Sound & Fury ~ Part 2

[x-dazzler.livejournal.com]

The mall can be murder before Christmas...
Toad // Kyle & Terry ~ After Sabretooth knocks out Sean, both Terry & Kyle are left to face Toad, who after having ceded Miles to Mystique, decides to have a little fun with them.

Well, that was a relief.  'Tooth had the big Irishman down--hadn't asked for screams from him, Toad was amused to note--and Mystique could wrangle the brat for a while.  Time for him to play a little.

And look, here were some playmates--the cute little redhead with the big voice, and some barefoot kid that looked . . . heh.  Looked like some sawed-off little runt version of Sabretooth, actually.  Toad rubbed long fingers together with anticipation; he'd been wanting to get some of his own back on the big psycho forever, and this was almost the next best thing.

Two quick leaps and a short wall-scurry brought him down right in front of the surprised kids, and he hawked a nice fat one into the girl's face first thing.  Dead center, too.  He was getting really good at that.  A kick sent the mini-Tooth brat flying--not very far, okay, he'd done better, but he'd been distracted admiring the coverage he'd gotten on the girl's face.  Work of art, that one, really.

Ah well, more fun to be had yet.  Toad back flipped into a crouch facing the brat with the claws and took a few warm-up jabs with his tongue while the kid was getting up.

Kyle was not happy. He wasn't sure what was entirely going on, except that some hot blue snake chick had grabbed Miles, and that wasn't cool at all.  You don't steal kids, and Kyle decided he took that sort of thing very personally. It was a last minute sort of decision, but one he felt was very important. Besides, he could get away with last minute sorts of decisions when he was pulling himself off the ground.  "Dude, what's with the licking? Cut it out, what are you gay or something?"

"Nah."  Toad grinned, smacking his lips.  "Just won a bet with myself, is all.  Tastes just like chicken."

"Asshole. Fuck you."  Kyle growled, barely intelligibly, and ran at Toad, springing off the ground at the last minute in an attempt to tackle the green-skinned asshole.  Kyle definitely didn't know who this guy was, but he was a class A jerk, and needed a set of claws in the face. Or maybe teeth in the face, Kyle hadn't decided.

Oh, the kid wanted to fight, that was just prec--ow.  Ow. Damn, the kid was faster than he looked and those claws were--"OW, you little fucker!"  Toad wedged one foot up into the kid's chest and kicked out, hard as he could, just to get the little brat away.  "I swear, I was gonna bust you one for looking like Sabes' kid brother but now I think I'll just kill you."

As it turned out, Kyle wasn't much for words when trying to chew on people. Not so much because his mouth was full, because it wasn't  - yet - but more because his brain decided it had much better things to do than make smart-assed comments. Also, he couldn't -think- of any.

When Toad kicked him away, Kyle landed in a heap, not quite catching himself in time to land on his feet. But he was back up and charging again in a smooth fluid motion, instinct and fear and rage speaking far louder than the tiny voice saying "Um. Kyle? He just said kill and maybe you should worry about that."

Toad, ready for him this time, met Kyle's charge with a quick handstand and a double-footed kick aimed at the boy's jaw. That had to hurt, he thought with more than a little satisfaction, as Kyle went flying backwards once more, only this time into a wall, knocked clean out.

~*~

When it all comes down to the basics...
Sean, Terry ~ A segue into another scene, while Kyle and Toad fight. After Toad silences Terry and takes her out of the fight, Sean starts to recover and helps his daughter.

Oh ew! Terry clawed at the ew rapidly hardening ew! stuff on her face.  This was so incredibly gross and EW! under her fingernails!  She bet she would never get it out of her hair either.  She started to scream, hoping to shatter the goop before she ran out of air.

Everything hurt.  There was a sound far away - a faint screaming, getting louder all the time.  Sean forced himself to concentrate on it, forced himself to open his eyes, and found himself starting at the concrete floor.  Wincing, he pulled himself to his feet a little unsteadily, taking in the chaos around him.

There were cracks in the crystallized gunk on her face but it just wouldn't shatter.  Terry could feel her air running out but her entire lower face was covered, mouth and nose.  Unless she could learn to breathe with her ears, she was going to suffocate.  Even digging her nails into her skin didn't help.  The gunk was sealed on her face. 

Sean started to move a bit more urgently, as he remembered that it'd been Sabretooth that'd hit him.  Terry!  Where was Terry?  Please, God, let her have gotten away.  He pushed himself forward, and caught sight of her through the crowd, clawing at something on her face.  Then he caught sight of Toad nearby, fighting with Kyle.
 
