Baltimore: Locked in their own battle [Storm, NC]

[Storm]

[Con't from "Baltimore Battle: street"]

Storm kicked back into action, Nightcrawler at her side. There was nothing to be done about the sentinels; they were government weapons, and opposing them was a step in the wrong direction which she was not about to take. But things were ridiculously out of hand.

Somewhere, she realized, watching a dead policeman pick himself up and reach for his gun, there must be a mutant with the most disturbing power she had ever imagined. "He raises the dead..." she murmured to Nightcrawler, eyes clouded with white, hiding their distress.

She had barely a moment to reach this conclusion before the dead were upon them. A cop with only one arm aimed a shot at her, and she hurled herself twisting into the air as the bullet sliced harmlessly through the air below her. She rocketed into him, knocking the gun from his grasp and pulling another bolt of lightning from the sky as he latched his one cold hand onto her leg. She tried to close her nostrils to the smell of burning flesh, and looked helplessly at Kurt. "I don't know what else can stop them, but I can't do this forever!"

[Nightcrawler]

The cutlass flashed as Kurt drew it again, slashing at the outstretched arms clutching at his coat. He'd never had to use his weapon with such intent before, but that didn't mean he didn't know how. Even so, he felt his stomach turn as the razor edge sliced through skin and bone. These people are gone! Is there no rest for them now? His lips moved in silent prayer as he desperately defended himself, his body becoming a whirling mass of limbs and steel.

Cutting through the bodies that seemed unending, he let his senses spread out around him. Having perception of all solids in a given area could prove useful for more than teleporting, and he darted and leapt from surface to surface, always keeping just out of reach, his sword darting and whirling. Still, no matter how often the blade attacked with what would be mortal wounds, the corpses stayed their course.

Desperately trying to remember any old gypsy stories about zombies from the circus, Kurt swore and sliced at the neck of one only to watch the head roll off and the body collapse to the ground. Swallowing down the bile rising in his throat, Kurt leapt into battle next to Ororo, defending her against the horde coming at her from behind.

[Storm]

Storm gasped as a disembodied head rolled into her line of vision, and she threw her face back to the sky as if the rainclouds could wash the images away. It began to hail again.

But there was the comforting warmth of Kurt at her back. She took a deep breath, sensing her energy waning, and with an effort she flashed another bolt of lightning at one of the skeletal tigers. If she really concentrated...

It hummed with a furious energy for a moment, and exploded into a million pieces. Storm barely had time to turn her face away before shards of bone embedded themselves in her suit and one even in her scalp. She winced, and a lock of her pale hair turned slowly red.

Then a flash out of the corner of her eye brought her attention. A lost little girl, bloody from some unknown wound, was running to her and Kurt. She crouched and spread her arms out to save her.

But as Storm lifted the girl from the ground to comfort her, the child sank her teeth into her arm, and Storm saw with horror the blank look in her eyes.

Storm screamed and forced herself to wrench her arms away as she brought up a sudden wind. She closed her eyes, and the glow spread beneath her eyelids.

But she could not bring herself to kill a child, even one that was already dead. The wind picked up with a fury, and the child was lifted away across the crowd. Storm made a strange noise... a strangled whimper, like a mother cat in pain.

[Nightcrawler]

Kurt's sword was moving as fast as he could make it, the blade dripping with the blood from the newly dead, but his arms were tiring. He'd already had to switch arms twice to keep going, and the bruises and cuts on his face were burning. He paused momentarily in surprise as something exploded behind him wincing as a shard of bone sliced his cheek, others cutting into his coat where he wasn't shielded by Ororo's body.

He couldn't focus on his injuries, though, because another wave of zombies were coming for them. He knew that Ororo was even more tired than him, and he felt his heart wrench when the sad sound escaped her lips. They needed to get out of there before something worse happened. I won't let anything happen to her, he thought grimly, lashing out with a leg at the first zombie in range as he sheathed the cutlass.

Spinning suddenly, he wrapped his arms around her, pressing himself against her back and noting the red trailing down her scalp. There was a puff of smoke, and they both disappeared.

With the characteristic bamf! they reappeared across the wide street, Kurt pulling back slightly and pointing at the group of corpses that slowly turned toward them. "Do you think you can take them down, Göttin?"

[Storm]

Storm allowed herself to rest just for a moment as Kurt's arms wrapped around her. She kept her eyes closed and felt the faintly familiar tug of teleportation, as with a bamf! he set her down on the other side of the street.

The little girl was going to take a moment to get over. Storm leant on Kurt for as long as she could, breathing heavily.

"Do you think you can take them down, Göttin?"

Somehow, the German title gave her strength. She nodded at him, straightened up and stepped forward, raising her arms to the sky, forming a long Y shape. Palms forward, she summoned all of the forces above her and brought them crashing down to earth.

