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om_mainNico and Illyana, on another unauthorized field trip, get caught by Stryker's religious cult. How is it they always seem to screw up?
"How's this?" Illyana asked as they appeared in the graveyard. It looked just like it had on its page online - sort of in the middle of nowhere in Nevada, with some pretty cool tombstones and mausoleums (which had been the focus of the article, not that she'd read it in any detail). Best of all, it seemed to be totally deserved, and far enough off any main roads, even assuming there were any out here.
Still, it was Nico's call. If there wasn't anything here that interested him, they could always try somewhere else.
Nico shrugged. "Should work," he answered easily, already walking away from her to walk amongst the tombs. He could feel them beneath him, just aching to join in. With a slight grin, he turned back towards Yana, "Whatcha want to do?"
"No preference," Illyana admitted, grinning crookedly. "Mostly I just wanted to get away from the cold for a while and hang out. It seems like I haven't seen you in ages." Which wasn't true, really, but between the holidays and her job and stuff, it kind of felt like it. The fact she'd actually been sleeping more than not lately probably factored in, too.
"We have classes together," Nico pointed out, toeing the ground a little to hide the fact that he had also noticed her absent since Vance got there. Not that Vance wasn't hot and everyth--gods dammit.
Turning away from Yana to hide his blush, Nico pretended to read the nearby headstones. Way to go Nico, ruining the trip before its even really started.
"Well, yeah, but it's not like we do anything in class," Illyana pointed out, then made a face. "Other than study for our Life Sciences test. I think I might have actually passed it." She came over, oblivious to his embarrassment, and looked at the tombstone. "Something interesting?" she asked.
After actually taking a minute to read the stone, Nico couldn't help but think: No, this is literally the most boring tombstone I've ever had the misfortune of puzzling to read. Instead he answered, "I don't know if I did too good on them. But at least we don't have someone putting, 'Here rests this guy' on our headstones, right?"
"Oh, you're kidding, right?" Illyana read the tombstone which...okay, didn't quite say that, but it was pretty close. "Damn. I'd want something better than that on mine." She looked over at Nico, curious. "What about you? What would you want yours to say?"
"Death is a friend of ours; and he that is not ready to entertain him is not at home," Nico mumbled. Then he looked up towards her, "I, uh, heard that somewhere and it stuck. You?"
"I don't know," Illyana admitted, then nudged him and smiled. "Sounds like you're the expert. Pick me something good, okay?"
Nico very sincerely hoped it never came to that. Instead he rolled his eyes, and asked, "Are we gonna keep talking about feelings or are we gonna raise some dead people?"
"Wow, sorry," Illyana grumbled. She walked a few tombstones away before gesturing vaguely towards the cemetery. "Go for it. It's not like you need me for anything other than transportation." Which sucked, really, but whatever. They were here; it wasn't like she was going to drag him back just because he was being a dick.
*****
On the far side of the cemetery, and man in a camo hunting jacket stood near a mausoleum watching the pair. Out of towners, from the look of it - at first he'd thought it was a couple of kids from the compound, but given the way the girl was dressed, he abandoned that idea pretty quickly. Definitely not one of the faithful - which was both a relief and a puzzle. Granted, he hadn't wanted to haul his idiot niece before the elders again for lewd behavior, but the thing was, he couldn't place how the hell the two kids had gotten out here to begin with. There weren't any cars in sight, and he hadn't seen any on the highway since he'd come out to pull the weeds out of his mother-in-law's grave about an hour back. All he'd seen was that flash of light that had caught his attention to begin with.
Walter Delaney's eyes narrowed, and he took another step back into the shadows, still keeping the two in sight as he pulled his phone from his pocket. Something strange was going on here, and damned if he was going to wait around and find out what. Just in case, though, some backup seemed like it would be a real good thing. He might not have served out his full term in the Marines, back in the day, but there were things he'd always kept in mind as good, practical advice. Keeping your team apprised of your whereabouts was right up there on the list, and so was calling for backup when you saw something suspicious. This seemed like a place where both applied really well.
*****
Nico scowled slightly, because he felt like he had done something wrong. Girls.
