THE LONE WOLF AND THE GODDESS - PART SIX 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. * * * Bishop looked at the radar screen with increasing attention as it begun to show five flying object of large mass, flying eastward near ground altitude. "Cyclops? Can you come see this? I think you'll find it interesting." Scott Summers walked near his teammate and gave the five blinks a preoccupied glance. "May be Sentinels. Better follow them from a distance." The Blackbird curved in a wide arc as Bishop turned the autopilot off and took control of the jet to follow the radar trace. "Target's speed and altitude de- creasing", he said after a while. "Prepare to land. We're going to investigate." The entire house suddenly begun to shake violently, and a thunderous, metallic sound echoed from outside as the sun was obscured by a huge shadow. Storm suddenly woke up from an agitated sleep and frantically tried to get up, but both the pain that was still burning in her shoulder and the exhaustion left little strength in her, and not definitely enough for running out of the room. Closing her eyes, she tried to remain calm. "Lie still, child. Let the winds be your sedan-chair.", she said to herself while concentrating. As the winds gathered to lift her body off the bed, Sid slammed the door open and rushed to her side. "Bad news, 'Ro! We must get outta here at once! There's a bunch of titanium giants that seem to be fully intentioned to turn my house into a pile of rub- ble in no time!", he said. "Lead the way. I will follow you." "You sure?" "Yes. Now, go! I don't want the whole building collapse while we are still in- side it! I merely have the power to lift myself!" Without any more words, the young man darted out of the room and down the stairs, followed by Storm: as the main door opened, their ears were assaulted by a deafening boom and a terrible shockwave sent them out of the house and into the dirty mud of the courtyard. As Sid lifted his face to see what happened, his eyes widened: his house was nearly burned down, and five robots, taller than the one which he destroyed, stood circling both them and the ruins, menacingly pointing their many weapons at them. Quickly, he turned to see how his companion was, and found her un- conscious, but still alive; "Too damn rough for one in her condition. Hope she did not get any internal injuries....", he thinked while rising to face the first steel monstrosity. A deep male voice resounded from one robot's chest, and Sid quickly realized that it was not the machine's own voice: it sounded too human and his speech was polished and smooth. "Good day, young warrior. Pleased to meet you." Sid thumbed his nosed and grinned. "Pleasure's all YOURS, Mister. I hope you will rebuild my house and pay the hospitalization for my girlfriend." "Why should I do such a thing?" "Because, if you do, maybe I won't rip off your spine and put an end to your useless and miserable existence." A long, almost polite laugh filled the air around the battlefield: "It seems that you don't understand very well your position. If I were you, I would be- have in a more respectful manner." "What kind of respect deserves one who tries to kill defenseless women and hides behind a bunch of junkpiles? What's your problem, you ugly coward? Ain't you brave enough to face me and do the dirty job?!" "ENOUGH! I'm sick of your senseless ramblings! Sentinels: dispose of these worms!" The androids moved towards him with perfect synchronism, and Sid prepared him- self to withstand their attack, recalling the energy he needed to envelope him like a fiery armor. But fear had planted its seed in him: as the metal titans moved closer and closer, he felt his rage being drowned. But not for himself: after a lot of years spent fighting everyone and everything, he did care lit- tle or nothing for his life. No, he was fearing for Ororo. The thought of her laying in the mud, covered by her own blood and with the last spark of life gone was paralyzing him like a snake's venom: the energy field began to waver and blur, and then vanished. "That's it, Bonebag", he whispered to himself, "You're at the end of the road. How ironic, to die like a dog at the hands of these junkpiles just when you've found the true love!" A gigantic hand came into his view, dashing forward to catch him into its dea- dly grip: Sid tried to avoid it with a quick step back, but he was too slowed by fear. In a blink of an eye, he realized that all was lost. Suddenly, a ruby-colored beam of light flashed from out of nowhere and hit his metallic assailant right in the chest, sending it down in the mud in a shower of sparks. "Yeah! Reinforcements have arrived! Now, who's next?!", Sid roared with rene- wed courage as his inner energy returned to run freely in and out of his body. With a powerful jump, he reached a robot's knee and discharged all the energy he stored with a mid-air spinning kick: the armor plating was blown away like paper and the complex system of hydraulic joints and circuitry severely dama- ged. Unable to remain upright, the giant fell on its back and remained still. Bullets, fists and energy blasts flied as the battle reached its peak; and af- ter a few, endless seconds, all the towering androids were laying dismembered on the field. Quickly, Sid turned to Storm and gently picked her up; then, he faced the four strangers who fought at his side: a beautiful red-haired woman, a giant of a man with dark brown skin and black hair, a rather short, hairy guy with long metal claws protruding from his hands and a man with a strange mask covering his eyes. All of them were wearing costumes featuring a large "X" on it. "Thanks, folks. 