(Continued from Raina's Birthday, Part III; Special Delivery)


>>>"Kat!" ... "Leave the dog and get into the living room where Raina is and stay there until the danger has past."

The thirteen-year-old spun back to face the silver manipulator. Danger? What did he mean? She looked around, but in the rapidly darkening winter evening, she couldn't make out much on the grounds that was out of place other than the weird delivery boy and the robot doing something at the front gate. The robot did look kind of like a Stalker, but seemed much slower and more clumsy than real Stalkers. Not that she had really seen a real Stalker other than in a holo or video. Was it really dangerous or were they all overreacting?

Did that crow man really say that those weird doors were a present from Syn? That was alright, then, wasn't it? Syn had seemed nice enough when Katrina had met her the last time. She didn't remember exactly what they had talked about back then, but she had been left with the impression that Syn was a very trustworthy person.

“That should be okay, then,” she whispered. She didn't like the concerned looks that the men gathering in the doorway had on their faces. She didn't recognize the pre-battle scowls for what they were, but knew that those faces were not pleased with the crow-man's answer.

Yeah, going inside was probably a good idea right about now. If those people crowding the doorway would get out of the way...

“Bruce!” she called the dog's name as she tried to make her way back through the crowded door, “Inside!” Unfortunately, Bruce wasn't familiar with his new name yet. Where had he disappeared to? She could hear barking in the distance, but she couldn't determine the direction from which the sound came.

That was about when Tricity showed up, driving up past the turmoil and shouting orders the moment she understood the situation.

The party was instantly thrown into chaos. Everything seemed to be happening at once. Over Silver Streak's ear piece someone was yelling about some Order or another. Did he mean that someone ordered the doors? Bright lights flooded the grounds, glaring brilliantly off the small amount of snow that had accumulated, and Katrina finally saw what all the commotion was about, a group of people was swarming towards them with enraged expressions. Blind guys were reaching for silvery weapons, young men were sprouting icy spikes from their joints, and the music teacher was singing notes shrill enough to make anyone shiver.

Most alarming, the headmistress was screaming with a voice that seemed to be an equal mix of authority and panic,

>>>"GET EVERYONE INSIDE NOW! ALL X-MEN AND TRAINEES ARE TO BE OUT HERE IMMEDIATELY!!"

Clearly this was age discrimination. Clearly now was not the time to argue the point. She wriggled her way through the leaky X-men faucet of a door and ducked through the living room where the sad remnants of the party, into the kitchen, and back out through the side kitchen door again. She had to find poor Bruce. He had no idea what he was getting into. A battle, or whatever this crazy chaos was turning out to be, was no place for a dog who was recovering from heartworm.

In the deep shadows that were formed by the bright lights directly outside the kitchen exit, the young illusionist imagined the way the steps would look if she wasn't standing there at all. Now invisible to the normal eyes of mutants and humans, she could safely make her way toward the barking without anyone noticing her.

The barking was coming from near the front gate, so Katrina headed in that direction. It was really cold out, and Katrina could see her own breath, half invisible and half visible from her vantage point. She should have grabbed a coat, but she wasn't planning on being outside long. She just had to grab the dog and bring him back inside where he would be safe. Poor Bruce was probably trying to intimidate the intruders. Hopefully they wouldn't hurt him, he was just a dog.

Following the barking was bringing her back toward the scene of the action, where a centaur seemed to be shooting arrows toward the throngs of people near the door. Tricity was on the ground. The young flame manipulator she had seen at the meeting seemed to be gearing up for battle. There was a rock fisted youth rampaging toward the main fray.

Katrina stopped suddenly, her jaw dropping open. She was so surprised that she forgot all about finding the dog and about being invisible.

“Geo?”

Geo was in a full out sprint for the entrance of the mansion. It felt wierd attacking the place where he used to live and had not to long ago thought of moving into again. But that was in what seemed like another life, he was a new person now. Someone moved in the shadows to his right and Geo prepared to send a spike from the ground straight through the person until he heard his name, in a small voice.

-"Geo?"

Geo just got a slight glimps at the face that said his chosen name, it was Kat. Geo's heart melted instantly at the sight of his friend and his arms and legs degraded back to normal. He looked around quickly to see his fellow attackers, who were all occupied, and then ran towards the shadows and Kat. "Kat! What are you doing here? It's not safe." He said, he needed to get her somewhere, where she couldn't get hurt.

