Death Is Legion - The Rescue

[x-dominion.livejournal.com]

While Wade and Logan are looking for Kyle, it's up to Garrison, and North to rescue Midge Gibney from Omega Red.




"That's my wife in there."

"And you're going to do what? Hit him with a two by four? I know it's tough, Tyler. I know. But you need to get out of the way and let us get Midge. Otherwise, you're a tool for Arkady to use against us." Kane said insistently, trying to make the man understand. He understood the need to help - to fight back the waves of helplessness that were swamping Tyler out of all his experiences. But he had to listen. Finally, the man nodded.

"I'm going to go and call the state troopers. And that school. You get my wife, Kane."

"Yeah." As the other man left, he rubbed his face. "Now how the fuck do I do that?"

Garrison had just reached North to sketch out an approach when the door opened, and Arkady emerged. There was no place or time to hide, and he hadn't gone ten steps when he noticed them.

"I should have known."

North should have known, actually. He thumbed down the safety on his gun, and withdrew another from its holster, dark gaze following the movements of the mutant whose pale face he had learned to hate. But his breathing remained even, and his stance deceptively relaxed despite the fact that the surge of fury had finally activated his powers. North was pissed off.
“Kane, have you met Arkady?” He asked, almost conversationally. “Omega Red. My personal stalker.”

"Heard a lot about him. Not a lot of it pleasant."

"It will be the last you hear." He hissed, and threw out his hands like he was passing a basketball. Two white metal coils lashed out past them, and only quick reactions saved them from being impaled.

Coming out of a quick drop and roll, North levelled his gun and fired off two shots in quick succession, knowing that it would miss but drive Arkady nearer to Kane who seemed immune to the spores that was due to start flying any moment then.

“Move quick, to the right,” he advised even as he was pulling the trigger.

"I- wait, what?" Garrison shifted right just as a coil lashed past him, shearing off the front corner of the car. "Fuck!"

"You should have had the sense to stay dead, Nord." Coils spun past Kane at North, slapping one of his guns away before he could react. "I think I'll tear off your limbs and roll what's left into that plague factory. Just to watch what it turns you into."

“I would still look better than you do, Hurensohn.” North snarked, coming out of a tuck and roll with a bleeding right hand and a left that emptied out a cartridge into where Arkady’s head was supposed to be. He reloaded the firearm swiftly, making sure never to stay still long enough for the albino to land a hit, and to draw his attention away from Kane as much as possible.

"Always joking, Nord. Always a fool." His coils twisted, blocking shots as they churned. Kane's shots were equally futile, and he lost his gun as a tentacle shot past him fast and tore it from his hand.

There was a trace of a dark smirk on North's face as he dodged a coil and dove for Kane's gun that had clattered to the floor. Then, using an incoming coil as a springboard, he launched himself upward and toward the Canadian, firing a shot at his nemesis' head - distraction long enough to return the firearm to Kane and quirk a brow at Arkady.

"I apologise. Did I hit a nerve?"

"Remember the last time I killed people you cared about, North?" He turned and lashed out at the man. But he didn't know Kane's powers, and the distinction gave the Canadian time to grab the closest concrete divider from the parking lot and fling it at him. He twisted and just got a coil up to smash it in half, but the debris bit deep and sent him sprawling.

"Nice try, Dummkopf." Bullets rained on the fallen mutant, the charge and recoil a familiar rhythm as North sought and discarded alternative scenarios to find that one opening he needed to take the albino down. Colour had begun to bleed out of his irises when he stopped, discharging the cartridge one-handedly and trusting his companion to cover for him. "I remember. But you forget - there is something to be said about a man with nothing left to lose."

"Yes. That he might as well be already dead." A coil grabbed North's ankle and yanked, dropping him heavily to the ground. The second coil was caught by Kane as it whipsawed down, trying to pound North in half. Garrison pulled, but the first tentacle smashed him across the face and caused him to lose his grip.

That was distraction enough for North’s next vision to come to pass – and for his next bullet hit home, striking Arkady in a rib and forcing him back. Images flashed and moved across his mind, almost too quick to catch. It was time to change tactics. “You would think that, would you not?” North lurched to his feet. “Kane, I’m going long. Keep your wits about you.”

Sprinting right, the German leapt over a striking coil, barely missing it as he dove for the handgun he had lost a hold of – a present that he would have hated to lose, really. Arkady had to be expanding a good deal of concentration on keeping the precog from foreseeing his next move. By attacking from two different positions, the mutant would have an even harder time countering every move made by the pair.

Kane flung a chunk of concrete to try and distract him, but almost lost his head to a coil. He caught the follow-up coil and yanked hard, pulling Arkady off-balance for a moment.

Seeing the opening, North opened fire – targeting both the coil nearest to him and the man’s head itself.

Arkady's head snapped around, but he didn't slow. The coils whipped a confusing pattern between him. The blood was starting to run down his face and into his eyes. With a final flourish, he turned and raced for the concrete building.