Chapter 2- Law of the North

  Savage Lands – Mysterious Tower- 21- 10- 2008 (Morning)

  Kevin Plunderer- (Ka-zar)

  Ka-zar grabbed the spear sticking through him. It took him two attempts, but he pulled it out by himself. Then he used it to help him get back to his feet, as he did he felt the energy of his powers wash over him. He didn’t need to look to know that the hole in his chest, and the flesh torn away from his calves were back to the way they were before he got hit.

  “You shouldn’t have gotten distracted by Wolfsbane’s breasts.” Psylocke mentally told him.

  ‘Sorry, I’ll try and be better.’ he thought, assuming that she was still listening in.

  “Do or do not, there is no try.” She reminded him, before vanishing in a puff of purple sparkles.

  A moment ter, a vine burst out of the ground, grabbed Shanna, and carried her into the air. ‘She-Devil, she wants me to call her She-Devil while in battle.’ He reminds himself. The vine carried her up part of a story before throwing her towards where the spears had come from.

  Basilisk punched both sets of her arms before roaring at the enemy. Wolfsbane joined her once she was done shifting to her war form. Meanwhile, the mage retrieved a pair of items from the insides of his robes.

  Ka-zar on the other hand willed some of his powers to a semi-active state. In the months that he had been training with the Brotherhood, he had gotten something of a handle on his powers. Not only could he reset his body to an uninjured state, but he could also tap into something primeval, as he could somehow feel where all of the predators and prey were around him.

  It wasn’t like radar. It was more like a feeling where danger lurked, and he was surprised to feel that the woman behind them registered as prey and not as a threat. Not that there weren’t threats nearby. He knew there were more spear throwers out there, but the threat of three monsters about to fall on them grabbed his attention.

  Using the spear like a pole vault, Ka-zar used it to lift him over the cluster of rocks in front of him. He skinned his knees climbing the rest of the way up the cliff, but he nded before one of the three men was about to assault them.

  “Go, I’ll deal with this trespasser.” The lead one ordered the other two, as he drew his sword.

  The other two did, and leapt down to the beach.

  Ka-zar drew a pair of his own weapons, both simple knives. One a gift from his father, the other a gift from Nath’aniel. He knew from what the others had said that these were going to be hard opponents. So instead of going for a quick kill, he went for a smart one.

  He sshed several shallow sshes, his bdes sliding through the man’s armor, but had a hard time cutting the fur and meat beneath. He got a good half a dozen cuts in before he had to block the man’s sword. A weapon that melted as it met his.

  So while his opponent was stunned, he moved to another side and repeated his tactic. Another seven shallow cuts, before he was pushed away with a solid kick. As it took him, he released his predator sense and channel everything into restoring himself quickly enough, before he passed out from the blow.

  “That all you got?” Ka-zar bluffed the beast-man before him.

  “My sword? My armor? What are you?" The white-haired beast asked him.

  "Never heard of anti-metal I take it." The adventurer muttered. Knowing that the enemy would be slowed, and had been defanged, Ka-zar dove low for a power slide. As he slid between the man’s legs, he shed out twice at the beast’s inner thighs.

  He had too much power behind his slides however. As he fell off over the cliff. The first time he hit his head on the rocks, he willed his reset to trigger. Even still he broke one of his ankles on the nding and had to will it again.

  Once he was standing again, he surveyed the battle. One of the knights was down, his body still afme from whatever spell the mage had used. Meanwhile, it took both Basilisk and Wolfsbane to restrain the pig knight. The beast's armor was just too much for them.

  Ka-zar ran to help them, but then a sudden gust of wind and a white and silver blur blinded everyone. The pig knight was suddenly surrounded by a small tornado as Quicksilver rained blows on the rge man. The knight went from about to take a swing, to trying to react, in the end falling to his knees. His armor in taters and puddles at his feet.

  When the adventurer could finally see the speedster, he was standing beside the red-furred feline woman, smacking his new anti-metal gauntlets together. The younger mutant was still under the effects of his powers when he started to speak. “Thatworked better than I thought. What are we doing with her?” His hands stopped striking each for a blink when he pointed at the feline woman.

