Disclaimer: I dont own the X-men or Slayer
The Cry of the Phoenix
Chapter 3: Enter Slayer
'Don't you fall down again, keep fighting' Sieg thought to himself, his knees shaking as he struggled to stay up.
The Black Phoenix stretched his hand out and clicked his fingers together. Phoenix raptors began flying out of the egg and circled around Sieg. He took his sword out of the ground and stumbled as he slashed one of the raptors across the chest. Sieg fell to one knee, and then rolled across the floor to avoid a swipe from one of the phoenix raptors. He stood to his feet, slashing one of the phoenixes in half before falling to his knees again. And again he got up but fell down after slashing one of the Phoenix raptors.
'Get up! Get up! Get up!' Sieg thought to himself over and over again.
He finally managed to stand on his feet; barely steady before the Phoenix pushed him with his TK. Sieg leant on his sword and looked at the Phoenix. It was a hopeless fight for Sieg, but he wasn't the type to just give up.
"You fought bravely foolish child, but in the end your effort amounted to nothing" The Black Phoenix said as he aimed the palm of his hand at Sieg.
"On the contrary, he bought some time just like he said he would"
The Phoenix looked up and down the bridge, looking out with both his eyes and telepathy for the bearer of the proud voice that had just spoken out.
"The bearer of a warrior spirit against a cosmic force capable of destroying a solar system…and to think I was actually afraid!"
The Phoenix finally laid eyes on the one who had dared spoken against it. He stood over Sieg's fallen form, his purple oriental armour giving off a slight shine, with triangular eye markings shining on his hands and forehead. His blonde hair hung loosely over his shoulders, and his hand gripped the hilt of a Katana type blade.
"Who are you?" Sieg asked the warrior standing in front of him.
"Slayer…normally I don't interfere in the issues of you heroes but this is a special case, in turns out this incident is right up my ally" The Warrior explained as the Phoenix raptors lined up.
The raptors flew towards him and in one quick motion; Slayer drew his sword and slashed at the raptors, slashing them all in half. He then jumped onto one of the bridge wires, swinging off it and flying towards the Phoenix. Slayer slashed at the Phoenix, who bought his hands up to defend. The warrior moved at amazing speed, appearing below the Phoenix, crouching with his sword stretched out.
Looking at his wrist, the Masked Phoenix was surprised to see a trail of blue energy running across his wrist where the warrior had tried to cut him. But the Phoenix merely brushed the energy away before firing an optic blast at Slayer. The warrior rolled to the side, his eye glowing fiercely as he reacted to the Phoenix's attack. Slayer jumped over one car that the Phoenix tried throwing at him, and then countered with what appeared to be electricity launched from his hand. It did little but distract the Phoenix, but Slayer soon followed through on the attack by throwing a car on top of the masked Phoenix. With a quick motion of his hand the Phoenix threw the car off of him and looked around for Slayer.
"Over here!"
The Phoenix turned around just as Slayer reappeared. Slayer grabbed the Phoenix's head, energy crackling around him. The Phoenix yelled out before pushing Slayer away. He took his hands away from his head, revealing a glowing blue phoenix symbol on his forehead.
"You…what did you do?" The Phoenix asked in anger.
"Magic, that rune will insulate your cosmic power, giving me enough time to do this" Slayer said, sheathing his sword as he began waving his hands together, drawing in energy like water before launching it at the Phoenix.
The energy waves slammed into the phoenix's chest, throwing him backwards and straight into the engine of a car. There was an explosion and the Phoenix walked out of the flames, though he wasn't injured or burned, his body still shook from the force of the attacks he had just taken. Slayer drew his sword and began dragging it across the floor, taking a running start towards the Phoenix. He jumped at the phoenix, crashing his blade down on the Phoenix's telekinetic bubble. Slayer slashed at the Phoenix again, who knocked him back with a fiery energy blast. Jumping to his feet, Slayer immediately ran towards Phoenix again at speeds comparable to Quicksilver. His blade stopped just inches from the Phoenix's neck before the warrior himself was thrown back.
'Damn, he's still got access to his other powers, but they are greatly reduced' Slayer thought to himself as he got up off the floor. 'Ok, the X-men have the original Phoenix host, so right now all I have to worry about is defeating this masked one'
Slayer dropped into a fighting stance, the marks on his hands and head shined even fiercer as blue energy began to surround him. With a single step Slayer appeared in front of the Phoenix. The Phoenix ducked as Slayer slashed at him, with a sword that crackled with energy. Then the Phoenix jumped up to avoid a horizontal slash. Slayer jumped after the Phoenix, landing a solid punch to his gut and kicking him across the face.
The Phoenix fell to the floor then flipped onto his feet, dodging a crash of Slayer's sword, one that would have beheaded him. Slayer slashed at him again, and again the Phoenix dodged the blade by an inch. The phoenix fired an optic blast at Slayer, who created a sphere of mystical energy to protect himself. Then the Phoenix fired a fiery wave from his hand, breaking through Slayer's shield. The warrior quickly recovered from the blow to his chest, and faced the flat side of his sword in the direction of the Phoenix. Again the Phoenix fired an energy blast, but like a mirror the light reflected from the blade, and slammed straight into the Phoenix's stomach.