The rock armed teen abruptly halted his earth quaking charge toward the mansion when he he heard her voice. At first when his face turned toward hers, it seemed to be twisted with a fury that only spilled blood could untwist, but after that first moment the expression melted away as if it had never existed, leaving behind only the concerned expression of her friend. Another step forward and the rocky fists and feet melted away as well, leaving behind only Geo.

Then he was running toward where she was standing in the dark shadow of a small evergreen, illuminated from the opposite side by the harsh spot lights she had never noticed were attached to the exterior of the mansion. Katrina neither ran toward him nor moved away. She simply stood frozen in shock, watching him running closer and closer.

>>>"Kat! What are you doing here? It's not safe."

An explosion near the center of the battle sent a blast of pressure, heat, and sound rolling over the pair of surprised teens, both of whom had seemingly dropped the use of their powers in favor of starring at each other with their mouths hanging open. The branches of the pine swayed slightly. The origin of the blast was far enough away that it didn't hurt them, as if both the explosion and the rest of the sights and sounds of the nearby battle were suddenly much farther away. It seemed to the young illusionist as if they were simply fireworks in the background.

Katrina's face was unsure of what emotion it should be showing. The inner emotions of the tween were so turbulently stirred by the appearance of the hazel eyed earth manipulator that her face simply couldn't keep up. Certainly the predominant emotion was surprise, but there was also happiness, confusion, worry, and perhaps a trace amount of anger. Where had he been all this time, and why hadn't he come back to the mansion with the rest of the refugees? Why was he back now?

Her thoughts were so mixed up, her mouth took the initiative to answer his question before she had a chance to fully decide how to respond. What came out was the most obvious answer, the simple truth, “I live here.”

Next, a question rose unbidden to her lips. She'd have to give her mutinous tongue a lashing later for its recalcitrance, “What are you doing here?” The answer was already obvious, but she couldn't believe it. She didn't want to believe it. Surely he had heard that the mansion was being attacked and had rushed over to help. He had been in the neighborhood and heard the commotion. Her mouth frowned of its own accord, as her brain tried to make excuses for the earth elemental's sudden appearance at the battle scene.

The forgotten battle scene just a stone's throw away had not forgotten them as completely as the illusionist had forgotten it. All around their feet, icy hands with sharp fingers grew out of the ground and tickled at their pant legs like a dog who sniffed at every person to walk through her front door; a determined effort to smell the difference between friends and foe and perhaps to figure out why her owner has been petting other dogs.

Geo ran up to Kat, looking down at her and then looking around at the battle. "It's complicated, you have to get out of here though. It's not safe here." He said as another explosion sounded to his left and a large chunk of concrete came flying throught the air at them with dangerous speed. Geo quickly threw himself in the way and stomping down on the ground a wave of stone and earth manifested behind them, half-covering them like a blanket.

After the last bit of shrapnel had passed Geo released the wall that disenegrated into small pebles that showered to the ground. "Kat, you gotta get out of here!"

Exiting the mansion with a now fierce determination, Sam glared at the scene of the mansion grounds. ‘Why the hell would they do this?’ wondered Sam as he clenched his fists and icing them over.

The blood from the holes in his back had stopped streaming but still hurt like hell. If it wasn’t for ice covering up the skin like a band-aid odds were Sam would have passed out due to blood loss. But now wasn’t the time for worrying about himself.

Sam looked around scanning the battlefield to see where he was needed most. He saw his friends fighting people he never met before and wondered ‘why the hell were they here?’ he saw Streak Raina, Luke and Tricty fighting and nodded “that's my spot” said Sam as he started running in that direction. Ice started forming in front of them as he started to pick up speed.

A loud explosion sounded and Sam’s head turned to see a giant wall of what looked like dirt. Just as sudden as it appeared it had begun to fall apart. In the center of the rock fall was someone he recognized.

‘Kat!’ Sam gasped changing his direction to the large man standing next to Katrina. Faster and faster he went the distance now closing between them. Normally Sam would have tried to find a better approach than straight on but Kat looked like she was in trouble.

Now almost upon them Sam jumped from his ice slide and landed a few feet from Katrina and Geo. “What the hell you doing to her?” asked Sam glaring at the man.