  "We let her decide. Miss, if you pn to interfere with us? Tell us now, otherwise, I will put you to sleep right now." Nath'aniel stated as he affixed a device to his left eye. Ka-zar knew it was something he had Magneto make for him, but its purpose had escaped the adventurer's attention.

  Next, the mage pced three stones on his exposed forehead.

  “Interfere? You're attacking us, why shouldn't I interfere?" The feline woman shouted.

  “That is where you’re wrong. We are enforcing the ws of the Savage Lands.” Ka-zar told her.

  “What ws?” she snapped at him.

  “Cannibalism is outwed by all of the sentient peoples of the Preserve. The Citadel’s sensors have confirmed that your people have eaten both Tribesmen of the Land, as well as the various beast-men tribes that live near you.” The mage actually took the time to look her in the eye as he expined what they had done so wrong that they would attack them.

  “That’s why she smelled familiar.” The feline muttered. “Oh, Great One what have we done?”

  “Great One? Is he your leader? Then the greatest responsibility lies with him.” Ka-zar stated.

  This caused a violent reaction from both of the beast people still awake. The pigman roared and tried to rush him, and the feline woman shouted. "You cannot harm the Great One!"

  Wolfsbane tackled the pig man before Basilisk delivered a one-through-four punch to his face. Meanwhile, the feline charged Ka-zar, Quicksilver tried to trip the woman, but the difference in mass was too much, and he went spinning after his legs were knocked aside by hers.

  The adventurer brought his own bdes up, and he let his instincts take over. He dodged her first two swipes of her cws and used her own outstretched kick as a springboard, so he could bring both of his knees into the taller woman's face. He ended it with an elbow to her head.

  Yet she still stood. The feline growled, before a green light enveloped her face. Then she closed her eyes before she fell to her knees. A moment ter she began to snore.

  "Well, now that distraction is dealt with." The mage muttered. Then one of the three stones on his head began to speak.

  “Rogue to Nath’aniel.”

  He pressed the stone and said, “Go ahead.” before releasing it.

  The young woman’s voice came again through the stone, saying. “We have formed a proper front line and are ready for the next step of the pn. Oh, and Nightcrawler wanted me to pass along to Quicksilver, that he has already disarmored two knights.”

  “Damn it, I’m behind.” The speedster muttered before punching the ground. Then he became a blur as he got up and sped off to somepce else.

  The mage then retrieved an emitter, activated it, and pressed it near the eyepiece that he was wearing. The green crystal eventually changed to red and said. "Tactical Sensors synchronized. Deactivate the emitter to sever the link."

  Nath'aniel rubbed his temple with his free hand as he adjusted to what the eyepiece was showing him. "I see why the scrolls suggested practicing this before actually using this technique… I thought my usual vision would have prepared me for this. It's no wonder that the hot eyes and fsh eyes are so accurate."

  “You ok Nath?” the rge woman asked him, her concern evident in her voice.

  The mage waved away her concern, before saying. "I'm fine. It will just take some adjusting to. It is like looking at everything with a magnification effect going on. For once, it is not the outer pnes that are what is distracting me… Let's start with something simple. I wouldn't normally try this at range, but it wouldn't be a test otherwise. Wolfsbane that looks like it hurts, so let us try this.”

  He then wrote a white ‘y’ into the air. Before a fsh of light just appeared near a long cut along the wolf mutant’s right side of her chest. Ka-zar hadn’t even noticed that the pig knight had gotten a ssh on her.

  Wolfsbane’s mouth opened wide into a very toothy grin, before she barked a happy yip at the mage, probably trying to say thanks.

  Nath'aniel then pressed all of the stones on his head before saying. "This is Nath'aniel… I am ready for step three. Do not wander too far from each other, this will be trying enough."

  Once he released the stones, Basilisk addressed the two of them. “Remember our job is to protect Nath. No wankers get passed us. Got it?” Ka-zar nodded, while Wolfsbane barked again. “We both know that Psy and Dev can get back if they need to, but personally, I say if we need their help, even if we win, we will have failed this mission.”

  The adventurer and the wolf share a look, before he asked. "Please tell us you and Psylocke aren't competing like Nightcrawler and Quicksilver are?”

