Sol Invictus - Part 2(a)

Posted on Sun Jun 23rd, 2024 @ 12:58am by Bobby Drake & Shinobi Shaw & Ethan Hale & Aurora Summers & Kennedy Kelly

Mission: Episode 4: The Savage ConneXion
Location: Temple of the Sun | Savage Land
Timeline: September 17th, 1990

Once everyone had split up and gone their separate ways, the strike team to initiate the siege on the Temple of the Sun took to their hiding places among the clefts and crannies of the mountainside. The sign to begin the attack would be impossible to miss.

"Are the others in position?" Bobby asked Aurora who was next to him?

Aurora nodded. “All in position and awaiting the attack order.”

Prince Archaeo and his Aerian battle group had taken to the sky and formed circles around the Temple in order to draw attention. So far, the Sun People had rallied in defensive positions, but neither side had chosen to attack. The armies were content to watch one another to see who would make the first move.

And then the city gates exploded. The United Tribes flooded the flagstone streets below like ants invading a rival colony.

"Come on!" Bobby said to Jace as he turned to ice form. That had been the signal. Now the battle was on!

Jace hopped on the ice slide behind Bobby and held on to his shoulders. "Right on! Let's rock!"

The jump from their hiding spot took them downward like a rollercoaster until they had enough momentum to push them upward at a frictionless high speed. Bobby took them in loop de loop corkscrews that dodged the Pterons who tried to swarm them like flies.

"Knock as many back as you can!" Bobby called back to Jace. "They'll dogpile us if one gets a lucky shot and tackles us!"

Aurora followed on using her abilities to help her fly, having thought the effects of the mysterious gasses had worn off she was surprised to find that she was wrong. “I’ve got your back!” She nodded to Bobby and Jayce as she telekinetically forced a nearby Pteron to nosedive into the ground.

Leather and feather wings began to clash and feverishly beat around them. The battle had begun on the ground and that chaos soon spread to the skies. The air around the Sun Temple became cluttered and crowded with Aerian warriors and Pterons that gnashed and struck at one another.

Prince Archaeo flew high above the battlefield, watching the movements of his warriors and of the X-Men. His keen eyes caught the glint of golden armor from the levels of the temple and he knew exactly what was to come.

“Archers!” The Prince bellowed in warning mere minutes before arrows filled and darkened the sky.

"Circle back!" Bobby shouted as he crossed his arms in an X pattern over his chest. When he threw his arms forward, hands raised over his head like calling a field goal, a snap freeze shot forward nearly froze the air itself solid. The arrows began corkscrewing with ever-widening yaws that eventually ended their flight and sent them in a downward trajectory that appeared to sink as much as fall. "Warn the Aerians, Aurora!" Bobby called out. "Anybody who flies into that section of sky is gonna' have a real bad flippin' day!"

As the Aerians circled back to avoid the no-fly zone Bobby had inadvertently created by shielding them from the volley of arrows, a new threat took to the sky. What at first appeared to be an oversized Pteron, the green skin and nearly doubled wing span was unmistakable.

"Sauron!" shouted one of the Aerian warriors. The name went out in a chorus that identified the terror of the skies.

"Yeeeees!" cried the shrill, crazed voice of the fearsome Sauron. He latched hold of an Aerian who hadn't evaded him and forced eye contact. "Fight for me!!!"

The shrieking command overcame the Aerian's resistance. For an instant, the winged warrior went slack, but he recovered before he went into a free fall and quickly turned on his former allies.

"That's... that's gonna be a problem," Bobby said.

“No, it isn’t!” Aurora reached out telekinetically catching their prior ally and gently bringing him to the ground. She didn’t want to harm him.

Unfortunately once he landed, Sauron had already seized two more Aerians and hypnotized them with his mystic gaze. They too answered Sauron's call to battle. "Fight for me! Kill them all!" his screeching voice called out.

"Someone's gotta stop him!" Bobby dashed his ice sled straight for the evil Pteranodon man.

Jace had been trying to hold on to Bobby and punch as many bad guys as possible. Or at least clothes line them like a professional wrestler. "So how far do I get to go to try to stop him?" he yelled. "I could pull his eyeballs out if I can get close enough and not get hypnotized."

Aurora looked towards Bobby and Jayce. “I’d try getting into his mind, but it’s too risky.”

Their moment of hesitation allowed for Sauron to spring into action. His hypnotic gaze fell upon Prince Archaeo and the Aerian General was under his command. The Prince tucked his wings in tight and he swooped down from above at an impossibly fast speed. His keen eyes locked on the mutant that was struggling in the sky. Knocking Jace from Bobby’s ice sled, the two began to nosedive towards the ground with such accelerated force that their stomachs dropped from the fall.