The air around them started to cool as Sam’s body started to glitter in the light. His body now covered in a layer of ice, Sam was ready for a fight.

>>>"It's complicated, you have to get out of here though. It's not safe here."

“You shouldn't be here either,” Katrina put her hands on her hips, like her mother did on so many occasions to signal she thought the other party's argument was invalid.

“Besides, I have to save Br...” Katrina was cut off by a loud explosion that seemed much closer than the last one. Suddenly, the battle that was only a stones throw away decided it was a good time to throw stones at them.

Geo apparently had quicker reaction times than she did, because he managed to simultaneously throw himself between the younger teen girl and the incoming concrete shrapnel and raise up a wall from the frozen earth to shield them both from the flying bits of what probably used part of the living room wall. The wall of earth also would dissuade any electric attacks that may have been following in the wake of the stray ice hands that had wandered this far away from the battle.

Inside the blanket of earth Geo had created, Katrina could hear the sounds of large chunky missiles impacting the ground. Thwump... thwapthwapthwap... thwump!

Suddenly the battle had become very real. How could anyone ever want to fight like this? Didn't they realize how dangerous it was? Why had they not just had an evacuation route planned to bring all the residents to safety? Why was it that the Xmen felt it was their duty to protect a silly building that could be rebuilt?

As the earth wall crumbled around them, the teen girl glanced with wide eyes at the battle once more. As dirt rained down on her pale hair, a slight breeze floated past carrying the twangy scent of rusted iron. The scent of fear... it smelled like blood.

>>>"Kat, you gotta get out of here!"

He was right, of course. A feeling of terror washed over her. She definitely didn't belong here amidst the explosions and fire pillars and flashing silver blades.

Katrina didn't recognize the pheromones floating through the air as originating from the goth woman she'd originally met during registration. She'd experienced the effects of the pheromones before, but now, as then, she didn't realize she was being affected.

At that moment she wanted to escape very badly; to simply sink into the safety of the earth and never come out again. She didn't want to see the destruction before her. She didn't want to see her friends and neighbors and classmates and teachers fight until they couldn't fight anymore, until their will to live and keep on fighting left them. She didn't want to face the carnage or face the aftermath, when she would certainly discover that someone she cared for had died. That was her worst fear, losing the people she loved.

>>>"Kat!"

She lifted her dirty head and faced the source of the shouted appellation with wide eyes. It was Sam, Cold Steel, knight in sparkling armor, glittering like an immortal in a cheesy teen romance flick, a familiar and seemingly always friendly face around the mansion.

His face was not friendly as he slide towards them on a colorless path of his own creation. Katrina was terrified, not for her own safety, but for Geo's. Sam looked angry enough to kill. Would he fears of losing her friends start with the earth manipulator who had only just returned? Or would she have to watch her friend murder her neighbor; the man who had thus far always had a smile for her?

>>>“What the hell you doing to her?”

The temperature dropped rapidly with the approach of the slippery path and its skilled creator. Katrina was shaking in her slippers from fear and frigid temperatures. She hadn't brought a coat out. She had only been planning on grabbing the dog and dragging him back inside again.

She wanted to throw herself between the two elementals, to rescue Geo from impending danger as he had rescued her. She was frozen with fear and could only wrap her thin arms tightly around her chest and close her eyes. This couldn't be happening, it had to be a nightmare.

Somewhere near the front gate of the mansion Bruce had stopped barking.

Geo gave Katrina an annoyed look as she began to yell at him about how he shouldn't be here. "Look Kat, you have to run out into the grounds ok, find somewhere to hi-". He was interupted by a yell from behind him.

“What the hell you doing to her?”

Obviously there was a misunderstanding and when Geo turned to see who it was he noticed the look on his face. This mutant wasn't coming just to get Kat away, he was looking for a fight. At the rate he was coming Geo knew he couldn't grab Kat and get away in time without a confrontation. He turned his back to Katrina, putting himself between the threat and the young girl, like a protective older brother would if his sister was in trouble.

"Kat," Geo said, his eyes focused on the charging mutant as his arms and legs transformed back to their rocky form, "...run!" he yelled and charged forward with speed beyond his normal ability due to the now enhanced rock muscles. He stuck his arms in front of himself, elbows down and hands up in a sort of shield, waiting for the inevitable collision.

