AN UNEXPECTED GUEST

                                  PART SIX

                             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.

                                   * * *

The roaring engines of the Blackbird slowly faded into a low-pitched hum as
Storm deactivated them and opened the disembark platform.
The other occupants of the vehicle, Gambit, Psylocke, Iceman, Rogue and Rene
gade, begun preparing themselves for the mission.

"Well, team, let's recall Main Plan A" Bobby called out. All the others turned
their heads towards him, and Sid smiled wickedly.

"One: we sneak into the whole sonofatrashcan of a base. Two: we locate Mr. 'I
warp reality as I want'. Three: we blast him off along with that Sinister guy 
if he's messing around. Four: we get out and blow up the base into rubble."
the young fighter answered, slamming his clenched fist against his open palm.

"If Ah were ya, Ah wouldn't talk so lightly of Sin'. Ya know, he's more than
a match for us." Rogue replied with a calm glance.

Sid shrugged. "Pah! In my humble opinion, he's not the worst part of the deal.
He may be responsible for turning the Arborean monsters into something even 
more hideous, but he needs time to do these sort of things. Thax can use his
powers almost instantaneously."

As the southern belle begun to answer, Storm interrupted the conversation:
"Enough, children. We must go, so remember to keep the battle formation and
your minds clear. Betsy will telepathically link us so we can communicate with 
each other." and with that, she walked out of the plane and into the surroun
ding forest. 
One by one, the rest of the team followed, and as she prepared to fly off Sid
gently took her hand and looked at her with concern.

"Be careful out there, Ororo. I wanna see ya come back in one piece, OK?" he
said, trying to smile.

The African mutant smiled kindly in response, a sweet look in her blue eyes. 
"I know you are preoccupied, Sid. But you need not to worry: I am quite capable 
of defending myself. And-" she winked before continuing "I am not a daredevil
like someone _we_ know, eh?"

Sid's eyebrow rose up. "Gee, Mom, good point." he replied, half-laughing, and
leaned over to kiss her before she could lift off towards the cloudy sky.

Betsy smiled as she looked upward, at the point where Storm had just disappea
red. "Seems Our Lady of the Winds did change a lot these times. It's odd for 
me to acknowledge that she actually _has_ some sense of humor." she said.

Sid grinned in response. "Hard job draggin' it out from her 'Iceberg' attitude
an' keepin' it out, you know."

"Su-u-u-re! Our homme de guerre 's doin' all de job! You changed too, mon ami,
even if you don' want t' admit it." Gambit replied, tapping his shoulder with 
his steel staff.

Sid gave him an inquiring glance, then looked at the gleaming metal structure
visible over the great trees with a hateful expression. "Yes. Maybe I did." he
whispered in answer, then begun walking towards the enemy installation, follo
wed by Psylocke and Iceman.

Gambit smiled. "'Maybe', eh?"

Rogue reached the Cajun's side and slightly shook her head, still looking at 
Sid's back as he disappeared into the shadows of the trees.

"No matter how hard Ah try, Ah still can't understand him. Too weird for me."
she sighed.

"You not de only one wid dis opinion, chere. Scottie says so, too. Plainly
speakin', he's afraid of him, of what he could do if he'd lose control. Thinks
he's no more than a bar brawler."

She stood silent for a moment, then shrugged. "Scott says a lotta things. Some
of 'em are good, others are basically stupid. _This_ one is stupid. Sid may be
a short fuse, but he knows how ta control himself just as Logan. It's only
that....sometimes....Ah can't figure what he's goin' ta do. Too....chaotic,
too unpredictable. Ah'm still wondering how 'Ro could have fallen in love with
him."

Slowly, Gambit passed a gloved finger over Rogue's cheek. "Let Gambit tell you
a thing, chere. Love doesn't come from de mind, it comes from de soul and de 
coeur. It's de mind which reasons and says 'Dis is good, Dis is not, why and
because'. Not de soul. Y' see, dey don't sit around a table sayin' 'Hey, why
we did fall in love?', dey simply live it, because dey hear de words from deir
coeurs and deir souls which say 'Love each other and be happy'. And dey know
dis is right. Understand?"

A trembling smile appeared on the southern belle's lips. "Yeah. But then, who
really is 'Renegade'? A madman? A demon? An angel? Or simply a man?" she whis
pered.

Gambit shook his head and gazed upward towards some clouds, far away in the 
sky before answering.

"A warrior. Maybe de last of dem."

* Well, if you two have finished philosophizing about our ally, we may proceed
with the mission. * Betsy telepathically interrupted.

* Whoops! You right, chere. Gambit and Rogue movin' t' deir assigned positions
an' ready for de action! *

Rogue made a quick gesture with the hand as she took flight. 

"See ya later sugah. Take care."

"Same for you, Roguie."

Both X-man disappeared from view: one cloaked by the green cape of the forest
and the other lost in the blue of the skies.

                                  ***

Songmaster Thax threw off his cloak with a wide gesture, summoning forth the
crystalline sphere of energy in which he usually saw what was happening out
side the base. Leaning against a wall at the other side of the large room in
which the mad dancer was standing, Sinister watched with a dark expression on
his face.

