THE LONE WOLF AND THE GODDESS - PART TWO By Davide Briganti DISCLAIMER: All the X-Men depicted in this story are copyright of the Marvel guys, and are used without their permission. No profits are made by posting this story, which is written only for entertainment purposes. Sid "Renegade" Mayer is a copyright of me, so if you wanna use it, please ask me first. * * * Sid Mayer rose up majestically in the air, catching the punching bag hanging at the highest branch of the tree near his cottage with his knee. With a lightning-fast movement he executed a mid-air somersault with the other leg protruded.....only to miss his intended target and feel how tough a rocky ground can be. "Darn!", he said looking up at the bag with his steel-grey eyes, "I've exercised over that stupid flying one-two combo for at least one year and a half and I still don't figure what goes wrong!" Sighing, he stood up, cleaning dirt and brushes from his Iron Maiden T-Shirt and jeans, and prepare to jump up again; but, as he begun concentrating, a nearly-invisible black spot in the sky suddenly grew bigger, attracting his attention. The object was moving fast, heading down and right into the cold and watery embrace of his little lake, and as it moved closer to Sid's loca- tion its true nature was finally revealed: it was a chocolate-skinned woman with long, flowing white air, dressed in a black outfit, and most probably unconscious. Sid thumbed thoughtfully his nose as he ran at the edge of the lake to rescue her; "Well, Old Bonebag", he said to himself, "It seems that Destiny decided that your life here had been uneventful for far too long! Let's see what's happenin' here!" Diving from the rocky pier that was his preferred "thinking point", he swam quickly to the center of the lake and grabbed the woman, raising an eyebrow at the sight of the large bloodstains that surrounded the ripped hole on her costume. "Seems she had a little argument with a heavy-calibre gun.", he mum- bled while getting her toward the safety of the land. Laying her down on the grass, Sid checked immediately her vital signs: weak, but still present and, best of all, regular; with a sigh of relief, Sid moved on to pick her up again and bring her to his home for first aid. Looking at her closely, Sid noted how exquisitely beautiful she was....far more attractive than any other woman he ever met in his life; and for the first time, he felt his heart pounding faster. A hidden part of his own mind then savagely jumped off to his consciousness' surface, ripping off his thoughts like a tiger's claw rends its victim's flesh and bringing him back to reality. His body reacted more quickly than his mind, due to the many years of battles he had gone through, beginning to furiously pump adrenaline into his system to prepare him for the upcoming fight. Hearing the jet-engine noise becoming louder and louder, Sid finally realized the situation in which he was: again, he laid the wounded woman on the grass and turned just as a huge shadow extended itself on the grass, re- vealing the presence of a six-meters-tall android standing near the edge of the water. Its metallic, inhuman voice resounded from somewhere deep into its chest: "Still receiving vital signs from mutant threat. Completing now termination sequence as previously programmed." Quickly interposing between the mechanical monstrosity and the mysterious woman, Sid assumed his fighting stance. "I don't know what are you babbling about, junkpile....but be sure that if you make even only one more step near this girl, your miserable life ends right here and right now!" The robot made a sudden step forward. "Our primary directives are focused on eliminating mutants. This unit's sensors confirm that designated male subject is not a mutant, so we don't have any reason to engage in combat with you. Step back and let us carry out our mission, and we will not harm you in any way." Rage began to shift and waver into Sid's mind, converting itself almost in- stantaneously into raw energy that flowed freely through his body. Instincti- vely, he recalled from his memory the teaching of one of his old mentors: "As you must not let your inner feelings overwhelm you, you must always keep control of your internal energy....The rage of the wounded wolf is good and frightfully powerful to behold, but without a human conscience to shape it into a fighting machine, it's worthless, because it's too clumsy to defeat his opponent. It's because of misunderstanding like these that some great warriors of the past fell in disgrace." Following his master's instructions, he focused the energy mostly in his fore- arms, who began to crackle as they were slowly enveloped by glowing orange- violet flames that blurred and wavered, growing bigger as more and more ener- gy was channeled into them. "Listen up, you overgrown Pepsi-distributer, you'd better fly your metallic ass outta my sight before I run out of patience.", he growled taking a mena- cing half-step forward, ready to strike at the slightest wrong movement of the huge machine. The robot's response didn't make him wait for too long. "As you wish, human. This unit will now proceed to destroy you before completing its appointed task.". And with that, he extended one of its arms, palm open: a six-barrel heavy machinegun protruded from under its forearm, and its barrels begun to rotate, accompanied by a loud engine noise. "Now, it's me or you, big guy!", Sid thinked while sprinting towards the robot's head to put himself off the gun's range. Seeing that his weapon was now ineffective due to the extremely short distance, the android tried to intercept the young martial artist, punching him with his free arm, but it was far too slow for him: with a savage battlecry, Sid quickly flexed his legs and jumped, using what little energy remained in him to boost the altitude further, and delivered a devastating uppercut, immediately followed by a straight left. The big machine's head was immediately covered in Sid's flaming energy and exploded with an almost deafening sound as the young man's feet again made contact with the solid ground. The gigantic body, now headless, dangerously oscillated for a few moments be- fore crashing on its back, a thunderous sound as the evidence of its defeat. With a feral grin, Sid stood up again and watched the results of his work; "And as usual, Renegade wins the match. So long, sucker!", he murmured before turning again his attention to the woman. "Sorry for the delay, Miss", he said smiling, "That brute won't pester you anymore. You have my gentleman's word." Once in his bedroom, he gently laid her on his bed and, first-aid kit ready for use, began inspecting her wounds: first, he cutted off all the clothes near the left shoulder, leaving it exposed for further examination. "Hmm. Not too bad after all: the bullet has paid only a short visit, and the bones are intact.", he mumbled. Carefully, he applied antiseptics and hemo- stats to disinfect the wound and prevent it to bleed any further, and began to bandage it with clean gauze. "And now", he continued washing his hands in a nearby basin, "for the rest. Let's see....", and cautiously began to undress her to check for internal in- juries or broken bones. Blushing slightly at the sight of that beautiful lady lying in his own bed with only a bra and a pair of slip on, he proceeded. As his fingers touched one of her left ribs, an expression of intense pain crossed the woman's face, and a sudden moan came out of her mouth. "Damn.", he snarled: carefully, he applied a pair of rigid sticks to her left side, and fixed them with a tight bandage. "Hope that works, Miss, or you'll have some nasty problems in the long distance." The woman continued to moan, shaking convulsively her head left and right, her hands alternately gripping and releasing the sheet. Sid put his palm over her forehead, and retracted it almost instantaneously as his face darkened even more. "So feverish that I could boil water on her head!" With swift and sure movements, Sid put a vial of emerald-green liquid in a sy- ringe, and injected it in the woman's forearm. With one last glance, he stroke gently her hair, and covered her with two blanket to keep her warm. "I've done all I can, fair lady. Now, it's up to you.", he said softly as he opened the door and stepped out of the room. END OF PART TWO As usual, E-Mail me at renegade@ipsnet.it and let me know what you think of this story!