Sam noticed the mutant who he was sure an earth manipulator stand in front of Kat and muttered something, he couldn’t make it out but it didn’t matter the rock head was charging him now. Rock covering his body Sam had to think of a good way to take him out. He had an idea but he didn’t want to use it unless he had to, seeing as it was a close range attack, and if it didn’t work Sam would have to deal with the beating from a rock head.

Lowering the temperature some more everything in a large radius of Sam began to freeze everything except for a patch of grass, which Kat had been standing on. Sure it was dangerous to be focusing on her during a fight but, Sam was never the one to play it safe. “Why the hell are you attacking our home?” Sam yelled as he started to form shards of ice around his knees, elbows and fists. He didn’t want to go to a close range fight but that’s what things were looking like.

As the distance closed between them Sam jumped and slide to the side of the earth manipulator hoping the rock shield blocked frontal and his side views. Sam slid inches away from the mutant’s right side, using the speed behind him Sam punched as hard as he could at the mutant’s side of the knee not knowing if the rock around it would protect it completely. “Not letting you take Kat!” Sam yelled at the mutant.

Sam felt a three small pinches on his back as he felt the ice around his three holes in his back lose it’s effect. Focusing this hard on a fight and trying to keep his ice from getting close to Kat had made his attention to his wounds far less and as a result blood had slowly began to show it’s self from the armor. Luckily for him the ice that covered his body was like a second skin, which had let it leak out a little before it was stopped.

Geo gave her a look that clearly he thought she was yelling. Didn't he realize that scolding was not yelling?
>>>"Look Kat, you have to run out into the grounds ok, find somewhere to hi-".

He kept saying that, and it kept seeming more and more like a good idea, except that the widespread attack of Syn's pheromones had her literally frozen in fear. Geo threw himself in between her and the incoming ice elemental to a backdrop of ice dragons chomping at a bow haired girl and giant fire pillars sprouting up and snuffing out just as quickly from across the grounds. All over, people were falling, either exhausted and bleeding. She shouldn't be here. None of them should be here.

The incoming ice mutant was streaming toward them, but suddenly Katrina didn't feel the chill of his approach any longer. The slight respite did nothing for the chill that ran through her bones at the prospect of two of her friends trying to kill each other.

>>>"Kat,"
Geo yelled back as rocks crawled and cracked their way over the limbs of her friend as he sprinted with incredible speed toward the inevitable clash of the titans.
>>> "...run!"

There was no way Kat could have kept up with his long legs and increased speed, even if her feet weren't frozen in place. It was like a bad nightmare she couldn't escape. She wanted to run, wanted to help, wanted to do anything to change this. The battle continued ceaselessly.

>>>“Why the hell are you attacking our home?”
Cold Steel yelled as he sidestepped Geo's shield and smashed at his side. Katrina had no idea if the hit landed, but from the angle he twisted, the young illusionist could see a small amount of blood oozing from ice scabbed wounds on his back. Katrina gasped. He was already hurt!

>>>“Not letting you take Kat!”

Finally, she found her voice. She didn't know if it would be loud enough, “Noooo! Stop!” She wasn't going anywhere, so they could all just stop fighting now. Couldn't they see what they were doing? This was wrong!

Fury consumed Geo as he ran towards his opponent, he could feel his powers beginning to take control of him. However, he kept a portion of control to keep Kat safe. The mutant was as quick as Geo was strong, he quickly got past Geo's defense and landed a heavy blow on his side, something Geo had expected. The blow knocked him off balance on the ice and Geo slid around falling on his back. He looked up to see the mutant as he continued his sliding. He, yelling something inaudible to Geo in his rage, was heading for Kat who appeared to not be moving. Geo's right rock fist slammed into the ground, breaking through the ice and landing in the dirt below.

