THE LONE WOLF AND THE GODDESS - PART FIVE By Davide Briganti DISCLAIMER: All the X-Men depicted in this story are copyright of the Marvel guys, and are used without their permission. No profits are made by posting this story, which is written only for entertainment purposes. Sid "Renegade" Mayer is a copyright of me, so if you wanna use it, please ask me first. * * * Sid stepped out of the house, looking cautiously at the mob that was surroun- ding his house. Quickly, he assessed the potential strength of his opponents: "Hmm....about twenty, with melee weapons and some firearms, and little or no training in using them.", he mumbled, and an evil grin appeared on his face. "Could have been a lot worse." A man stepped forward: he was large and well-built, with blue eyes and blonde hair and a cruel smile on his thin lips, dressed in a dirty orange trenchcoat and a white cowboy hat. "Look, buddy. We have a proposal you can't refuse", he said in a pleasant to- ne, "We don't wanna kill any human being. Only mutants. Take her outside and we won't bother you anymore. Whaddya say?" Sid replied with a glance full of hatred. "Now YOU hear me, rat breath: if you and your bunch of losers are still infesting my lands with your useless pre- sence when I count ten, I'll kick you into next century in no time!" Rex's head shook slowly. "No, no, no, no.....You're not supposed to answer in this way! You should..." The large man's voice quickly turned into a muffled scream as Sid grabbed his neck, and he fell helplessly on his knees trying to catch his breath. Some men drew their weapons, taking a step forward. "Hey! Let him go!" Sid raised his head to face them, intentionally ignoring the fact that Rex's visage was turning purple for the lack of oxhygen. "You take your ugly faces away from my sight and I let him go. Plain and simple, huh?", he said in a calm, almost kind voice. One man began to smile viciously. "Well-well, we're playin' The Great Hero, aren't we? Let's see how good you are after we've taken care of your mutie friend!". And with that, he darted across the courtyard along with two other thugs towards the door. Sid's eyes widened. "Ororo....NO!!", he screamed as he threw Rex away and begun running as fast as he could. The mere thought of those men laying their filthy hands on the woman he loved sent him immediately in a berserk frenzy: a sudden burst of energy enveloped him, blinding the nearby men and burning the grass with an unsustainable heat. The men opened their mouth to scream in terror, but they didn't have the time: Sid delivered a powerful kick right into the nearest man's chest, and the fla- ming energy that was crackling on his body sent his target flying five meters away with a loud boom. "What are doin', fools?!", Rex yelled as he begun to breathe again, "Stop him! He's alone! STOP HIM! KILL HIM!!" The remaining men rushed forward, weapons readied: the young fighter unleashed a roaring, inarticulate battlecry and threw himself into the fray. Blood flied and bones cracked as more and more thugs fell like wheat at the scythe's bla- de; and finally, only Sid stood amidst a circle of bloody, senseless men, sta- ring at Rex with a mad look in his eyes. "You'll regret this, you mutants-friend! My boss will make you pay dearly for this!", the large man said with trembling voice, interposing his hands between himself and his enemy. Sid smiled wickedly as he prepared to charge. "You talk too much." Seeing that all was lost, Rex quickly reached into his trenchcoat, feeling the comforting, familiar shape of his pistol's grip. "Don't come any closer or I'll fill you with a considerable amount of lead.....as I did with your dear protegee!", he laughed, trying to scare him. Instead, Sid strided forward with blinding speed, reaching for the gun before Rex could draw it: with a quick twist of the wrist, he made him drop the wea- pon and prepared to land a deadly elbow smash aimed at the head. Suddenly, Ororo's voice broke out from above. "Sid! Stop it! What are you do- ing?" "I'm only makin' this worthless junkbag pay for tryin' to kill us!" "Sid...please. Killing him will not avenge the wrongs he has done to you or me, but it will only make you just like him." Sid stared at Rex for a few seconds, then threw him as far away as he could, with a disgusted expression; sighing, he turned his gaze upward to his bed- room window. Storm was there, sustaining herself with her unwounded arm and shaking at the occasional peaks of pain she was still having. "What are you -doing- up there? You're supposed to lay down if you don't want to carry that rib fracture with you for the rest of your life!", he yelled. "I heard the sounds of the battle and...I was afraid you were in danger.", she replied, blushing slightly. Sid's rage vanished at the sight of her. Taking a deep breath, he headed into the house and upstairs, and entered the room: Storm laid on the floor, exhau- sted by the tremendous strain she forced upon her already proven body. Picking her up, he held her close, smelling the sweet, fragrant scent of her hair. "Close yer eyes, Miss, and rest. I will not permit anyone to harm you in any way.", he whispered. She rested her head on his chest. "I am sorry to put you through all this. You should not risk your own life to save mine." Sid