AN: So who else is mad at Microsoft right now? The company has done plenty of terrible things to me before, but right now it's dealt me the worst blow yet. Why in the hell would you buy the exclusive rights for the Skyrim dlc? I'm so damn mad at Bethesda anyways due to how they've screwed over the PS3 version (which I have). They finally patched the water graphics that froze the entire game, so I picked back up as my rape-face magician and got to watch slow motion ice spikes. But instead of watching my vampire lord eat someone's soul, or watch my Khajit nail somebody to the wall with a crossbow, I have to wait. Damn it. Either way, on to the Disclaimer: I don't own X-men: Evolution or any of Marvel's property. I also don't own anything of Capcom's. (You'll see why I disclaimed it later.)
Chapter 13
Can't Touch This
"Where are we again?"
The cab ride from the airport had proven to be long and boring. Nobody had struck up a conversation to pass the time and the driver's choice of music hadn't helped out either. Apparently, John Mayer's biggest fan spread the love driving people from the airport. He also pitched in with his own renditions of the vocals.
"We're on the western side of town. The nicer, swanky part. I was going to take you to the usual spot that those card holders go. Some place called Ryseau. Looks like a real nice restaurant or nightclub or something. Anyways, we're about five minutes from there."
Crystal looked over to Lance, who merely rolled his eyes. They were both counting the seconds down. Blob just smacked his lips from his seat, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. Food sounded really good to him after sitting in such a tiny car for so long.
When the five minutes actually did pass, the cab pulled into the parking lot packed with expensive cars. The building looked to be 3 stories high and was quite large. None of the people in the cab could identify what kind of material the building was made out of. The cab stopped at the door and a man dressed in a valet's uniform opened the door on each side of the car. The three teens slipped out and watched with mild amusement as the man shut the doors to the cab then paid for the cab ride.
The second cab stopped shortly after the first one left, with it's doors being opened and being paid for by the valet. That must've been one hell of a good paying job, even if it sucked having to open doors for everybody. The valet then led the now regrouped Brotherhood members to the front door, where a large man stood by a podium in front of the entrance. The second car full of mutants were informed of the development while they waited on the bouncer to grant entryway.
"Card please." The deep rumble of the large man's voice shook all of the people around. Lance looked at the others before stepping up as the group's spokesman because he was holding onto the card.
"What do you need this card for? What's up with everybody treating it like it's the Golden Pass or something?"
The man looked over the six, scrutinizing them for important details. They all looked like normal kids, which meant they were way out of place here. And they didn't have a clue what in the world they were getting into. And if their card was valid…
"Just hand it here and mind your own business. You'll find out soon enough."
Terrence shoved his way through the group and stood up to the man who was still well over head high to him. "Listen here, asshole. We just flew halfway around the country to find someone and that card has gotten us here. So you are gonna tell us everything you know about it, starting from the first time you ever saw the damn thing till now."
"Calm down, young'n! Bubbles here doesn't take to kindly to cocky little shits standing up to him. Your card is good, so step inside and I'll spill the beans to you."
Terrence turned to see one of the most worrisome women he would ever see in his life right behind him. How the hell did she get there without anyone noticing and doing something? And she was so quiet too. She must've been a mutant. From her appearance, she was a well paid one too. If Terrence was the kind of guy to give having a relationship serious thought, he'd want his girl to look a lot like this woman. She was very attractive even though she was in her mid thirties, and her blue dress, heels, and stunning green eyes seemed to amplify that. Her hair was absurdly out of place, looking like a black cloud had settled on the woman's head, but it suited her.
"Well lead the way." Terrence wasn't gonna wait around to grill that man for answers when this woman was offering.
Bubbles stepped aside for the group being shepherded in by the woman. The two exchanged glances, but passed each other silently. Bubbles made sure to mean mug Terrence when he walked by, which prompted the spring muscled mutant to flip him off. Everyone snickered as the heavy wooden door shut behind them and they caught sight of the foyer. It looked just like they would've expected from the outside of the building. There was a red carpet leading from the door to a larger room, from which lights were flashing and a crowd could be heard chattering. That certainly didn't seem like the atmosphere for a fancy and swanky restaurant, did it?
"So what is this place?" Pietro asked this time, his impatience getting the better of him. Everyone else was still checking out the room's design in amazement of the sight. The woman turned and smiled crookedly, rubbing her hands gleefully.
"This, my sweethearts, is the one and only place people like us need to go to get filthy stinkin' rich! That's only if you've got the right stuff and you're a notch above the rest of everyone else. What you're standing in is the foyer to the biggest exhibition ring in all of North America! The fact you've been let in here is something to be proud of. But I gotta know. Just where did you get that card?"
