X-23 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cutting_edgex23) wrote2014-03-29 04:56 pm
cutting_edgex23) wrote2014-03-29 04:56 pm
yellow bird flying
X doesn't leave any notes.
She takes Thor to Greymalkin Industries, acknowledging the mutants they pass with a quick flickering gaze, then moving quickly on.
It's the walk of an X-23 with business to attend to. They've all seen it before. Only half of them manage to ignore the Asgardian that accompanies her.
Once they've made it to the garage, X fishes out helmets for both of them, then checks two motorcycles (her usual and one other) for full gas tanks and decent repair.
That done, they're ready to go.
It's going to be a long, travel-filled week. And at the end --
Well.
They'll find out when they get there.
She takes Thor to Greymalkin Industries, acknowledging the mutants they pass with a quick flickering gaze, then moving quickly on.
It's the walk of an X-23 with business to attend to. They've all seen it before. Only half of them manage to ignore the Asgardian that accompanies her.
Once they've made it to the garage, X fishes out helmets for both of them, then checks two motorcycles (her usual and one other) for full gas tanks and decent repair.
That done, they're ready to go.
It's going to be a long, travel-filled week. And at the end --
Well.
They'll find out when they get there.
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For what it is worth, the Enigma Force sounds genuinely regretful.
I am in a . . . distant place. I will try to reach you, but --
"We will protect them," X says, fiercely. "Everyone. We have done it before. I know."
It's not like they have much of a choice, honestly.
And it is what they do. It is what she does.
It is what she chooses.
Remember this, little avatar. The King will know you are different from the others. His eye will be upon you. Be wary of that.
"Why is she different?" Spider-Man does not mean to sound jealous, but he genuinely wants to know. Stuff like this is always important. Always.
She knows what it is to choose, more than any I have met. We are all made of stars, Peter Parker. But we must choose to touch them. She does.
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None of their blows appear to touch him. It makes him laugh, self-satisfied and vicious.
Given his preoccupation, X takes a moment to check where the children are.
And the aliens.
In case they need to be moved to safety.
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For what good it does. Even Mjölnir's blows can't touch this man, wrapped as he is in a shield of orange-dark energy. Lightning would likely fare no better, and it would wreak destruction upon this building.
But Mjölnir's blows do knock him backwards, as Sue's shields and the Thing's rocky fists do not.
The man dislikes that -- and it distracts him a little from strikes at the others. Both are reason enough to keep it up.
The man declares himself weary of games, through a smirk that he would like to be vicious. (It is, but Thor mostly finds his manner annoyingly tacky.) A soundless burst of energy rocks the room, sending the others flying backward.
Thor is unaffected, though he has to brace a little; it lifts his hair like a strong wind.
So is X.
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X just looks at him, gaze flat.
"It is irrelevant. I will not let you hurt anyone here. Or on this world."
She darts toward him, swift and unerring.
"Charming," he says, amusedly watching her move closer. "You actually think you can -- "
snikt
The gash in his cheek begins dripping blood.
She follows that up with a brutal stab to the throat, which then turns into a diving slice.
Just to be thorough.
"Oh little one," the Demon King says through bubbles of blood, "did you really think it would be that easy?"
Valeria is standing just behind him, ray gun in hand.
X's eyes widen.
It is already too late.
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Mjölnir smashes into the man's face, hard enough to pulverize stone. X is not the only one who believes in being thorough. Whether it does damage now or not, though, it's too late.
Valeria's young face is wearing the demon's smug, obnoxious smirk, and a familiar sigil has begun to glow orange on her forehead.
"Open the portal to my people," she purrs, in a voice too resonant for a child's, "or the girl will die."
Thor breathes out in a low, furious growl. His hands are fists, ready for a deserving target.
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Her expression is set.
Focused.
Determined.
"No. Let her go. Take me instead. You known it was my energy that opened the portal."
X does not look away from the demon.
"You can use it to open the portal again. For . . . your people."
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He knows, he understands, he would say the same, but --
X is good at tricks, he knows that now. Let this be a trick. The demon is no honorable warrior; it's a vile thief, and deserves deceit in trade.
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X's expression remains calm. Composed.
"You know."
If it does not, that is not her problem.
"Let her go."
The Whirldemon smiles, teeth momentarily too sharp for the girl's face, forehead marked with a burning brand.
"All right. Let's see what you can do, little one."
X staggers, eyes closed, bent in half over her suddenly-sick stomach. And when she stands straight again, it is her own brow that is marked.
The instrumentation in the rooms around them begins to whir. Power rises. In the air in front of her, a portal opens. Within it are hundreds -- no, thousands -- of demons forms. They are moving closer.
There is no time. X knows this very well.
She flicks a quick, sideways look at Thor, then at the machinery all around them.
"You know what to do."
And then she is running, quick as she has ever moved, toward the portal.
She leaps --
"NO!" the demon King cries.