So, it wasn't hard to feel the anger pool in his stomach and reach out to feel his friends beneath the ground. He wasn't surprised when the ground began to rumble and the graves began to open.
Illyana felt the ground rumbling, and plopped down out of the way of any burial sites to watch the show. Nico seemed annoyed - well, whatever. They hadn't spent much time together recently; it was totally reasonable to want to talk a while before he got to work summoning up zombies, especially seeing as they hadn't come with any kind of a plan or anything to begin with. She pulled out a couple blades of grass and set to tying them in knots, though her eyes continued casting around for any sign of body parts popping out of graves. Just because Nico was being a jerk didn't mean she wanted to miss the show.
*****
Mr. Delaney could not have picked a more creepy place to need backup, is what most of the younger recruits called in for back up were thinking. They would have spoken it too, if not for the harsh glares and reminding words from the more experienced.
Anne stalked quietly up to where Martin was hiding. "Situation?" She whispered, trying to make sure nothing had changed since he called it in. Based on the shaking ground, she would say something had changed.
Walter scowled. Call for backup, and they send him kids, with Anne acting like she had some kind of damn authority over her betters. He'd have a talk with her father when this was over, see if he didn't. Meanwhile, though, they were all he had, and with things going to hell faster than he'd have thought possible, he'd take what he could get. "Fuck if I know. Damn kids were just suddenly here, and now the ground's rumbling like it hasn't since that big quake up in Big Bear. And...God save us, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" he added, eyes widening at the sight of a hand reaching up out of one of the graves.
*****
Nico smiled when the first hands started breaking through. He turned back towards Yana to see if she was impressed and if she wasn't mad at him anymore.
Oh, so now she was supposed to play cheerleader? Illyana sighed - honestly, guys were so predictable - then smiled back crookedly, pulling out her phone to take videos. "What're you going to have them do?" she asked, both for benefit of the recording and just to break the silence.
*****
"Demons," one of the boys whispered, and Walter let out a snort that mingled acknowledgement, agreement, and an observation that George's middle son (damned if he could think of the kid's name right now) was stating the obvious. Still, he felt that same creeping shiver run up his spine that he had when he first sighted the enemy in combat. He'd seen 'em on tv, sure - Canada was making a regular thing of them, but then, you couldn't expect better of the damn Canucks. Wasn't the same as seeing them in person, though.
"Michael, take Anne and two others around, circle in on the girl." If they were careful about it, they should be able to follow the line of the mausoleums and get in close. "Rest of you, take on the boy. Looks like he's the one causing this, so go careful."
"Why don't we just shoot 'em? Michael countered, raising his gun. "The Reverend says the demons ain't human. Might as well just put 'em down -"
"Reverend says to bring 'em in," Walter reminded his eldest grandson. "Wants to make an example of them. Knock 'em out, bang 'em around all you want, but keep them alive. For now," he amended as an afterthought, sending up a prayer to the Lord that the Reverend's orders weren't going to cost them any of the brethren. Granted, the demons looked like half grown brats, but that didn't mean they were.
*****
Nico walked over to where Yana was sitting and squatted down in front of her, mindful she was recording it. "I feel like I need to say sorry..." And then, gesturing to his friends who were one by one getting out of their graves and getting their bearings, added, "And it's up to you. You're more than just transportation."
"Not really," Illyana admitted with a shrug of her shoulders, but she offered a more genuine smile than the one she'd been wearing. "And it's okay. I just wanted to hang out for a while, y'know? Things have been crazy the last couple of months, between finals and my new job and the new roommate and Spain and whatever." And then, too, it seemed like he'd been spending a lot of time with Vic, which was...yeah. Not something she wanted to get in the middle of again. She shrugged again, brushing that aside, then grinned. "Anyway, go on. The zombies are waiting; we can talk after you're done. Not like we don't have all day."
*****
Zombies? This was worse than Anne could have suspected. She exchanged a glance with Michael and warily noted his hand on his gun. "Remember, capture, not kill," she whispered to him, waiting for the boy to turn back around so they could grab the girl.
