Episode Two : Part TWO
Standing twenty feet above ground, just below the tree tops, the beady blue eyes of the monster glistened down on them, its reddish-brown scales, and razor sharp claws on its large feet serving only to magnify the intimidating features of its teeth.
The agents all braced themselves, they were poised, ready to defend themselves if - when - the situation arose. No one seemed to move, or breathe as the beast lowered its head slightly, opened its mouth and gave an eerie, long croacking sound. “crrrrrrrkkkkkkk!!!”
Alex was the first one to break the silence, seeming to forget for that second the danger that loomed over them. “It croaks?”
“Did you expect it to roar?” answered Cipher.
All eyes remained on the beast, the team waiting for either it or Lorna to call them to action. A worse situation could not have arisen, this supposing to be a stealthy mission, may garner unwanted attention. A fight, even with just a beast, could cause a commotion that might expose their presence on the island to the very ones they sought to avoid - for now.
When one would have thought the situation couldn't get any worse, a rustling was heard from the bushes. Movement. More rustling. It got louder and the rustling continued to increase. Something or some things were coming towards them. The beast didn’t flinch;it just remained staring at them.
As the rustlings got closer and closer Lorna spotted the first man to emerge from the bushes. He wasn't very tall or built, but was no doubt fit and ready for battle. Short blonde hair and barely clothed excepting a loin cloth, and bone jewelery, the man came into the small clearing with a spear, fight on his face and nothing in his eyes. He had eyes white as though neither iris nor pupil was present.
Seconds later about twenty or thirty similar men- no, identical men - emerged, surrounding them in the clearing. All were carrying different primitive weapons - clubs, spears and stone knives - and staring intently. Lorna noticed that they seemed as unafraid or perturbed by the presence of the beast as it was of them.
She stood straight, relaxed and unintimidating - as opposed to as intimidating as one may seem to an army and a dinosaur. The rest of the team remained poised to fight regardless of Lorna’s change in body language.
Lorna looked at the first on the men to arrive, assuming he was leader somehow. “You're a mutant?” she asked.
The man continued staring at her, unchanged in his appearance, still seeming hostile.
“We're not here to harm you.... or your pet.” she continued, glancing at the beast.
“I thought this side of the island was mostly uninhabited. Didn't wanna have to gut anybody.” said Howlett. Three small glistening spikes were at the knuckles of his fist. He hadn’t as yet popped his claws.
Lorna scowled at him, glaring at him out of the side of her eyes while she still stood facing the strange multiple-man. She instructed under her breath , “There will be no gutting. If they attack Alex and Anole take the beast and Cipher, Howlett and I take the "multiple man"”.
No sooner had she finished her instruction than the “leader” with the spear uttered a loud war cry of some sort. Whether it was a language or just some form of exclamation, what he uttered was not literally understood by any on the team, but it was clear what it meant. The identical men all charged towards them weapons geared.
In a green blur Anole instinctively leaped an entire twenty feet, landing on the head of the dinosaur. It thrashed while Anole beat its head trying to take it out.
“Why did I have to get the behemoth?!” grunted Alex. His eyes and fists aglow, he fought his way through three of the men to the dinosaur and began blasting it with his plasma at the belly and legs while anole fought with its other half.
“I don’t see Anole complaining.” said Cipher.
Alex and Anole keeping the monster occupied had given Cipher, Howlett and Lorna the chance to battle with the strange men. Cipher was busy fist fighting with about five of them who were cautious of her as she quickly and expertly phased their weapons out of their hands and into the ground. She was difficult to lay a hand on but brutally laid fists and feet on them.
The men were very resilient. Even the banshee factory guards proved less troublesome as they didn’t keep getting up and coming back after being blasted by Lorna’s high tech stun ray gun. But as Lorna and Howlett fought with fist and fury, the men kept coming back. They would fall down and stagger right back to their feet, a little more beaten every time, but never staying down.
“I don't see why I can't just gut these savages.” said Howlett. Very disgruntled as he sent two of the men flying with a quick jab and kick. As soon as they were propelled another, who’d previously been knocked down, was heading back towards him. He gave this one a powerful high kick to the head and turned towards Lorna who was slightly overburdened by a group of seven.
“They keep coming out of nowhere” he said. “and they smell funny. It’s like they're not even -”
“Human.” Cipher finished his sentence. She was looking at the man Howlett just beheaded. “They’re not human! Look!”
While Howllett was busy helping Lorna from the group in which she was ensnared, Anole and Alex still beast bashing, and Cipher just having knocked down her batch for the third time - they were slowly rising again- ,they all could see what Cipher was talking about. Sparks and wires flailed from the neck of the beheaded savage; it was surprisingly still standing.
Lorna put down the headless savage with a lethal, amplified blast from her gun and started at the rest of them. “You got your wish, Howlett.”
“Finally some ‘guttage’! Though I prefer the meaty kind.” Howlett charged off and began slicing the still resilient robots. “Their insides is all metals and wires. You can take ‘em out multiply with your ‘magneta bolts’.”
“She cant you idiot.” said Alex. He was now switching his direction from the beast and charged towards the men. “The minute she uses her powers Magneto is gonna sense it. Ciph-”
“Way ahead of you.” said Cipher.
While Alex ran towards the jungle army that Cipher was handling, Cipher took off towards the dinosaur before it could start moving from the spot Alex and Anole backed it in. Alex began blasting at the men, rays of plasma passed right through Cipher before she ran right through Alex.
“Why aren’t you blasting that beast?!” yelled Howlett.
Alex hissed in response. Still blasting robot after robot, eyes aglow, not just with power but with despise for Howlett.
“You’ve a lot to learn about stealth and finesse, bub.” said Cipher. She’d arrived at the foot of the dinosaur and jumped into and began phasing up it’s belly. Soon she was emerging from the head, where Anole was, while the beast twitched fittishly. “Phasing through machines shorts and damages them. It’s much cleaner and won’t, always, cause a bang. You're free to go smash, Anole.”
One by one they took out the army of savage jungle caveman robots. Till only a few remained. A spear, out of nowhere, pinned one of the robots to a tree. The group turned around shocked, as another man, looking much similar to the robots jumped into the fight from the bushes. He was accompanied by a gigantic sabertooth tiger and began taking out the rest of the robots. When he clubbed the final one with the spear he dragged from a tree, the X-agents all stood, looking baffled at the newest savage.
He had shoulder length blond hair and wore a key necklace. Tall and strapping his godlike figure stood, nearly naked save for a loincloth, as he scrutinized them. Eyes furrowed, lips purse he was evidently displeased with them.
He looked at Lorna. “That’s the last of them.” he said- a language they could understand. “What are you doing here?”
“This place keeps getting weirder and weirder.” expressed Alex in disbelief.
