend, too.
After a few quiet minutes, Logan released Yukio's body and stepped back. When he turned to once again face his allies, they all understood the hardened look in his eyes. "We need to find her. An' when we do, I'm gonna end this once an' fer all. I'll understand if you don't wanna be involved in this anymore; won't be any hard feelin's. But this is somethin' I gotta do." As he spoke, Jubilee returned to his side, giving him her silent support.
Inuyasha crossed his arms and scoffed. "Keh. 'Course we're still in this. That witch gets away with too damn much, an' it's high time someone did somethin' about it."
"I agree. And it will be easiest to find her if we work together. Hiryu?" Sesshoumaru declared, glancing over at the demon.
Hiryu nodded and shut his eyes momentarily. Then they opened and he said, "Yeah, she was teleported away by an outside party. Mutant, from what I can tell about the teleportation signature. It'll be a piece of cake to track."
"Then do so." Sesshoumaru instructed. Hiryu's eyes again drifted shut. While he was busy, Jubilee spoke.
"How is he tracking her? If she teleported, then shouldn't that make her harder to find?"
"He's a teleporting demon. Because o' that, he can track other teleporter's trails like we can people's scents. An' he's been doing it for centuries, so no modern-day mutant's gonna give him a run for his money." Inuyasha explained. She nodded.
"Oh, cool. That's helpful."
Hiryu's eyes snapped open barely an instant after the words had left the firecracker's mouth. "My lord, I've found Viper's destination. I believe we need to return home immediately."
Both Inuyasha's and Sesshoumaru's heads snapped towards the teleporter at his words. "Home? Are you saying that that witch transported herself to the mansion?" Inuyasha asked, nearly growling the question.
"Yes, Master Inuyasha."
"Then teleport us home at once, Hiryu. We do not have the time, nor the luxury to stall." Sesshoumaru ordered. Hiryu stepped in between the dog demons and mutants, extending his hands slightly towards them. A moment later, they simply vanished from where they stood, as if they'd never truly been there.
They reappeared almost instantly on the front lawn. Which had been turned into nothing short of a war zone. There were demons and mutants and well-trained human assassins trading blows everywhere one looked.
As Hiryu, Wolverine, and Jubilee ran into the battle, Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru took a moment to look around. And Inuyasha caught a glimpse of something surrounded in pink light shooting out of an open window to the side of the house. Spinning his head around, he watched as it connected with the shoulder of a flying demon. The demon roared in agony as it's left shoulder was purified. But the demon didn't die. Kagome!
With a speed born from too many dangerous battles in his youth, Inuyasha leapt into the air and pulled out his Tetsusaiga. The demon that Kagome had attacked was aiming for another hit, obviously confident that it would breach her barrier. Which is when Inuyasha realized that she wasn't surrounded by one. Damn it all to Hell! I told her to put up a barrier! "Stay the hell away from her, you bastard!" Inuyasha growled, raising his sword up above his head. "Wind Scar!" The demon reared back a split-second too late. It was obliterated by the attack.
Inuyasha landed again, spinning around in the moment of calm to look over at his mate. "What the hell d'you think you're doing? I told you to put up a barrier!"
Kagome narrowed her eyes at him from the other side of the broken window. "I did! It's holding Rin and Karu. I left to try and find our daughter, who seems intent on fighting these demons with her macho cousins!"
"Dammit! I'll go find the pups; you go back to the barrier!"
"I can't, remember? I'd have to take the barrier down to get back inside it, and that would take just long enough for some ninja assassin to pop in and kill them!"
"And what about you? You can't sustain two separate barriers, an' you sure as hell aren't invulnerable without one!"
"It's not like I've never been in a fight before, you know!" Noticing movement that obviously wasn't demonic behind him, she shouted, "Inuyasha, look out!"
The half-demon spun around, lifting his powerful sword as a makeshift shield, barely dodging the mutant's blast of energy. It was then that he noticed the demonic aura coming from somewhere behind him. Shit! "Kagome, get down!" He spun again, faster this time, and bellowed, "Wind Scar!" Subsequently, the room Kagome had been standing in needed a new wall. But the demon who'd just tried to assassinate her was destroyed, and she was fine.