The ground quivered at Geo's touch, the completed link brought a chill to Geo's spine as he focused on controlling the Earth. He needed to Keep Kat from being hurt and from being taken by the Ice Mutant. The small patch of uncovered earth around Kat quivered before a barrage of pillars shot into the air, sealing Kat from the mutant but still within Geo's range of rescue. Next he had to concentrate on eliminating the ice mutant. Spires began to shoot out of the ground on either side of the ice track he was sliding on, attempting to secure him like a marshmallow at a camp fire.[[You can decide if they hit you or not : )]

Geo climbed to his feet sliding a little on the ice. His senses where sharpened by the adrenaline now pumping through his veins. His face twisted in a snarl as he kicked off the ground, his strong legs launching him through the air like a rocket, at the Ice mutant, his massive right fist flying forward at his opponent.

Glad that the ice and the punch served it’s purpose Sam skated over to Kat trying to secure her, if he got her out of there he could cut back and crush some heads mainly rocky’s head. To his dismay however a large pillar shot up around Katrina as he approached pounding on the earth pillar Sam yelled, “KATRINA!!! YOU OKAY??” Sam couldn’t really hear her response as the next barrage from rock heads arsenal came.

Pillars started to shoot out of the ground, one the another then another it was like rocky was predicting his movements for every time Sam moved away from one another appeared, “Damn it,” yelled Sam as he tripped on one of the spires coming up from the ground which then lead him to getting impaled in the left arm right between the bicep and tricep, letting out a sharp yell of pain Sam screamed and then used his foot to kick off the pillar that was holding him up.

Landing on his side Sam saw a large fist coming towards him, ‘At least the pillars stopped’ thought Sam as he thought what to do about the oncoming attack. Using his ice powers Sam tried to seal left arm’s new hole. It didn’t pierce clean through but it the spire defiantly did a good job at preventing Sam from using it.

‘Got to get Kat back in the mansion…’ Sam used his right hand to pushing himself off of the ground to land on his feet and sliding slightly two things ran through his mind both were hard to do enough on their own but together was something he never tried before…’Hope all this training paid off…’

Watching as the fist approached Sam’s right hand started to grow bluer and bluer as two things started to happen one where he and the rock guy were and one by the pillar and where Kat was.

A small golem of ice started to form at the base of the pillar and started to move on accordance with the master, putting it’s small hands on the pillar the small minion used it’s own make up to do it’s job. Forcing a small piece of its self into the pillar it froze and then pulled out it was a crude way to ice wedge but with his attention pulled to the fight at hand it was as good as he could do, and right now that's all it could afford to do, slowly the hole began to get bigger as the golem forced tiny bits of his body into the small air pockets that help form the pillar.

Now that his golem was doing its work Sam focused on his hand, he was ready to do something similar to what the golem was doing on this would be far more powerful and far more difficult considering it was on a moving target.

The air around them began to drop as Sam ran forward and put his right hand on Geo’s fist inducing the ice wedging finding and enlarging the air pockets on his large hand made from the earth, ‘Hopes this works’ thought Sam as he went light on his feet making the impact with the earth mutant longer, also bending his hand to preventing himself from getting thrown back.

Sam's blow made Geo lose his balance on the ice and he fell over. Sam kept racing straight toward her, but at the last moment, something blocked the way. Giant pillars of rock and earth shot up out of the ground, like narrow bars of a cage all around Katrina, then they widened and widened until she was completely enclosed, except for a circle of starlight high above her head. If she hadn't known it was Geo who was doing it, she would have been terrified.

There was no breeze inside the enclosure, and the earth made a very good sound barrier. It must have been very thick, because the sounds of the battle seemed very quiet and very far away now. It was like being in her own little world at the bottom of a well and somehow it was calming. It gave her time to think, and unbeknown to the mirageling, the breezes carrying the terror pheremones couldn't reach her here.

She considered her situation (and didn't realize someone was screaming her name at that very moment). She was in the middle of a battle, trapped in a pillar of rock. Her friend was helping the side that was attacking the mansion, but she didn't know why. Her fellow mansion resident and all around nice person was fighting him and apparently trying to save her own innocent and helpless self from the clutches of her own evil friend he didn't realize was her friend. If she could get them both to shut up and listen instead of just bashing each other... but she couldn't do anything until she got out of the pillar.

Katrina ran her hands over the walls of her enclosure. They were fairly smooth, with no obvious hand holds. It was a fairly narrow space, though. She put a hand out to each side and placed them against the walls as she spread out her feet. Maybe she could walk up the space one hand or foot at a time, keeping enough tension in her other three limbs to keep crawling upwards.