laid her on the bed and slowly leaned forward, getting closer and closer to her lips as he felt his heart beating faster and his soul screaming out for him to find the right words to express his feelings. Ororo looked him right in his eyes as he came closer, her inner self torn be- tween the remembrance of what Forge did to her by leaving the school with Mys- tique after asking her to marry him, and a strange, burning desire of being embraced by this strange guy and never let go. She put her hand on his chest, pushing him away gently but firmly with a con- fused and shy look on her face. "Now, wait...I do not think that is the best thing for us to do...." Sid took her hand, smiling sadly. "Yes. Maybe you're right. Maybe not. It all depends whether you heed the words that come from your mind, or those that co- me from your heart. You know, it was hard for me to accept being in love with someone, for I had no time in my life for handling such matters, and besides we know very little of each other. But I made my decision, and even if you'll never hold a place for me in your heart, I won't regret it, because for the first time in my life I felt truly alive.". Storm pondered over those words. "To feel alive.....how much time has passed since I caught the true meaning of these simple words. My mind has almost for- gotten it, and only now I realized. At least in one thing, Forge was right: I buried myself under my responsibilities, too afraid to live by my heart. But this will not happen again: my soul has not forgotten love, and we shall make its seed grow again, into a tree that will stand the fiercest storms!" She smiled, gazing right into Sid's eyes, and put her arm around his neck. Af- ter a deep sigh, she closed her eyes and kissed him full lips for a long, long time. As they separated, she leaned back on the cushions. "And now, my love, I think you must explain me a lot of things." Sid nodded. "Sounds fair. Well, hon, from where do you want me to start?", he asked. "First of all, are you a mutant? I saw you fight those men using some sort of fire. From where does it come?" "No, I'm not a mutant. My powers are not inborn: I achieved them through a ri- tual long ago and far, very far away." "What sort of ritual?" "A magician called upon the forces of chaos and entropy, channeling them into my spirit, and then taught me to master those energies. I spent months recove- ring from the damage the Great Void Plane had done to my body and soul.....and I still bear the scars, both outside and inside." "But why did you agreed to undergo such a terrible thing?" Sid gave a brief glance to the hills outside the windows, and then continued: "I wasn't born in this reality, but in another that was almost its perfect co- py. Except one thing: there were not super-beings of any kind. No mutants. No super-soldiers. No alien races. No sentient machinery. I grew up in Los Ange- les, and life was all but easy for me. My family was poor, and I had younger brothers to care for while my parents were working to earn a living. My frame was frail when I was a child, so it didn't took me very long to attract the attention of the local bullies. I tried to fight them, but it always ended up with my face down in the mud and their feets crushing my limbs. My rage grew as time passed, and finally, when I was 15, I decided that enough was enough and ran away from home. I succeeded in reaching Japan, where I hoped to find someone that would teach me martial arts so I could come back home and teach those bastards a lesson. Boy, was I wrong! No one allowed me entrance in their schools, only because I was a gaijin - a stranger. But I didn't give up: I started spying teachers while they exercised and gave lessons to their studen- ts, and begun practicing in the secrecy of my poor fisherman's home. Time pas- sed, and I begun improving, both physically and in fighting ability: while I didn't reach the perfection of a true martial artist, I managed to master a few moves from every major style in Japan: Karate, Judo, Ju-Jitsu and Aikido. I was satisfied and happy, but I longed my homeland and my family, so I begun thinking about getting back to the U.S.A.. I had little money, but I knew the way to make that little sum rise to the amount I needed and even more: I step- ped proudly into a Karate gym and challenged the instructor to a fair fight. At first, he laughed: how could a 17-years-old gaijin boy defeat a master with years of experience and centuries of tradition behind him? But I managed to convince him, and we set up the prize for the winner: all my money and my home versus 5.000 bucks. Much to his anger and surprise, I bested him and won my trip back home; but he was determined not to let me go away so peacefully. I had to stay in Japan for a couple of days before departing, to settle down so- me old matters and to say goodbye to my few friends: one evening, I was con- fronted by ten thugs who assaulted me. I tried to fight, but they were too much for me to handle: I ended up hospitalized, and penniless again. After I fully recovered, I left the country in my small boat, trying to reach China: I intended to add new moves to my fighting style and come back later to make those thugs and their honorless boss pay. I spent two years wandering from China to