"Well done vessel of Yoshinto!"
Slayer widened his eyes at what the Phoenix had just called him. The aura of the Phoenix began to slowly surround the masked man and the symbol on his forehead began to disappear.
"Oh shit!" Slayer mouthed.
The Phoenix aura smacked Slayer with its wing, sending him flying into Colossus.
"What the hell happened?" Dazzler asked as she awakened.
"This guy pulled some weird magic shit on the phoenix there, it reduced its power but not for long"
"If you would please Hisako Ishiki show some respect, it is not magic shit" Slayer said as he helped Colossus up off the floor, surprising the Russian with his strength.
"I hate magic!" Wolverine said.
"Magic hates you!" Slayer smirked as he ran at the Phoenix again.
But this time the Phoenix was the first to attack with his optic blasts. Slayer ran and jumped from side to side, knowing that if he reflected the blasts they would only make the Phoenix stronger. He bought up an energy barrier to defend himself from the Phoenix's flames. But the black Phoenix grabbed the orb like barrier that Slayer was encased in. The aura of the phoenix wrapped its wings around the barrier as the flames engulfed the orb, cracking it; Slayer quickly chanted a short-range teleportation spell, appearing beside Storm.
"Ok this is harder than I thought it would be, Miss Munroe I think its time your team got out of here" Slayer said to Storm, who nodded back.
Despite the fact that he was a mystery Storm knew she could trust this man. He had great prowess in a fight, and despite the aura of mystery surrounding him he also gave off something else, something that Storm had felt from the boy Sieg, hope.
"Ok X-men, we have to get back to the jet, Beast you get Dazzler and Armour, Wolverine you carry Jean" Ororo said, her voice taking on authority as she switched to leadership mode.
"No problem darling!" Logan said, picking Jean up delicately.
"Hey, aren't you going to carry your wife?" Sieg asked Cyclops.
"She isn't my wife" Cyclops said as he ran alongside Piotr.
Sieg growled as he turned towards Slayer, whom had his back turned to the retreating group.
"You should get out of here kid, you're in no condition to fight the Phoenix, you did a good job saving the woman but that's all we can ask for of you" Slayer explained.
The Warrior showed little surprise as Sieg walked past him and held his sword out.
"I'm not the kind of person who only goes as far as he needs to, I'll go beyond that!" Sieg said.
"Admirable, you've got as much courage and honour as most people I've seen in this world" Slayer said.
"Honours got nothing to do with what's right!" Sieg said before running at the airborne phoenix.
"FOOL!!" The Phoenix yelled, slapping Sieg away with the wing of its aura.
Sieg's sword fell straight into the ground in front of Slayer, who at first was ready to run to Sieg's aid but stopped once he looked at the sword. It glowed a sea blue colour and the eye of Yoshinto began glowing the same colour as Slayer moved his hand towards the hilt of the sword. He touched the blade and numerous images flashed through his mind.
He saw a woman dressed in black clothing, fighting her way through numerous machines. The observers of this battle talked with one another, their obvious subject was her.
"My professional opinion? …………The Important thing is to reinforce her new identity!"
"Check don't go by any of the old names"
Then more scrambled images flashed through Slayer's mind, some of the armoured woman fighting strange android creatures, others of Jean Grey and Scott Summers wedding. While some showed the memories of a lonely boy sitting on the park swing, of a purple and red armoured creature, being fought by a warrior in red and grey crystallised armour. And then he heard the voices.
"Live Scott!"
"I must return…"
"Off the record!"
"Come on kid stay with me"
"The boys lost a lot of blood, he needs a transfusion"
"SHUT UP THIS KID ISNT GONNA DIE!!"
Slayer threw himself back, rubbing his forehead as he looked at Sieg's sword.
"Memories" Slayer said, he hypothesized that the sword contained and absorbed memories.
Jack Robinson, the warrior known as Slayer and vessel of Yoshinto looked up at the Phoenix egg, and then towards the sword. His focus was lost when Sieg ran in, grabbing the sword and rushing the Phoenix again. Slayer smiled to himself as he closed his eyes and focused with his all Seeing Eye.
Slayer had been to a few magical dimensions in his long career. But this white void was new for him. He looked all around him; this entire world was just an endless wasteland. The only life form there was Jack himself and a man standing with his arms crossed, his red and grey crystallised armour shining in the light. Slayer took a few steps towards him and opened his mouth to speak.
"I have felt your memories Jack Robinson!" The armoured warrior spoke.
"You mean you saw them?" Jack asked.
"All the pain, all the suffering…the loss of a loved one, you are one who can truly understand the suffering that the love fragment will experience"
"The Love fragment?" Jack said curiously.
"That woman that Sieg saved was one of many fragments of Jean Grey, love, hate, sorrow and happiness"
"How do you know all this, in fact how do I know that you're not a trick from the Phoenix?"
"You know because you have to have faith, not faith in your honour or your eye, but faith in people, because faith is lacking in this new world that Iron man created, have faith in my words Jack, and faith in the right thing that has to be done"
"What is that?" Jack asked.