He took a deep breath, and screamed, aiming smash whatever it was off Terry's face.  Maybe all those shouting matches had been good for something after all - at least he knew he didn't have to worry about hurting her with his power.

The gunk splintered and finally shattered.  Terry gasped in air and shards, collapsing to her knees and coughing.  She spent several long moments just sucking in air and scrubbing at her face.  Then she got to her feet and ran to Sean's side, skidding into him, grabbing his arm urgently, "Are yeh all right?"  She seemed to be ignoring the fights going on around them, though the truth was she was doing anything but.

Toad landed in a crouch as the Sabretooth kid's head met wall with a satisfying crack, but his head whipped around at the impossibly loud scream and he quailed.  Both of them?  He could've stayed home and pissed in the boss's helmet if he'd wanted a vocal asskicking... and what the hell were they still doing here?  Smash and grab was a really simple plan.  You smashed, you grabbed, you got the hell away.  They'd smashed.  They'd grabbed.  And now it looked like the boss was having a conversation.  And any minute now the Partridge Family over here was gonna charge up Lite Brite Lass and, you know, Toad was really, really going to get his ass kicked no matter what happened, because it was just that kind of day.

On the theory that every non-asskicked minute was a good minute, Toad launched himself at the Cassidys, wrapping his tongue around the girl's throat and swinging around to give her dad a nice one-two in the . . .

In the arm?  Fuck, those scratches from the little clawed kid were messing up his aim.  He'd wanted the stomach.  Knock the wind out of him so he couldn't--oh, hell, this was going to hurt...

~*~

The warmth of blood // A losing proposition
Creed // Alison ~ Sometimes, it's not even about wishing you'd stayed home that day. While Kyle faces off with Toad, Terry and Sean eventually joining in, Alison tries to hold her own somehow against Sabretooth. You do what you can, even when you know you don't stand a chance.

And then... enter Magneto.

It had all happened so fast. Alison had turned around at the sound of Sean's strangled gasp of warning only to see him being flung through a storefront by Sabertooth. She'd lost Terry and Kyle from sight in the screaming crowd, people scrambling to get away from them as fast as possible, one store's doors slamming shut with a resounding clang of metal - and then Miles' hand was ripped from hers. Heart beating wildly Alison turned, tracking the sound of his voice, hands rising to take a shot at whoever had him - Toad, hanging upside from the wall on the third level of the shopping mall. She could only hope the teenagers who had been with her had enough sense to run.

With a strangled sound of triumph, Toad hauled himself over the ramp to the third floor, his grip having started to slip the instant he touched Miles. The boy was kicking Toad, in a very determined way, to the point where annoyance was beginning to show from the man. The gleaming collar Toad had been trying to get on him finally snapped shut around the boy's throat with a triumphant click. "There. Neutralized for good, you little rat!" he snarled, straightening up slowly. Making sure to still keep a dangling Miles over the edge, he shot a knowing look towards Alison.

Too high. I shoot him, Miles gets hurt coming down. Toad simply threw Miles to a waiting Mystique with a  wide grin before leaping high, landing in the crowd. The blue skinned woman cheerfully held Miles over the ramp as well, emptiness opening underneath him, three floors worth. The sound of glass being stepped upon still echoed in the background, Alison ignoring it, her entire attention focused on Miles.

Victor Creed, the mutant called Sabertooth, was in a good mood. He had the blood of a Mick on his hands, and the Mick in question was flopped facedown in the storefront display of Macy's. All that shattered glass had to hurt, not to mentioned the kick in the ribs. Can't scream if you can't breathe, and all that. It was almost enough to make a grown mutant smile. Now he had this tasty little blonde dish to work over while Toad took care of the kid - and she was quite the looker. Too bad she looked like a frail - he'd break her in half, he would.

There was someone staring at her, the sensation of something sharp and unpleasant being wedged between her shoulder blades nearly unbearable. Alison was still looking at Mystique and Miles, the woman not moving an inch as she watched something just over Alison's shoulder with a wide grin - and there was still nothing Alison could do there, that would not endanger Miles. Instincts screaming in warning were finally, reluctantly heeded and she glanced over her shoulder - eyes going wide at who was there.

"Hello, girly." said Sabretooth with a fanged grin, and then he pounced. For a man his size, he was startlingly fast, seeming to go from standing still to a full leap in the space of a second.