Without hesitation, Kagome launched herself from her spot on the ground and ran towards the protective half-demon, stopping only when she stood directly in front of him. Instead of taking a moment to ask her if she was alright, he bent down and stole another passionate, if brief, kiss. Then he knelt on the ground beside her, still clutching his sword. "If you're gonna insist on fighting, then you'll be fighting where I can keep an eye on you. Get on." Kagome obliged and within moments, they were off to fight more demons.
Sesshoumaru was beginning to get irritated. He wasn't the kind of demon who appreciated having his home invaded by the enemy. In fact, he was quite the opposite. With an inner roar of frustration, he once again pulled out his Tokijin. This time, however, he jumped above the battle before he stated, "Dragon Strike." The demons, humans, and mutants he'd been fighting never stood a chance.
From his vantage point in the air, he could see Hiryu, Wolverine and Jubilee cutting down their opponents with relative ease. That was when he spotted his brother and Kagome running back to the battle. With a thought, he redirected himself in their direction. He came to a halt at the same instant that Inuyasha let her off of his back.
"Rin's fine. She's with Karu." Kagome said before the question had left his lips. Then she notched an arrow and fired it at the demon who'd been thinking of slaughtering them. Sesshoumaru looked over to his brother wordlessly.
"She left the barrier to find 'Kara, Tai, and Matt. Apparently they thought they'd play 'hero' today."
Sesshoumaru nodded in understanding. Then he spun around and obliterated a dozen more demons. Inuyasha swung his sword and did the same.
Wolverine was busy hacking his way through a horde of ninjas who had no sense of self-preservation, and he never saw the demon that was sneaking up on his partner-in-crime. Jubilee herself was busy trying to outmaneuver a mutant whose ability allowed her to compensate for he opponents powers.
"Hold still, wouldja?" Jubilee snapped, sending another shower of exploding plasma towards the woman. Again, her adversary dodged it with irritating ease. Jubilee hauled back to deliver a more wide-range attack that would be much harder to avoid when she felt that rush of air that indicated an attack. But she felt it too late, because a split-second later, she felt something else.
She couldn't suppress the scream that tore from her lips as the demon's claws embedded themselves in her right side before tearing free again. The fireworks that she'd been in the process of building up exploded in a brilliant flash of pinks, blues, yellows, and greens. She collapsed, first to her knees, then her stomach, as the pain overwhelmed her. She wasn't exactly used to being 'sideswiped'.
Even over the screams of those around him, Jubilee's scream managed to pierce through Wolverine's battle-induced haze with ease. And it terrified him. With a roar as feral as his namesake, he cut through the three or four members of Hand that separated him from her and collapsed by her side. She was barely conscious, and he wasn't sure how she'd managed to stay awake. Despite himself, his claws retracted and he reached for her, well aware that he was nearly trembling with the effort. "Jubes…darlin', can ya hear me?"
"W-wolvie…it…hurts." She sputtered in a whisper. He barely heard her.
"I know it does, darlin', but ya gotta be tough. You'll…you'll pull through this." Even as he said it, he knew he was lying. It would take a miracle for her to survive that wound. And he was well aware that his life simply wasn't filled with miracles.
"I-I'm sorry…Logan. I…tried."
"Don't you apologize, darlin', don't you dare." He scolded on a whisper that matched her own. On instinct, he reached down and wrapped her small hand in one of his larger ones, squeezing tightly. Her fingers twitched in response; it was the best she could manage. Then her hand went limp, and the breeze shifted. Her scent assaulted his nose mercilessly. She was gone.
To Be Continued…
A/N: Ok, now that was a cliffhanger. I know, I know, horrible of me, right? So, R&R and then, y'know, read some more! Oh, and I apologize, but it's kinda hard to write a Wolverine-grieving scene…but maybe that's just me.