Korea, from India to Thailand and Vietnam, always seeking opponents to fight and new techniques to learn. At 18, I decided to return in Japan to exact my revenge: I was a deadly fighting machine, but no more than that, for my spirit was empty. And then, an odd thing occurred: while traveling near an industrial complex in Peking, I was caught in an explosion that sucked me in another space-time continuum, a medieval world where magic ruled and terrible monsters terrorized the people. I traveled every corner of those lands, sear- ching for a mean to return home, and making myself a fearsome reputation amon- g the various races that inhabited the planet. One day, I heard about this ma- gician and his acolytes, with the power to turn their emotions into fiery energy. I traveled to the monastery, and got through all their tests, becaming fully accepted as a disciple. I underwent the ritual, and immediately began practising, but after some months I discovered the true nature of those monks: they were servants of an evil god whose main goal was that of spreading hate and fear. I admit I wasn't a "Good Guy" at the time, but I had my honor code: one night, I knocked the guards at the main doors unconscious and escaped, reaching the kingdom of a forest people who gladly offered me a home and a job as their king's bodyguard and war counselor. I begun thinking I've had enough fighting in my life, and prepared to settle down permanently, but Life had another blow under the belt to deliver me: the king's daughter fell in love with me. I didn't return her affections, but she didn't seem to consider my opinions: in the space of a week, I found her father expecting me to marry her within next year. I had to flee another time, but luck was on my side: while traveling, I helped an old man who was about to die at a werewolf's claws. The man turned out to be a powerful magician searching for someone worthy enough to help him retrieve a certain magical item of great power. I completed the mission for him, and he allowed me to enter a magical mirror which was capable to cross the void between dimensions. Although the transport was not 100% re- liable, I accepted the reward, and when I stepped out of the mirror, I was he- re. And here I remained, tryin' to live a peaceful life and striving to con- trol both my body through martial arts and my soul through meditation and com- muning with Mother Earth." Storm's fingers lightly touched his cheek as she smiled sweetly: "Worry no mo- re, love. This time it will be different." "I hope so, Ororo. Any more questions?" "Just one, the same that I was asking you before those men interrupted us so brutally: why we can't be traced psionically down there?" "When I arrived here, this land was a sacred burial place of the natives. It took a considerable amount of time to win their trust, but at last they left me in peace to build my own home. Their shaman also presented me with a magi- cal staff: he told me to bury it in the ground along with some gifts, to honor the spirits of their ancestors. I did what he said, and one night, a ghostly figure appeared before me. It was dressed as a tribal chief, and spoke direc- tly to my mind, saying that he had a proposal for me: as long as I protected their holy ground, they would make me and all those who enter in my lands by my invitation undetectable by any means, be it magic or technology." "Well, I suppose that now all that we have to do is wait for my friends to get here and lend us a hand with our little problem. Right?" Sid closed the shutters. "Right", he replied pacing towards the door, "but better they get here fast. I didn't kill or cripple anyone of these guys, but I'm damn sure that they won't be as kind as me when they'll come back with re- inforcements!" Ororo shrugged. "Maybe they've had enough. What makes you so sure they'll at- tack us again?" Sid grinned. "I've fought a lot, hon. And trust me, I know that if someone defeats you when you expected victory instead, you ALWAYS come back for reven- ge....no matter how powerful your opponent is. Now take a nap: I'll wake you up when it's time to renew your medications." Rex stood trembling before the imposing figure of the cyborg known as Bolivar Trask. Clearing his throat a couple of times, he begun to speak in an almost inaudible tone: "We....We've failed, Boss. That hell-spawned guy wiped out all my men in less than five minutes.....I'm the only one that's still on his feet after we returned." Trask grabbed him by his trench, staring at him with eyes full of rage. "How could such incompetence be possible?! You were TWENTY! I gave you weapons! And you come back like a dog telling me he, ALONE, defeated you all!" "But Boss! He's not human! I saw flames coming out of his body!", Rex panted while trying frantically to free himself from the grip. "Not human, eh? That changes the matter a lot.". Trask quickly pushed a button beside a small microphone and roared: "Hangar 5! Prepare five Assault Droids Beta Class! They have to be on the move in about fifteen minutes!" Then, he turned back to face Rex: "You may go home. I will settle this affair personally.", he murmured as he released him and stepped hastily out of the room. END OF PART FIVE As usual, E-mail me at renegade@ipsnet.it and tell me what do you think!