Disclaimer:  All Marvel characters featured in this story are trademarks
of Marvel Comics Group. This is an unauthorised work and no profit is
being made on this work.  This story is copyright
Tim Frankovich 1995.

Shattered Perceptions, Chapter Two

     Sam felt suspended in limbo for a dizzying moment, then everything became
clear again and he smashed into Spiral and Shatterstar, knocking them
apart.  It was only then that he noticed that they were no longer in the
training room.
     >From high in the air, he could see an alien landscape.  A massive city
stretched below them, dominated by a gigantic arena in the dead center. 
The rest of the city was arranged around the arena in concentric walled
circles.  The arena was set on the summit of a gently sloping hill,
causing each circle of the city to be slightly lower than the previous
one.  The size and organization of the buildings shrank with each
succeeding level, so that the lowest level appeared to made up almost
entirely of small shacks.
     Sam grasped all this in a brief moment, then whirled to see what had
become of the others.
     Shatterstar was free-falling, but it did not seem to bother him.  In fact,
he appeared to be concentrating intently on his sword, his face a mask of
anger.  Spiral seemed to be a bit taken aback by Sam's attack, but she
recovered quickly.
     "There is no room for supporting actors in this little drama," she mocked,
shaking a fist at Cannonball.  "We only have one *Star.*"
     As Sam started downward to catch Shatterstar, he was surprised to see
Spiral disappear abruptly and then reappear directly below the falling
warrior.  She was dancing again and her orb had expanded to twice its
normal size.  Shatterstar fell into it and stopped suddenly, floating in
mid-air, just outside of Spiral's reach, but within her sparkling aura.
     "You... underestimate me... time dancer!" Star growled.  Sam sped toward
them, gaining momentum and focusing his blast field toward the front
again.  As he got closer, it seemed that he could hear Shatterstar...
humming?
     Spiral laughed maniacally.  "Do you think I don't know what you're doing,
Gaveedra?" she exclaimed.  "I was there when you first discovered your
mutant ability!"
     "AARRRGGGHHH!" Shatterstar's humming escalated rapidly into a sudden shout
as a shockwave of energy burst from his sword toward the still-dancing
Spiral.
     "Foolish one!" Spiral mocked.  "My magicks can easily deflect your attack
and send it where I wish!"  As she spoke, Star's shockwave seemed to warp
around her and shoot outward again, straight at Cannonball.
     The impact was incredible.  Sam had been struck by one of Star's vibratory
shockwaves on the day they first met.  At that time, he had been amazed to
discover that he could actually feel the impact through his blast field,
which normally rendered him invulnerable.  That first attack was dizzying.
 This one almost brought him to a complete stop.
     It was as if being in his homeworld had amplified Shatterstar's power, or
perhaps it had simply been growing over time.  Sam knew Star rarely used
the ability since it took a lot out of him.  None of that mattered at this
precise moment, however, as Sam's momentum carried him within Spiral's
reach, without his protective blast field.
     The blade shot out before Sam even had time to notice it.  All he felt was
a tickling between his ribs and then a blinding redness filled his mind,
followed by an all-encompassing blackness.
     Star, recovering from his own draining attack, was stunned to see Spiral
reach out and stab Cannonball in mid-air.  Sam's blast field kicked in
again briefly, launching him dozens of yards away.  Then, as if it were a
dying engine, the field started and stopped several times in a row as Sam
began to fall toward the sprawling city beneath them.
     Before Shatterstar could even see where Sam was falling, Spiral's dance
took him somewhere else.