X-Men: Savage 2/16 Author: Timo A. Nieminen Date: 1998/02/20 Forum: alt.comics.fan-fiction Title suggestions, anybody? "Outlanders go home!" Savage part 2 of 16 ================================================= Standard disclaimer: Many of these characters are the property of Marvel Comics. Otherwise this work is in the public domain. Distribute freely. It is rumored that a hideous rotting disease will claim the lives of any who seek to make a profit from it, or falsely claim it as their own work. Rated PG (language, violence, adult situations) Timo Nieminen timo@physics.uq.edu.au ********************** The four X-Men, Rogue, Iceman, Dazzler and Joseph, approached the village. Like most Savage Land villages, it was surrounded by a high wooden wall, with a large cleared area between it and the jungle. They'd stopped flying and sliding shortly before reaching the village, and were approaching on foot. As they walked in, Rogue asked "Ali, ever been in the Savage Land before? Course, Bobby an' Joe've been here, though Joe don't remember none o' it." Rogue looked at Joseph. {And don't I know it! Wonder what would have happened if he'd been 'Joed' before instead of after? Guess I'll never know.} "Yeah, I come here for all my holidays. These guys might be dangerous, right?" "Smart, girl. Y'all can't go too far wrong assuming that 'round these parts." A loud cry came from a watchtower. "Guess they've seen us," said Bobby. "Everybody's running away! There's only four of us; why are they so scared?" "Yeah, an' those guys are goin' to shut the gate. Sure don't like visitors!" Rogue turned away from her team-mates, and shouted "Hey, you, you guys speak English?" Dazzler winced, and whispered to Joseph "Miss Diplomacy strikes again." He whispered back "Rogue spent months here. She knows what she's doing." Bobby added glumly "But this place has been different every time I've been here. We don't know what's going on and we can't tell what's going to happen." No reply came for Rogue. A minute later, the X-Men were closer, watching carefully for signs of attack. A brief noise from further around to the right along the village wall, and even the jungle seemed to quieten. From around the curve of the wall, three figures ran in, fast. Bipedal, with long tails, they stood about two metres high. The X-Men recognised them as some kind of dinosaur. Moving fast, and coming in to attack. Bobby on the left protected himself by icing up, Joseph on the right with his force field. Between them, Rogue moved in front of Dazzler to cover her, shouting "Watch their feet. These things're dangerous!" The one on their right came in first, and bounced off the force field. Next, the one in the middle jumped on Rogue, and slashed with the claws on its hind legs, trying to bite her face. The third one attacked Iceman, tearing long gouges into his icy coating. Alarmed, Dazzler fired a light blast at it, and knocked it away from him. It got up, and leaped at Dazzler, only to be knocked down again by a more powerful blast from her. "I've got it!" yelled Iceman as he encased it in a solid block of ice as it was getting to it's feet again. The first one was trying to cut through Joseph's force field with its foot claws, hissing in annoyance at the unexpected resistance. Rogue was in more trouble, trying to protect herself from four sets of claws and one of teeth. Already her opponent's greater weight had knocked her onto her back. Iceman and Dazzler glanced at each other and nodded. Iceman fired a barrage of iceballs at the one on top of Rogue, knocking it away from her. As soon as it landed, Dazzler followed up with a light blast. Next Iceman encased the last one in ice. He turned around to Dazzler. "That's it! I'll check Rogue." But the one lying on the ground had only been stunned, and chose this moment to leap towards him. Dazzler hit it in mid-leap with a powerful laser blast. It landed on him, and knocked him over, lying dead or dying on top of him, twitching and kicking. Dazzler backed away from its deadly claws. The smell of burned chicken rose from its body. Joseph reached Rogue to help her up, just as she got up by herself, asking her "Are you unhurt, Rogue? I had no idea these monsters would be so powerful." "Course Ah'm okay, takes more'n an overgrown chicken to hurt me. Ah'm invulnerable, in case y'all forgot." She dragged the dead body off Iceman and helped him up. "Ah hope those scratches don't go all the way through your ice, Bobby." "I don't think so. Are okay? You look a bit cut up." Looking down at the long tears in her costume, Rogue replied "Just mah suit. Least Ah've got a spare in the plane." Rogue spun around in front of Iceman, her arms raised. "Am Ah still decent, hon?" He opened his mouth, but closed it again and smiled. "Well, you're not too exposed." She stopped and poked her tongue out at him, and then grinned broadly. Joseph looked confused, and quietly asked Dazzler "Was there a joke? I don't understand." They