'Ro and I really owe you one." The masked man stepped forward to reply: "You don't owe us nothing. We're glad to have helped you, but we came here to save one of ours: the woman that you are holding." "So, you're the famous friends she mentioned me, the X-Men. Right?" "Yes. Now, may I ask you to follow us? On the Blackbird we can surely check her health condition. By the way, name's Scott. Scott Summers." "I'm Sid, but you may call me Renegade. Now, let's go!" The small group begun to move toward the hi-tech airplane: with a last, sor- rowful glance at what once was his house and a sigh, Sid turned to follow them. Once they were all in, Sid gently laid Storm on a couch and stepped aside to let Cyclops and Bishop bring on the necessary medical equipment. Wolverine turned to face the stranger: "What can ya tell us 'bout those 'bots, bub?", he asked. Sid's eyes narrowed into slits as he stood up. "First and foremost", he re- plied in a steel-cold voice, "next time you call me 'bub' I'll kick your tee- th out of your ass." The mutant grinned, then sheathed his claws menacingly. "Maybe it will take a while, loser!" "Yeah? Then let's try, dwarf!" Scott quickly interposed between the two. "HEY! What are you doing? There's no reason to behave like this!" "Outta my way, Cyke! This one is between me and this would-be 'Cool Dude of the Month!'!", Wolverine snarled while trying to get past his teammate. Cyclops grabbed him by the shoulders. "You'll settle your grudges after we've completed our assignment! There's a bunch of Sentinels controlled by someone out there, and I don't want you to waste time and energy on such senseless brawling!" Logan looked right into Scott's face and then moved toward Sid. "Since ya've saved 'Ro's life, I'll forget what ya said, kid. But bother me just one more time and you'll know why I'm called 'Wolverine'." Sid's gaze was as cold as that of Logan. "I don't need any favors from you, or from nobody else. We'll have some headbanging later, dwarf....and I promise you won't have fun at all!" "Hey, Ororo's waking up!", Jean's voice called from behind. All turned to face the weather-controlling mutant with various degrees of concern as she begun to open her eyes. "Uhhhnnn....my poor head.....what happened?" Sid took her hand and winked, smiling. "Seems luck was on our side, hon. Your friends came to rescue us from those junkbags!" She smiled, and leaned forward to kiss him. "I'm happy to see you alive and in good health." Bishop suddenly turned red. "Well...uhm, better take off before more Sentinels track us down there!", he said as he turned to reach the pilot's seat. Jean coughed loudly. "I'm sorry to interrupt you, but there are questions that need immediate answer." Ororo immediately turned away her face, looking confused and a bit shy. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Jean. We'll answer as many question as we can." *Hey, where did you find that guy?*, Jean said telepathically to her friend, smiling. *Come on, Jean....despite the appearance, he's the sweetest man I ever met.* *The goddess of the skies and the heavy-metal street devil....an interesting match, indeed!*. Jean giggled as Storm closed the mindlink with an "umph!". Meanwhile, Scott approached Sid. "Now, can you tell us why those Sentinels we- re attacking you?" Sid shrugged. "I dunno. All that I heard was that those robots were programmed to destroy mutants on sight. Ororo told me that a man named Bolivar Trask con- structed the first generations of 'em, but he was left for dead. If you want my humble opinion, those madmen at the village are involved!" "Village? What village?" "The village just south of my house. They're all nuts, with their xenophoby and their rantings about 'cleansing' or something. May be affiliated with tho- se Friends Of Humanity who want to destroy mutants." Scott stood still for a moment, arms crossed, deeply lost in his analysis of the current situation, balancing both responsibilities and risks. "Well, Big Boss?", Wolverine interrupted, "Shall we join the party?" "We don't have any idea of what could lurk in that village. I think we'd bet- ter return to the mansion and prepare ourselves for a future assault." "Hey! Are you making us flee like cowards?" Sid stepped forward. "He's right. Those bastard burned down my house and all that I had was within! The woman I love was nearly killed! I'll go there and exact my revenge!" "Besides, Cyclops,", Bishop added, "we're not sure that we'll find the opera- tional