Subject: [OTL]: HellsX 37 Date: Sun, 25 Jul 2004 17:57:23 -0700 (PDT) From: D Benway HellsX [37:45] Cul de Sac Produced by Benway See notes for disclaimers. _______________________________________________________________________________ When Kitty arrived at Club, they were already loading the helicopters. All of the helicopters. Even the ghouls were getting prepped. "Where were you?" said Summers. "Outside," said Kitty. "I need you ready to go in 10," said Summers. "Need to get some blood out of my teeth," said Kitty. In her bathroom, she glanced at the places where she was sure that they had hidden the cameras. With some difficulty, she managed to extract the package. She stared at it for five minutes, then threw it into the toilet and flushed. If she was going where she thought they were going, there wouldn't be any need to wait two months to escape. They briefed her on the chopper, but even before Summers mentioned his name, she knew they were going after Bruce Wayne. Wayne, who was guarded by Cassandra. At Bridgeport, the choppers landed and they rendezvoused with The Avengers. Castle was there, in full red, white, and blue regalia. The Iron Man was apparently in the shop, but the Wasp and Banner were there. Banner maintained a stiff dignity, impressive in a man clad only in purple spandex pants. Castle spent most of the time in solemn conversation with the Wasp, who seemed to be undergoing a crisis of doubt. Worthington, Rasputin, and Bobby were on board, but Ororo was still confined to quarters, pending more intense sessions with the Beast and Professor Frost. A large freezer unit into which the ghouls had been crammed took up the back part of the cabin. Ground Zero was Wayne Manor, isolated on the outskirts of Gotham. The Army had blocked off all the roads in the area, and the Navy was sitting offshore with the Iowa's 16-inch guns targeted on the house. "Why the fuck's he still there?" said Bobby. "Why doesn't he run?" "Maybe he's tired of running," said Summers. "Anyone who makes an accusation that Captain America is a vampire is tired of life," said Rasputin. "Amen to that," said Worthington. The staging area was on the lawn of neighboring house that had been owned by Tim's parents. They were now being held in a sanctified shipping container outside of Anchorage, and were not expected to survive the winter. Castle had handed over a PDA with the plans for the attack immediately upon landing. Summers studied it, frowning. "I wasn't told of any change of plan," said Summers. "We go in two minutes," said Castle. "Drake goes into the house," said Summers. "Pryde recces the caves." "I acted on advice from Frost," said Castle. "I make the decisions for our team in the field," said Summers. "We know there is an extensive cave system below the house. If there's any activity down there, she can cover the ground much faster, and I don't want Bobby wandering around in anything that looks like a basement." "Thought you said he was ready," said Castle. "I said he was stable," said Summers. "You set the task, I'll assign my troops to do it." "It's your rope," said Castle, striding off towards a squadron of CIA sharpshooters. "Go," said Summers. "Take the path that starts just below the gazebo at cliff-side. If you find any caves, take care of anyone in them." Kitty ran at great speed towards the cliffs. "Angel to Tonya," said Worthington, over the headset. "Tonya here," said Kitty. "Activity at the shore twenty metres ahead," said Worthington. "There's boat and-" There was a silenced rifle shot, then choking sounds over the headset. Kitty threw herself over the cliff, landing fifteen metres down on a small ledge. From somewhere below, she heard a splash. "Cyke to Angel," said Summers. "Do you copy?" Kitty could smell the sniper, smell the gunpowder, just the other side of a large rock. She hurled herself around it, and smashed the rifle square into the sniper's chest. She heard bones shatter, but the sniper was still strong enough to lash out at her with claws that scratched blue streaks through the air. She caught the sniper's hand before the claws connected, and twisted it off. The sniper screamed. Kitty threw the hand and its silver claws into the sea. The sniper spat in her face. It was the woman with the Stinger missile from the Gotham mission. Kitty smashed the rifle into her chest twice more. The sniper's eyes rolled up and she slumped into Kitty's arms. "Selina?" came a shout, from just inside the cave. "Tonya to Cyke," Kitty whispered. "Angel down. Sniper incapacitated, just off the point, fifteen metres down. No-one else present." "Hold position," said Summers. "Cyke to Base. Send rescue for Angel at base of cliff. Tonya, hold your position." "Affirmative," she said. Selina, lying on