-- and she falls.
Like a stone.
Like a star.
X burns.
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Never a backward glance: X flings herself into the portal at a sprint, and Thor can't catch her arm, he can't reach, and she's falling away into the void, a tiny bright brave shape plummeting, lost.
There are tears already standing in Thor's eyes when, with an inarticulate roar, he calls Mjölnir to him and flings it through a bank of equipment. Then another. And another.
(But not the walls, and nowhere near the people. X fell to preserve this place.)
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She looks up at the Whirldemon King, who is seated and glaring at her from his throne of bone, his soldiers and advisors surrounding him. They look hungry.
X does not care.
"You deceived me," he says. "But now you are trapped here with me, forever. And I will not kill you, little one. Oh no. You will live on, in terror and agony, as fodder for my demons and a plaything for my court. You will beg for death and it will not come. Tell me, child, was your sacrifice worth it?"
"Yes." X does not flinch, not at all. "I protect people. It is what I do. It is what I am. And I will never let you hurt anyone else. Ever. On my world or any other."
The demon King laughs. "And how will you accomplish this? With the sign of a dead star that you wear? Please."
The star on X's burning is burning. Her eyes are burning, too. The rest of her soon follows, but this light is brighter than when her flesh was aflame, so short a time ago. It is clearer, too. And when it fades --
Captain Universe stands before the King, power wafting from her like smoke from a torch.
"I know you will never defeat me. You cannot."
Swathes of demons die by her hand, with more to follow. It is easy. Not least because she knows it will be.
The demon King, however, seems pleased at her newfound powers. "My old foe. It is so good to see you again, here in my power. I have hungered for this, to extinguish the light that imprisoned my people. Oh, how I have dreamed."
X stands before him, unbloodied and unbowed.
"You have pathetic dreams."
She almost sounds sorry about that, even as she looks up into the clouded and occluded sky.
"And I can still see the stars."
The light all around her flares bright enough to be blinding, and when it fades --
She is gone.
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He would have held it open, if he could -- if he could, and if X had not fallen (died?) to close it.
(There's Milliways, and her Security badge if it remains intact. And X's healing is formidable. There's hope -- of course there's hope. And yet.)
The instruments the demon was drawing upon for power are all destroyed. Thor hooks Mjölnir on his belt -- what is there for him to strike with it, now? -- and turns away from these strangers, from their expressions and their gazes and whatever words they might choose to say. He'll speak to them again, but not in this moment. Not quite yet.
He rests his hands upon a dead and crackling row of antiquated computers, and closes his eyes, just for a moment.
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My little star. My chosen vessel. How bright you burn. Never forget. This is just the beginning.
It has work to do elsewhere.
So does she.
The Baxter Building reforms itself around her, charred machinery littering the ground. But Valeria is okay, and being held tight by Reed and Sue. Spider-Man is upright, and the aliens, and Thor.
Thor.
X takes a step forward, gently kicking a piece of metal out of her way. (It helps to make noise, sometimes.)
"Thor," she says, making sure her voice rings clear.
It is a place to start.
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Even if the relief is abruptly tripped up by confusion.
It's X, or at least it looks and stands like her -- but that energy he felt faintly responding to the demon is now far stronger. More to the point, she's blue and white and glowing. Not blue like a Jötun; blue like the heart of a flame.
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And, internally -- You can go now. Thank you.
Little Avatar. The Enigma Force's voice comes from everywhere and nowhere, and is audible this time to all.
You will never need to thank me. The reverse is also true. I will find you again, when the universe calls for it. As you will find me.
And then the Uni-Power is gone and only X remains.
She is not blue anymore.
Even if she does, suddenly, look really tired.
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Unless she really, really doesn't want one.
"My friend. I'm glad you've returned safely."
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Sometimes, after bearding an evil extradimensional demon in his home dimension and serving as host to a cosmic entity, a person just really needs to.
Then, into Thor's sternum --
"I told you. I am hard to kill."
(She is glad, too.)
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"I'm aware."
It's pretty well tested!
"But the realms can be difficult to pass between."
He'll release X, if she wants. But if she's still holding tight, she can get hugged for as long as she wants.
(The Future Foundation are looking more than a little confused by all of this. But they're also kind of preoccupied.
Valeria is either getting grounded or hugged forever; it's not entirely clear which yet.)
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She'll step back after another few moments. Maybe a minute or two.
Really.
"It is easier," X says, after a long silent moment. "When I can see the stars."
It is difficult to explain why this may be the case.
But it is true. For her. For now.
Speaking of now --
"You are hungry? There is a diner nearby. With good pancakes."
What?
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It could be important.
And then he grins, bright and relieved and (as always) utterly genuine.
"Very well. Lead on, my friend."
Pancakes are pretty awesome.
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They probably have questions.
But in the meantime --
Food.
So much food. With a friend.
And then home.
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There are, in fact, few better.