Chapter Eight
It had been over a year since Shatterstar had seen Windsong, his genetically
predetermined wife. Of course, there had been that one instance on
Earth when the assassin Arcade had attempted to use a holographic
image of Windsong to force Shatterstar to kill his friend, Adam-X.
And, to be truthful, Star had never actually _met_ his wife. He had
only seen video of her in action. His mind went back to that day...
---------
"Be seated, arena warriors!" the arena monitor bellowed. The crowd of
jostling, laughing young men pushed their way into the chairs
assembled before the platform. Hewl, the head monitor, stood in front
of them, a semi-circle of vid screens behind him.
Shatterstar was one of the last to find his seat. Unlike most of the
others, he took such briefings as these deadly serious. The knowledge
that was dispensed by the monitors could often mean the difference
between victory and defeat in the arena.
"Pay attention, oh favored-of-Mojo," Hewl rasped. "Today is the day that
all of you... are married."
Pandemonium broke out among the warriors. "Married?" "To who?" "Today?"
"All right! New living arrangements!" Shatterstar remained silent,
his eyes focused on Hewl.
"Quiet!" Hewl shouted. His cybernetically-enhanced voice caused a spasm of
pain in the warriors' ears. They immediately fell silent.
"Your lives will not be changing in any way," Hewl explained. "The goal in
this, as in all things, is the continuation and improvement of the
games. You can forget any lurid fantasies some of you are currently
entertaining. The only time you will meet your 'wives' will be in the
arena. These marriages are on paper only."
"What fun is that?" a warrior complained.
"The necessary paperwork is being filed today," Hewl continued. "The
monitors have chosen your matches based on what we have determined
will bring about the best offspring, who will continue the games in
the future. When the time is right, your genetic material will be
combined to produce the next generation of warriors."
"Ah, the advancement of science," someone else commented.
"To satisfy any undue curiosity you may have," Hewl went on, "you may watch
a vid of your new wife. Just enter your name and arena number into
one of the terminals behind me and the vid screens will display your
genetic match. You are dismissed."
There was a rush of bodies as the young men charged forward to take their
turn at the vid screens. Shatterstar took his place in line and
waited patiently. Eventually, he reached the terminal and keyed in
the required information. In a moment, the screen displayed a
full-length photo of a female warrior and a list of pertinent data,
including her name: Windsong.
Satyrstar, the warrior at the next screen, glanced over and whistled. "Not
bad, Shatter! Not bad at all!"
Several other warriors made some lewd comments, but Shatterstar ignored
them, pressing the key that brought up a video of Windsong in action.
Immediately, his attitude changed. This had at first been but a
distraction, of little importance to Star's continuing life. But
now...
She was incredible. Shatterstar watched in awe as she took on a trio of
fang troopers, dispatching them with ease. Her movements were so
fluid, so graceful. The video ended and Star immediately called it
back up again.
"Hey, come on, Shatterstar!" someone called from behind him. "We want to
see our wives, too, you know!"
In those brief moments, Star memorized everything about Windsong: her
shape, her hair and eye color, her fighting style... everything he
could learn from the profile. It was not that he was infatuated or in
love by any sense of the word; he was simply fascinated by the
abilities of this strange female warrior who had been chosen as his
equal, the one most genetically suited to him. Some time later,
Satyrstar told him that Windsong was also a member of the Cadre
Alliance...
---------
And now... Now he was supposed to kill her or be killed by her. And as he
jumped to the nearest platform, Star found himself wondering if he
really had any say in what the outcome would be...
Chapter Nine
Shatterstar jumped from platform to platform, adjusting his leaps as he saw
the circles beginning to move. Across the arena, he could see
Windsong doing the same, moving toward him. She also carried two
swords, holding them with poise and skill as she jumped and ran.
Star thought briefly about attempting to reason to her before they fought,
but he could see no way of doing so, unless... He maneuvered at an
angle, attempting to stall their confrontation while he thought of a
plan.
"Afraid to face me, Shatterstar?" It was the first time he had ever heard
her voice. It created a strange stir within him. For some
inexplicable reason, he immediately thought of Siryn. Windsong's
voice was similar to hers but slightly higher pitched. But beyond
that, his thoughts jumped back to an occasion when Siryn had been
drinking heavily and had behaved rather strangely toward him. What
was the Earth term? A come-on? At the time, he had been annoyed by
it, as he had by Feral's earlier attempts. But Windsong's voice
brought strange thoughts to his mind. It made him think that if *she*
were to behave as Siryn had... he would not be as reluctant to
respond...
"Za's vid!" Star muttered under his breath. He had to get his mind on the
present! This was a fight to the death, not a romantic encounter!