She threw herself aside; the neat tuck and roll not nearly enough to put her out of his range in her own opinion, which explained the further scrambling as Alison moved back even more. People were long gone by now, the lone security man on the floor having taken one look on Sean's limp form and having wisely run the hell away, screaming into his security link the entire time. Light sparking to life and she tracked Creed's location as she rose to her feet, the sinking feeling that it wasn't going to be enough leaving a lump of lead in her stomach, Miles cries still echoing in her ears.

Sabretooth recovered from his pounce with inhuman speed, and at each hand five wickedly-curved claws waggled in anticipation. "Gonna bleed for me." he grunted, and then struck again - not a pounce this time, but a quick shuffle forward and a claw-swipe at her head. Mess up those prettypretty features.

Claws screeched loudly over light, the shield barely thrown up in time and not quite enough to stop them. Too fast! Pain knifed along her forearm, thrown up in a warding gesture barely in time and Alison threw herself back once more - she had to put distance between them somehow, didn't stand a chance if she let him stay in close to her. Miles' screaming as he struggled against Mystique kept her from gaining that distance however and the dodge she'd started ended up in a circling motion instead. Can't go. Can't leave him alone here. So she aimed and fired all in one quick motion, the thin laser beam heading straight for Sabretooth's gut.

Sabretooth gladly took the hit, counting on his healing factor to deal with the damage. He used the opportunity to keep Alison off-balance, keep advancing and not giving her time to get her feet under her. Quick, darting claw-swipes combined with tight hooking punches with the full force of his considerable muscle behind them.

Scrambling backwards constantly wasn't going to do it and Alison had to drop the light shield - it was just draining her too much, too fast. Dodging the first few blows was one thing, but she simply couldn’t keep up with the speed and sheer ferocity of the attack. One o f the hits connected neatly, sending Alison reeling backwards.

Sabretooth smiled as he felt the slight tug against his claws which indicated that they'd scored against flesh. "Gettin' tired, girly." He taunted her. "Whatcha' gonna do when you can't stand up?" he grinned and lashed out a low sweeping kick, trying to take her legs out from under her.

She didn't even try to dodge that, going with it instead and tumbling back to roll into a crouch, pain flaring from the cuts in her skin, arm and side now. She could still hear Miles at the edge of the soundscape, along with some very displeased sounding swearing. The little boy was putting up a fight it seemed and Mystique was none too pleased. The word 'pottymouth!' drifted back to her, drawing a half-laugh, half-sob from Alison. The thought that Miles was still near gave her hope however and she went for one of the very basic weapons within her reach - blinding light.

Unluckily for Alison, Sabretooth didn't need his eyes to fight. He closed them as tightly as he could, and then tracked Alison by sound and by scent alone. He kept up his assault, not going for the critical hits, but sticking with the superficial-and-messy ones. He wanted a lock of her hair as a memento, so the next claw-swipe at her head was angled so that he'd come away with a chunk of her hair as well.

Which he did, the brief pain barely noticed by Alison at this point with the adrenaline high still buzzing in her veins - along with the knowledge that he was playing with her. The wall slamming in her back as she tried to get more distance once more was a harsh reality check. Cornered. Listening out for Miles, not concentrating fully on this and only this was going to get her killed sooner rather than later if she didn't smarten up and that would not help Miles one bit. She used the wall, kicking back on it sharply to push herself away even faster, diving for the floor in an attempt to get more maneuvering room fast.

Alison was fast. But Sabretooth was faster. He reached out, lightning-fast, and grabbed Alison's ankle as she tried to tumble out of the way. "Where you goin'?" he growled out, barely comprehensible - but to emphasize his words, he kicked her in the ribs savagely. "We're just getting started."

A short, sharp cry escaped her as he pulled her back but the kick took her breath away, leaving her wheezing. Have go get loose. She was dead if he kept that grip on her. It was oddly comforting to know that even if she died here, Nathan and Cain would get Miles back - no matter what. The knowledge was liberating... but she wasn't dead yet. Try to breathe past the pain. Aim. Fire. It was hard to hold on to someone when your hand was no longer attached to your body.

Sabretooth jerked Alison savagely as the laser started to burn through his gripping arm, spoiling her aim and causing the laser to spray wildly into the storefronts, walls, and ceiling. He just grinned his fanged grin and tightened his grip, starting to feel the ankle joint give way.

God that hurt and it was so unfair she couldn't even power herself up from her own voice - the scream ripped from her throat at the sudden pain would have been so useful. Glass and plaster from the stray laser shot rained on the ground however, each off key note absorbed gratefully. This time Alison desperately concentrated on generating the laser from another location entirely, not entirely sure she could pull it off - light sparked and danced beneath Sabretooth's hand.

