cutting_edgex23 | For Cass and Stitch

For Cass and Stitch

We will need help.

Laura told him that, and Julian--because really, she was the only one that knew what was going on. At least he hoped she did--set them down on a rooftop.

How the hell they were going to get reinforcements here, he had no idea.

"Hey, don't do--"

But she'd already cut through the locking mechanism on the door, slipping through without much of a sound.

Ten seconds later she was coming back through, accompanied by--was there a restaurant in there?--some people.

Mutants? This is getting weirder by the minute. And it was pretty damn screwed up already.

"Laura, what the--"

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X turns toward the indicated door, poised to cut through.

Julian, however, beats her to it.

Boom

His TK is not very subtle anymore, if it ever was.

"Cessily! Where are--oh my god."

X follows him through the obliterated door, one quick glance showing that he has retrieving Cessily well in hand.

She's more concerned with something else.

Maybe it's a faint vibration in the floorboards.

Maybe it's the sound of heavy breathing somewhere in the complex.

Or maybe it's--

"This is not right."

Her voice is perfectly matter-of-fact, even as she looks around the room, eyes narrowed.

"Her scent is everywhere. It should not be. I do not understand."

People have this habit of laying rooms out in a logical manner. Things are placed in ways that make them easy to move between. Probably because they're lazy.

Whatever the reason, Cass spends enough time watching people move to understand how a room works simply by looking at it. She doesn't hesitate as she strides forward across the smashed doors toward a mass of machinery leaning against the far wall.

X is quite correct: this is not right.

Stitch's attention is mainly on the now shattered tank that once contained the gelatonous half formed girl sprawled on the floor. He's seen a tank like that before. This is....

And suddenly there is movement as a massive ursine shape gallops across the remains of the lab doors with a roar.

Maybe it's coincidence that the thing goes straight for Julian, silver-mercury skin rippling over dense muscle.

The teeth are silver-sharp, too, and they bite deep into the telekinetic's shoulder.

He screams.

X was already moving, claws out, expression intent. She slices deeply into the backbone of the creature, and it growls deep in its chest and flinches back.

But that shining skin flows back into the wound, sealing it as if it has never been.

This is going to be trouble.

Cass' arm is already whipping around to send a batarang whirling into the thing's eye when she she sees the second one. And the third one. Definitely trouble. This assessment is confirmed when the batarang thunks home into the silvery covering and does absolutely nothing.

If X's claws don't hurt the things, and neither does the batarang, Cass is going to need a better weapon.

She starts looking for one.

Stitch has neither adimantium plated claws nor cool throwing knives. But he does have a lot of enthusiasm. Which is in full evidence as he rushes towards one of the pair of creatures currently making their lumbering approach.

The Predator X barely registers his presence. The small animal is not a threat. And it is not prey. A paw the size of a manhole cover moves to bat the alien aside.

Three seconds later the Predator X is hissing in rage and scrambling to its feet. It may have the sentience to wonder how in the hell a creature standing less than three feet tall has managed to flip such enormous bulk over its shoulder. Then again Predator X may simply only know that there is pain and an unexpected hazard. Who can say for sure?

X dodges under a blow by the original creature, darting in to slice at its knee (and distract it from Cessily and Julian).

She needs to give her teammates time to get back on their feet.

Another blow connects, solid and painful. She rolls with it, coming to her feet and vaulting upward, getting in another solid cut on the thing's back.

"Julian! You and Cessily have to run. We will hold them as long as we can."

She speaks for Cass and Stitch, too.

But that is because she trusts them to do the work.

She can only hope that Julian will listen.

And then she's diving at one of the monsters again, claws aimed at what might be the soft under part of its jaw.

A hefty office chair flies across the room to smash into one of the giant silvery things, right between the eyes. It's not really a very good weapon, but Cass is willing to take what she can get.

Her eyes flash across a guard who lies on the floor breathing slowly, then her gaze settles on his weapon. Cass isn't a big fan of guns, but sometimes they are very effective weapons, and she's just as well-trained with them as with everything else. With a single smooth motion she cartwheels across the weapon and settles in to fire a burst at the nearest creature.

...

Judging by the way that the thing doesn't really react, she needs a bigger gun.

Stitch blinks a few times as his foe shakes its head and glares blalefuly at him. Stitch returns the glare and raises with a warbling growl... Which is abrubtly cut off as he's sent sprawling by the second monster's charge towards X.

He comes to rest upside down and ~~extremely dizzy~~ seething at the base of one of the room's many consoles.

"Grrrrr!"

X dives left, dropping under the monster's snapping teeth.

Her slice at its hamstring does not do much damage. Neither does her attempt to take out its eye. It heals too fast.

This is not good. Soon one of them will get through her guard, or through Stitch's. Or Cass'.

And then Julian and Cessily will be killed.

That is not acceptable.

She is just gathering herself for another leap, perhaps an attempt to sever the approaching creature's spine when--

KABOOM

The wall to the lab explodes inward, spilling more security forces into the room.

"They're in the labs. Repeat, they're in the labs. We need reinforcem--"

The guard yelling into his radio is cut off suddenly as Cass' purloined rifle spins across the room to smash into his face. It's good to see the thing put to a decent use, especially considering its ineffectiveness against the silver things.

As the rifle turns end over end Cass is already sprinting after it. They need an exit, and besides: these are people. Cass is good with people.

It takes a second for Stitch to get the room to stop spinning (Predator X does not hit with quite the same force as a truck. But it's a pretty near thing).

And then he's up and charging the enemy's ranks, lobbing a large chunk of concrete wall into their misdt as he goes.