Only one platform separated them now. He and Windsong, facing each other at
the same height, waited as the center platform slowly rose from
below.
"Windsong!" Star called. "Why do they wish us to kill each other? We are
married! Our genetic material will be combined someday... but not if
one of us is dead!"
"The monitors already have plenty of samples of our genetic material,"
Windsong replied haughtily. "Our deaths will make no difference in
that regard. But whatever your thoughts might be, I intend to
live!"
"If we work together..." Star began.
"Are you mad?" Windsong exclaimed. "Your time on Earth has softened you,
warrior! Now I know this victory will be mine!" With that, she
leaped onto the center platform, landing in a defensive posture,
daring Shatterstar to attack her.
Feeling the battle-lust seize him, Shatterstar jumped down to join her,
followed by the ubiquitous floating cameras. With a clash of swords
the fight began.
In their first few parries, Star realized that he had a strength advantage,
but Windsong appeared to be slightly faster. He also sensed that she
was holding back somewhat. It puzzled him, but he did not have time
to wonder about it, as their conflict grew ever more intense. Star
was confident that he could beat her, based on what he now knew...
but did he want to?
Chapter Ten
Somewhere in the North Atlantic...
"Open the airlock, if you would, James," Cable asked, bringing the PAC/RA
to a stop. "We should be connected to the base now."
As Warpath moved to the exit, Siryn confronted Cable. "Just where are we,
Cable?" she demanded.
Cable slung his rifle down from his shoulder. "This is the base of an
assassin from my future known as Sinsear," he explained.
"Isn't he the one who kidnapped you one of those times?"
"Yes, one of those times. He ran away after I defeated him, but he might
have come back, so everyone be on guard. He's extremely dangerous."
Cable got up and moved to the airlock to join Warpath. Siryn, Boomer,
and Rictor followed him.
"How is this going to help us find Star and Sam?" demanded Rictor.
"Last time I was here, I didn't bother to look around much," Cable
responded. "There's no telling what kind of technology Sinsear
time-ripped back with him. I'm hoping that something here will allow
me to access my Time Displacement Core, and maybe, just maybe... some
way of reaching the Mojoverse."
"The door is open, oh fearless leader." Warpath gestured to the open
airlock.
"On your toes, people," Cable ordered. "Let's go. Siryn, scout ahead.
Shatter anything that even looks like it might move toward you."
Siryn flew ahead, warily searching the walls, roof and floor for any threat.
In a moment, she had entered the central dome of the structure. The
technology looked very similar to what had been in Cable's
space-station, Graymalkin. A massive column rose from the center of
the dome, topped by a command chair with multiple consoles.
Cable and the rest of X-Force entered cautiously. Siryn touched down
beside them. "There doesnae appear to be anyone here," she reported.
"Where would Sinsear have gone?"
Cable frowned. "If he's still obeying his programming, he'll have gone to
search out Apocalypse. His primary goal was to kill Tolliver--who
turned out to be my son, Tyler--and his secondary goal was to ensure
Apocalypse's ascension," he recalled. "If Sinsear does turn up again,
I have a feeling it will be at Apocalypse's side."
"But he's dead, isn't he?" Warpath wondered.
"Until I see the ashes of his disintegrated body, I doubt I'll believe
that," Cable observed.
"Well, let's crank this thing up and see what we've got," Boomer suggested,
moving toward the central column.
"That... may take a while," Cable admitted. "During my fight with Sinsear,
I blew out the central control module."
"Now he tells us," Siryn groaned.
"Relax," Cable replied. "I can fix it... I think."
High above, a small camera, attached to the roof of the dome with a shiny
new mounting, silently observed them, relaying their words and
actions... elsewhere.
Chapter Eleven
Thrust. Dodge. Parry. Shatterstar spun and dove onto the next platform,
somersaulting to his feet. He whirled and looked back up at Windsong.
His platform was moving down, away from hers.
Her face was scowling at him as he thought desperately. "Windsong, listen
to me!" he called. "We are comrades, united against Mojo and Spiral!
We..."
"You don't understand, do you?" she cried. "We have no choice!" She leaped
away onto another platform, maneuvering around to get closer to Star's
level.
A growl of frustration escaped his lips. There had to be a way to get
through to her! And then what? They could not escape the arena in
full view of all the cameras and spectators, could they?
Shatterstar jumped onto another platform as the last one started moving up
again. Windsong was two circles away from him now. Star leaped away,
increasing the gap between them momentarily. The control device over
his left ear sent a spark of pain into his head, reminding him that he
was here to fight, not run.
