Witches, Warlocks and Soulswords ch 6

Pete slunk around another corner, sliding silently up the stairs. Black Air--or Polluted Oxygen, depending on how long you'd worked there--hadn't changed their security much since he'd been an agent. That was good--for him, at least.

Ever so quietly he slid down a corridor, listening for sounds inside the rows of doors. Nothing. He knew Kitty had to be somewhere on this floor; the couch she'd been laying on was too posh for anywhere else.

He heard voices coming down the hall and quickly ducked into a doorway, closing it quietly behind him. The voices passed, and he breathed again. Slowly he looked around.

"Pryde?" he asked quietly, recognizing the room from the camera. What a stroke of luck! He walked further into the room, looking around. There was the couch, the desk, a door to a bathroom. He opened it slightly, looking inside. Empty. Pete ran his fingers through his black hair in a nervous gesture and looked around. Blast it, where could they have taken her?

XXX

Margali Szardos took a deep breath and closed her eyes, touching the wound That Boy had inflicted on her. She prayed her daughter wouldn't get in her way. Then she focused, using the soulsword as a mark. It had been with her long enough to absorb some of her spirit . . . it was hidden.

She opened her eyes, glaring into her reflection. Then she smiled. There were only three ways to hide the soulsword. Put it in your body--make it your own. But then Belasco could find it; and besides, a man couldn't possess the sword, and it was a man who had taken it from her. You could put it into the demon realm, but that blasted God would sense it, and then he wouldn't be asking her to get it for him. Or you alternate it between the fields, pulling it through first one and then the other. That took great strength and will, and any other massive pulls would disrupt the spell.

She smiled wickedly.

Again her eyes closed, and again she felt for the field of life, power and death. She concentrated, and soon she could "see" the threads, which ones were being pulled by whom. Taking a fistful she ripped on them, as hard as she could. Shadow figures screamed and released their spells, leaving "blood" marks on the weaving of fate. And the one with the greatest pull would be the one the most wounded. Margali pulled out, opening her eyes. She could feel someone else's pain when she tried. That had to be him. Her eyes closed again, and she started a teleport.

XXX

Rick, holding the sword in place, screamed as the field was suddenly ripped from his grasp, dragging him along the shreds, into other people's minds, spells, traps. His breath came in in a harsh gasp as the sword fell to the ground, landing with a metallic clatter. The boy doubled over, his chained arms trying to wrap instinctively around his body for protection.

The guard on duty frowned as blood ran from his ears, nose, mouth and eyes, soaking up quickly in his shirt.

"I think we need a doctor here!" the man called as the mutant gasped for air around blood and curled up as much as he could on the stone floor.

"We need a--" his sentence was cut short as something stabbed him from behind. He fell forward, a knife sticking out of his neck.

Rick looked up, hate in his misshapen eyes.

"I don't think the little bastard needs a doctor," Margali said, pleased that her daughter wasn't there yet. "I think he's just fine the way he is." She smiled at his pain, and started to call Belasco.

XXX

"You sure this is the place?" Kurt asked, looking out the window at the small building below.

"These are the coordinates," Frost replied testily.

"This is the place," Meggan said, biting her lower lip. "I can feel Pete below."

Brian looked at her. "I didn't know you could feel people."

She smiled slightly. "Of course. They're natural, and I feel all that's natural."

Brian smiled. Such simple logic. And it made perfect sense.

"Well then," Kurt said, rubbing his hands together, "Shall we depart?"

Frost stood up, pulling a leather bomber jacket around her narrow shoulders.

Kurt looked at Brian. Brian looked at Kurt. Finally the furry mutant stepped forward. "Could you stay here and guard the plane?"

Frost smiled at him pleasantly. "No. That's my cousin and my half-brother down there. But you could stay and guard the plane, if you're really worried about it."

Kurt looked at her for a minute, sizing her up. Then he turned to Brian. "If you can make her stay, be my guest. But otherwise . . ."

Brian looked at the white-haired girl. The only family resemblance to Pete he saw was in the eyes; they were both determined. Brian sighed, then shrugged. "Very well."

Rahne turned and smiled warmly at the girl, then, one by one, they stepped out of the hovering jet and into the air. Not three feet down Frost took Rahne's hand, teleporting her down and to the ground.

"Are ye a sorceress tae?" Rahne asked, eyes wide.

"No," Frost responded easily. "I'm a wi--" she stopped just short of saying "witch," eyeing the cross dangling from the other girl's neck. "Yeah," she said after a pause, "I'm a sorceress." Amanda appeared just then, grinning at Frost as she held onto Kurt's arm. He'd teleported them both since she'd been having such trouble, someone had been messing with the field.

Brian and Meggan landed next, and the six of them started off toward the building.

They split up just short of the cameras, which they'd scoped out earlier. Kurt went into the shadows, almost disappearing entirely. A moment later the cameras shorted out, and the rest of them leapt over the fence. Rahne made quick work of the man standing on guard, and they headed in. A whisper to the electricity by Meggan and the code was broken; the alarm let them in without problem.