"Julian. Cessily."

X's voice is short and sharp.

"Follow him."

She paces them as best she can, dodging left, then right, then right again, keeping herself between the silver monstrosities as best she can.

One catches her leg in its teeth, shaking her like a dog with a chew-toy.

She cries out, gritting her teeth against the pain. Her body twists, inhumanly flexible as it is, and she jams both sets of claws into the thing's brain.

It's jaws loosen, sending her careening toward the floor. She snarls, regaining her feet.

It is not dead yet. She will fix that.

Or die trying.

Cass does not turn back to help X. That isn't the mission, after all.

Instead she charges through the hole after Stitch, watching as her follows his chunk of concrete into a mass of guards who are woefully unprepared for him. They go from an organized team to a mass of confused men on their own in a matter of seconds. Cass lands among them with a flying kick.

Then she grabs Stitch by the scruff of his neck and turns him down the hallway toward the room they entered through. Point and shoot. It's like using a gun except that Stitch in a rage is far more effective.

Cass waves Julian and Cessily to follow the blue alien as she kicks out a few knees to discourage pursuit.

There is a squawk of protest as Stitch is snagged. And then the metal floor is under his claws again. He leaps back in to the troops with abandon; a snarling, swearing, slobbering, punching, biting fury. It's hopeless of course. There are too many. Not that this has registered with the little alien. He's never let something like superior numbers get in his way before.

Bodies go flying. Some get up again. Some don't.

All are still breathing.

X notes that in passing, attention fixed on the silver-metallic creatures that are trying to eat her alive.

She slides under one outthrust paw, stabbing downward to pin it in place, if only for a second. She ducks a swipe at her head, drawing out her claws in time to slash open one thing's face.

It is not enough.

Gritting her teeth against the remains of pain in her leg, X digs her claws into one thing's shoulder, using that leverage to swing herself upward.

Her foot--claw out--slices cleanly through the creature's throat, severing the spine.

She doesn't watch the head bounce away across the floor.

She doesn't watch the body fall.

There are still too many enemies to make a fallen one worth paying attention to.

And X-23 dives back into the fray.

There isn't much for Cassandra to do for the moment, really. The silvery things chasing them aren't something she can fight, and the guards ahead of them are faring poorly against the blue alien.

She contents herself with flitting around the edges of pile of guards Stitch is engaged with. A gun batted aside here, a straggling guard kicked in the head there. Just enough to keep Julian and Cessily covered.

Her head jerks around suddenly as Stitch pushes the mob to the next bend in the corridor. Despite the sounds of crashing bodies Cass can make out the approaching boots pounding on the floor.

A lot of boots.

The sound of approaching footwear falls on deaf extraterrestrial ears. Sure, by all accounts Stitch should be able to hear them coming with ease. But Stitch is currently fighting several armed opponents in very close quarters. He's a bit preoccupied.

Which is why the sight of a veritable sea of guardsmen pouring through a large doorway that greets him as he turns the corner comes as a complete surprise.

X's eyes go wide, and she falters for a moment.

She did not mean to get Stitch and Cass killed.

Or Julian and Cessily.

It is not okay. But there is no time for regrets.

She shakes her head, pushing away anything that is not the mission.

And when her eyes open again, she is ready.

Let them come.

Which is when the walls shudder, and a loud bang splits the sky.

There are forms plummeting from the Blackbird: Emma. Cyclops. Dust. Colossus. Shadowcat. Surge. And more, and more--

Looks like the cavalry's arrived.

"X-Men!" Cyclops shouts, as an optic blast slams into a silver-skinned predator. "Take them down!"

And blinding blue electricity crackles through another, and a steel fist slams into a third, and--

("Dude." That's Rockslide. "There's evil robot grizzly bears in here! That rules!")

Abruptly this brawl is no longer a last stand.

It only takes a moment for Cass to look over the new arrivals and determine a few important things. They are here to help X. They are very well trained. The guards are about to have a very bad day.

Cass shoots a glance at Stitch where he continues to inflict pain on the guards, then at X. Then she steps back out of the way. No point in offering up an unfamiliar face for X's friends to accidentally target.

"What the..." manages a guard. It is a mistake. For better or worse somebody here has never been opposed to taking a cheap shot when one presents itself. The unfortunate guard is tackled and subsequently rendered unconscious in short order.

Let others ponder why familiar scented people are raining from the sky, he's ~~having fun~~ busy.

There is movement and violence, screams and explosions.

But Santo and Sooraya are moving toward Julian and Cessily.

They will be okay.

X's responsibilities lie elsewhere.

She darts forward, moving low and fast, and snags Stitch by the scruff of his neck.

"It is better to leave, now."

She spins into a kick, snapping the shin of one of the guards, and dogdes blow to the face from the blunt end of a rifle.

She jerks her head toward a nearby door (mostly undamaged), opening it for Cass to walk through.

X-23 follows a moment later.

The click of her departure is muffled by the noise of combat.

She was relying on that.

Everyone's just a bit too busy to notice.

(Even to notice Cass's quick wave at a couple of familiar forms. But then, it may be that she's not a familiar form to them; there are many, many universes with X-Men in them.)

It doesn't take too long to wrap things up, all told. Within a short while, the fight's over, and there are a few mercury-skinned carcasses and a lot of captured Facility troops.

No ranking scientists, though. No one with high-level clearance. And no guarantee that every single predator was killed.

Lots of mutant corpses discovered in the labs, though.

The Facility had -- has -- a lot of funding, and very few professional scruples.

Another day, another victory. Such as it is.

Nobody's celebrating too much.

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For Cass and Stitch

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