"Yeah, yeah, I heard him, Annie," Michael whispered back. "Y'know, you talk like that where he can hear you, he's gonna drag you up before the elders, just like he did Sarah. Ain't your place." Not that he totally disagreed with that, either, but he wasn't about to voice it aloud. Well enough to know women needed to know their place; it was a bit harder to put it into practice where Anne was concerned. "You brought the knock-out crap? We should be able to knock her out right quick; doesn't look like she's got any tricks of her own. Could be she's just here with the other one."
*****
"K," Nico mumbled, somehow feeling unsettled still. Whatever. Nico stood turned back towards his minions. What was it that Yana had said she wanted the zombies to do...? Oh yeah--Thriller. "Come here," Nico commanded, figuring it'd be easier to film closer up.
"What are you going to do?" Illyana asked as she scrambled to her feet and checked to make sure her phone was in focus, watching as the zombies started lining up in front of him. That was...oh man, he was actually going to do it, wasn't he? She laughed aloud, but the sound was cut off abruptly as a hand holding a cloyingly sweet smelling rag clamped itself over her face and another grabbed at her arm. Instinctively, Illyana held her breath, trying to avoid inhaling any more of the stuff, and bit at the hand swimming in front of her face. The hand's owner let out a gasp, and Illyana thrust her free elbow backwards, trying to surprise her captor into loosening her hold.
It worked, but not well enough for her to break free. Eyes blazing, she managed to jerk her face away from the woman's hand and to gasp out "Nico!" in warning, but her vision was swimming and she couldn't tell which of the three figures she could see was actually him.
"Damn it, Anne, can't you do anything right?" Illyana heard a male voice say as she tried to summon up a stepping disk of her own, hoping she could at least use it to get to Nico. A jagged circle formed around her feet for a moment, prompting a cry of "What the fuck?" from another voice, but before she could manage to complete it, she felt a hand connect hard with her jaw and her head snapped backwards.
Nico was so focused on his dead friends, he didn't notice the scuffle until he heard Yana cry out his name. He turned just in time to see Yana get punched--she was surrounded by armed adults.
Everything seemed to fade away until all Nico could hear was the sound of his own blood pumping, and all he could think was I'm not going to lose anyone else. With a loud yell, he ran towards the people attacking Yana, hearing rather than seeing his corpses following him into battle.
Concentrate. She couldn't concentrate - her jaw was throbbing, and more hands had grabbed at her. Illyana used the energy from her aborted stepping disk to push one of them away, trying to focus on where Nico was and what was happening around her. Another blow - this one to her eye - sent her reeling backwards again, leaving her with nothing more than a vague impression of Nico charging towards her with an army of zombies following behind before they were lost to sight. Hands clamped hard around her arms, pinning them behind her. "She's demon-spawn too!" one of the voices shouted out. "You sure we can't just take her out now?"
"Reverend Stryker said no!" another shouted back even as that sank in. Demon spawn. She...no. She was, maybe, but Nico wasn't. She kicked out at one of her assailants, hoping to land a blow, and opened her mouth to point that out, but the attempt was feeble and the rag was once again pressed down over her face. "Don't worry," the first voice drawled as she started to lose consciousness. "You'll get yours soon enough. Reverend wants to make an example of you."
She heard a gunshot ring out, and made one last attempt at a struggle before everything grayed out, her phone slipping from her fingers as she fell.
*****
"Careful where you're shooting!" Walter shouted as one of the damn brats took a shot at one of the risen dead. Damn it, call for backup and get a bunch of raw kids. Just what he needed. Still, he couldn't argue that watching the dead rise from their graves had left him feeling pretty unnerved himself. Reverend was right - muties were a bunch of demons, straight from the pits of hell.
'Least they hadn't brought back his mother-in-law, he consoled himself. She'd been a big enough bitch when she was alive.
"Got a tranq gun in the truck," Elias' youngest pointed out from his left. "Kid's pretty scrawny, though. Might do him in."
Walter paused for just an instant, but his eyes hardened. "Get it. We'll take the chance."