Now that she was asking questions, everyone's attention was back on the woman. And no one had a clue what to tell her. Amanda pushed Terrence forward and whispered "Lie to her or something."
"We got this from an acquaintance of ours who wanted us to come by and look at some of the goods. We're reporting back to her later on what all we see."
"Oh! That's just great! I'm gonna let you guys have the best spot in the house to get a view on the 'goods'" The woman said happily, putting air quotes over the word goods. Her cheerfulness was starting to unnerve the group. But the best seats in the house sounded really good. Maybe that would mean better food service?
"Thanks, I guess. I don't know your name, so it's hard to thank you properly." Crystal stated, fishing for a name. They would more than likely need it if anyone else questioned them about their seats. Plus, it would help them address her if they had anymore questions.
"Oh, it's fine. You kids are more than welcome. But if it helps, most people here call me Snakecharmer." And for one sickening moment, the group saw why. In the midst of saying her own nickname, Snakecharmer's tongue had changed into a live snake that hissed testily at being awoken. Then, a second later, everything was back to normal. Toad shuddered audibly, but the woman didn't seem to notice. Even Terrence looked disturbed by the show of mutation.
She turned and led the group down the red carpet from the entrance towards the large opening where the crowd had been gathered. The room wasn't anything like a restaurant or nightclub. Sure there were crowded tables with bustling waiters moving from one to another with drinks and meals and there was even a bar in one corner of the room, but the center of the room is what made it something else. It was a perfect circle sectioned off by perfectly clear glass, showing nothing but the same marble floor.
"Hey, why is that little area sectioned off? Is that where the goods are shown at?" Lance asked, trying to catch Snakecharmer's attention. She didn't say anything, but led them past the tables filled with people who were all watching them carefully. All the patrons were well dressed too, not a single thing less than suits and ties. Terrence was trying to sort through everything in his head, wishing he had paper to write it all out on. Trying to think things out was never his strong suit.
'So we're at a club that only let's you in if you have Mystique's special card. That card apparently is so well renowned that even taxi cab drivers in Denver recognize it. So why don't I? And this place is shady. So many rich people and businessmen. The place is guarded by mutants and it seems that they expect us to be as well. So that would mean that most of these patrons are mutants as well. But there's no way that they could organize a place like this that only serves the mutant community discretely unless…'
Grabbing a hold of Pietro's shoulder, Terrence pulled him back and whispered sharply "What was the name of this place? The big name carved in marble above the main door?"
Quicksilver looked quizzically at the older mutant, before vanishing from sight. Terrence whipped his head around towards the entrance and saw the door ajar. A moment later it closed and Pietro was back in front of him. "It's some foreign word or something. Complete gibberish. Why? What's the big deal? Do you want a souvenir T-shirt from this place or something?"
'What language?' Terrence wondered to himself before he grabbed Pietro's shoulder again. "What was the name, Speedy? This is important." Pietro jerked his shoulder out of Terrence's grip before replying "Calm down man. It was Ryusay or something like that. Complete gibberish, I tell ya."
Before Springload could say anything to the contrary, Snakecharmer turned to face the group, smiling once again. "Here we are. The VIP seats are right through this door. I'll send someone to you in a minute if you have any requests. Don't worry, relax, and I'm sure you'll all have a good time."
The door she was talking about was merely a panel from the see-through glass that slid to the side. On the other side was an empty table large enough to seat all of the Brotherhood, with silverware and glasses set for dinning. There was another glass wall that showed a flawless viewing for the main floor, which was still empty. Terrence pushed the group inside the personal section and thanked the woman, before shutting the glass panel in her face.
She left, probably to go find a waiter to serve them. Everyone was glad to be rid of her. Fred sat down at the table, slamming his palms down, eager to order some food and chow down. The rest of the group followed shortly after, with Terrence still troubled. "This doesn't make any sense. We're in some auction house run by mutants. Mystique's card, presumably one for membership here, has gotten people jumping through hoops for us. There's supposed to be some hotshot mutant our age around the city. You guys reckon he'll be around here?"
"Well, this is where we've been taken by that card so far. There's no way to know for certain. This whole thing is crazy though. What do you reckon they show here?" Crystal wondered. The sliding of the glass panel behind them caused the group to turn. Their waiter had arrived, but he was empty handed and without anything to take orders with. How odd.
"All right, sit your asses down and shut up. I'm here to tell you what requests you can and can't make before the first round of the exhibition is over. No food or water is to be provided before hand, we don't provide weapons of any kind, nor do we offer to change the temperature for anyone. If your powers only work in circumstances not met by the arena you see out there," The man said, pointing to the center of the room, "Then I suggest you quit now. Otherwise, good luck and we'll have ambulances waiting for you when you're done, if you are in good enough condition to need them."