He spun back around to find Windsong jumping to his platform. Star swung a
crossing hands stroke at her before she had a chance to get her
balance. Windsong dropped and rolled under his stroke, coming to a
stop close enough to swing at his feet. Star leaped up, thrusting
both swords over and behind his head into the side of an ascending
platform. Using the swords as leverage, he flipped himself onto the
platform, distancing himself from Windsong again.
As he pulled his swords loose, Star noticed that Windsong had sheathed one
of her blades. She was now moving quickly toward him, wielding only
one sword and keeping her left hand free. Once again, he found
himself admiring her graceful movements and almost effortless
maneuvering.
Shatterstar's platform was moving down now. Windsong leaped onto another
platform adjacent to Star's but slightly higher. Star shifted his
stance, bracing for her attack. To his surprise, Windsong waited
until his platform was even lower, then launched herself through the
air over his head. He whirled to see her diving beyond his platform's
edge. As she passed, she impaled her sword into the top edge of the
platform. She spun around the sword and toward Shatterstar. The
momentum from her jump and spin gave her a speed that surprised him.
Both of Windsong's feet slammed into his chin, knocking him back and
dazing him. Before he could react, she whipped a kick behind his
knees, sweeping him off his feet and toppling him off the edge of the
platform!
Dropping one of his swords, Shatterstar was able to grab the platform's edge
with one hand. He sheathed his other sword and brought his other
hand up to steady his grip. He shook his head and spit blood, his
vision clearing quickly. Star looked up, directly into Windsong's
eyes. She stood above him, staring down and breathing heavily, sweat
running down her face from the exertion. She reached back to draw her
second sword.
Star closed his eyes and concentrated. "aaaarrrrrrrrAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!"
His growl escalated quickly into a shout as Windsong's abandoned sword
began to glow. Star's mutant power peaked, sending a shockwave of
energy through the sword that was still impaled in the platform.
Windsong's eyes widened a split second before the platform exploded,
sending her, Shatterstar and the platform's fragments plummeting
toward the ground below.
Chapter Twelve
"Shatterstar!" Cannonball exclaimed. The old man spun around with
surprising speed, saw where Sam was staring and looked quickly up at
the vid screen mounted at the street corner.
Displayed on the screen (as on *all* the screens on Mojoworld) was the
ongoing battle between Shatterstar and Windsong. Virtually every
resident of the planet was currently enthralled by the images of the
fight between two of the arena's most skilled and deadly warriors.
Sam and the old man were no less enthralled than the spineless ones.
Lepton was not so impressed. "It's just an arena fight," he pointed
out. "He's been through dozens of these, maybe even hundreds. We
need to keep moving."
"This is MY first time to see him fight," the old man replied. Struck by a
strange tone to the ancient one's voice, Sam turned to look at him.
To his surprise, the Rebel's hood had fallen back, revealing his face
for the first time. His hair was long, white and very straight. His
face was extremely wrinkled, yet still showed firm features, such as
his sharp nose and a mouth that appeared overly inclined toward
smiles. His grayish eyes were riveted on the vid screen. One of them
seemed to glow slightly for only a moment, like a coal remembering
some long-forgotten fire. But the glow passed so quickly, Sam thought
he might have imagined it. What struck him most was the expression on
the old man's face. As he watched Shatterstar fight, his face showed
wonder, amazement, and... was it... pride?
Once again, Sam had the odd feeling that he had met this man before. But
before he could pursue that thought further, Lepton interrupted again.
"We really need to get moving," he said brusquely, flipping the old
man's hood back into place. "There's a pair of dog soldiers scanning
us from across the street."
"You are correct," the Rebel answered, tearing himself away from the screen.
"But time is now something we are short of. We have to reach the
arena before this fight concludes."
"No way to do that subtly," Lepton observed. "You plan on flyin' in?"
"Yes, Sam will carry me. We'll leave you to make it in your own inimitable
style," he replied. "Sam, if you would..."
Cannonball allowed
the old man to hold onto his back as he activated his blast field and
took to the air. He was momentarily surprised by his passenger's
light weight until he recalled that both Longshot and Shatterstar had
possessed hollow bones. The two fang troops watching them stood
frozen for a moment before one of them managed to fire one shot after
the ascending duo.
"Don't worry, sir," Sam said. "As long as ah'm blasting, we're both
invulnerable."
"Yes," the old man replied, smiling faintly. "I know..."
Chapter Thirteen
Shatterstar's eyes snapped open. He immediately rolled to his feet and to
the side, staggering only slightly. The impact from the fall had
knocked him out for perhaps a second or two, but he could not feel any
other damage.
