XMEN Day 6: Mafia Hit - A Bloody Puddle Named Desire

The mutants huddled inside the transport as one of them drove down the abandoned highway. They’d been out of the camp for hours now, but the events that had transpired there still reverberated through their minds. They’d found a hanging corpse, nearly decapitated from the metal wire looped around her throat. They’d buried the mutant they thought responsible alive, leaving her to a fate that many would consider worse than death. Then, finally, they had witnessed a fight between their guardian and guide, Sabertooth, against his former lover, Mystique. Had he killed her? Probably not, she was supposed to be tough. Would she find them again? Only time would tell. The physical would she had inflicted upon Sabertooth was bleeding still, though it was barely a trickle now. Even without his mutant powers, he was still a very strong man.

The silence was broken when a blast of energy, originating from the left side of the road, struck the street in front of them. A sentinel ambush! The driver of the transport swerved to the right, off the road and in to a snowy field. The transport careened over dips and bumps, large rocks and banks of snow, leaving the sentinel far behind. The transport was sturdy, and could take a good amount of abuse. Close ahead, the field ended, giving way to trees and eventually a thick forest. The driver of the transport steered it in to the tree line, at first dodging the larger trees and mowing over the small ones. The woods quickly got thicker, though, and eventually the pilot swerved around one tree, only to slide hard in to a second. The transport shook with impact, but was not damaged. The driver of the vehicle stopped it, and turned around to tell the others: “We can’t go any further, we have to go on foot or turn around.”

Turning around was not an option, so the mutants quickly piled out of the transport. Quinn looked in to the distance, where the flat terrain turned in to high, wooded hills. She spotted a cluster of structures on the hillside, several miles away. She pointed towards them and said, “Split up, and meet there.” Sabertooth then hoisted her on to his shoulder and took off running, quickly disappearing in to the woods. The mutants knew why they were splitting off: sacrifice. The sentinel would no doubt chase one of them down and kill them, but in the time it took it to do so, the others could hopefully make it to safety. Splitting up ensured that most of them survived. The mutants all took off running, both solo and in pairs, hoping that they would not be the unlucky ones to be caught.

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Minutes later, Desire and another ran through the woods, as they heard the sentinel closing hot on their trail. It was closing in on them fast, and Desire’s mind raced, trying to find a way out. All thoughts were cut short, though, as her companion’s leg slipped between hers, stopping her stride and spilling her on to the ground. As she fell, her head cracked hard against a rock. “Had that been intentional?” her addled mind wondered. The question was soon answered as her companion continued running without pause, leaving her to her fate.

As she was struggling to rise despite an obvious and severe concussion, the sentinel came. She froze in fear as she watched it approach. Her powers were useless against a machine, although she could have maybe defended herself from the other, if only she had known… The sentinel stood over her, staring at her. Blue light emanated from the machine and washed over her motionless form. After a moment, the machine spoke: “Desiree Connor”. Then, it raised one leg and brought it back down squarely on top of the helpless woman, crushing her body against the rocks and earth beneath her, and turning her in to a bloody jelly. It then continued on, hoping to pick up the trails of the other mutants, but doubtful of its chances.