Lance stood up out of his chair, outraged and extremely confused. "What the hell are you talking about? We're here to see the show and find out what's going on here. And how do you know we're mutants?"
"What kind of condition do you have to be in to not need an ambulance?" Crystal questioned, mildly curious, mostly nervous. What the hell was going on?"
The waiter sighed and pushed his glasses farther up his nose in a show of annoyance. "Are you all imbeciles, or does whomever gave you that card hate you? This is the largest exhibition showing for mutants in North America! This is where the best of the best street class mutants come to show the Network what they have to offer. Some of the best workers of our time have come from this very spot. Now get out there and fight. Maybe if you make it back out, we'll offer you some complementary service. Any bets you're willing to place need to be done before the hour, which is when the exhibition starts. You've got 13 minutes."
The man turned to walk back out, only for a question to stop him in his tracks. "What if we refuse?" The man turned to see Terrence propped by his arms on the table, patiently waiting for an answer he knew he wouldn't like. "You would never make it out of here alive. You didn't have a choice the moment you walked through those doors."
With that, the man turned and left, leaving thee team standing in more confusion than what they entered with. Terrence sat back down in his seat, having risen out of it when the word 'Network' was spoken. The rest did as well, mulling everything over in their heads. Things didn't look too good.
"We're fixin' to fight for some food, water, and recognition from people that we don't care about. We don't any say in the matter, according to that jackass. He has ambulances prepared for us because he's expecting us to get slaughtered. Is anyone else worried right now?" Amanda asked, fighting the urge to bite her nails. She had just painted them hours earlier, after all.
Pietro leaned back in his chair, propping his feet up on the table. "We've got this in the bag. There are six of us working together against some street level chumps. According to that guy, these fighters haven't been given contracts or whatever by the Network. Terrence here has, so that means he must be head and shoulder above these guys. The rest of us just have to keep up with him."
Everyone looked to Springload for confirmation. "He's almost right. Some of these guys might have been given jobs before, but come here to grind out weaklings or to get a bigger name for themselves. I've never been to a place like this before. I hardly knew they even existed. So much of the Network is kept under wraps until it's need to know. But if this is a legit Network run operation, then we really shouldn't try to escape. Network takes security extremely serious and the guards here would kill us for breaking the rules. Our best bet is to fight until we're given the option to leave. As a bonus, this will probably give us a great chance to find that mutant we were looking for if he's here."
At this, he slipped his backpack, which was his carry on luggage for the trip, off his shoulders and dug out a black suit with matching gloves and shoes. The athletic shoes looked more expensive then the rest of the outfit put together. "If we're gonna fight, you guys might as well suit up." Quicksilver was left behind at the table because he was already wearing his combat gear, while the others went to the bathroom, thankful for the signs to direct them. They could tell they were being watched the entire time they were walking around, so it made them move in a hurry. They came back to Pietro still propped on the table.
"Here's hoping we make it out of there alive. We get fame, possible fortune, the chance to meet our mysterious recruit, and we get to walk out of here." Amanda recapped, running her fingers through her hair, anxious of the upcoming fights.
"We get food for winning too." Fred provided, smashing his hands together in anticipation. He had all the motivation he needed. "So when do we get to fight? I'm ready to start." As if in response to his question, the glass in front of the 'VIP' room slid down into the ground, providing clearance to the main floor. The six walked out, spotting competition coming out from every side. There had to be at least twenty other mutants coming onto the main floor. Most looked like a bunch of nobodies, dressed in simple street clothes like the Brotherhood had been. Others were in similar outfits or uniforms as the Brotherhood, showing that they were taking it seriously and came prepared.
A voice rang out through the speaker system hanging over the room as all the mutants began to move forward towards the center of the ring.
"Welcome, ladies, gentlemen, and everything in between! Tonight, we're here to show you the up and coming stars of the world, the men and women, boys and girls who will get things done. This is their time to show out and show off, so sit back, buy another drink, and watch carefully. Contestants! Keep sharp. You're performing for your future employers, so try to say alive and make sure no one else does. There are no rules, no obligations to hold you back. The fights stop only when all of you stop. Now get it poppin'!"
Silence was clear over the entire arena for a few precious moments, and then the war erupted. Crystal took a step back and watched as mutants began to power up or start fighting. It was so absurd to her. Why would anyone risk their lives fighting just so they could go do jobs and risk their lives again? Were they all just adrenaline junkies? Did that make her just as bad as them for being here as well?
A man adjacent from the Brotherhood group saw Crystal step back and saw her as the weakest among them. He targeted her, slamming his hands down on the ground and began to push energy into it. A trail of dark liquid formed, speeding towards Crystal and the others, who were still grouped together defensively. Toad spotted the trail and warned the group, who all turned to run out of the way. Fred was too slow to avoid the stream, which soon turned the entire area where the Brotherhood had been into a swamp. Sinking fast, he cried out to his team.