the ground, was groaning. Blood was leaking from her mouth, pooling on the rock. Fresh, living blood, very distracting. Very, very distracting. The sniper she needed alive, as something to show Cassandra whose side she was really on. Kitty entered the cave. It was convoluted, and she could see only rock walls all around her. She could smell the humans inside, humans rich with blood still in them, not outside, pooling on the rocks- She shook her head. A very deep voice was chuckling, up ahead. There was a scream, a man's scream, then more chuckling. She heard the tearing sound, and knew exactly what it meant, but didn't hear any of the familiar meeping. Instead, the scream that followed was so shrill, she remembered what real fright was, true fright, fright that Daddy came and save you from in the middle of the night but Daddy wasn't there and there was only this huge green head rolling around the corner and knocking her flat. She thrust it away, backing up against the wall. On Banner's face was a death-frozen expression of surprise. The shriek subsided into sobbing. Kitty could smell fresh blood ahead of her. She could hear the meeping now, but it was at the cave entrance. Something that had just killed the strongest Avenger was ahead of her in the tunnel. She knew exactly who it was. Around the next corner, she could see what, from their volume, had to be Banner's remains. It looked like hamburger. In the briefings, she'd been told of Banner's healing ability. This was something that she'd been told was impossible. Something hissed in the darkness, not far away. Kitty could hear meeping behind her, closer this time. There was a headless body on the floor, dressed in black fatigues. It had been completely pulverized. Kitty pressed onwards, a little further. The cave opened out into a small cavern. Cassandra was sitting there, cross-legged on the floor. The cabbage-sized mass of flesh she had in her hands retained, barely, the features of Bruce Wayne. "So bright," said Cassandra. "Spark, so bright." Cassandra was stroking the pile of meat, her hands soaking in wet, fresh blood. "Cassandra," said Kitty. "Not cry," said Cassandra. "Not cry any more. Only anger." "This way," said Kitty. "Run past the ghouls, there's no resistance." "Escape?" said Cassandra. "No." "Why?" said Kitty. "Don't ask why," said Cassandra. "Is no why." Cassandra lay Wayne's head to one side and transformed, not into slender beauty, but into legs for leaping and claws for tearing and teeth for destroying. Kitty stared into the burning red eyes. She could not move, but she could phase. Cassandra lunged, slashing, and slammed into the rock behind Kitty at well over sixty miles per hour. Cassandra bounced back, at once, tearing and slashing at the empty air. Phased, Kitty could move. As Cassandra passed through her again, Kitty unphased for a moment, grabbed the shreds of Cassandra's outfit, and phased both of them. Cassandra's momentum carried her into the cave wall. Kitty let go. There was a small, wet explosion. Cassandra's body sagged, held into place by the rock she had been merged with. It began to lose its shape, and glowing quicksilver began to flow from the remains of her boots. Kitty moaned and resisted for a few seconds, then threw herself at the ground, licking Cassandra's evaporating essence from the naked rock. When that was gone, she tore apart the remains of Cassadnra's body armour and sucked the last of the glowing residue from within it. Numb yet burning, she staggered down the passage towards the cave entrance. Halfway there, she passed Banner's skull. Doug's legs were sticking up almost vertically from the hole he had smashed through it to get at the brains. Kitty started giggling, and found that she couldn't stop. She ran. "Wouldn't go out there-" said Doug, from behind her. The ghouls were at the cave mouth, playing with their food. Selina, minus all of her limbs, was still alive. Kitty snatched the torso from Sam and threw it into the sea. The ghouls snatched at the twitching limbs, and crouched in the crevices, moaning as they chewed. On the chopper back to Manhattan, no-one sat near Kitty, as she huddled in a small ball. She could see Summers and Castle talking and occasionally gesturing in her direction, but the noise from engines was so loud that she couldn't make out what they were saying. As she dismbarked in the hangar, Summers put his hand on her shoulder. She stopped herself, barely, from tearing it off at the elbow. "What?" she said. "You're angry," he said. "Shot Worthington," she said. "You don't give a shit about him," said Summers. "Castle did this. You want to fuck him up? Really fuck him up?" She nodded. "Get back on Chopper Two," he said. "You're going to Arizona." [Next: Cassandra]