Or not. She wasn't strong enough for such a feat, and the walls were slippery besides. Katrina sighed and leaned against the wall, sliding down until she was sitting. She would just have to wait then and stare at the wall like some pathetic damsel in distress. *le sigh*

The wall she was leaning on was getting icy cold.

Geo's focus was on the human Popsicle, as they're fist met he was suprised that his force hadn't shattered the ice on contact. Geo's bulk was stopped in it's place and his giant stone feet hit the icy ground hard, cracking the ice beneath him. Geo's eyes flashed over the ice man's shoulder to see some kind of icy creature messing with one of the pillars surrounding Katrina. But what was it doing, it seemed to be breaking down the pillar from the inside but how could it do that except for...erosion! The thought hit Geo to late to pull his fist away before the first of the pain began.

He let out a cry as his fist expanded, it felt like small bombs were exploding all within his hand ripping them apart. His knees gave and he was forced to kneel on the ground, unable to remove his hand from the frozen fist. His left hand pounded on the ground attempting to break through but failing to produce the strength being drained by the pain; if he could just reach the ground he could make sure Kat got away safely then Ice boy could do whatever he wanted with him.

The ice chipped slowly, there was no way he could get through before he lost consciousness so he settled on Plan B. He reached up at wrapped his left hand around the ice mans arm he had connected to Geo's and squeezed, forcing all of his willpower into attempting to break the ice.

‘Expand, shrink, expand, shrink’ the small golem was already forcing the thick rock to break apart, Sam wanted the girl out of there and that was exactly what the golem was trying to do. Minutes went by as the fighting between the rocked one and the master continued, but if the golem could show an expression it would smile for it formed the first hole in the rock and was already beginning to penetrate it in other locations leaving a small peep hole in the process.

Meanwhile, Sam and rocky were locked in a power struggle, which Sam knew he was losing even with his ice powers, he had the ability to maneuver but all his attacks weren’t doing much damage except for his ice wedging ability which made him a big target. Sam hated being a target and rightly so, he felt a tip grip around his arm and felt the ice breaking apart.

No matter how much ice he tried to reinforce his arm with it just started to break away, the bleeding in his back was started to become noticeable again as he continued this struggle. “AGHHH” cried out Sam as the ice around his arm gave way causing his arm to break in half like a twig. Taking his good hand Sam pot his hand on rock head’s left and began the ice wedging process again.

After he did his work Sam fought free of the grip and let out another howl of pain as he tried moving his arm but no luck. Looking away from his opponent Sam looked down at his arm and saw the bone and blood protruding from the skin that was torn away in the tussle. “AGHHHHHH!!” Screamed Sam as he tried pushing the bone back in place with his good hand. It was painful as hell but he pulled it off and pushed the bone back into his arm. He had no feeling any control in his right hand, which he quickly iced over.

Even if he couldn’t use it he would let this dirt for brains order member make off with Kat, she was a student here and a friend. The lights around the mansion grounds flickered as Sam started to up the chill factor around them. It seemed that Tricty was getting serious, which meant so should he.

The lights flickered and the added with the moonlight they reflected off of Sam’s face which gave his face a glowing appearance. Raising his good hand as the air around them became colder an colder a small fog started to form on the base of the grounds around them which was then followed by the summoning of his six other golems of ice. Sam couldn’t move his arm and he needed to end this, fast and what other way than with some familiar faces?

Rising from the fog like the undead six large ice golems formed around Sam as the fog quickly covered them as it continued to rise up around them. Once they were hidden the golems shed some of the ice around their body becoming copies of Sam’ shape size and movements. All were the same and were the perfect way to get this guy, all Sam had to do was get to the rock dudes back side.

The wall got colder and colder. Kat soon found herself shivering again and turned to look at the rapidly chilling wall. A thin layer of frost was forming on the rock and spreading in swirls and crystals like a painting by Jack Frost on the window in winter. The rocks seemed to groan in protest to the ice and soon a thin crack formed between two of the overgrown pillars. Ice was slowly leaking its way through the stone, eroding it in fast forward. On the inside of the stone pillar, small chips of rock began to flake off the walls.

Katrina stood up again, watching the progress of the ice. It was interesting watching erosion in fast forward. All the little pops and creaks were getting louder and louder as more and more ice made its ever widening way through the tiny crevise.