"Help me! Get me outta here!"
Crystal turned and looked back at her teammates, quickly growing a crystal from solid ground out towards Fred, making it as strong and thick as she dared to without exhausting herself. Fred grabbed onto his lifeline and began to pull himself back towards solid land. Todd helped pull the big guy out while Lance blasted the stream with seismic waves. The seismic waves traveled faster in the swampy earth than on dry ground, so the mutant on the other end had no time to react when the stream reversed on him and he was soon flooded by his own mud that left him completely bogged down.
Terrence snorted to himself, before he heard Blob and the other mutant start shouting. Looking them over, he saw the reason why. The mud was hardening like cement. Fred quickly broke out of his with his immense strength, but the original mutant could not. What a sad way to go, buried alive by his own powers. Just thinking about it made Terrence shiver in phantom terror.
The Brotherhood regrouped, watching the fights take place in front of them. It was an amazing sight, awe inspiring even for other mutants. Powers were flying all over the place, and sometimes, bodies did to. Maybe a dozen of the competitors were still up running around causing each other mayhem. Eight of the mutants still left made a silent alignment to break up the teen mutants to the side that hadn't split up yet. They were coming for the Brotherhood.
One mutant ran out in front of the group and slammed his palms together, making a giant flash of yellow light that blinded the group and even some of the mutant's own allies. He finished making it to the group before Avalanche recovered and began to send waves of marbled floor at the advancing mutants. Amanda finished wiping her eyes and found herself face to face with the flashing mutant. His skin was glowing yellow and she quickly averted her eyes while cursing her luck. Why was everyone picking on her tonight?
The flashing mutant, an older man dressed in bright yellow to match his powers, tried to flash again, but Crystal shielded her eyes. When the flash was gone, she lashed out with her arms and began to grow crystals to pummel the man. One grew straight into his gut, continually growing until it threw him several yards away. The man just pushed back up and began to fire beams of light at the girl. Crystal tried to avoid them, but they were coming so fast she finally was tagged by one on her right side. Pain erupted from her skin as she saw the burn mark appear on it through her suit. Rubbing the burning flesh to soothe the pain, the blonde had to take evasive action again, diving into a roll and leaping out of it in a handspring. Maybe cheerleading practice was paying off?
Taking the moment to think levelheadedly while the flashing mutant recovered from expending so much energy, Crystal thought about what his powers were. Light. What were her powers? Growing crystals. So how did that help her? A smile formed on her face as she figured out how she was supposed to win this stupid competition.
The flashing mutant (she had named him Sunbeam) had recovered from splurging all of the earlier light and was about to fire another volley, but Crystal was ready. She grew a series of crystal pillars that trapped the mutant, as well as his light beam, inside. The light refracted from the uneven reflective surface and hit the mutant. Sunbeam was unharmed by it, but he was also trapped now by the pillars.
Satisfied, Crystal turned to see how her teammates had handled things. Toad had to fight a mutant woman who was using a glass ball as a medium to make earthen soldiers out of the ground. Toad had scurried away and avoided being hit fairly easily, as marble men made for slow adversaries. When he figured out how the woman was using her powers, he snatched it out of her hands with his tongue, causing the men to crumble back into the floor. Toad took the woman down with a dropkick to the head that left his smelly sneakers footprint on her cranium.
Pietro was having fun, juggling two mutants who must've been siblings by the looks of them. They would swap places each other via some sort of teleport, but Pietro had simply corralled them inside a vortex of him running around them. Instead of simply letting them suffocate from oxygen deprivation, Pietro would veer off from the circle he was in and would clothesline one of the mutants. The other would swap to take it's place and put the other in safety, only to get hit as well. While the two were helping each other up, crystals grew to imprison both simultaneously, so no matter if either teleported with the other, they would still both be trapped.
Quicksilver ran over to Amanda's side, complaining "Spoilsport. I was having fun with them!"
"Go have fun with the others. They aren't looking so hot!"
Indeed, Avalanche, Blob, and Springload were surrounded by four mutants and looked to be in dire straights. One mutant dove at them, putting his hands out in front of him like a spear, only to be swatted by Fred into the ground, where he disappeared. Another capitalized on Fred's now open back and was about to charge in with his freaky axes that had replaced his hands, only to be nailed in the side and sent rolling away by a flying side kick from Springload. Lance kept the last two mutant at bay by sending rolling waves of the floor at them. One dodged by blasting the floor with air and launching himself above it, the other merely blasted a hole through it with a beam erupting from her mouth.