  Basilisk crossed her four arms, before saying. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Sure.” He muttered.

  "Would you three keep it down?" the mage asked them before he started writing red runes into the air. It looked like fangs or upside-down teardrops. When he punched the runes, red lightning bolts appeared in the air in the rge space that they were fighting in.

  The first three were stuck somewhere he couldn't see, with the rocks around them. However, the next set was clearly aimed at the stairs leading up into the tower proper. The third set was aimed between their area and the small settlement.

  Ka-zar watched the stairwell, figuring that was where their enemies would come from. He could see that some of the ndings on the stairwell had broken from the impacts, as well as people, hopefully knights, had been thrown off of the stairwell. He didn't think a two or three-story drop would harm such sturdy creatures, but at least they were distracting and separating them.

  Wolfsbane suddenly growled and charged off. She was heading towards a cluster of trees north of them. When she was only halfway there, three beast-men emerged from the trees. They weren't as armored as the knights had been, and they carried spears. One of the three held a device to the side of his head before speaking into it.

  “Shit.” The adventure muttered, before running to aid the wolf girl.

  Despite his healthy body and athletic build, the rge mutant woman barreled passed him, and as she did she snapped. "Stay with Nath.”

  He slowed before running back. As he did he thought. 'While she may be sleeping with him, and thus is distracted. At least she was clear-headed enough to tell someone to stay with the item of her affection.'

  Preserve – Mysterious tower- 21- 10- 2008 (Morning)

  Exodus-

  Exodus regrets informing his lord and the mage about his extra sights. He feared that he will forever be relegated to overwatch, like he was now. He reached up and pressed one of the stones on his head before saying. “Mystique, a group is on your ten o’clock, I think they are trying to get behind Rogue and Murmur.”

  He didn't have to say anything else before his extra sight started to see the six beast-men being peppered by sniper fire. Three went down to head shot in quick secession. Then there was a pause, as she needed to either reload or clear a jam.

  So he fired a beam of light at them. His beam took the leg of one of them. The two survivors moved to aid the fallen man, but they both were taken out by the next round of sniper fire from the shape-shifter. The knight was honestly surprised the woman didn’t finish off the man he dis-legged.

  Then one of he heard a voice in the back of his head. “Exodus. Don’t panic it’s me Psylocke… I managed to pry the identity of their leader out of someone. They call him the Great One, but his real name is the High Evolutionary. He doesn’t look like them. He looks more human to me, and he tends to wear a suit of red armor.”

  He had to blink and shake his head before he muttered a "copy." before he swept the open space with both of his extra sights and his own eyes. They need to find the man or someone close to the description, to hold up as the one responsible for breaking Magi w. Halfway through the sweep, however, another of stones spoke to him.

  Nath'aniel warned him. "This is Nath'aniel… I am ready for step three. Do not wander too far from each other, this will be trying enough."

  Exodus closed his eyes, just before some red tears opened long enough to hurl three lightning bolts at the Brotherhood's main line. His extra sight showed him some of the knights were tterly blown apart from a direct hit, and some of the near misses caused some of the knights and squires to fuse together.

  Exodus wanted to chuckle when he saw one of the bear knights was suddenly very confused as to why his back was so heavy, not realizing a monkey beast-man was fused ass first to his armor.

  Exodus suddenly lost the use of one of his extra sight by the stairwell. Out of the corner of his actual eyes, he could see that one of the next sets of bolts tore through it. Causing that bolt to fork into three, tearing the edges of a nding of the stairwell, instead of blowing the whole nding away.

  ‘So his magic can interfere with my extra sights. I wonder what they really are.’ the light maniputor thought.

  By the time the third set of bolts blew apart the mouth of an escape tunnel and its guards, his extra sight was restored and sent toward the upper levels. Since his sweep was complete by then. And no one matching the description the Servant had given him was down where they were fighting.

  There in the middle of the next floor was a gather of much better decorated knights, hearing the instructions of a man, a man that looked like their target. Despite having found their target, Exodus was more concerned with what was above the man.

  Exodus pressed two stones at the same time, before saying. “Exodus to the leadership.” He then waited, not knowing how busy they were. Especially his lord since he didn’t have a set of communication stones.