Concentrating, Thax looked at the image that was quickly emerging from the
whirlpool of vivid colors twisting into the floating ball: Two X-Men, the man
named Iceman and the woman named Psylocke, making their way through the under
brush along with his archenemy, Renegade. His expression slowly mutated into
a wide, insane smile. Turning to face his ally, he chuckled:

"Congratulations, Sinister. The pawns are in place just as you did foresee."

The mutant genetist raised his gaze to look in Songmaster's eyes, and sighed.
"Not all the pawns, my friend. I expected one of the Summers line to be here
instead of this petty telepath. Anyway, things are going well for us."

"Yes. Now, did you move out of this metal residence your 'useful data and mate
rials' as you announced?"

Sinister nodded. "Yes, you may proceed with your incantation."

"Very well then-" the chaos bishop raised a tiny ebony stick and quickly drew
a symbol in the air "-on a shining beam of light, safe to your home I shall 
send you!"

With a blue flash and a thunderous sound, Sinister disappeared, leaving only
a scent of ionized air behind him. Putting the stick back in a secret pocket,
Thax turned to study the globe. 

"Your move, my valiant and bloodthirsty opponent." 

                                   ***

A nighmarish hybrid between a man, a sabretooth tiger and a snake shrieked
and jumped down from a nearby tree, blocking the path to the enemy base as
Psylocke thrusted her punch on a lizardman's stomach, striking him in a nervous
center: the creature screamed in pain and slumped to the floor, unconscious.
Renegade raised his fists in a boxing posture a made a step forward to engage
the new opponent.

"Hey, Liz, How's that _I_ always get the big guys?" he grunted as he blocked
a sting from the creature's osseous tail and tried to deliver a straight right
directed at the creature's neck.

"It's you who's always bragging about being The Ultimate Martial Artists, so
I'm only giving you the chance to live up to your standards." was the ninja te
lepath's response.

Sid grinned at Psylocke and raised an eyebrow. "How kind!" he replied.

The tiger-like monster tried to bite Renegade's shoulder with its snake-like
fangs, but the martial artist acted more quickly: making a long step back, he
put himself out of harm's range and then jumped up, making a forward somersault.
In the middle of the maneuver, he extended one leg and charged it with his in
ner energy: his feet landed right on the abomination's right shoulder with
a flash of orange-violet flames and a loud boom.
With a scream filled with rage and pain, the creature fell down.

Sid crossed his arms and smiled. "One down."

Gambit, whose main concern till that moment was fighting off some overgrown 
gorillas in the surrounding area, pointed his staff towards the small path: 
three small, spherical beings covered with a green substance were floating to
wards them. "Three t' go, mon ami."

Renegade's eyes narrowed as he passed from boxing stance to the Snake Kung Fu
guard. "Dammit! How many of 'em will show up before we get into the base?" he
hissed. Energy wavered and danced around his hands as he waved them back and
forth, waiting for his enemies to attack.

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning fell down from the sky right in the middle of 
the spheroids' group, scattering them like scraps of paper in a tornado.
Sid smiled and looked up as Storm's voice resounded in his mind through the
link Psylocke forged.

* The skies are clear of enemy presence. Proceed to the waypoint at once. *

* Ok, Storm. Ground forces on their way, over and out. And, oh.... *

* Yes, what is it? *

* Thanks, honey. I was beginning to get tired. *

The voice became a bit colder and distant. * Control yourself, Renegade. We're
on mission. * 

* 'Kay, 'kay. See you. * And with that, he closed his mind, concentrating once
more on the battlefield ahead.

Just as the two groups rejoined in a small clearing near the enemy structure,
a mad chanting begun echoing through the air. Lightning crackled in the air
over their heads as the voice became more high-pitched, and the screams of
thousands of people roared in the background. Sid raised his head, his eyes
blazing with rage and hatred.

"He's comin'out to play. Hah!" he hissed as all his body blazed with the raging
flames of his fury.

"I'M HERE, YOU DOG! COME OUT AND SHOW ME WHAT YOU CAN DO!!" he yelled, clenching
his fists, and as responding to a summon, a dark-cloaked shape appeared near
a tree. Sid paced forward, followed by his teammates, and pointed him with
decision.

"At last, the lost lamb is retrieved!" the figure said, bowing mockingly.

"At last, you're at the end of the trail, sucker!" Sid replied in a menacing
voice.

The figure threw back his cape, showing the visage of Songmaster Thax smiling
broadly. "Are you sure, my traitorous apprentice? What makes you think that
you and your weak friends can defeat the Master of Chaos and Warping?"

Sid raised a hand and flexed the first two fingers, motioning him to come for
ward with a savage grin, while the five X-Men positioned themselves to surround
him.

Slowly, Thax turned his head, facing the whole team one by one, then nodded
slightly as if approving something and laughed politely.

"Very well then" he said "Battle is what you want, and battle wil be. My only
sorrow is that Sorcerer Sinister is not here to watch your defeat. But you shall
see him very, very soon."

Screaming his battlecry, Renegade charged towards his enemy as a fiery meteor
of doom........

                             END OF PART SIX