Blob charged forward at the nearest opposing mutant, the woman spitting energy beams, and slammed down on her with his heavy hands. She scampered out of the way, letting Blob's attack hit the floor instead. Blob just rolled with it and dug his hands into the marble, pulling it up in a wall and pushing it forward to collapse on the woman. She shouted a blast that destroyed the wall, but in the dust and ruble, she missed Blob's follow-up attack. A block of marble hit her squarely in the chest and knocked her lights out, eliminating her from the competition and crumpled on the floor. Blob turned to see Amanda tapping her foot and clucking her tongue.
"You're not supposed to hit a girl, big guy. Didn't anyone ever tell you that?"
Blob just bellowed in laughter, rubbing his hands together proudly. "I never did hit her. That rock sure did though."
The two returned to the others, who were wrapping up their own fights. Lance had teamed up with Pietro and Toad to take down the air manipulating mutant. Toad had wrapped up on arm with his tongue, which left the mutant hovering dangerously low in the air while struggling to get his limb free. Avalanche concentrated to make a seismic wave that moved the earth into a ramp for Pietro. Quicksilver blurred off the ramp and into the air, knocking the floating mutant to the ground hard. Quicksilver began to circle the mutant and when he stopped, the competitor wasn't moving at all aside the unsteady rise and fall of his chest as he regained a steady breathing pattern unconsciously.
Springload wasn't having as much success, dodging the mutant man who could change his arms into different weapons. Right now they were simple bludgeons, but extremely painful. Terrence's throbbing left arm would confer that fact. It didn't help that the other mutant from earlier would propel himself out of the ground like a spear from Springload's blindside, and if he missed, then he would vanish back beneath the surface to try again. Springload rolled out of the way of the two-armed bludgeon assault, charging his leg up to kick the mutant in the back and knock him forward. He had to abort the effort when the landshark mutant came back, nearly taking Springload's head off.
Glaring at the now departed mutant in the ground, he had to charge a leap out of the way as the weapon-shifting mutant turned back around to attack again. As he leapt backwards, the ground shark mutant tackled Springload out of the air and into the ground, literally. Terrence was left buried in the ground with only his head sticking out of it. The two collaborating mutants looked down at Springload, glaring. One spit on Terrence, getting saliva in his hair. The other just drew his arm back to cave in Springload's head with his mace arm. A blur of silver flying by knocked the mutant off balance, and the Blob belly flexing launched the mutant into the distance, where he landed hard and stayed down. The land shark mutant slipped back underground, only to be flung back out by Avalanche shaking him back out.
The mutant shook his head to clear it out, before taking stock of the enemies before him. Seeing himself surrounded and outnumbered, he held his hands up in defeat, knowing he had been beat. Blob had the decency to give him a love tap on the head that sent him into snooze land. Terrence, who was stuck body deep in the ground, was on the edge of a nervous breakdown. Struggling to stay calm and not hyperventilate, he closed his eyes and whispered in order to keep his voice from cracking. "Get me out of this. Please."
Avalanche looked down at his fellow teammate, thinking of how only hours ago Springload had been threatening to tear off his arms. "I ought to leave you, after the way you've treated me and everyone else on this team. You might be better than us, but that doesn't mean you don't need us. Remember that."
Springload kept his eyes closed and his mouth shut, while Avalanche focused his powers on loosening the marble around Terrence without crushing the teen. Blob began to pull on Springload's head painfully by his ears, slowly lifting him out of the floor that was now much softer thanks to Lance. Once Springload was freed, he lay flat on the floor and tried to calm himself after being in such a panicked state in front of everybody.
"Thanks."
Avalanche took that with a bit of smugness, but held his hand out to pull Springload up. "If we're gonna run this gang right, then we're gonna have to help each other. I don't care if you don't like me, but at least work with me, alright?"
Terrence nodded, pulling himself up and eyeing what was left of the competition. One teen about their age. From across the main floor, the kid didn't seemed scuffed up or harmed in the slightest. And guessing from the pained moans of every body on the floor around him, he must've had a dangerous mutation. Springload checked around him, making sure all of his friends were still fine. Wait, did he just call them friends?
Crystal patted Terrence on the back and said "It's cool if you're claustrophobic or something. Just let us know next time and we'll watch your back, ok?"
Springload gave her a funny look, trying to figure out her intentions for trying to comfort him. He gave up and shrugged, saying "I'm not claustrophobic. That'd be completely irrational. You guys have got nothing to worry about. That won't ever happen again."
Crystal just looked at him, questioning him with a look that asked why he was hiding a fear that was now painfully obvious to the others. Terrence ignored the look and focused back on the other mutant, who had now seen and turned to face them. He didn't look worried.