Windsong lay nearby. As Star regained his balance, she came to as well,
immediately rolling away from him and getting to her feet. "Stupid!"
she mumbled. "Forgot 'bout... mutant power..."
"I have heard that you are a mutant, as well," Star said. "Is that not
another reason that we should fight alongside each other instead of
against each other?"
"Do you honestly think I want this?" Windsong hissed. "If it weren't for
the cameras and the control devices..." In response to her words,
both warriors felt a stab of pain in their heads. Windsong staggered.
"I don't have a choice!" she cried, lunging forward.
Star fell back at her attack. He had hoped that he could stall a few
moments longer to regain some of the strength he had lost in using his
mutant power, but such a luxury was not granted. Windsong landed on
him, grabbing at his neck. Shatterstar, despite his exhaustion,
retained a strength edge over her. The fall had shaken her more than
she let on. With little effort, Star used her own momentum to flip
her back over his head.
Windsong twisted in mid-air and landed on her feet, drawing her sword again.
Star drew his own sword and crouched warily. A final plan had taken
form in his mind.
"Very well then," he announced. "You leave me no choice, either."
The ensuing sword duel was one of the most enthralling, vicious and intense
that the viewers of Mojoworld had ever seen. In the months to come,
it would beat all re-run request records. It would not be until its
fourth repeat that its ratings would drop below those of The Fall of
Mojo (I). The arena trainers would loop portions of the vid to use as
training tapes for aspiring warriors. Never before had there been
such a impressive display of strength, speed and swordplay on the
sandy arena floor. Before it ended, both warriors were covered with
sweat, blood, and caked-on dirt. Both were staggering, barely able to
stand. Both were wounded in multiple locations. Neither was willing
to give up.
The trainers argued for months following: Was Shatterstar truly the better
warrior or had he simply out-lasted Windsong in fortitude? For in the
end, Windsong barely flinched as her sword was dashed from her hand.
She only barely managed to stay on her feet as Shatterstar stepped
forward and grabbed a handful of her hair. As the people of Mojoworld
watched in awe, Shatterstar whispered something the cameras could not
hear... and thrust his sword straight into Windsong's chest.
Chapter Fourteen
Shatterstar bent quickly by Windsong's side as the crowd erupted into
cheers. He quickly pressed three buttons on the control device on
Windsong's head. Even as pain began to pierce his own skull, Star
firmly gripped Windsong's controller and ripped it from her head.
Immediately, his own brain felt as if it were being torn apart. As he
collapsed in agony, his peripheral vision caught sight of a familiar
shape flying into the arena.
******
"Any luck, Terry?" James Proudstar looked up at Siryn, who was strapped
into Sinsear's elevated central command chair, struggling to
understand the various readouts.
"It's not too bad, Jimmy," she replied, punching a series of buttons on the
seat's arm. "The technology is verra similar to Cable's." She
paused, looking curiously at one of the monitors. "I think I've
located the Time Displacement Core."
"Cable!" Warpath shouted down the hallway. "Siryn's located your TDC!"
Cable accepted a hand from Rictor and pulled himself out from under an
instrument panel. "Excellent. We're making progress."
Boomer popped a mini time bomb in the air. "So what does that mean?" she
wondered. "We've been here for hours."
"We've only just begun," Cable stated, starting down the hall. He entered
the central dome and looked up at Siryn. "See if you can get anything
to power up over there," he called.
"And while ye're at it, why don't ye see about curing that Legacy Virus,
too," Siryn muttered to herself. As a series of readings came up, she
furrowed her brow. "Somethin' is not right here..."
At that
moment, Warpath and Cable both shouted something. Terry looked down
and saw both of them staring at a large glowing portal that had
suddenly appeared in the middle of the air. Rictor and Boomer came
running down the hall. "Are they back?" Boomer exclaimed.
As a tall figure stepped out of the portal, Siryn soared into the air, ready
for action. But it was not Shatterstar or Cannonball that appeared.
It was a figure that none of them had ever seen before. He was tall
and thin, wearing loose-fitting outlandish clothing. Everything about
him seemed stretched: his fingers were long and skinny, capped by
even longer nails; his thin face was topped by long dark blond hair.
He surveyed X-Force with a haughty gaze, folding his arms in front of
him.
"And just who the heck are you?" Cable demanded.
The tall man sighed. "What kind of welcome is that? You cannot imagine the
difficulty I have been through in finding a teleporter!" he said. "I
am, as you may have guessed, from Mojoworld. My name is Major Domo."
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©Copyright by Alan Quan. Shatterstar and all other characters
mentioned here are ©copyright of their respective owners. The
fan-fiction written here is ©copyright by Tim Frankovich, 1995.
