Iceman

 

Harry

Tanya Redfield

Marrow

Avalanche

Pyro

Blob

Toad

 

 

Ice blue orbs, on top of a chiseled ice body, gazed about... meeting with sinister grins of hatred. Bobby Drake knew that even two of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants would be one of the toughest fights of his life, but what about five? Our frosty hero quickly moved to his feet, throwing a backhand outwards in unison.

Ice arose where his hand had passed, leaving a trail of ice around his position in a type of circle, large ice shards sticking out from the ring. Each threat around him, The Blob, Pyro, Avalanche, and the Toad jerked back a few inches as to not be struck by the attack.

"You guys really know how to totally ruin one's night, don't you?"

Jerking his arms out in a type of battle stance, rings of ice formed around Iceman's wrists to signify the usage of his powers. Streams of ice elimenated in the form of beams from them, one incasing Pyro's chest and arms into ice, the other slamming into the chin of Avalanche.. flinging the mutant backwards.

"Don't look at us, it was boner-nose's idea!"

The Blob spoke with a grin as he immediately drawed his huge fist down into the back of Iceman, sending him into a stumble forward where two large feet met in unison with his chin. The owner? Mortimer Toynbee, a.k.a the Toad, whose mutant abilities resemble that of... well, a toad.

Iceman fell back into the ground, squinting from the pain of the powerful kick. Toad fell back into a crouched position, grinning before the fallen, "retired" X-Man. Avalanche steadied out, holding his ice covered jaw. Pyro was depserately trying to break from the ice "straight-jacket" made by our hero.

Wait, wait. 'Boner-nose's idea?' Marrow? Bobby thought to himself as he groggily struggled to stand, only to be driven upwards by a large tremor caused by Avalanche. The Blob quickly grabbed for Iceman's neck, shoving him face first into the ground. The frosty one shoved his hands into the ground, desperately trying to reach his feet.

The Blob laughed heartily at his attempts, drawing both of his arms upwards to deliver the final blow. Bobby Drake suddenly gained a burst of adrenaline, rolling onto his back and chucking his arm upwards to fling a hand full of snow into the large man's eyes. The snow quickly hardened into ice as Iceman dodged a stream of tremors caused by the Avalanche. The Blob shook his head, the cold not bothering him due to his extreme weight, but the fact that his eyes were frozen shut.

Flinging his arms outwards towards Avalanche, streams of ice slamming him into the Brotherhood member's chest, which encased his entire body, save for his head, into a glob of ice. I might actually be able to do this -- ! His thoughts interrupted by a high-speed tackle into his back by the Toad.

"OOF!"

Bobby stumbled into the ground, this time rolling upwards with the hit. Toad cackled evily as he backflipped off the ground, going into a air roll towards the recovering Iceman, only to be reflected back into the ground flat on his hienny by a blur of ice. A type of log could be seen in Iceman's hands, which he obviously used to slam into the Toad's face.

The Toad, whose head was slowly rocking around, had used his momentum against himself. His eyes traveled up to meet Iceman's, before his head slumped back into the ground, out cold.

Suddenly, shards of ice went flying in every direction. Iceman quickly turned his head, only to be flung back in the ground by a violent tremor. Avalanche rose upwards above the fallen Iceman, pounding him backwards with another tremor.

Iceman squinted as his head struck the ground, before frozen eyelids came down over frozen orbs, the chisled iceform growing limp from the back of his head crashing into the ground by the tremor.

Pyro burst from the ice "straight-jacket" he was put into, having slowly been melting away at it. The group, minus Toad and Marrow, slowly surrounded Iceman. Each of them shot glances to each other, all thinking the same thing.

"Let's move out before the bloody X-Men show-up." Pyro spoke as he flexed his muscles, trying to rid the ex-ex ice around him.

The Blob grabbed the Toad by his foot, dragging him through the dirt parking lot like a child would a rag doll.

"It was a big mistake even comin' here!"

"About as big as yer ass."

"Shaddup."

"Why'd Marrow even wanna come here?"