Lance called out to the teen, offering a peace treaty "Give up and we won't pummel you any. It's you against all six of us, so you may as well give up now. Make it easier on yourself."
The other mutant began to slowly walk over to the group, who had grouped back up and were all watching the mutant carefully. He kept walking, only to gradually float from the ground up a foot and levitate while proceeding forward. The group was even more on edge now, readying themselves in case the mutant really was stupid or cocky enough to attack. In the blink of an eye, the mutant was gone, only to reappear again a few feet in front of the group.
"I don't think I will. You newbs just don't seem to get how over leveled I am compared to you all. Prepare to be pwnd."
The gamer lingo was a bit offsetting, but the threat was obvious. In another second, Pietro had speed to the mutant, but the mutant teleported away, appearing behind Blob with his hands centered around his waist, charging up a blue energy that was felt by all the mutants in the room. Blob turned just as the enemy mutant pushed his attack forward and shouted "Hadouken!"
The attack was astounding. It sent Blob tumbling away in a painful crash to the ground several yards away. The other Brotherhood members just stared at the unknown fighter, each one wondering just what kind of mutation he had in order to copy a signature fighting move from a video game of all places. The boy just grinned as he settled into a stance more suited to melee combat. Pietro wasted no time and speed forward, going by so fast that the wind kicked by threw up knocked the mutant off of balance, leaving him open to a flying side kick, courtesy of Springload. The kick sent him rolling back and into a crystal wall, with other walls growing around him to enclose him inside a prison.
"Give up! This is the last time we'll offer for you to give, so take it. If not, then we'll put you down a lot harder than that little tap I just gave you." Terrence warned, charging up his muscles just in case. The mutant didn't answer until he shattered his crystal prison with another Hadouken, stepping out of the remains.
"My health bar is hardly even dented, even after all those other fights with other losers and that hit you gave me. Everyone could take a lot more of a beating than that in the Street Fighter games. Don't you know anything?"
What was up with this guy? He was talking like a really in depth game nerd that hadn't put the controller down. He was treating the fight as if he actually had a health bar or that a video game had anything to do with the fight going on right now. It had to be related to his powers somehow.
Lance stepped in after he had finished checking on Blob, who was unconscious and looked hurt. He sent seismic waves at the mutant, who was thrown around and landed flat face-first on the now shattered marble floor. He pushed back up and wiped the blood leaking out of his nose, sending a glare at Lance. He vanished in another teleport, reappearing in front of lance with his palm outstretched and in Avalanche's face. A copy of the mutant appeared behind Avalanche, palm outstretched to the back of his head as well. The two began to gather a sickly purple looking energy to blast the stunned Avalanche with. In a simultaneous chorus, the two shouted "Psycho Cannon!" before unleashing the energy.
The other Brotherhood mutants watched in horror as Avalanche disappeared in an explosion and the area was soon covered in dust. Not a single one of them could breathe until the dust settled and they saw the still from of Lance Alvers, his bowl headgear shattered and several burns covering his face. From where they were, the Brotherhood couldn't tell if he was breathing or not. Each one was angry enough to where it didn't matter either way. They were going to take Avalanche's life out on this new mutant's hide. Quicksilver burst past the game-mimicking mutant and hit him several times from behind, but the gamer reacted well and put a block that seemed to be unaffected by Pietro's speedy attacks. Quicksilver vanished again, taking a moment to plan out a better attack, but Crystal figured it out for him. Crystals grew out of the ground in a barrage of blunt formations that would pummel the mutant who was trapped inside a box. A formation would grow painfully into his back, knocking the mutant forward into another formation that would knock him into yet another formation.
Eventually the assault stopped due to new formations not having any room to grow and the boy was given a moment to recover. A "Kaiten Tori Keru" shout rang through the air, right before the crystals shattered and the mutant flipped right side up. Stepping out of the crystal shards once more, he looked pointedly at Crystal, who was looking pale and tired at this point, and said "That would be Spinning Bird Kick to you silly Americans who play the translated versions and get ripped off."
Terrence gritted hit teeth at the problem before him. The guy had taken out two of their team, as well as numerous others earlier and he still looked ready to go a few more rounds. Amanda had just worn herself out giving the guy one hell of a beat down, but it hardly seemed to hurt him. If the guy was ripping off fighting moves from Street Fighter, then it hardly seemed like a good idea to get close. But there wasn't any real ranged power among them anymore, with Crystal everything but keeled over in exhaustion.
Toad looked between Quicksilver and Terrence and saw the shared grim looks, before looking back to the mutant who was standing calmly even after taking such an assault. He was about to suggest that maybe they give up trying to fight the guy and quit so they could get Lance and Fred some medical attention, but the enemy competitor beat him to it.
"You guys should quit. I've still got half my health bar and you guys just blew your hyper technique. None of you will get the chance to do that again, so you have no hope left."
