THE LONE WOLF AND THE GODDESS - PART TWO
By Davide Briganti
DISCLAIMER: All the X-Men depicted in this story are copyright of the
Marvel guys, and are used without their permission. No profits are made by
posting this story, which is written only for entertainment purposes.
Sid "Renegade" Mayer is a copyright of me, so if you wanna use it, please ask
me first.
* * *
Sid Mayer rose up majestically in the air, catching the punching bag hanging
at the highest branch of the tree near his cottage with his knee. With a
lightning-fast movement he executed a mid-air somersault with the other leg
protruded.....only to miss his intended target and feel how tough a rocky
ground can be. "Darn!", he said looking up at the bag with his steel-grey
eyes, "I've exercised over that stupid flying one-two combo for at least one
year and a half and I still don't figure what goes wrong!"
Sighing, he stood up, cleaning dirt and brushes from his Iron Maiden T-Shirt
and jeans, and prepare to jump up again; but, as he begun concentrating, a
nearly-invisible black spot in the sky suddenly grew bigger, attracting his
attention. The object was moving fast, heading down and right into the cold
and watery embrace of his little lake, and as it moved closer to Sid's loca-
tion its true nature was finally revealed: it was a chocolate-skinned woman
with long, flowing white air, dressed in a black outfit, and most probably
unconscious.
Sid thumbed thoughtfully his nose as he ran at the edge of the lake to rescue
her; "Well, Old Bonebag", he said to himself, "It seems that Destiny decided
that your life here had been uneventful for far too long! Let's see what's
happenin' here!"
Diving from the rocky pier that was his preferred "thinking point", he swam
quickly to the center of the lake and grabbed the woman, raising an eyebrow
at the sight of the large bloodstains that surrounded the ripped hole on her
costume. "Seems she had a little argument with a heavy-calibre gun.", he mum-
bled while getting her toward the safety of the land.
Laying her down on the grass, Sid checked immediately her vital signs: weak,
but still present and, best of all, regular; with a sigh of relief, Sid moved
on to pick her up again and bring her to his home for first aid.
Looking at her closely, Sid noted how exquisitely beautiful she was....far
more attractive than any other woman he ever met in his life; and for the
first time, he felt his heart pounding faster.
A hidden part of his own mind then savagely jumped off to his consciousness'
surface, ripping off his thoughts like a tiger's claw rends its victim's
flesh and bringing him back to reality. His body reacted more quickly than
his mind, due to the many years of battles he had gone through, beginning
to furiously pump adrenaline into his system to prepare him for the upcoming
fight. Hearing the jet-engine noise becoming louder and louder, Sid finally
realized the situation in which he was: again, he laid the wounded woman on
the grass and turned just as a huge shadow extended itself on the grass, re-
vealing the presence of a six-meters-tall android standing near the edge of
the water.
Its metallic, inhuman voice resounded from somewhere deep into its chest:
"Still receiving vital signs from mutant threat. Completing now termination
sequence as previously programmed."
Quickly interposing between the mechanical monstrosity and the mysterious
woman, Sid assumed his fighting stance. "I don't know what are you babbling
about, junkpile....but be sure that if you make even only one more step near
this girl, your miserable life ends right here and right now!"
The robot made a sudden step forward. "Our primary directives are focused on
eliminating mutants. This unit's sensors confirm that designated male subject
is not a mutant, so we don't have any reason to engage in combat with you.
Step back and let us carry out our mission, and we will not harm you in any
way."
Rage began to shift and waver into Sid's mind, converting itself almost in-
stantaneously into raw energy that flowed freely through his body. Instincti-
vely, he recalled from his memory the teaching of one of his old mentors:
"As you must not let your inner feelings overwhelm you, you must always keep
control of your internal energy....The rage of the wounded wolf is good and
frightfully powerful to behold, but without a human conscience to shape it
into a fighting machine, it's worthless, because it's too clumsy to defeat
his opponent. It's because of misunderstanding like these that some great
warriors of the past fell in disgrace."
Following his master's instructions, he focused the energy mostly in his fore-
arms, who began to crackle as they were slowly enveloped by glowing orange-
violet flames that blurred and wavered, growing bigger as more and more ener-
gy was channeled into them.
"Listen up, you overgrown Pepsi-distributer, you'd better fly your metallic
ass outta my sight before I run out of patience.", he growled taking a mena-
cing half-step forward, ready to strike at the slightest wrong movement of the
huge machine.
The robot's response didn't make him wait for too long. "As you wish, human.
This unit will now proceed to destroy you before completing its appointed
task.". And with that, he extended one of its arms, palm open: a six-barrel
heavy machinegun protruded from under its forearm, and its barrels begun to
rotate, accompanied by a loud engine noise.
"Now, it's me or you, big guy!", Sid thinked while sprinting towards the
robot's head to put himself off the gun's range. Seeing that his weapon was
now ineffective due to the extremely short distance, the android tried to
intercept the young martial artist, punching him with his free arm, but it
was far too slow for him: with a savage battlecry, Sid quickly flexed his legs
and jumped, using what little energy remained in him to boost the altitude
further, and delivered a devastating uppercut, immediately followed by a
straight left. The big machine's head was immediately covered in Sid's flaming
energy and exploded with an almost deafening sound as the young man's feet
again made contact with the solid ground.
The gigantic body, now headless, dangerously oscillated for a few moments be-
fore crashing on its back, a thunderous sound as the evidence of its defeat.
With a feral grin, Sid stood up again and watched the results of his work;
"And as usual, Renegade wins the match. So long, sucker!", he murmured before
turning again his attention to the woman. "Sorry for the delay, Miss", he
said smiling, "That brute won't pester you anymore. You have my gentleman's
word."
Once in his bedroom, he gently laid her on his bed and, first-aid kit ready
for use, began inspecting her wounds: first, he cutted off all the clothes
near the left shoulder, leaving it exposed for further examination.
"Hmm. Not too bad after all: the bullet has paid only a short visit, and the
bones are intact.", he mumbled. Carefully, he applied antiseptics and hemo-
stats to disinfect the wound and prevent it to bleed any further, and began to
bandage it with clean gauze.
"And now", he continued washing his hands in a nearby basin, "for the rest.
Let's see....", and cautiously began to undress her to check for internal in-
juries or broken bones. Blushing slightly at the sight of that beautiful lady
lying in his own bed with only a bra and a pair of slip on, he proceeded.
As his fingers touched one of her left ribs, an expression of intense pain
crossed the woman's face, and a sudden moan came out of her mouth. "Damn.", he
snarled: carefully, he applied a pair of rigid sticks to her left side, and
fixed them with a tight bandage. "Hope that works, Miss, or you'll have some
nasty problems in the long distance."
The woman continued to moan, shaking convulsively her head left and right, her
hands alternately gripping and releasing the sheet. Sid put his palm over her
forehead, and retracted it almost instantaneously as his face darkened even
more. "So feverish that I could boil water on her head!"
With swift and sure movements, Sid put a vial of emerald-green liquid in a sy-
ringe, and injected it in the woman's forearm. With one last glance, he stroke
gently her hair, and covered her with two blanket to keep her warm.
"I've done all I can, fair lady. Now, it's up to you.", he said softly as he
opened the door and stepped out of the room.
END OF PART TWO
As usual, E-Mail me at renegade@ipsnet.it and let me know what you think of
this story!
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