Tropic of Capricorn: Attacked on the Beach

[x-adrienne.livejournal.com]

Laurie, Johnny, Dori, and Jennifer are attacked by Brotherhood members Nimrod and Scanner.

The jungle was quiet. Quiet enough that it almost begged for someone to say 'too quiet'. In this case, they would have been correct, because from the treeline, a large man and a young woman watched the Blackbird. It was still under cloak, but after having landed, the system was much less effective. Rain, moisture and windblown debris created an obvious 'hole' in the space around it. Nimrod had been watching it hungrily, waiting to break some shiny toy of Xavier's. It had been months crawling from the Atlantic, suffering the feeling of drowning over and over, saved only by his near invulnerability. Crawling maybe a hundred or two hundred metres at a time in the crushing depths, before finally coming shallow enough to swim to the shore and rejoin Magneto.

Tearing the head off blue bastard who had done it to him would happen one day. But until then, he was content with hurting his friends. There was a large man and a green woman by the landing wheel, and no doubt more inside. It would be a start. He motioned Scanner to follow him as he edged closer.

“I will handle the guards. Get inside and disable the plane.” The hulking man’s expression was enough to make her recoil. “Do not fail.”

With that, he charged from the underbrush, coming on both figures before they could react.

Fred was offering Jennifer a cigarette when he caught the blur of motion moving towards the Blackbird. There wasn't enough time to bring up his hands, drop his smoke, or even understand what was happening. Fred's body naturally and quickly grew in pure fear reflex, and he managed a "What the fuc-!?" before...

Nimrod plowed into the younger man with a tremendous blow, harder than anything Fred had ever felt before. The ground beneath them actually creaked from the force, and a second lashing right smashed Fred back the other way, bewildered and off balance.

Fred's feet slid back on the ground, a small warble in the air near his feet flaring as his stance became deeper in the damaged dirt from the surprise attack. While his power kept Fred from toppling, it didn't clear the ringing from his ears or the blur from his eyes. Fred tried to call out to Jen, but all that came out was an angry shout.

"Well, fuck!" She'd been barely able to register what was going on until it was almost over and then suddenly there was Fred a good distance away from where he'd originally been and someone new who looked pretty pissed off. The thought crossed her mind that her agreeing to come on this little picnic was a huge mistake but it was a little too late to get a refund. Walters edged around, keeping the guy in front of her as she moved, trying to get into position - to do what, she wasn't sure, but it suddenly made her feel really good that her mutation was what it was.

"Hey!" Jen called, trying to get his attention off of Fred, to give him some time to recover. "I think his dance card's filled. Want to see mine?"

The man's reaction was faster than she believed was possible, and Walter's had just started to block when a haymaker smashed into her face and sent her tumbling end over end down the dirt and towards the cliff. It was like being hit with an angry tractor trailer.

"Take the plane. I'll finish this one off." He growled, motioning Scanner up the ramp as he walked over to Fred and slammed a forearm into his nose before grabbing his neck.

With ten firm, quick steps she was inside, running her eyes over the interior, searching for targets. Her eyes were quick to notice the young man with the silver hair. "Why did you come here? Why did you have to disturb our peace?" She asked as she lashed out with a leg.

Pinball leapt out of his seat, danger sense pinging and - for once - giving him advance warning of the threat. He twisted madly in mid air and landed on the back of a seat, crouched low to avoid cracking his skull. "Get off my plane, loser!" he called and propelled himself back across the space to kick Scanner with both feet in the chest.

Laurie had been quietly working her way from the cockpit of the plane toward the fight in progress since Scanner had arrived, and now she took the moment of opportunity Dori had given her, slapping a hand already primed with 'sleepy time' pheromones across Scanner's face before backing away again to get out of effective retaliation range.

Pinball threw himself between the seats, grabbing a grip strap on the roof of the plane and twisting to kick Scanner in the head twice, fast before bouncing away to land. He wouldn't have been able to manage that if Laurie hadn't used her pheremones to slow Scanner down.

He jumped again, kicking her one more time, both feet slamming into the back of her shoulders.

"Keep her down," Laurie ordered Pinball, moving forward again to hold her hands against Scanner's face now, pumping fresh pheromones out onto her skin to be absorbed by their enemy. "Time for you to go to sleep, I'm thinking.

It was so hard to keep her eyes open. She fought against the sleepiness, to let go and assume her astral form. But the moment she shifted her focus on doing just that, she lost her fight and her eyes slid closed, slumping against the silver haired young man still holder her.

***

Outside, Nimrod had Fred pinned against the side of the plane, smashing punch after punch into the young man's ribs and side. His immense strength was like nothing he ever had experience.

As Walters heaved herself to her feet, she felt a flicker of something she hadn't seen the car accident that killed her parents and turned her green - fear. She'd spent over ten years not having to be afraid of anyone or anything and now, that forgotten emotion suddenly started to seep back into her brain.

But it did something else, too. It pissed her off. And went she launched herself at their attacker, she used that to fuel her, not the fear that bubbled in the back of her brain.

Nimrod sagged under the blow, but again, his speed augmented his strength, as he twisted her Jen around and drove her into the ground hard enough to make the jet shake, turning his back on Fred for the moment.

Clutching the ground, Walters heaved herself out of the small crater that her impact had made and, before she could really thing about it, braced herself and then dove back towards Nimrod. The short burst of energy and her sheer weight helped her slam into him with the force of a small train; she wrapped her arms around him upon impact and lifted, attempting to move him the hell away from Fred and the plan.

They both went down hard. Nimrod forced Jen's arm back, breaking the hold she had on him for the moment, before twisting to scrape her off his back. He broke away, only to face Fred coming from the other direction.

They both went down hard. Nimrod forced Jen's arm back, breaking the hold she had on him for the moment, before twisting to scrape her off his back. He broke away, only to face Fred coming from the other direction.

Fred was spitting blood, with more coming out his nose. His eyes could barely focus. His ears were ringing too loud for him to hear anything, but he'd been pushed. Pushed harder than he'd been since Genosha. His body was still growing and crackling with fat and size when he faced Nimrod. With hands bigger than the other mutants head, Fred slammed them open palmed against the sides of Nimrods' head and ears, with enough force to knock the engine block out of a Peterbilt.

Nimrod staggered, not badly hurt, but unable to focus. The plane was still intact, which meant that Scanner had failed. They had proved tougher than he expected, and without backup, there wasn't a way to bring them down. He slapped aside Jen with a blow, and ducked away, racing back into the trees. The X-Men would have to wait for another day.