"Somethin' 'bout a girl.."

The three of them squabled as they began to exit the dirt parking lot, leaving a trail behind them from the unconscious Toad.

Inside Harry's Hideaway...

Marrow glanced to random faces. Anger mixed with fear was among them all. How dare a mutant come into their bar and terrorize them? Thoughts of stepping up and showing the newest of the Brotherhood exactly how they feel about her at this moment. But none of them truly had the guts to do so. After all, how many times do you said a pink-haired chica with bones sticking out all over her body in your lifetime?

*CHK-CHK!*

Just from behind the counter and down only few feet away, Harry rose the barrel of a shotgun to the back of Marrow's head. Marrow's eyes traveled backwards to gaze upon the current situation.

"I don't care what kinda freaky powers you got, lady. No one steps into my bar and terrorizes my customers! You can wait for them to go outside to do that!" Harry managed to slip in a joke, although his words remained calm and firm.

Everything was going to be all right now, wasn't it? She was just a... thing. And the owner of the establishment had a shotgun!

Shyeah, right.

The end of Marrow's elbow was sent directly into the shotgun, Harry only managing to let off a blast into the bar counter before it fell to the ground. Marrow let the bone dagger in her hand flying off towards Harry's neck, but surprisingly it only struck the collar, missing his neck by a hair.

Harry was sent back by the force, being pinned against a wall. Marrow grinned sinisterly as she turned to look to the others in the room. A hand drew to her back, where she pulled another bone dagger with a sickening crunch.

"Anyone else wanna try me?" Marrow demanded as she looked around.

A rather pathetic kick was sent towards Marrow's gut from Tanya, but Marrow drew her stomach with ease, allowing the kick to barely skim her belly. The butt of the bone dagger was sent into Tanya's temple, knocking her unconscious. Tanya fell backwards limply, only to be caught by the casual hand of Marrow.

In her moment of distraction, one of the customers in the room came up from behind Marrow. Crashing a chair, which broke somewhat easily, into her back, the man was soon greeted with a furious slash into his gut by the bone dagger as Marrow spun around in great anger.

He gasped as a pool of blood came from his stomach, holding his hands down before him with his head hung to examine. But soon was put out of the pain by a rather long front kick into his jaw. A sickening crack echoed through-out the bar, as the former shell of a man collapsed.

A short time had passed before Bobby Drake's eyes fluttered open, where he found himself leaning up against an ambulance's side. A paramedic drew a flash light to his eye immediately. Bobby had somehow been transformed back to his human state, clothes back to normal.

Our hero swatted at the light aimlessly, a bit aggervated from it.

"What happened...?" Bobby mumbled tiredly.

"We found you lying unconscious in a pool of water just not to long ago. You'll be fine, though." The paramedic said reassuringly.

Bobby nodded slowly as he stood to his feet, inching his way up the side of the ambulance for support. The paramedic left the scene, walking back up to the front of the ambulance.

Harry stood not to far down from Bobby, holding his hands in his pockets. Bobby struggled to make his way towards Harry, limping slightly from the battle not so long ago with the Brotherhood.

Two paramedics guided a stretcher, a black leather bag zipped over the shell of a man who's life was taken earlier that night at the hand's of Marrow. Bobby's eyes gazed down to it, before looking back up to Harry with an utterly confused look.

"What happened?!" Bobby demanded, his voice a mix of fear and anger.

"That pink lady, the one with all the bones in her body..." Harry started, feeling a bit ill at the thought of her. "She tossed around a few guys and then took the French broad you were talkin' to earlier."

"Tanya?"

"Yeah.."

"French?"

Bobby appeared dumfound. Harry just stared him down, but came to the conclusion of a shook head. Harry slowly walked passed Bobby, setting his hand down on his shoulder as if to comfort him and began walking away.

The sounds of voices over the police car radios and casual speaking, along with the movements of red and blue siryn lights and movements of the police, customers, and paramedics around him, were the only things that accompanied him while left to struggle for purpose to this all.

NEXT ISSUE: Tanya at the mercy of Marrow!!