stood in front of the gate. Rogue shouted "Hey, we only want to talk! We ain't here to make no trouble!" Shortly afterwards, the gate opened, and three Savage Landers came out. "Outlanders. Come in!" They turned and walked back in through the gate. The X-Men looked at each other and followed. When they reached the centre of the village, there was a cleared area, with seven stools arranged in a circle. The native leaders sat on three of them, and gestured for the X-Men to sit too. The X-Men sat, and the three natives watched them impassively. The four X-Men waited uncomfortably. They could see people watching them from within the huts. Rogue broke the awkward silence, whispering to Joseph, "Joe, pass me the bag." He did, watched closely by the three natives. Rogue opened it, and pulled out one of the MREs. She grinned, and passed it to the closest of the natives. He turned it over in his hands, feeling the plastic wrapper. He lifted it up to his face and smelled it closely. He called out in his own language, a sharp command by the sound of it. Another Savage Lander scurried out of hiding, and took the meal-in-a-packet from him. He pulled out a black-bladed stone knife and slit the plastic open. Rogue looked at Iceman and raised her eyebrows. {That knife's sharp. Wish I could open those things that easy.} She looked around at the other X-Men. Dazzler was nervous, and trying not to show it. Joseph was uncomfortable; maybe it was just the low stool. It was hard to tell what Iceman was thinking, but he didn't seem too concerned. The native who had opened the packet passed it back to the leader, and went back into hiding. The leader with the opened meal smelled it again. He dipped his finger in, and licked it. He grinned broadly, and stood up, holding the packet up to the sky, shouting to the rest of the village. The people in hiding began to carefully come out of their hiding places. Rogue passed the backpack to Dazzler, who handed the rest of the MREs to the native leaders. The villagers handed back various items of their own food. Later, as the X-Men were leaving the village, Joseph asked, "They were talking about mutants like us, yes?" The others nodded. "And they seemed to think that Magneto is their leader. The helmet that their chief drew on the ground is Magneto's, yes? But how can it be?" "Well," said Dazzler, "other people have pretended to be him before. Or robot doubles. Or they're just wrong." "Or magic," answered Bobby. "They said magic. People here actually do that. Magic's real too." "Yeah, well, we know they're all scared o' somethin', an' it's either mutants, magicians, or Magneto. But they ain't seen none of it themselves, just heard about it second-hand." Dazzler asked, "We're just going to have to go to the village Storm and Wolverine must have been checking to find out more, aren't we?" "Ali-hon, we knew that from the start. Ah just hoped we might learn a bit about what's waitin' for us there." {Wish I'd known what was waiting for us here.} Rogue glanced down at her torn costume. {Be nice if Bobby was a more take-charge type of guy. Looks like I'm boss by default. Maybe Bobby's a closet take-charge guy?" She narrowed her eyes and looked at Bobby. Dazzler continued, "You planned to give them the food?" "Not exactly, Ah just thought maybe we'd need it. Ah dunno." Joseph added, "But why did they like them so much? They are edible enough, but ..." "Salt! Ah mean, y'all ate their food. Y'all noticed, didn't you? Salt's kinda valuable here. Ain't like these guys can get to the sea, is it?" "Rogue, just don't tell us exactly what we ate there," said Alison. "I can think of better things to do in an Antarctic jungle than barf." When the X-Men reached the crashed Blackbird again, they were pleased to find that the thermos of coffee was still warm. Rogue changed into a spare costume, and all except Bobby put on a jacket. Joseph packed a blanket into his pack, and more food. Bobby asked, "Today or tomorrow?" They all looked at each other. Joseph answered, "Today. We cannot wait. Our team-mates might be in danger. Besides we should be able to reach this village long before dark. I will see where the village is." He surrounded himself with magnetic force, and rose into the sky. When he landed, he pointed out the direction in which the village lay, and the X-Men set off towards it. {Hope it ain't a repeat of the last reception we got. Wonder if we'll find the others? Concentrate, girl! Take it as it comes.} "Guys, if anything goes wrong, watch out. Lot's of, um, things, round here, they like to hunt at dusk. Don't wan't y'all endin' up as dino-dinner." -end of part 2- -- Timo Nieminen - timo@physics.uq.edu.au Home page: http://www.physics.uq.edu.au/people/nieminen/nieminen.html Spirits: http://www.physics.uq.edu.au/people/nieminen/spirits.html Shrine to Suds: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Venue/4960/beer.htm Wine: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Arena/2010/