Don't Close Your Eyes: Rebound

[x-jeangrey.livejournal.com]

Garrison and Vanessa go to help Amara and Jubilee battle the remaining two men still around: the teleporter and the Fear Eater. They managed to subdue the teleporter and, midway through fighting the Fear Eater, are surprised when he suddenly inexplicably falls to the ground.




"I am so not cleaning this up." Kane muttered as they ran through the halls, following the sounds and trail of damage towards the fight. Large scorch marks marred the walls, and little fires had blossomed here and there before the mansion's firefighting systems kicked in. Both of them ended up with a dusting of flame retardant foam in their hair as they pushed through and finally reached the room. Garrison skidded to a stop in front of a dead body, stooping to check the pulse unnecessarily.

"How many people lay there and play dead with their head on the wrong way?" Vanessa asked while the Canadian stopped down. Of course he would. Just in case. Because freakier things had happened. She shook her head and looked around. One dead guy, a load of property damage and, oh, look, people! The metamorph jogged around her friend to see Jubilee and Amara fending off a large man who was deceptively durable apparently.

That's when she noticed the groan from nearby. Vanessa thought she had imagined it at first but then she found some guy stirring on the floor. She nudged him with her shoe. "You alive?"

Another groan, followed by rasping coughs as the man rolled onto one side. "Wish I wasn't." His eyes glanced off Vanessa and onto Garrison and stayed there for a few seconds. Even if he recovered fast, which was un-goddamn-likely, he wouldn't be teleporting out before they could stop him and prevent it. Too many people and he'd be unable to leave and the big guy with the beard looked like he'd be willing to sit on someone if he had to. Shit.

Vanessa considered him for a moment, head tilted to the side. Then she laid her foot across his throat and pressed down a little. "I'm in a really shitty mood. Got a good reason why I should let you live?" Her foot pressed down a little more. The mountie and his morals would get in the way, for one. Charles would give her a disapproving look. The guy on the ground didn't know that, though.

There was a slight rumble underneath their feet - not enough to send cracks through the walls, but enough to throw someone off balance. At least if you weren't expecting it. A rush of flame blocked off a potential escape point, the flaming figure that was Amara holding back from the fight for the moment.

Jubilee lobbed another jet of sparks into the face of the man they were fighting, keeping herself between him and Amara behind her. Amara was the secondary wall, if Jubilee fell then it would be up to her to take this guy out.

"Come on, dickhole, that the best you can do?" Jubilee snarled, dodging out of the way of a swipe.

Sweat on her brow belayed her bravado but Jubilee had spent a very, very long time hiding fear behind walls of attitude and a smart mouth, today would be no different. Truth was she was eating through her power reserves fast, and she hadn't started out with a hell of a lot in the tank anyhow, it had only been a week since they retrieved Remy and she'd still been recovering.

"'Dickhole?' You come up with that one all by yourself, tiny one?" Fear Eater said with a chuckle. He suddenly ripped a heavy chair off the ground and hurled it at her with enough force that would make the chair break to pieces no matter what it collided with. "Take a seat. You look like you're gonna fall over."

"Dude, you're dissing my insult abilities when you just said that?" Jubilee replied, throwing up a quick plasma barrier that melted the chair to slag before it could hit anything. She dropped it just as quickly, jumping into a sideways flip to avoid his follow up charge before firing off blasts at his back. "Easy there, Toro."

"Huh. Big guy. Wouldn't you say he's a big guy, Vanessa?" Kane observed, looking back down. "Who's your friend and what can he do? Assuming you'd like to avoid your windpipe meeting the undercarpet anytime soon."

To his credit, Markham did try to roll away from the strange blue woman and the foot on his throat, it was just futile, because he still felt like shit and could't get away fast enough to keep her off him. He didn't answer - he could stall them long enough to get out, he thought. Maybe. "What's in it for me?"

This was one of those times Vanessa wished she was a girly girl, the sort who owned and regularly wore pointy heels. Sadly, the only stilettos she owned were weapons and none were with her. Still, her heel bore down on his adam's apple.

She shot her friend a curious look. "I think he may have missed that whole windpipe-meeting-the-carpet bit, love." She looked back down at the man, the ache of phantom fangs still making her face and throat throb. She pushed down harder. "Don't think I won't. I've killed for a lot less then what you and your merry band have done to my people tonight."

Unfortunately, the only response he could make were pained groans, and the occasional gasp. Markham wasn't an idiot - he couldn't teleport yet, and it was pretty clear that he was about to get in a whole world of trouble beyond the trouble he was already in. He got one arm up and slowly, literally painfully so, pointed to his throat.

She tilted her head, raised an eyebrow and waited a beat. Or three. Then she let up on his throat enough that he could probably speak. She kept an uncomfortable pressure on it, though. "Oh, sorry, I missed that. Did you figure out something that's in it for you?"