Sabretooth grinned. He loved that scream - and he even smiled as she did it. "Scream again!" he asked her, this time digging in the claws on the hand that held her leg fast. He could start to feel his flesh smoulder and burn, but that just added some spice to things. She hurt him, he hurt her. He was so excited he could barely stand it. With his other hand, he raked down the leg he was holding - not deep cuts, but right along the nerve paths. Maximum pain, minimum effort.

Fire was bleeding down her leg steadily, drawing another shriek from her although she wasn't even aware of the screaming it at this point. The thin echo of a child's wail in the background caused Alison's eyes to snap open however, wide and unseeing. Lasers snapped from her body raggedly for an instant, the one going through Sabretooth's hand actually rolling in a semi-arc before fading from sight.

Ahh, that's what he wanted to hear. Another delicious scream. He smiled at Alison, and then threw her into another glass storefront that had so-far escaped destruction at anyone's hands. Better yet, it was Victoria's Secret. Sabretooth chuckled to himself as he walked after Alison, looking to see if he could find any more storefronts to throw her through. This was fun!

Metal shrieked and concrete rumbled as the roof peeled back, cracking and folding out of the way; the wind whipped through the gaping hole as Magneto descended, arms folded, emanating a studied majesty.  He stepped lightly to the ground, eyeing Creed with a flat contempt. "That will be quite enough, Sabretooth.  We're done here."

The roof was gone, the wind whistling through the shopping mall's now deserted hallways, shredded paneling flapping about every now and then in response. Alison's head hurt and she was dizzy, distantly aware that she was wounded as well, although she was paying precious little attention to the pain. Miles was still struggling in Mystique's grip, dead silent with only the occasional kick impacting on the woman's legs who seemed to be ignoring the boy entirely now, other than to make sure not to lose her grip on him. Sean was still down and out of sight from what she could tell and she'd caught sight of Terry's pale face a moment before, Toad holding on to her with a wicked smile of glee - someone, at least, was having fun in all of this.

The sounds of sirens in the distance broke the silence and Alison flinched as she stumbled out of the ruined storefront. Her ankle nearly gave way and she caught herself too late to hide the reaction while keeping her gaze on the man in front of her no matter how badly she wanted to try and get to Miles again. Help Terry and Kyle, check on Sean. Maybe, just maybe she could buy time however, and she took a short breath, wincing at the pain in her side, and called out.

"Why?"

Silver eyebrows went up slightly underneath the edge of the helmet. "It's nothing personal, my dear," Magneto said calmly, almost conversationally.  "Young Miles is simply too powerful to be allowed to run around loose, where every would-be William Stryker might try to make use of him." His lips quirked into a thin smile.  "Humanity has so many friends, these days."

Alison repressed a wail of frustration and grief. She had to keep buying them time somehow, find a way to keep them here for as long as possible. Drawing herself up she took a few steps closer to Magneto, clearly cautious, trying not to give in to the constant reflex to sidle towards Miles.

Give people the time to finish the evacuation. Time for the team to get here. Get Miles out. The start of a shriek edged along her spine, light flaring briefly around her in response, only to be interrupted by the sound of a muffled hit. Toad just hit Terry. Oh god. What will they do to Miles?

"And that's the only reason?" she asked him, a hard, mocking edge to her voice. "Oh yes, keep him safe from the FOH, right? Not at all any plans for him yourself." Another, small step and she stopped, hating the way the world turned topsy-turvy for a moment, fire lancing up from her wounded ankle and along the various cuts on her skin. "Planning on running a kindergarten, Magneto? Is that it?"

Magneto chuckled.  "I don't believe I claimed to have no plans of my own.  Better he serve the cause of mutantkind than be used to destroy it, don't you think?"

"He is a seven year old boy." Oh, so wasted on them, those words. But it didn't matter, so long as they stayed here and didn't move. Something was trickling down her arm warmly, a brief flash of red from the corner of her eye. "Just a child." He wouldn't care, would just twist Miles around as he'd done with Skippy... he wasn't leaving with Miles. Whatever happened, whatever she had to do, he was not leaving with Miles.

"So was I, once," he replied, not unkindly.  "This world has little mercy reserved for such children.  And if I am to build a world in which that is no longer the case, some sacrifices must be made."

His voice and the wind and the items rustling in the hallway had given her something - Terry's last muffled scream had helped to finish the rest. Freeing Miles, as much as she wanted to do just that, would not help the situation. Sean was down. There was only one person who might help her, just now.