*****
"Protect the girl," Nico yelled out in command, knowing his minions would attempt to do his bidding. He saw one of them take a shot but that's the glorious thing with the dead--once dead, always dead. He kept on chugging. He watched as one went straight for the people surrounding Yana.
Meanwhile, Nico reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his trusty pocket knife. Shit was about to get real, real fast. Nico felt like his senses were on overdrive and, completely disregarding his own safety, threw himself into the throng with his troops.
Anne dragged the girl backwards, seething as she watched the fight going on around her. Idiots, every last one of them. From Walter with his threats to Michael with his snide comments - she bit back an urge to laugh as the latter shrieked at the sight of tne of the zombies charging towards him, not even thinking to raise the gun he'd been carting around with him since they arrived. Served him right, though she dropped her eyes a moment later before anyone could take note of her reaction. Walter hated her - it wouldn't take more than that for him to label her as demon spawn right along with the two kids.
She dropped the girl on the ground, mindful that she was supposed to be guarding her, and glanced back at the fight. A few more shots had rung out before her idiot brother and his friends had realized that shooting at the dead didn't have any more effect here than it did in the movies, but they'd abandoned that tactic and had charged into the fray. Michael was down, apparently knocked over by the zombie, who much to her surprise wasn't diving in to feed off him, but Daniel had headed straight for the kid controlling them. Not such an idiot, maybe, though she gasped a moment later as the kid's knife struck home in her brother's arm.
She glanced over towards Walter, waiting to see if he was going to call out any further instructions, and saw Fred crouched down, hunting gun in his hands, taking careful aim at the kid through its sights. So much for taking them prisoner, she supposed, but with Daniel out there bleeding like a stuck pig, she wasn't about to argue. At least the girl was still unconscious. She wasn't sure what all that glowing had been about, but she didn't want to find out, either.
The problem with Nico jumping straight into fighting without thinking was, well, he didn't think. What did he care that he was one kid with zombies against a ton of grown ups with guns? They could suck it. Nico had lived on the streets for years. This wasn't his first fight, and he felt a faint sense of accomplishment when his knife sunk into one of the Fuckers arms. Serves him right.
He only looked away from the fray for a second, to check on Yana's location (she was off in the distance with a woman standing over her) when he felt something sharp puncture his leg. Looking down, he growled when he saw a dart in his leg. A fucking dart. Honestly.
Nico yanked it out of his leg but he could already feel himself getting woozy, which made keeping up this many guys hard to do. His friends sensed it though and thus started doubling back to protect their master. It wouldn't last for long though.
"I'm...sorry..." Nico managed to get out between clenched teeth, dropping to his knees as he attempted to fight off his fatigue and keep control of his men.
Walter clamped Fred's shoulder with his hand. "Nice shot, kid," he growled, watching as the boy fell to his knees. Much to his relief (not that he'd have voiced it), the dead men walking started to shimmer and fade, making it clear that the male demon spawn had definitely been the one controlling them. The female one was off a ways (who the hell had left that to Anne? He was going to ream him out; there wasn't any need for that, and the girl had enough trouble knowing her place without being granted any special treatment), apparently out for the count, and he nodded overall approval. "Right," he called out, heading in himself for the first time. "Daniel, clean wound?" The young man nodded, and Walter let out a sigh of relief. Hopefully it wouldn't get infected - well, it was as the Lord willed. "Get Anne to wrap something 'round your arm; we'll get you stitched up when we get back to the compound. Michael, Frank, grab the kid and make sure he's out of it." He headed over towards the girl and hefted her over his shoulder, shooing Anne off to her proper tasks and ignoring the way Michael was directing a blow to the kid's gut as Frank hauled him up.
"Take that, you freaky bastard," Michael snarled. "Desecrating the dead? They're back in God's hands, you piece of shit. You hear me? You can't touch 'em. Another punch, this one to the kid's face, and Walter scowled.
"Enough of that." Granted, he understood the desire; some things were just sacred, and making the dead rise was the province of God, not the devil. Still... "Tie up his hands and dump him in the back of the truck. Tranq should keep him out for hours." He wasn't so sure about the girl, but he'd let someone else deal with that once they got back. He looked around at the others, and nodded satisfaction. "You've done the Lord's work today. Reverend Stryker will be pleased."
