AN UNEXPECTED GUEST

                                  PART FOUR

                             By Davide Briganti

DISCLAIMER: All the X-Men, and their likenesses, depicted in this story are
property of Marvel. No profits are made by posting this story, which is writ-
ten only for entertainment purposes. Sid "Renegade" Mayer, Seyla of Arborea
and Songmaster Thax are copyrights of me, so if you wanna use them, please
ask me first.

                                   * * *

Sid gulped down another cup of coffee, looking wearily out of the attic's win
dow and waiting for Storm to be ready to get down to the briefing room.
The shower's watery noise was filling his ears but he wasn't noticing, for his 
mind was far away, wandering back in time and space towards a realm of mighty 
trees and powerful magic, in an age of blood and battle.

Slowly, he lowered his head, sighing as his whole life was passing right before 
hie eyes, making the dancing lights and shadows cast by the trees around the
Institute take the form of all his dearest friends and most hated enemies.
Once again he saw himself as a child, playing with his younger brother Evan
in the back alleys of Los Angeles. They had only a baseball ball to play with,
but they didn't care: they know how bad the financial situation of their family
is. The two throw the little ball one another, dodging and ducking behind the
trash that was littering all the place. The ball flies away in the darkness,
and Evan huffs: "Clumsy as ever, eh Sidney?".
Sid raises a little, skinny fist. "I told you not to call me Sidney, Ev'!" he
screamed "And now....it's payback time!".
Laughing mockingly, Evan disappears in the darkness, searching for the ball.
Sid waits patiently, arms crossed: one minute....two minutes....three....and
then, Evan's broken body flies back in the light of the alley, his face covered
with blood and a little, mud-covered baseball ball in his convulsively clenched
fist. The little Sid screams the name of his brother again and again, but he
can do no more than pick him up and get him back home, to Mom and Dad. They'll
know what to do.....
Sid feels the presence of other people in the alley, right behind him: must be
the ones that beat Ev' up, but it's too late for guessing. In the space of a 
minute, the two brothers are both down in a pool of their own blood.
Pain is slowly vanishing in the little child's body. The only feelings that
remain are the concerning for little Evan, and a strange, overwhelming desire
to cry.
Tears roll down his bloody cheeks, mixing with the mud as all fades into dark
ness.

Sid's fist clenched convulsively as those feelings returned to eat his heart 
away, opposing them his inner fury to wipe them away from his mind. 

Again, he begun to remember.

A grain field, caressed by the brilliant rays of the afternoon sun and stained
by the blood of the hundred warriors that have fallen. Sid, now grown into a
young man, is standing before a kneeling knight in a battered suit of armor.
Both are covered with blood, weary, and carrying many wounds. But the savage
spark in their eyes tells that they're not finished with each other.
The two armies stand in line, each one behind their chosen champion: no one
dares even to breathe as they watch the fate of the two duelists, for they know
it is also their own.

The knight is carrying a shield, now almost useless from the blows, and a huge
long sword that reflects sunlight on its unnaturally polished blade. Sid is
barehanded, but shows no sign of fear: he knows that both he and his enemy are
using a weapon with which they have spent nearly their whole life with; but he
has an edge....he can't be disarmed so easily, for he himself IS the weapon.
With a savage battlecry, the duel begins, slowly evolving in a chaotic whirlpool
of steel and flesh: Sid jumps, runs and kicks fast like lightning, attacking
the warrior from all directions, but his enemy's sword skill and steel armor
saves him more than once. More blood flies, and the armies cheer as the sword
catches the young martial artist in the chest. The feral light in his eyes grow
bigger, almost insane: without any sound, he reaches the sword arm of the knight
and jumps up with all his remaining strength, striking with his knee in a weak
point of the armor. A loud crack resounds over the battlefield, and the knight
falls on his knees, screaming and holding his broken arm.

Much calmer, Sid takes his enemy's sword from the ground, pointing the blade
towards the skies. Looking down on the knight, he smiles, but the spark in his
eyes is not gone: with a sudden movement, the blade flashes down in a brilliant
arc of light and the scream ceases as the warrior's head stumbles on the ground.
Closing his eyes, Sid throws the blade away and turns his back to the scene,
walking towards his cheering soldiers. "So long, sucker."

Coming to his senses, Sid shook his head, trying to wipe away both sleep and
those thoughts: "Warn you, Bonebag." he muttered "Best not to think about past.
Live in the present, and for the future. Or you'll end up making the same mistakes
ever and ever again."

Minutes passed, and he remained silent and motionless, totally lost inside himself,
not even thinking but just feeling the raw force of life flowing in and out of
his body and soul. He expected to find peace: Ororo taught him to do this every
time he was under stress, but this time it didn't work at all.

"Life is like a grand mosaic." he intoned "And one knows when a piece is out
of place. The difficult thing is to know how to put the darned thing together
again."

But he knew what to do. Turning his head towards the splashing noise, he shouted:
"If you ever need me, hon, I'm doin' some punch-and-kick out there. Ok?"

"Fine." was the response "But do not be late at the briefing. And make sure
you are presentable before you show up!"

"Yes, Mommy. I won't do mud cakes with lil' Bobby, I promise!" he replied, faking
a three-years-old child's voice as he opened the door and stepped outside.

                                     ***

In a small clearing not too far away from Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters,
Sid "Renegade" Mayer was methodically executing the same chain of kicks and
elbow smashes over and over in an unnatural silence.
If someone had stopped by to watch the young martial artist trying to perfect
his technique, he or she would have surely noticed the odd lack of the sounds
that are so frequent in the woods; but Sid, totally concentrating on the time
he needed to regain his standing after doing a Capoeira-style hand-stand kick
and the means to further reduce it without splatting his face on the ground or
breaking one or both his legs, was oblivious to the potential danger of his
surroundings.
But when a loud, unearthly screech pierced the veil of silence that was shrouding
the place and huge shadowy forms fell down from the nearby trees surrounding
him, he immediately came back to his senses, summoning forth his inner energy
to aid him in the possible conflict.

