“Alek!” SilverWings screamed.

“Wrong. Move,” Blaze growled, flames suddenly engulfing his hands.
Richi knocked an arrow and launched it at an approaching mutant. It pierced it’s heart, but the now blood tipped arrow didn’t halt it’s flight. It continued to hit two other thugs until it thunked into one of the concrete walls of the room. As the rest looked on in wonder at the mighty power of the ivory arrows, Silver rushed at the twins.
Marquez stepped in her path to intercept her old friend, but ducked aside as a flaming projectile nearly decapitated her. The 17-year-old directed her full attention to the blue-eyed-boy she had once been so close to as he launched attack after attack at her, a flame of anger lighting up his eyes. His blonde counterpart engaged in her second battle with Maddex. She launched a high kick at his head, which he dodged with ease. Her dagger slashed at his exposed torso, but the older male dropped to his back, evading the fatal blow. His boot shot up and kicked the blonde’s elbow, a hard shot which knocked the dagger right from her hand. Silver recovered and slid the second dagger form her thigh sheath, but not before Maddex had regained his footing and drawn his chrome sais. Just as before, they seemed equally matched.

A rouge tongue of flame caught Marquez’s hair, singing a filament of the nutmeg locks. She brought up her pistol, but Blaze knocked it from her grasp with a hard thrust. They were locked in place for a moment, girl trying to get the better of boy, deep sapphires locked on blazing bronze. 
“I see you’ve grown stronger, brother,” Marquez purred to the other member of the Pack.

“And you’ve acquired skills of your own,” sweat dripped from the Brit’s forehead, “along with a brother closer than oath.”

The pair jumped apart as an alabaster shaft passed between them, a shrilled cry piercing the air when the projectile met it’s mark. Their focus, however, was not so easily penetrated. They stalked in a circle, like predator-against-predator, eyes narrowed, ears pricked, the battle around them fading into the background.
“Yes,” the teenage girl agreed. “Daddy forgot to mention I had a twin.”

“Is he a freak like us?” Blaze questioned.
“Of course. He can.. Empathize with those he wishes.”

“How bloody brilliant. He’s can manipulate people with an x-gene as his sister does with her seductive nature.”
“Seductive? Me?” Marquez crooned, running a tongue over her dry lips. She lashed at the male, heel scraping his cheek. Blaze stumbled, blinking away the whiplash as he stumbled closer to the vat of acid, blood tricking from the slash on his cheek.
“Sabertooth, we-”

“Don’t call me that!” she snapped. “I go by Tigress. I have since I met my brother, Panther, while on the run.”
Blaze took another step back. “Marquee, please-”
“Don’t even try it, Nikki! This is all your fault. Yours and that little blonde rat,” Tigress accused. “You escaped, left the rest of us for dead in that fire. I would expect something like that from that rich-brat Ruse, but you? Cub was like a little sister to me, and you both betrayed our trust.”
The two had made their way up across the platform. A battle raged on below, while a fight commenced across the bridge. Blood soaked the floor where the child of Satan took the souls of the unnatural.
“I hate you, Niccolo Canis!” Marquez screamed.
“I loved you, Marquez Alto!” he shouted back.

Was it just him, or was the room growing warmer? Richi used his bow as a weapon against one of the many hideous creatures he was exterminating. The unnaturally muscular being fell to it’s knees, but not before striking out with a clawed hand. The blonde boy gasped as razors cut into his thigh and he stumbled; his back collided with the chest of another venom-mutant. The one he had cuffed with his bow grinned at him triumphantly as Richi felt the hot breath of a thug ruffle his hair. He removed a hand from his ripped jeans, his hand bloody, the cut healed.
He thrust his elbow back, hitting the beast in a pressure point directly beneath its ribs. Without waiting for the mutant to recover, Richi sprinted forward and, using the kneeling henchman as a terrance, leapt into the air... And thrust out two blinding extension. The wings brought him up, above the battles and drew his final arrow. He knocked it, and released it into the hoard, killing four minions, leaving two left.
Before he could dive-bomb the final foes, the teen performed a double take of the fatal vat where Thirteen had been thrown and lost his life. It was defiantly bubbling, steam rising off it.
“The vat is going to blow,” he breathed in disbelief, “And the rest of the building with it.”