"How's this?" Illyana asked as they appeared in the graveyard. It looked just like it had on its page online - sort of in the middle of nowhere in Nevada, with some pretty cool tombstones and mausoleums (which had been the focus of the article, not that she'd read it in any detail). Best of all, it seemed to be totally deserved, and far enough off any main roads, even assuming there were any out here.
Still, it was Nico's call. If there wasn't anything here that interested him, they could always try somewhere else.
Nico shrugged. "Should work," he answered easily, already walking away from her to walk amongst the tombs. He could feel them beneath him, just aching to join in. With a slight grin, he turned back towards Yana, "Whatcha want to do?"
"No preference," Illyana admitted, grinning crookedly. "Mostly I just wanted to get away from the cold for a while and hang out. It seems like I haven't seen you in ages." Which wasn't true, really, but between the holidays and her job and stuff, it kind of felt like it. The fact she'd actually been sleeping more than not lately probably factored in, too.
"We have classes together," Nico pointed out, toeing the ground a little to hide the fact that he had also noticed her absent since Vance got there. Not that Vance wasn't hot and everyth--gods dammit.
Turning away from Yana to hide his blush, Nico pretended to read the nearby headstones. Way to go Nico, ruining the trip before its even really started.
"Well, yeah, but it's not like we do anything in class," Illyana pointed out, then made a face. "Other than study for our Life Sciences test. I think I might have actually passed it." She came over, oblivious to his embarrassment, and looked at the tombstone. "Something interesting?" she asked.
After actually taking a minute to read the stone, Nico couldn't help but think: No, this is literally the most boring tombstone I've ever had the misfortune of puzzling to read. Instead he answered, "I don't know if I did too good on them. But at least we don't have someone putting, 'Here rests this guy' on our headstones, right?"
"Oh, you're kidding, right?" Illyana read the tombstone which...okay, didn't quite say that, but it was pretty close. "Damn. I'd want something better than that on mine." She looked over at Nico, curious. "What about you? What would you want yours to say?"
"Death is a friend of ours; and he that is not ready to entertain him is not at home," Nico mumbled. Then he looked up towards her, "I, uh, heard that somewhere and it stuck. You?"
"I don't know," Illyana admitted, then nudged him and smiled. "Sounds like you're the expert. Pick me something good, okay?"
Nico very sincerely hoped it never came to that. Instead he rolled his eyes, and asked, "Are we gonna keep talking about feelings or are we gonna raise some dead people?"
"Wow, sorry," Illyana grumbled. She walked a few tombstones away before gesturing vaguely towards the cemetery. "Go for it. It's not like you need me for anything other than transportation." Which sucked, really, but whatever. They were here; it wasn't like she was going to drag him back just because he was being a dick.
On the far side of the cemetery, and man in a camo hunting jacket stood near a mausoleum watching the pair. Out of towners, from the look of it - at first he'd thought it was a couple of kids from the compound, but given the way the girl was dressed, he abandoned that idea pretty quickly. Definitely not one of the faithful - which was both a relief and a puzzle. Granted, he hadn't wanted to haul his idiot niece before the elders again for lewd behavior, but the thing was, he couldn't place how the hell the two kids had gotten out here to begin with. There weren't any cars in sight, and he hadn't seen any on the highway since he'd come out to pull the weeds out of his mother-in-law's grave about an hour back. All he'd seen was that flash of light that had caught his attention to begin with.
Walter Delaney's eyes narrowed, and he took another step back into the shadows, still keeping the two in sight as he pulled his phone from his pocket. Something strange was going on here, and damned if he was going to wait around and find out what. Just in case, though, some backup seemed like it would be a real good thing. He might not have served out his full term in the Marines, back in the day, but there were things he'd always kept in mind as good, practical advice. Keeping your team apprised of your whereabouts was right up there on the list, and so was calling for backup when you saw something suspicious. This seemed like a place where both applied really well.
Nico scowled slightly, because he felt like he had done something wrong. Girls.