"You must go into the egg, and pull out the rage, do not be concerned though, like the love she will be unconscious, however you must not let Emma Frost or Cyclops touch her, for they are the causes of this disaster"
"Because of the psychic affair they had?"
"That man, Cyclops you might call him may not be who he appears to be, tell Sieg to have faith in love and he will understand"
"You know is it possible for Summers to have fallen in love with someone else"
The armoured warrior turned around, revealing a diamond shaped helmet and a pair of glowing red eyes.
"Tell me Jack Robinson…since Layla have you ever loved…and I mean truly loved another woman"
Jack raised an eyebrow at that comment; surprised that someone was capable of breaking through his mental shields.
"I don't know it myself but I have faith in the love between two people, it may sound Naïve but that's always been my problem…I believe true love never dies!"
Slayer nodded, beginning to understand the mans reasoning.
"You have my word as a warrior that I will bring the pieces together"
"After you recover this fragment discover the truth and await the return of sorrow and happiness"
Slayer nodded his head in respect for the mysterious individual. The scenery returned to normal and Slayer almost jumped up in surprise as Sieg landed in front of him. Jack walked up to the boy and patted him on the shoulder.
"Have Faith in love Sieg!" he said to him.
"What?" Sieg said in confusion.
"I know it's a lot to ask but can you buy me just one hour?" Slayer asked.
"Sure" Sieg said, without hesitation and without thinking.
The two swordsmen got up off the floor, one looking at the Phoenix, and the other looking at the egg. They broke off in two directions, Sieg heading towards the Phoenix while Slayer jumped towards the egg. Slayer stabbed his sword directly into the egg and began punching at the surface, trying to break a hole onto the egg while searching with his eye. Sieg beckoned for the Phoenix to attack him, smiling with glowing red eyes. The Phoenix lunged at Sieg, who back flipped, narrowly avoiding the flaming wing of the phoenix aura. He began to growl as his sword took on a crystallised form and shined with red energy. With a roar Sieg stabbed his sword into the ground. Suddenly red crystal pillars burst out of the ground, all of them slammed into one another, trapping the Phoenix in between them.
"THAT GIVES YOU FIVE MINUTES NOW GO!!" Sieg yelled at Slayer.
With one more punch Slayer created the hole he needed. Grabbing his sword he dived into the egg. He didn't have time to admire the scenery as members of the Phoenix corp. immediately began attacking him with blasts of fiery energy.
"Yuck, when I think about it I'm actually swimming around in yoke!" Jack said as he swam at amazing speeds, dodging the blasts that the Phoenix's fired.
Slayer searched the egg with his eye; all the while avoiding the attacks form the corps members. He smiled as he finally found the exact position that the rage fragment had been put. The warrior began kicking his feet as fast as he could, slashing two corp. members in half that dared to get in his way. Slayer stopped as he saw where the rage fragment had been put, a small barrier rather similar to what the love fragment had been contained in. He thrust his hand forward, grabbing the woman by her shoulder and pulling her out of the barrier. Jack almost gasped as the woman he carried wore the dark Phoenix costume.
"TAKE YOUR HANDS OFF THE DARK PHOENIX! SHE IS FIRE AND LIFE INCARNATE!!" The Pink haired Phoenix yelled.
"Don't worry I'll bring her back good as new" Slayer smirked as his sword flashed with a brilliant light, blinding the corp. members.
Slayer jumped out of the hole he made in the egg and landed just a few feet from where Black Phoenix and Sieg were fighting. It was mostly a one sided battle for the Phoenix, who now stood over a battered Sieg. Slayer looked towards the hole at the top of the dome, where he saw the X-men's jet still waiting for them. He thought of yelling out to them to get the hell out of there. But he knew better as Storm began flying back down towards them.
"I don't believe that I'm about to do this!" Slayer said to himself as he broke off into a run.
The warrior jumped over and on top of cars and trucks as he approached the Phoenix. Putting all his concentration into reinforcing his psychic shields Slayer lifted his sword and swung it at the Phoenix. But the Phoenix flew to the side, dodging the blade. Lighting suddenly crashed down upon him, knocking him away from Slayer and Sieg. Slayer sheathed his sword and picked Sieg up, both relaxed as Storm began to levitate them up towards the jet.
"Wait a second, is that another Jean?" Ororo asked, almost loosing her concentration.
"Yes Storm it is another Jean, it's a very long story which would better be explained to everybody once we get back to your base" Slayer said, sighing for he really wasn't in the mood to explain everything now.
As the Blackbird flew away from the giant dome at its top speed the Black Phoenix stood up, brushing the dust off his uniform. He looked up at where the jet once was and yelled out.
"WHY COULDN'T ANY OF YOU SEE THE TRUTH!!"
Next chapter 4: Explanation and unwanted houseguests
The X-men get an explanation and a few unwanted houseguests...nuff said
Tell us what you thought of the chapter, and if you liked Slayer check out some of slickboy's fics, they're a real good read
Next chapter introduces a character from another comic and an OC character of mine whose appeared in other fics, the man who appeared to task Slayer with restoring Jean is another OC character of mine, see if you could guess his name and what fic he appeared in.