Shattered Perceptions
Chapter Eighteen
by Tim Francovich
"We will not be cancelled today, Mojo-kissing dogs!" Lepton shouted, firing his energy pistol left and right with deadly skill.
"Not bad," Cable admitted as he emptied his own gun and slammed a reload cartridge into place. "You shoot like an old partner of mine."
"Lepton's marksmanship is unequaled within the resistance," the Rebel observed. "He has been a great help in recent years."
All around them, the battle raged. Rictor was creating minor earthquakes, blowing whole squads apart at a time, while Warpath, Shatterstar and Windsong battled any who made it past Rictor's disruptions and Cannonball's ballistic attacks. Boomer and Siryn were focusing their attacks on Spiral, who was dancing furiously, attempting to dodge and avoid the plasma bombs and sonic screams.
"Spiral will soon figure out how to redirect their attacks," the old man pointed out. "We must get out of here, Cable."
"You take care of Spiral, then!" Cable snapped. He focused his thoughts. *Sam,* he communicated telepathically, *Make us an exit.*
*You got it, sir,* Sam thought back. He turned his flight toward the nearest wall, building up his blast field and focusing it in front of him. With a shout, he erupted through the wall, blowing a massive hole in the wall, raining dust and debris. He continued on, smashing through wall after wall until he had completely exited the arena. Sam spun around and shot back through his self-created tunnel.
"Very well," the Rebel agreed. "Count Spiral out of the fight."
"What?" Cable turned and saw the old man running with surprising agility toward the madly dancing teleporter. He stooped and grabbed something off the ground and raced on.
At that moment, Siryn was suddenly knocked out of the sky by the explosion of one of Boomer's plasma bombs. "Terry!" Warpath shouted, throwing two dog soldiers aside to catch her as she fell. Simultaneously, Boomer was thrown off her feet by a sonic scream that left her ears bleeding.
"Fools!" Spiral cried. "It took me a few moments to adjust to both your attacks, but my magicks can divert any of your attacks!"
"Not this one," the Rebel said quietly. Before Spiral could react, he had jumped onto her back and thrown an arm around her neck.
"What do you think you're doing, Lo--" Spiral's voice broke off with a short cry of pain as the old man snapped Shatterstar's former control device onto her head. He quickly punched four buttons in a row and threw himself backwards. Spiral screamed and grabbed at her head. In another moment, she had teleported away in a flash of energy.
Lepton helped the Rebel back to his feet. "How'd you know how to activate it?" he asked suspiciously.
The old man raised an eyebrow. "I didn't," he replied.
Cable picked Boomer up while she protested that she was okay. "You're bleeding, girl," he told her.
"What?"
"X-Force!" Cable shouted. "We are out of here! Now!"
While Rictor and Cannonball provided cover, the others ran into Sam's newly-created exit tunnel. Cable and Lepton shot anyone who got in their way. Once everyone was in the tunnel, Sam swooped down and grabbed Rictor.
"Don't let 'em follow us, Ric," Sam ordered, swooping into the tunnel after the others.
"You got it," Rictor answered, using his vibe power to bring down the roof of the tunnel behind them. They flew out and found the others hurrying through Major Domo's portal. The fight was over... for now.