So, it wasn't hard to feel the anger pool in his stomach and reach out to feel his friends beneath the ground. He wasn't surprised when the ground began to rumble and the graves began to open.
Illyana felt the ground rumbling, and plopped down out of the way of any burial sites to watch the show. Nico seemed annoyed - well, whatever. They hadn't spent much time together recently; it was totally reasonable to want to talk a while before he got to work summoning up zombies, especially seeing as they hadn't come with any kind of a plan or anything to begin with. She pulled out a couple blades of grass and set to tying them in knots, though her eyes continued casting around for any sign of body parts popping out of graves. Just because Nico was being a jerk didn't mean she wanted to miss the show.
Mr. Delaney could not have picked a more creepy place to need backup, is what most of the younger recruits called in for back up were thinking. They would have spoken it too, if not for the harsh glares and reminding words from the more experienced.
Anne stalked quietly up to where Martin was hiding. "Situation?" She whispered, trying to make sure nothing had changed since he called it in. Based on the shaking ground, she would say something had changed.
Walter scowled. Call for backup, and they send him kids, with Anne acting like she had some kind of damn authority over her betters. He'd have a talk with her father when this was over, see if he didn't. Meanwhile, though, they were all he had, and with things going to hell faster than he'd have thought possible, he'd take what he could get. "Fuck if I know. Damn kids were just suddenly here, and now the ground's rumbling like it hasn't since that big quake up in Big Bear. And...God save us, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" he added, eyes widening at the sight of a hand reaching up out of one of the graves.
Nico smiled when the first hands started breaking through. He turned back towards Yana to see if she was impressed and if she wasn't mad at him anymore.
Oh, so now she was supposed to play cheerleader? Illyana sighed - honestly, guys were so predictable - then smiled back crookedly, pulling out her phone to take videos. "What're you going to have them do?" she asked, both for benefit of the recording and just to break the silence.
"Demons," one of the boys whispered, and Walter let out a snort that mingled acknowledgement, agreement, and an observation that George's middle son (damned if he could think of the kid's name right now) was stating the obvious. Still, he felt that same creeping shiver run up his spine that he had when he first sighted the enemy in combat. He'd seen 'em on tv, sure - Canada was making a regular thing of them, but then, you couldn't expect better of the damn Canucks. Wasn't the same as seeing them in person, though.
"Michael, take Anne and two others around, circle in on the girl." If they were careful about it, they should be able to follow the line of the mausoleums and get in close. "Rest of you, take on the boy. Looks like he's the one causing this, so go careful."
"Why don't we just shoot 'em? Michael countered, raising his gun. "The Reverend says the demons ain't human. Might as well just put 'em down -"
"Reverend says to bring 'em in," Walter reminded his eldest grandson. "Wants to make an example of them. Knock 'em out, bang 'em around all you want, but keep them alive. For now," he amended as an afterthought, sending up a prayer to the Lord that the Reverend's orders weren't going to cost them any of the brethren. Granted, the demons looked like half grown brats, but that didn't mean they were.
Nico walked over to where Yana was sitting and squatted down in front of her, mindful she was recording it. "I feel like I need to say sorry..." And then, gesturing to his friends who were one by one getting out of their graves and getting their bearings, added, "And it's up to you. You're more than just transportation."
"Not really," Illyana admitted with a shrug of her shoulders, but she offered a more genuine smile than the one she'd been wearing. "And it's okay. I just wanted to hang out for a while, y'know? Things have been crazy the last couple of months, between finals and my new job and the new roommate and Spain and whatever." And then, too, it seemed like he'd been spending a lot of time with Vic, which was...yeah. Not something she wanted to get in the middle of again. She shrugged again, brushing that aside, then grinned. "Anyway, go on. The zombies are waiting; we can talk after you're done. Not like we don't have all day."
Zombies? This was worse than Anne could have suspected. She exchanged a glance with Michael and warily noted his hand on his gun. "Remember, capture, not kill," she whispered to him, waiting for the boy to turn back around so they could grab the girl.