base when we return, considering the fact that whoever controls the ro- bots is now aware of our presence." "Okay, we'll try. But if the situation becomes too dangerous, we'll retire!", the team leader finally said, sighing. Bishop programmed the autopilot, and soon the sleek shape of the Blackbird be- gun to drop in altitude, heading towards the ground as the small village beca- me visible on the radar screen. "Unidentified airplane is violating our airspace, Mr. Trask.", a buzzing voice resounded from a speaker near Bolivar Trask's seat. The man quickly pressed a red button and replied: "Distance, speed and altitude." "Distance about two kilometers, speed and altitude zero. It seems to have lan- ded." "Return all operative units to base, and alert all available personnel. Prepa- re to repel the intruders at all costs!" "Boss, why you're so sure they'll come here?" "They're the X-Men, you idiot! And they'll come here for ME! But I shall make them pay, once and for all! Now, do as I told you!" "Yes, sir. Closing communication." The cyborg stood up and walked near a painting that depicted a war scene of the Medieval Times. "The moment has come!", he thinked, feeling his blood ru- shing faster and faster in his veins, "All these years of suffering in this mocking parody of a body....but now, the blood of those bastards will wash a- way the pain!". Reaching for a hi-tech rifle on a nearby weapon rack, he lau- ghed uproariously and stepped out of his room. As he entered the base's command center, all the men in the room stood up. A rather old man dressed in a gray suit approached him. "All personnel ready. Shall we start the procedure?", he asked politely. "Yes. Bring the base on the surface!" A loud voice begun to resound in every room in the base: "Warning: all person- nel must reach the Secure Rooms in 3 minutes. Procedure S is about to be fully executed. Repeating: all personnel must reach....". Red lights begun to flash at every corner, and after a short while, with a deep rumbling noise and a violent shake of all the structure, the gigantic building begun to rise from the earth to the light of the sun. Five minutes later, the red lights ceased to blink and the tremors ended. "Procedure S terminated. All personnel may now exit Secure Rooms and return to their tasks. Repeating: Procedure S terminated....." A great screen came to life on the wall before Trask, showing a group of five people confronted by an irate mass of villagers leaded by a big man with blond hair, wearing a worn, orange trenchcoat. Sid strode forward to challenge Rex once again, looking in his eyes mockingly. "Hey-hey, guess who? Ye 'ole dumb sewer rat is back for more rock 'n' roll!", he laughed. "We'll see what you're made of this time, freak!", the man replied with a ra- ge-filled voice. "LET'S GET'EM, GUYS!!!" "HEADBANGIN' TIME!", Sid screamed while leaping forward to crush the nearest enemy's face with a flying side kick. Both the X-Men and the villagers joined the fray in the blink of an eye, and soon the sounds of the battle echoed through all the desolate valley. "Damn! How many of 'em will crawl out before we can reach that giant trashcan of a base?", Sid grunted while throwing a villager away with a foot push. "Tired so soon, loser?", Wolverine asked as he reached him, walking over se- veral unconscious men. Sid turned his head, prepared to spit out a very sharp response, but his eyes were catched by a metallic glint behind the X-Man: a man holding an assault rifle was ajdusting his aim to shoot Wolverine at the head, grinning evilly. "WATCH YOUR BACK, DWARF!", he yelled, pointing at the man: Wolverine made a lightning 180-degrees turn, slashing through the weapon with his adamantium claws. The gun fell useless to the floor and the man who held it followed, after a carefully aimed punch. "I could have stopped him a day ago, loser! However, thanks fer the warning. I appreciated it.", the mutant replied with a grin. Sid smiled wryly in response. "Good hit, dwarf. Keep up like this!" A deep humming sound invaded the air around the village, interrupting the fight. Jean raised her head to search the source of the noise, and saw some of the great steel plates that covered the dome which was the Sentinel base lift, leaving some zones exposed. Towering humanlike figures begun to appear near the windows, becaming more and more definite as the sunlight gleamed on their metal frames. *Look out! Sentinels!*, Jean screamed telepathically to the group as she poin- ted frantically at the great structure. *It's now or never, Jean! Take us through one of those opening!*, Scott repli- ed. Encaged in a bubble of psychokinetic force, the group begun to levitate, pro- tected by the rage of the remaining villagers, and quickly floated towards the nearest robot launch ramp. As they reached the opening, a synthetized voice greeted them: "Subjects attempting invasion at weapons range. Executing full- scale offensive action. Objective: elimination of designated subjects." Whew....and Part Six is done! E-mail at renegade@ipsnet.it and tell me what you think!