"So you get to choose who lives and who gets sacrificed." It wasn't a question. Listening carefully, filtering out every thing else with every passing second, Alison tried to get a sense of exactly where everyone was.

"Someone must."  He shook his head wearily.  "Come now, Miss Blaire, you are in no position to contest me here.  I am sorry--truly--for your distress, but you have little choice in this matter.  We will be leaving now.  Mystique, bring the boy."

The first hit had to be towards Magneto, of course. A laser searing towards him, shot from the hip as it were, Alison waiting only the second needed to know the man was blinded before blazing with light. Blind them all, even if for a moment - a situation which wouldn't incapacitate her in the least. Snapping her head around she fired off the only shot meant to actually land - towards Toad, who was holding Terry somewhere behind her. Get Terry free. Come on and hit that high note, kiddo. Please.

The barely-seen metallic haze surrounding Magneto contracted as Alison fired, forming a polished mirror that deflected her first laser blast--but then the flash sent him reeling.  An angry gesture as his vision cleared sent metallic debris into the air, poised to strike.

Terry closed her eyes, focusing on clawing away Toad's tongue (ew!) from crushing her throat.  Her vision was beginning to blacken when a rush of heat and light so intense she saw it through her eyelids surged around her.  The pressure on her throat suddenly released and she fell to her knees.  She gasped in a breath.  It came out again in a ear-shattering scream but died quickly into a ragged cough.  Her tear-blurred vision could make little sense of the scene.  She drew in another breath, even as Toad noticed Sean getting up again and let out a startled squawk before making a run for it.

The second scream from Terry was longer and more sustained - and, in that very moment, the most beautiful sound Alison had every heard in her entire life. The back of her blouse shredded under the sonic pulse but she didn't even move, even as stray cloth and flooring started to crumple around her.

Sabretooth was flash-dazzled by the lightshow, but he knew just where Alison was, and just how to hurt her. He picked up a chunk of fallen masonry and winged it with all of his strength at her head, then began advancing on her position, taking as much cover as could be had in the ruined mall.

The rock aimed at her head disappeared in a flash of light, the remaining dust swept away in the wind. Alison could see him easily, the cover he was using mostly an afterthought to her with this kind of noise to charge her up. Just as she fired a laser in his direction, meant to punch right through his chest, another scream hit her, far more deeper and stronger than the first. Her body flared with light, and she had to brace herself, the wind starting to tunnel around her wildly, debris whirling away.

Sabretooth was spiraling in closer, forcing Alison to bleed off charge by keeping a steady flow of fist-sized chunks of concrete flying at her. His aim was to get within pouncing range, and then eviscerate the silly bitch with his claws. Least he could do, really. A mercy.

Two waves of sonic power were focusing on her, Alison glowing brighter with each passing moment, fire burning under her skin when the cries intersected, doubling and tripling in intensity each time. Whatever Sabretooth was throwing at her kept being vaporized further and further away from her, until the last stone was destroyed in his very hands. The next laser was aimed roughly a foot to the side of that hand, seconds afterwards.

Sabretooth was quick. He was agile, he was fast, and he had the grace of his namesake. But one thing he could not do was move faster than light itself. The laser burned a hole clean through him in two seconds flat, leaving a fist-sized hole clean through his torso. He collapsed, his spinal column no longer sending balance information from his legs to his brain - given that just above the pelvis, the spinal column was no longer there.

Down and out. A small corner of her mind was keeping count of things, not that Alison was really aware of it anymore. Toad had scurried over to Magento's side while she dealt with Sabretooh, Mystique shoving Miles at him as she took up a stance next to Magneto, the metallic shield still waxing and waning around them.

"Let him go." The words were lost in the maelstrom of sound wrapped around Alison, glowing more brightly than she'd ever before - but the intent step she took towards Magneto and the ball of molten metal surrounding him indicated her purpose just as clearly. Keep him busy. He'll shield Miles. Mystique isn't letting go. He knows he can face you down. So she did the one thing she could do, to keep him there and unmoving, for as long as possible.

Letting go of the floodgates, Alison kept the barest of controls on the light. Just enough to never hit Miles, if they let him go, enough too not lash out at those behind her now. And then let loose with a barrage of lasers at the contracting bubble of metal, the sound surrounding her still climbing in intensity until every single window in the hallway shattered and fell to the ground in a glittering rain of glass.

As she kept converting sound, the energy and light she was generating began to heat the very air around her so rapidly a dull booming sound echoed in the hallway in reaction. That sound was absorbed as well, used to create more light, in turn heating the air again. The lightstorm, feeding on itself, started to grow.