Terrence clenched his jaw and thought for a moment, before asking "You keep treating this like it's a fight in a video game. Why?" Maybe he could get some answers on this guy's troubling powers?
"Because to me, it is. One big game that I've unable to lose. You wanna know why?"
"You have cheats?" Toad questioned, before hacking up a ball of flying spit that was sent straight into the teen's face. Terrence took the time to get close while the guy was struggling to get the nasty semi-liquid off of his face. The mutant must've heard Terrence get close, as he began to quit struggling against the slime and put up a block. Springload just smirked before charging up his arm for 4 seconds, feeling the strain begin to build. Any longer of a charge would probably throw his arm out of socket when he punched.
The punch, while strong enough to send the fighter sliding back a few feet, didn't break the guard or cause any harm to him, much to Springload's amazement. That punch would've snapped any normal person's arm in half. Another punch just as strong followed, but with no different results. Frustrated, Springload started to think. This guy had to be mimicking everything about Street Fighter, which would explain why that block was so good. So how did you stop somebody from blocking in that game?
Terrence wasn't much of a gamer, not at all. But it seemed the obvious solution was to attack the legs. A sweeping kick knocked the gamer mutant off of his feet and out of his guard. The Street Fighter imitator hit the ground hard and was kept there by a series of kicks, punts, and stomps from Springload. Even Terrence knew a cheap way to win a fight on games like that was to cop 'em out on the ground.
Apparently, the gamer knew this as well and decided to counter as only a video game character could. Rising in a spinning crouch, the mutant stood from the crouch with a rising uppercut that connected with Springload's chest, then his chin, sending him rising in the air. From there, the mutant rose in another spiral uppercut with a flaming fist that slammed into Terrence's gut and sent him flying away into the painfully hard marble floor.
A bit of blood began to leak around Terrence's head from where he hit the floor, but the muscle compressing mutant didn't rise or respond, even as small flames died out on his clothes. The Street Fighter imitator just turned to the three remaining competitors. Quicksilver began to run again, knowing that it would be dangerous and stupid to leave the mutant time to recover. He began to circle him and created a vortex that would draw all the air out of it and eventually cause the guy to suffocate and pass out.
The mutant began to realize it and thought of how to get out of his troubling situation. The mutant jumped into the air, seemingly ignorant of gravity as he flew up. From his high point in the air, the mutant stretched out his arms to inhuman lengths, reaching the edge of the vortex. Quicksilver was moving so quickly that he couldn't stop from running into the open hands that clamped down on his shoulders like vices. From there, the mutant drew himself in and began to deliver several hard headbutts to the captured mutant, hollering "Yoga" with each hit. He finished with an even harder headbutt that left Pietro crumpled on the floor with a bloody face.
"Yoga Shangri-la was always one of my favorite moves. Dhalism was a great character in that game."
Neither Toad or Crystal knew what the heck that guy was talking about, but they both knew that this was extremely bad for them. All of the heavy hitters in the group were down and out, so it was left to them to beat this guy who would simply not stay down.
Toad hacked up another ball of slime to blind the guy, but he merely swatted it away without any of it getting on him.
"That trick won't work twice. Bison taught me how to deflect incoming KI projectiles and your powers are no different. Now prepare to lose."
Before the mutant could move, crystal structures formed and encased his feet, holding him still. As he stared down at them, the blonde girl tried to reason with him. "Wait just a second. What if me and the twerp over there tell you we give? Our friends over there need some attention, so if we could just get them and get outta here, that'd be great. It'd work out for all of us, because you would be king of the ring, or whatever you want to call it."
The mutant ignored the suggestion, before turning to his imprisonment's creator. "You are foolish. I gave you a chance earlier, but you chose to become my enemies instead I'll give no enemy of mine any quarter nor mercy. You shall be defeated."
Crystal was already creating a wall of crystal as a shield in front of her as soon as she saw the mutant move. The gamer had drawn back his arm, before bringing it forward in a punch. "Sonic Boom!" A yellow crescent bladed projectile erupted from the move, flying into the crystal wall and shattering it like every other KI attack had. Crystal was knocked flat on her back from the attack, unable to move any more and thoroughly exhausted from growing so many crystals.
From the ground she heard Toad yelp and made out the sound of another shout from the seemingly unbeatable mutant competitor. "Ashura Senku!" From the sound of a body collapsing to the floor, Amanda would only assume that Toad had been defeated as well. Laying face up gave Crystal a nice view of the ceiling, which now that she noticed, was a painted mural of something she didn't recognize. A shadow soon impaired her vision, then followed by the fighter who had taken down every single Brotherhood mutant.