As his assailants walked into the light, Sid shuddered. All around him were
three monstrous insect-like creatures, covered with ugly-brown osseous plates
of uncertain nature, and almost twice as large as a horse.

"Can't be...." he whispered as he remembered the legends he heard around the
Arborean fireplaces about the legendary great insects of the mountains.

For an endless second, all stood like frozen, waiting for their opponent to
make the first move, but Sid remained where he was, still concentrating to
further increase the amount of concussive flaming energy covering the upper
part of his body.

Then, in a sudden burst of rage, a creature charged forward, swinging madly
its sharp, praying mantis-like appendages towards Sid's neck.
The young fighter smiled and flexed his legs, letting the blows pass over his
head, and when the monster was slightly off-balance due to the strength and
momentum of the blow, he let go a devastating open-palm slap aimed right between
its insectoid eyes, charging it with most of the energy he stored.
With a loud boom, the head of the creature exploded in flames, and the body
slumped to the floor, lifeless but still convulsively shaking.

Sid turned to face the other two beings, defiantly raising a fist in their di
rection. "Ready when you are!!" he yelled.

The half-insects responded to the challenge with one of their unnerving screeches 
and charged forward, moving in perfect synchronization as they were sharing the
same mind. One opened its buzzing wings and took flight, positioning itself
between Sid and the sun; the other begun running around, throwing a series of 
flailing slashes to confuse and disorient him.

Sid, conscious of the danger but unable to do anything about it, deflected the
attacks as best as he could, but when he saw the other assailant dive down
towards him, the sun prevented him to see clearly. Quickly but too imprecisely, 
he tried to dodge, and the other creature thrusted its mandibles into Renegade's
right arm, injecting its paralyzing poison.

The young fighter screamed in pain as his blood boiled, reacting to the toxin,
and the wounded arm begun to lose strength, feeling number and number as seconds
passed.

Using pain as a vessel to further increase his rage, Renegade concentrated his
energy on the poisoned arm, hoping to hurt the insect enough to make it open
its jaws and let him free.
Violet flames erupted from his body, but the mandibles remained clenched, and
his tireless tormentor begun to strike him with his edged appendages: fortunately,
they were far too long to operate at such a close distance, so Sid was receiving
only some minor scratches.

Falling on his knees, Sid tried to apply a sort of leverage to free himself from
the deadly hold, but his strength left him: his vision faded into a dull, unending
grayness and pain diminished as he felt falling down, in an endless pit....
A loud boom was the last sound he heard before slipping into unconsciousness.

                                     ***

"Welcome back t' 'de livin' world, mon ami." Remy's voice called out from 
darkness.

Sid opened his eyes and almost immediately tried to stand up from the bed on
he was laying, raising his fists in a defensive posture.

"Damn it! They're...." he panted, tensing every muscle and ready to fight.

"'Dey dead. Calm down, Sid. You 're safe, now."

Renegade violently shook his head, and his vision returned. Thoughtfully, he
scratched the back of his head.

"My poor head! What happened?" he moaned.

Gambit lighted a cigarette before answering. "As 'de monsters came out of 'de 
woods, Betts an' 'de Prof. immediately sensed it. So, Bishop, Wolvie an' I got
out t' help you. Boy, 'dese beasties were pretty tough....if we 'd come only
a minut later, we 'd find you dead, for sure!"

"Well, thanks a lot to y'all. Any ideas about who might have sent 'em?"

"T' be honest, we were countin' on you t' tell us somthin' useful 'bout 'dese
monstres."

"Me? Hell, I've never seen such creatures before. What I know about them is 
mostly legend stuff and the like. The one you should speak with is Seyla: you
know, they 're from her homeland."

Remy smiled. "Dat fair lady. Since Hank started visitin' you, she didn't stop
arguin' wit' Stormy. I bet they have completely forgotten you!"

Sid chuckled and rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. "Dry Mother of Deserts and
Stones....the day I'll understand women, I'll be the happiest man on Earth!"

"Methinks you'll die first, mon ami."

The two men were still laughing at their joke as the door opened, and a preoccupied
Storm entered the room: as she saw them, her expression mutated from worry to
a half-smile.

"Seems you have recuperated faster than we expected, Sid. Good to see." she said
stepping closer to the bed.

He raised an eyebrow, faking a "seasoned mercenary veteran" look: "Honey, no 
monster has ever made me goin' down for the count!" he laughed.

She put a hand on his chest, looking seriously in his eyes. "I know. But please,
be more careful next time, and consider the possibility of a strategic withdrawal.
I do not want to weep on your grave. You understand?"

Sid wearily raised an arm, pulling her more close to him and leaning back on the
bed: closing his eyes for a moment, he felt her long hair caressing his face.
The warm presence of her so close to him further fueled the tender feeling that
was filling his heart, soothing the pain of his wounds both physical and emotional.

"It 'll be hard to think about preserving my own life. But I'll do it for you."
he whispered.

She smiled. "That is the way I like it."

Remy stared silent for a while, then stood up and left the room as quickly and
quietly as he could, leaving the two lovers alone. In the corridor, Cyclops
who stopped him.

"How's Sid?" he asked.

Remy smiled wryly. "A lot better since 'Ro came to comfort him, if y' know what 
I mean."

Scott sighed, but said nothing. Hastily, both stepped out of the corridor and 
into the med lab, where the Professor, Hank and Seyla were examining the dead 
creatures.

                                     * * *

END OF PART FOUR.