Silver gasped as the sia skimmed her shoulder, drawing blood. A second later, the second blade of her opponent came up, and she blocked it clumsily with her extended hidden blade. The narrow blade snapped and clattered to the ground, leaving a useless shard in its place. The 14-year-old’s eyes widened just as her knees were kicked out from under her. 
Panther chuckled and thrust a boot into the gut of his fallen opponent. She barely had the strength to resist as he knelt and lifted her chin.
“I expected something more,” he crooned, “from someone with such fight in her blood.” Silver gasped again. “Yes, Aryess, we know who you are. My father, Commander Sampson Alto knew too. That’s the only reason he accepted such a small, useless child into a group of gifted individuals. Though he abandoned me to our dying mother, that bastard did right in training my sister and a select few strong, worthy fighters.” His eyes flickered to the fire-caster in genocide-mode across the bridge.
“You killed him,” Aryess wheezed. “You killed my partner.”
“Yeah, I did,” he admitted without a hint of remorse, “but do you really care? I mean, he was just an experiment, a useless escapee from some lab. I heard they make a lot of those these days.” Panther smirked at his prey, who had her teeth gritted in a combination of anger and pain. “You’re a little fighter, aren’t you? I can sense it. You’re angry, and you want me to suffer. Isn’t what you want, Aryess Weston,” he chided mockingly.
“You’re a soulless, evil boy,” she breath, her voice gaining strength. “This is all about proving something, right? Showing Marquee that you’re worth more than your father thought.” She gasped as his hand cracked across her cheek, snapping her head to the side. Maddex growled and wrenched her up by her collar.

“You’re worthless partner wanted justice, and he’s dead. Why don’t you join him?” he hoisted her up against the railing, high enough to throw her over.
“But you forget,” Aryess snarled. “My mother stood revenge.” She plunged the broken blade into her captors chest.
His eyes widened and he collapsed, releasing his prey. The vat began to tremble, and the building vibrated. SilverWings picked herself up and watched as the light of Maddex’s eyes began to fade.

Blaze watched as the girl lowered her gun in shock. “Y-you what?” her voice shook. In answer, the boy stepped closer, eased the weapon from her hand, and pressed his lips to hers. He pulled back from the kiss he’d been yearning for since the day he’d let his best friend die, as the platform began to shake beneath his feet. 
“Get out,” he breathed, “Alive.” Marquez nodded and Blaze turned and sprinted down the platform, leaving the stunned girl to decide her own fate.

Richi looked from the acid, which has obtained a blue glow in the last few moments, to the ceiling as a piece of drywall fell. “Shit,” he muttered, then reflexively threw up his hands in defense as the opposite wall exploded inward. A helicopter hovered just outside the hole it had created with its missile. A dark haired boy stuck his head out the window and screamed over the wind, “Did we miss the party?”

Aryess panted as the boy’s lifeless body crumpled at her feet. She stared at the blood coating her fingers, already knowing without being told that no matter how hard she tried to scrub away the red, the remnants of her first kill would always stain her hands. The fire of anger, passion, desire, vengeance seeped from her veins; no energy was left for her to jump as a gentle hand rested on her shoulder.
“Sil,” a Russian accented voice spoke, “it’s time to go home.”
“What home, Alek?” she asked, glancing at the white haired boy. He looked different, held himself higher, as if he had gained some sort of new strength. The mischief in his crystal-blue eyes, however, was the same it had ever been as he said, “Our home. To our family.”
Aryess nodded, then allowed her reborn partner to guide her to the chopper where her mentor, allies, and friends waited to depart the war-zone.