His pitch black eyes were creepy to look at, and even with the bits of slime that was still on his face, Amanda couldn't help but shudder at the sight. They were so deep and sickeningly black she couldn't look at them for long. A small frown formed on his face as he stared down at his defeated opponent. She had lasted the longest against him and the biggest annoyance out of all of the last six he had beat. She was the one that Satsui no Hadou would require him to kill. Even though he had tapped into Akuma to defeat the green froggy mutant, the personality still desired to destroy her, the one who had harmed him the most.
Amanda could only stare in horror as those black eyes hardened and the face steeled itself of emotion. The mutant drew his arm back and fell to one knee. He reached for her shoulders, whispering out "Prepare yourself!" Amanda closed her eyes and cursed everything she could for letting her get on that stupid jet earlier and for getting her in the middle of a mutant fight club with this deranged, game-obsessed maniac.
A flash of red caught her attention, but she didn't dare open her eyes. Then there was a sharp crack that rent the air, as well as the smell of sulfur. Finally opening her eyes, she was greeted by the blue furry demon X-man, who's name she never bothered to learn.
"Greetings! I'm supposed to get you out of here now." Nightcrawler grabbed her on the shoulder and they were gone. And for one miserable trillionth of a second, Amanda felt like she was in hell. Then the feeling passed and she was greeted by a strange bald man from her seat in what looked like the interior of a plane.
As hazy and tired as she was before the teleporting, the girl still managed to get out a "Huh?"
The bald man folded his hands across his lap as Kurt teleported the other defeated Brotherhood members into the Blackbird. None of them were awake, but a dark-skinned woman with a beauty about her that made Amanda slightly jealous looked them over and said they would all be okay, if a little banged up. Amanda sighed to herself.
Charles Xavier looked at the girl for a brief moment, before touching his temple with his right hand.
'Alright team, they're all here. Fall back.'
Ignoring any grumblings he heard telepathically from his team, Xavier began to relax when all of them reappeared via Kurt's porting. He refocused on the girl and used his powers as lightly as he could, trying to be as invasive as possible.
'You and your friends will be fine Crystal. You can rest now.'
And so she did, with a little prodding from Xavier. The man then turned to Storm, who was back in the pilot's seat. Nodding her head, the woman prepped the plane for take off and adjusted all the instruments she would need to do so.
Logan sat down in the seat aside Xavier, bothered by something. Looking over to his long time friend, he could tell the man needed to get something off of his chest.
"What is it, Logan? Something has upset you."
Logan turned to face the professor and explained his offset feeling. "I get the feeling that helping Mystique out will come back and bite us in the rear, Chuck. I got a bad feeling in my bones."
"There wasn't much choice. We couldn't simply leave her mislead children to be either killed or worse. That room that they were in was unsettling. It blocked my telepathy and it blocked Kurt's porting until you cut that entrance in the roof. It would seem that more and more people are learning how to block telepaths. And that last mutant fighting? I couldn't get a good look at him mentally before it was time to leave."
Logan grunted at the questioning of his last opponent. "That kid was tricky. From what I heard our kids say, he was quoting some video game and using fictional martial arts moves. Luke tried to show off and show him some move that he had copied from a game, but the other kid just flattened him with some bizarre attack. He was seriously strong, Charles. I don't think our kids could've taken him if forced to. It would also doesn't help that he beat all of the Brotherhood in one go."
Charles nodded, soaking in the information. "That could explain why he was so hard to read mentally, if he's taken in personalities from a game."
Luke pitched in from his seat, having eavesdropped a little. "That guy was pretty scary when you think about it. He had every character in Street Fighter copied and he was spamming their KI attacks. If his powers let him copy characters out of video games, then he could do just about anything! There are so many games out there that let you do so many crazy things. He didn't seem to recognize my Hurricane Corkscrew, so maybe he's really stupid and doesn't know how his mutation works?"
Logan snorted and replied "It's never that easy, kid."
AN: So yeah. Camp was the bomb and totally worth blowing this chapter off for an extra week or so. Sorry for you losers who didn't go to camp this summer and don't know what I'm talking about. I wrote a more filling story to go on my profile. Read it and vote in my freakin' pole! Last chapter to vote on Luke's codename, you jerks!
The characters found at the Network exhibition house were all mine, but only the ones that were named mattered, as well as the last one that was so strong. I had a lotta fun writing him and having him use so many attacks from Street Fighter. He's gonna go real far you guys, don't worry. I'm gonna post a profile about him on my profile, too. If anyone sends me a message or leaves a review about the Hurricane Corkscrew reference, then I'll give you cookie.
Next chapter, we get to see how the Brotherhood react to waking up in the X-mansion. Here's hoping you enjoyed this chapter and will stick around till the next update. I hope it won't take as long!