"Was worth a shot." Markham answered. Still not ready to teleport, though he kept trying. He didn't move, moving would've been stupid and he wasn't stupid. "He's.. you probably've got some word for it, but he gets stronger when people are scared. Tougher too." Maybe he could stall them. Probably not. "And he's a sick fucker, so he's good at making people scared."

"Really? That's his power?" Kane looked at Vanessa and grinned. "You know, this is almost a gift after the impromptu gutting in the Doc's head."

The Canadian turned, and stepped out where Jubilee and Amara were trying to contain the Fear Eater. He was a big, imposing mutant, and maybe it was a mixture of bravado and bullshit taking over, but there was no fear in Kane. Just an eager anticipation to hurt the people who attacked his home. "Hey you! You! The big fuck in the lame outfit. I hear you're a big, scary motherfucker? Like, huge and nasty and all the little children run screaming from you. You got a minute to take me on there. Because, I got to tell you, this is the first time I've ever met a mutant who lifted his powers off of the goddamn Hooded Fang. And I'm looking forward to kicking your ass two two times."

Fear Eater turned, staring at the newcomer with narrowed eyes that shined in the light, still smoking from the blasts of energy the Asian girl had fired at him. All it managed to do was burn a hole in his shirt.

He smiled at Garrison, then motioned for him to come at him.

"Worst part about all of this, dipshit, is that you're trying to act like a hard man using moves from a damn movie." Kane said. "I grew up with hard men, sweetheart, and the only thing you'd get from them is laughter."

Garrison obliged him by closing with them. Between his strength and his omni-skin, he could stay close with the others used distance powers to hurt him. Keep him boxed up and beat him down safely. There was the other non-tactical part of his brain that finally gloried in the fact that here was finally a problem he could solve with his fists, unlike his advantage through Jean's mind. Fear Eater might have been strong, but Kane was also fast, and he danced around the first punch to lay two quick jabs to the man's nose, and then land a right cross through his left cheek. Fear Eater reeled back and Kane rushed him, using his weight to knock him off his feet and slamming an elbow into his solar plexus. "Hit him! Now!"

There was a rush of flame as Amara directed a blast of fire Fear Eater's way - tight to avoid roasting everyone else in the area, but flaring once it hit him. There was something of a grim smile on Amara's face as she poured her anger into the flame, letting that barrier drop for once. After what she'd been through - after she'd seen what these people had done to others here, it was something of a glorious release to just be furious.

Still distracted by the bearded man's blows, Fear Eater barely had time to reflexively put up his arms to shield his eyes from the heat. The fire engulfed him, making him disappear under the blast. A burst of smoke suddenly rose up. In its wake, as the smoke started to billow away, the man remained standing there for a moment or two, but it appeared that the only part of him burned was his clothing, which had been reduced to cinder and ash. His skin did hold a redder tinge to it, but just barely.

He gaze locked on Amara, lip curled in a sneer.

"You bitch. I'm going to rip your fucking arms off!" he snarled, charging at her.

Fear Eater picked up a heavy stone carved plant stand in the shape of a gargoyle, and was poised to throw it when he suddenly stopped in his tracks and spun around as if being shot. The plant stand landed on the ground, denting the wooden floor and making a crack in the stone

His eyes widened with surprise before his face twisted into pain and he let out a billowing roar of a scream as he put his hands to head and dropped to the ground, his body twitching. He screamed a few more times, like the wail of a foghorn, until he abruptly went still, his eyes glazing over before falling closed.

Vanessa had just been getting into that show when the ending credits popped up out of nowhere. Her heel let up on the throat of the guy below it and she looked around between the body on the ground and everyone else there. "That's it? That's the big finale? I want my money back."

"So...we should probably go see if the others are okay," Jubilee noted, poking at the downed form of their opponent with one of her toes. "Unless there's someone else we need to beat up on?"

"Lady, I just saw your friend set someone on fire and then cut his strings like a damn puppet. I'm staying right the fuck here." Markham said, shaking his head. "A man needs to know two things, when to fight and when not to fight and I am sure as hell not fighting any of you people right now." He did bite the inside of his mouth to try to get the adrenaline to teleport out, but to no avail.

"Well, that was a bit of a disappointment." Kane toed the body with one foot.

"Anyone ever see this joker before? On file, anything?" He looked over to Vanessa, who shrugged and suddenly stumbled as a brief pop noise sounded in the air. "That was the teleporter, wasn't it? Fuck." The room was no empty save for the unconscious giant and Xavier alumni. With a grunt, Kane hoisted up the invader and slung him in front of the elevator. "Right, Jubilee, keep an eye on this guy for a minute. I'm going to update the Professor and then hurl these guys upstairs and call SHIELD for a trash pickup. If anyone can get the rest of these fires out, I'm sure Xavier's housecleaning bill will appreciate it."