"Yeah, yeah, I heard him, Annie," Michael whispered back. "Y'know, you talk like that where he can hear you, he's gonna drag you up before the elders, just like he did Sarah. Ain't your place." Not that he totally disagreed with that, either, but he wasn't about to voice it aloud. Well enough to know women needed to know their place; it was a bit harder to put it into practice where Anne was concerned. "You brought the knock-out crap? We should be able to knock her out right quick; doesn't look like she's got any tricks of her own. Could be she's just here with the other one."
"K," Nico mumbled, somehow feeling unsettled still. Whatever. Nico stood turned back towards his minions. What was it that Yana had said she wanted the zombies to do...? Oh yeah--Thriller. "Come here," Nico commanded, figuring it'd be easier to film closer up.
"What are you going to do?" Illyana asked as she scrambled to her feet and checked to make sure her phone was in focus, watching as the zombies started lining up in front of him. That was...oh man, he was actually going to do it, wasn't he? She laughed aloud, but the sound was cut off abruptly as a hand holding a cloyingly sweet smelling rag clamped itself over her face and another grabbed at her arm. Instinctively, Illyana held her breath, trying to avoid inhaling any more of the stuff, and bit at the hand swimming in front of her face. The hand's owner let out a gasp, and Illyana thrust her free elbow backwards, trying to surprise her captor into loosening her hold.
It worked, but not well enough for her to break free. Eyes blazing, she managed to jerk her face away from the woman's hand and to gasp out "Nico!" in warning, but her vision was swimming and she couldn't tell which of the three figures she could see was actually him.
"Damn it, Anne, can't you do anything right?" Illyana heard a male voice say as she tried to summon up a stepping disk of her own, hoping she could at least use it to get to Nico. A jagged circle formed around her feet for a moment, prompting a cry of "What the fuck?" from another voice, but before she could manage to complete it, she felt a hand connect hard with her jaw and her head snapped backwards.
Nico was so focused on his dead friends, he didn't notice the scuffle until he heard Yana cry out his name. He turned just in time to see Yana get punched--she was surrounded by armed adults.
Everything seemed to fade away until all Nico could hear was the sound of his own blood pumping, and all he could think was I'm not going to lose anyone else. With a loud yell, he ran towards the people attacking Yana, hearing rather than seeing his corpses following him into battle.
Concentrate. She couldn't concentrate - her jaw was throbbing, and more hands had grabbed at her. Illyana used the energy from her aborted stepping disk to push one of them away, trying to focus on where Nico was and what was happening around her. Another blow - this one to her eye - sent her reeling backwards again, leaving her with nothing more than a vague impression of Nico charging towards her with an army of zombies following behind before they were lost to sight. Hands clamped hard around her arms, pinning them behind her. "She's demon-spawn too!" one of the voices shouted out. "You sure we can't just take her out now?"
"Reverend Stryker said no!" another shouted back even as that sank in. Demon spawn. She...no. She was, maybe, but Nico wasn't. She kicked out at one of her assailants, hoping to land a blow, and opened her mouth to point that out, but the attempt was feeble and the rag was once again pressed down over her face. "Don't worry," the first voice drawled as she started to lose consciousness. "You'll get yours soon enough. Reverend wants to make an example of you."
She heard a gunshot ring out, and made one last attempt at a struggle before everything grayed out, her phone slipping from her fingers as she fell.
"Careful where you're shooting!" Walter shouted as one of the damn brats took a shot at one of the risen dead. Damn it, call for backup and get a bunch of raw kids. Just what he needed. Still, he couldn't argue that watching the dead rise from their graves had left him feeling pretty unnerved himself. Reverend was right - muties were a bunch of demons, straight from the pits of hell.
'Least they hadn't brought back his mother-in-law, he consoled himself. She'd been a big enough bitch when she was alive.
"Got a tranq gun in the truck," Elias' youngest pointed out from his left. "Kid's pretty scrawny, though. Might do him in."
Walter paused for just an instant, but his eyes hardened. "Get it. We'll take the chance."
"Protect the girl," Nico yelled out in command, knowing his minions would attempt to do his bidding. He saw one of them take a shot but that's the glorious thing with the dead--once dead, always dead. He kept on chugging. He watched as one went straight for the people surrounding Yana.