Jace screamed as he was knocked off and began plummeting towards the earth. He could feel the Prince"s talons cutting into him and removing thin ribbons of flesh. The pain radiated through his body as blood flowed from the wounds. He screamed even louder as he found the motivation...the will...to not only survive, but fight. And live.

Jace let out another scream, but not due to the pain this time. "I will fight and I will win! I am no one's slave!" He lowered his density as far as he could and found the will power he needed. The result was a much heavier, faster falling Jace that would leave a sizeable hole in the ground.

The blur of feathers and armor that whizzed past Bobby caused enough of a distraction for Sauron to dive in and snatch Iceman. The moment his taloned hands made contact with Bobby, he felt a dampening and draining sensation that stifled his mutant abilities. Sauron held on to him tightly and took him high up into the sky to finish feeding on him.

"Haaaaaa...." Bobby had tried to scream for help, but the outcry got stuck in his throat. Sharp talons dug into the permafrost armor around his shoulders, holding him tight for Sauron to better feed on him through his psychic gaze. Paralysis soon crept over him as his life force began to seep away.

Aurora was left in the middle as she watched Jace plummeting downwards and Bobby being dragged upwards. Both would meet an unfortunate end if they didn’t receive assistance. The challenge before her was which X-Men should she choose to help and what unfortunate outcome would occur for the one she didn’t.

Aurora watched in horror as she tried to figure a way to save both Jace and Bobby. If the powers of the mists were still with her then all she had to do was formulate a plan, and quickly! She wasn’t willing to let either die. She focussed on telepathic contact. Hang On Bobby, I’m not letting you die! Her attention turned to Jace for a moment. Jace! Make yourself lighter! Right now!!

~No! Let me go and you go save Bobby. I have a plan,~ he said to the voice in his head. ~Trust me.~ A plan he had just changed in the past few seconds. Fortunately, he'd been high enough for it to work.

Jace immediately phased, despite nothing to phase through. His lowered density slowed his free fall slightly and allowed him to find the open air temple below. And the idol. He started to surf the air and adjust his trajectory towards it. When he went back to full dense and increased his speed, it threw off his trajectory.

Jace only had one more chance to make his aim true. He once again changed his density and air surfed towards the idol. However, this time, he aimed just over the top of the idol. He went back to full dense, pulled his knees up to his chest, and wrapped his arms around them. The cannonball-shaped Jace kept his eyes open and watched as his aim slowly lowered during his speeding descent. But it never left its target.

Right before impact, he closed his eyes and slammed into the huge stone idol.

Aurora turned her attention to Bobby. She needed to get Sauron away from him and quickly! She focussed her all on getting to them. Sighting Sauron she quickly drew his attention. “Hey, bird brain! Get the hell away from my friend!!” She lashed out telekinetically forcing the two apart, quickly moving Bobby away from Sauron she kept him in a telekinetic grip whilst giving Sauron a hard push to give them distance to manoeuvre away to safety. “Bobby, are you with me? I need you with me! I can’t hold off Sauron for long.”

Ragdolled as he was in Aurora's telekinetic grip, Bobby's head rolled about on his neck until his eyes finally opened. "Wh... what happened?" It took a moment before he realized he was airborne. "Oh, shit!" He tried to shift back to iceform but he couldn't summon the strength. "I... I'm too weak..."

The psychokinetic burst had sent Sauron careening into the sky, but he wasn't going to let his quarry get away that easily. He turned about, the blend of mystical and biochemical forces which fueled his transformation were enhanced by his latest feeding on Bobby. His yellow eyes glowed like spotlights with a gnawing hunger for more mutant energy.

After arching upward into the sky in order to attack with the sun at his back, his favorite move, Sauron loosed a keening cry with his sights set on Aurora and Bobby. The angular dive accelerated into a breakneck speed with Sauron's arms and legs tucked tightly against his body. Even his wings were bowed backward to pick up even greater speed.

"Aurora... look out..." Bobby groaned.

With only seconds to spare, another speeding blur crashed into Sauron's flank and sent the green terror sideways. A jumble of wings and limbs tumbled through the air while Sauron fought to reorient himself. This latest attacker had gotten the literal drop on him.

Ethan had been busy with the Pteron army, but when he saw Sauron go directly for his friends, a feral rage ignited within his core that couldn't be denied. His eyes had turned to full slits, bulging with bloodlust. A snarling roar rose up from his throat that met Sauron's screech. Sauron was larger than Ethan by head and shoulders with a wider wingspan, but when Ethan lacked in size and reach was made up for in raw tenacity. His talons rent Sauron's green flesh, splattering blood and chunks of sinew in a gory vapor trail in their passing.

