Project X [18+] [Fanfiction]

Chapter XIII: The Announcement

  With a visceral yell, I dove and
drove my fist into the concrete below. My claws were already out, and they drove into the ground with ease, sending a few fractured pieces of asphalt flying into the air. I was furious; enraged, even. I pulled my claws from the concrete as I drug myself back to my feet, roaring in anger as I rushed down the rest of the city street. In my fury, my blades flashed out from side to side, slashing at the debris and rubble that filled the road. My normally calm demeanor in combat dissolved, I was lashing out at anything nearby, taking out my frustrations on the unfortunate scrap metal that got in my way.

  My rage was for nothing; the source of it had already escaped. In the middle of the city street I dropped to my knees; my claws sliding back into my fists and my breathing slowing to a manageable rate. Though my cheeks and brow were marked with blood the wounds that had let it escape were already closed, and I was just as healthy as when we had gotten the call that there was trouble in town. Just as healthy, but intensely more angry.

  The Vixen had made her presence known once more, this time far closer to the mansion. Another of her modified mutants had swept through the area, quite literally as a gust of wind. A living, miniature tornado that threw cars into the street, tore up concrete from the ground, and drug down a billboard into a crowded bypass. Most of us were busy keeping casualties to a minimum, though I had been amongst the few that had attempted to engage it directly.

  We had left Storm in Taiwan to continue keeping an eye on the situation. A mistake, since she would’ve been far more capable of handling the wind mutant than I was.

  It was semi-tangible at times, and I had tried to exploit that by diving towards it with my claws out, hoping to catch one of its shoulders with my blades. It was quicker than me, something not many people could boast, and try as I might my claws only found empty, dead air. It laughed, mocking me as it blew around me from side to side, making sport of forcing my hair over my face or knocking me playfully to the ground. When our battle had gotten more intense it started to hurl me up in the air with sudden bursts of wind, wind that would naturally vanish when I was thirty feet above the ground with nothing to slow my fall. My reflexes and training did what they could to keep me steady, but enough times up into the air and I had begun to reel from the motions.

  I had been trained to resist the effects of vertigo, but the wind mutant was nothing that could be prepared for. By the end of the fight I was left dizzy, enraged, and bearing grievous wounds only to my pride. When the rest of the X-Men finished rescuing survivors they rushed to me, and their presence forced the wind mutant to retreat. However, it had sent a clear message from The Vixen.

  The attack happened near the mansion, and to dismiss it as a coincidence when the only other instant was in Taiwan would’ve been folly.

  The attack was a threat. She knew we were tracking her, and she wanted to let us know that she could defend herself. Her message had enraged me beyond control, and I lost myself for a moment in a wild flurry of violence. By the time the other X-Men had come to my aid, I was already on my knees, breathing heavy and feeling as if my mission had ended in failure.

  "She’ll be alright.” The headmistress was there, garbed in her full heroic attire and leading the charge of our group. Alongside her stood other members of the team, Shifter amongst them. She let a hand move out, gesturing to the far side of the street where more debris and rubble was piled up. When her voice came out, it was one of authority and presence, commanding our group with utter confidence. “Shifter, X-23, stay behind. The rest of you, check that pile for survivors, and then split up to return home. It might have gotten away today, but we haven’t heard the last of it.”

  The others nodded and ran alongside each other, darting to the rubble in the back. Meanwhile, Shifter gazed at me with concern in his eyes, but it was the headmistress who was the first to kneel to help me up. My cheeks were red from the shame of failure, and my shoulders were tense as my muscles locked into place. As the headmistress let her eyes catch mine, she allowed our gazes to lock, studying me for a long moment. I knew what she was doing; by now I could practically feel her inside of my head. She was rooting around, digging through my thoughts like a detective, preparing to make some assessment of things.