Meanwhile, Nico reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his trusty pocket knife. Shit was about to get real, real fast. Nico felt like his senses were on overdrive and, completely disregarding his own safety, threw himself into the throng with his troops.
Anne dragged the girl backwards, seething as she watched the fight going on around her. Idiots, every last one of them. From Walter with his threats to Michael with his snide comments - she bit back an urge to laugh as the latter shrieked at the sight of tne of the zombies charging towards him, not even thinking to raise the gun he'd been carting around with him since they arrived. Served him right, though she dropped her eyes a moment later before anyone could take note of her reaction. Walter hated her - it wouldn't take more than that for him to label her as demon spawn right along with the two kids.
She dropped the girl on the ground, mindful that she was supposed to be guarding her, and glanced back at the fight. A few more shots had rung out before her idiot brother and his friends had realized that shooting at the dead didn't have any more effect here than it did in the movies, but they'd abandoned that tactic and had charged into the fray. Michael was down, apparently knocked over by the zombie, who much to her surprise wasn't diving in to feed off him, but Daniel had headed straight for the kid controlling them. Not such an idiot, maybe, though she gasped a moment later as the kid's knife struck home in her brother's arm.
She glanced over towards Walter, waiting to see if he was going to call out any further instructions, and saw Fred crouched down, hunting gun in his hands, taking careful aim at the kid through its sights. So much for taking them prisoner, she supposed, but with Daniel out there bleeding like a stuck pig, she wasn't about to argue. At least the girl was still unconscious. She wasn't sure what all that glowing had been about, but she didn't want to find out, either.
The problem with Nico jumping straight into fighting without thinking was, well, he didn't think. What did he care that he was one kid with zombies against a ton of grown ups with guns? They could suck it. Nico had lived on the streets for years. This wasn't his first fight, and he felt a faint sense of accomplishment when his knife sunk into one of the Fuckers arms. Serves him right.
He only looked away from the fray for a second, to check on Yana's location (she was off in the distance with a woman standing over her) when he felt something sharp puncture his leg. Looking down, he growled when he saw a dart in his leg. A fucking dart. Honestly.
Nico yanked it out of his leg but he could already feel himself getting woozy, which made keeping up this many guys hard to do. His friends sensed it though and thus started doubling back to protect their master. It wouldn't last for long though.
"I'm...sorry..." Nico managed to get out between clenched teeth, dropping to his knees as he attempted to fight off his fatigue and keep control of his men.
Walter clamped Fred's shoulder with his hand. "Nice shot, kid," he growled, watching as the boy fell to his knees. Much to his relief (not that he'd have voiced it), the dead men walking started to shimmer and fade, making it clear that the male demon spawn had definitely been the one controlling them. The female one was off a ways (who the hell had left that to Anne? He was going to ream him out; there wasn't any need for that, and the girl had enough trouble knowing her place without being granted any special treatment), apparently out for the count, and he nodded overall approval. "Right," he called out, heading in himself for the first time. "Daniel, clean wound?" The young man nodded, and Walter let out a sigh of relief. Hopefully it wouldn't get infected - well, it was as the Lord willed. "Get Anne to wrap something 'round your arm; we'll get you stitched up when we get back to the compound. Michael, Frank, grab the kid and make sure he's out of it." He headed over towards the girl and hefted her over his shoulder, shooing Anne off to her proper tasks and ignoring the way Michael was directing a blow to the kid's gut as Frank hauled him up.
"Take that, you freaky bastard," Michael snarled. "Desecrating the dead? They're back in God's hands, you piece of shit. You hear me? You can't touch 'em. Another punch, this one to the kid's face, and Walter scowled.
"Enough of that." Granted, he understood the desire; some things were just sacred, and making the dead rise was the province of God, not the devil. Still... "Tie up his hands and dump him in the back of the truck. Tranq should keep him out for hours." He wasn't so sure about the girl, but he'd let someone else deal with that once they got back. He looked around at the others, and nodded satisfaction. "You've done the Lord's work today. Reverend Stryker will be pleased."