Breaking free from Ethan's clutches, Sauron attempted to regroup and double back against Ethan, but the winged avenger thrust forward with a burst of his swings. He collided again with Sauron, this time slashing deep wounds against his chest. Venom began to bubble up within the gashes, corroding the skin and sapping Sauron's strength from him.

Sauron's long claws seized Ethan by the shoulders and dug deeply into his own flesh, seeking maximum pain as he hoisted Ethan up in front of him.

"What?!" Sauron scowled when he attempted to feed on Ethan's energy. "You are neither mutant nor beast folk! What are you?!"

"I..." Ethan forced several deep threats in order to focus through the pain. "... am Gryphon!"

He swatted Sauron's face with his wings, blocking his hypnotic gaze. That set Ethan's body free to move. Sauron wrestled with his elongated beak free from the mess of feathers, but Ethan was ready. His talons tore into the side of Sauron's neck and secreted as much of the neurotoxin as he could muster. The blistering venom turned Sauron's jaw gangrene and brought another piercing screech from the monstrous being. Skin peeled away to reveal bone and tendons, both of which began to disintegrate under the full load of Ethan's toxins. The anti-mutant genome with which Ethan had been altered proved to be Sauron's undoing as the mystical energies that empowered him bled away.

"Curssssse you!" Sauron cried in vengeful wrath.

Rather than reply, Ethan let out another roar and gave Sauron's mandible a hard twist. It dangled from rotted flesh that couldn't hold against Ethan's fury. Ripped free with a grisly, moist snap, Ethan twisted the mandible over his head and plunged it into Sauron's throat like a spearhead. Eyes bulging from his head in surprise and agony, Sauron's strength gave out. His twitching body plummeted to the Temple grounds where they landed in a bloody heap.

With Sauron defeated, none of the Pteron warriors were willing to fight. They cawed their retreat to one another, abandoned the Temple of the Sun to the attackers. Ethan hovered as best he could, clutching his arms and shoulders in a wounded hug, willing himself to heal with the remainder of his primary fury that was quickly burning itself off.

"What... the... fuck..." Bobby muttered in shock and awe. Seeing Ethan devolve into the destructive nature for which he was genetically engineered was a fearsome sight to behold.

Aurora’s eyes widened in surprise, but not so much in shock. She’d witnessed plenty of strange happenings when living in the sewers. “Amazing...”

Down below, the ground defenders had rallied around the sundered idol of Garokk. The temple grounds were modest, a vestige of the primitive past of the Sun People whose industry had advanced beyond the Stone Age. What had been a large stone visage chiseled out of a solid boulder that was now smashed into a pile of rubble.

Jace had managed to crawl out from the debris and the small crater formed beneath it from the force of his impact. None the worse for wear given his high-speed collision, the defending archers hesitated to fire, wondering whether their arrows would have any effect whatsoever.

From the city far below came three short bursts to rally the army's attention followed by a long, sustained blast. It was the sound of victory. Soon other horns joined in with their blasts, followed by triumphant cries of warriors from the United Tribes who cheered for the good fortune of the day.

"Did... did we win?" Bobby asked.

“You have defeated Sauron.” Prince Archaeo said while holding his head in his hands, the hypnosis was wearing off and his mind was clearing. “I would consider that on its own a huge victory for all of the Savage Land. But to answer your question, yes that is Ka-Zar announcing our victory. The Sun People are free.”

From the pile of rubble which was all that remained of Garokk came an ominous chuckle. An ethereal light of dark flame seeped together like an oil spill until its concentration shot across the sky. On the far side of the valley below, in the foothills opposite from the City of the Sun People, stood Magneto's Citadel. Its narrow sky beam had given off pale, translucent energies the entire time they had been in the Savage Land, undoubtedly the cause of the geomagnetic storms wreaking havoc throughout the planet, had turned a stark shade of purple tinged with red, like an infected wound.

"That sounds bad..." Bobby shielded his weary eyes from the ominous light so he could get a better look.

“That is very bad.” Prince Archaeo muttered as he joined Bobby in gazing at the sky. “This is definitely a bad omen, a curse has been unleashed on the Savage Land. I hope you have a new plan, X-Men, or else you will never leave.”

Words echoed throughout the region in a language few understood and even fewer could utter.

"Denique! Liber sum! Et mox venit infernum!"

Note: Prince Archaeo is played by Kennedy Kelly