A slim, writhing twister plunged into the group of zombies, and a bolt of lightning split it down the middle. Zombies were hurled in all directions, ripped apart, some in flames. She let out a triumphant "Ha!"

Hair billowing out behind her, she turned and spread her arms forward, drawing the electricity towards other zombies at the edge of the crowd.

But the effort had cost her more energy, and her aim was not perfect. Instead of frying another handful of zombies, the bolt split and flashed in several directions, horizontally across the street. A lace of it snapped into the leg of a sentinel which was tromping around the corner of a building directly in front of her, and the sound of frying cables was clear in the air.

Storm's eyes widened slightly. That was not a happy accident.

The sentinel paused for a moment, and turned towards them. Storm could almost feel its sights lock upon her. She gasped and dove to one side.

[Nightcrawler]

Kurt gave her a small smile as she nodded and stepped back, his tail unconsciously looping around a lamppost as she raised her hands high and called her elemental fury.

The smell of charred flesh reached his nostrils, making him gag again, but he watched in a combination of horror and admiration as Ororo scattered them, sending bodies flying in all directions. He almost laughed at her triumphant decleration, but there was still more to do.

His tail unwound and pulled back the edge of his coat, his hand closing inside the basket hilt of his cutlass again as she moved to turn the lightning on another group across the street, but his eyes went wide as the bolt careened about, darting away from its intended target and striking...

A Sentinel.

His throat choked off a groan of dismay and the sword leapt into view as he teleported behind an upturned car. "Ororo! Here!"

[Storm]

The sentinel fired, peppering the ground with darts, and Storm rolled away. She sprang up and tried to dash towards Kurt as he called, but a glance behind her saw the sentinel turning and she knew she didn't have a chance. She leapt into the air and brought the wind beneath her. As the sentinel fired again, she blew the darts harmlessly against the building wall.

Normally she could hold off its fire like this indefinitely, but she was getting very tired with the effort of storming the entire city of Baltimore; and she didn't know what other tricks this machine might have up its metal sleeve. Besides that, it was advancing towards Kurt, and she was unsure what kind of ammunition it held. The darts could be cure weapons, for the military's history. She would not lure that kind of fire towards her friend.

Storm shot up towards the sky, keeping the wind up, hoping the sentinel would follow her. Her silver cape and long hair flashed for a moment in the light of an explosion across the street, and then she dove.

But she miscalculated. Barely, but it was enough. The sentinel's turning radius and range of motion were greater than the machines she had battled in the danger room; it was just a little too fast; she was just a little too tired. She made it past the robot's head but it turned on her while she was still in the air. Her concentrated wind was no longer with her; the sentinel raised its weapon and fired.

Five darts found her leg, piercing the thick leather, and one found her hand. She automatically drew her limbs in with the sharp pain, and although she stayed afloat, her balance was thrown completely off and her vision was quickly clouding over. She had no way of stopping the robot as it swung a thick arm at her.

Nine feet off the ground, the metal connected with Storm's body. She was flung like a rag doll high into the air. She smashed into the wall of the next building, crushing a flourescent sign. Glass rained down as she dropped like a rock to earth.

[Nightcrawler]

Kurt watched helplessly as Ororo dodged and deflected the darts, his grip on the sword handle tightening. His eyes followed her as she went up higher and higher, and he barely registered the explosion as she dove down.

He could already see the Sentinel in motion, but it was too late for anything be done. He didn't breathe as the projectiles flashed through the air, striking the thick uniform. He wasn't sure if they'd made it through the leather or not, but Storm was off balance and there was nothing she could do as the heavy arm connected with her body.

A strangled, unintelligible cry ripped itself from his throat as she sailed with mock grace through the air, slamming against the building and crumpling to the ground. Without a thought Kurt was on the Sentinel's back in a puff of smoke, sword hacking wildly as it began to advance on her fallen form.

It took him mere seconds to realize the futility of what he was doing. He wasn't as powerful as Storm or Forge, and his sword was of little use compared to Wolverine's claws. With a frstrated growl he teleported to where Ororo lay on the ground, gathering her up into his arms protectively and teleporting away just as the sign that Storm had dislodged reading "Louie's Jazz Bar" crashed through the smoke where they had been.

[Nightcrawler]

Bamf!

Kurt appeared outside the chopper, Ororo laying limply in his arms. Yellow eyes darted around frantically for anyone more qualified to handle the situation, but everyone else seemed to be at the battle, leaving the chopper alone.

Running up the ramp, Kurt quickly strapped her into a seat, keeping her upright. He winced as her head lolled forward, showing the dark red staining her hair. Kneeling down in front of her chair, he noticed the darts still lodged in her suit and plucked them out carefully before taking her gloved hand in his.

"You're going to be fine, Göttin... I know you're going to be fine."