"According to Petey," Frostbite whispered as they waited in an alcove, "We need to go down about fifteen floors and then right. We'll probably meet up with problems," she stopped and looked at the mutants around her, then shrugged and looked back at her paper. "But then, with this group I don't think it'll be anything we can't handle."

XXX

Pete went tearing down the stairs, knowing already that there was no one coming. He'd left the sentry unconscious in the broom closet back farther. The weak call from Rick had him panicked; it didn't sound good. He rounded another corner, coming face to face with three armed men. Without pausing he shot all three of them. They didn't even have time to register his presence.

He took the next corner at a dead run, not hesitating when he saw the rest of Excalibur--and his cousin, Frost--just entering. The looks on their faces said they hadn't expected him, but he wasn't surprised.

"Come on," he snapped, "Trouble."

They didn't wait, but started running as fast as they could, following the Englishman unerringly.

As they rounded the last corner a strange orange light could be seen, and each one of them stopped dead.

"Mom?" Amanda cried, as Kurt cried "Mother?" simultaneously.

Margali stood on the other side of the light, her eyes vacant, her mind transfixed. Through the portal that she made came Belasco.

XXX

Kitty walked with her love down the hallways, her arm linked through his. A sound down another corridor caught her attention, and she turned, muscles already tense and ready for battle.

David's eyebrows shot into his hairline as the fingers around his arm tightened. Interesting. "Darling," he said close to her ear, "You go with John. I'll be right behind you." He turned to John, his eyes hard. "Make sure she comes to no harm. Understand?" The one word said far more than anything else. John nodded, eyeing their willing captive.

"No, David I want to help. What's wrong?" she asked even as David pushed her toward the burly guard.

"Darling," he said softly, kissing her lightly, "I'm sure it's nothing. But you don't work for the company yet," he smiled, "And I'm keeping you away from fighting until you do." That wasn't a total lie. After all, until she was thoroughly immured in Black Air he didn't want the chance of her defecting. Which meant no fighting, not yet.

John and Kitty walked off, Kitty protesting the whole way. After they'd left, David started down the corridor, his long stride covering ground swiftly. Motioning to two men, he opened a door and went down, into the cells, the sentinels following him.

XXX

"The soulsword!" Frost cried, leaping past the portal and around the emerging monster. Belasco made a grab for her jacket, but she slid out of it easily.

"Nien!" Kurt shouted, `porting in front of Margali and then taking her into a cell before the beast could get them. "Now would be a good time for Lochy!" he muttered under his breath.

Frost had reached the sword, holding it up and against her breast. Belasco was fully out of the portal now, and had the frail girl backed up against the bars of the cell Rick was in. "MOM!" she screamed, far out of her league as the devil leapt at her, his hands forming into talons that would render flesh from bone.

Rahne hurdled through the air, her wolfish teeth latching onto Belasco's shoulder. He roared, twisting about as he made a killing swipe at Frost and his claws scraped against the metal above her head, sending sparks flying. Then Nightcrawler was there, his hands on Frostbite's arms as she clutched the sword, and they both teleported into the cell her brother was in.

David stood at the opening to the room, guards in back of him loaded with mutant guns. Every door was blocked, each exit also.

"Now?" someone asked impatiently. "They're all here."

David's eyes narrowed into slits. "Not quite all . . ." he said, watching the battle carefully.

A portal started to open again, this one shot with green. Margali went pale.

"MOM!" Frost shouted again as `Crawler left to `port Rahne out of the way, and Belasco started to chop through the bars.

"Wagner!" Pete shouted above the growing bedlam, "Kitty's here somewhere! They have her!"

"We'll get her, herr Wisdom," Kurt replied quickly, his mind working at lightening speed. How to get Kitty and get everyone out of here . . . . He ducked as the portal opened further, a female figure appearing inside it. Frost screamed again for her mother, and suddenly Kurt realized that she wasn't calling for her mother, she was calling to her mother. He paused for just a moment, but didn't have time to watch the figure materialize as he saw Belasco tearing through the last of the bars. He teleported again, careful to keep from appearing in a spot where the roof was caving in. Meggan and Brian were doing their best to stop Belasco, but even their combined strength wasn't enough. Rahne had had the advantage of surprise.

He appeared in front of the mutant boy first, grabbing him and teleporting him out of the chains. Then he was back in the cell, grabbing for Frost as Belasco wrenched the sword from her. She flew forward with the force of the thing's strength, and Kurt wasn't able to get her out of the way before she hung by her shirt from Belasco's fist.

"Idiots!" he cried, his voice booming. "You shall be the first to die by my soulsword!"

Rahne snarled from her spot on the floor where she'd landed when she'd been hit by the demi-god. Even as she collected herself for the jump to grab Frost Belasco pulled back and prepared to strike. And Rahne knew she wouldn't be in time.

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J.B.

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