Dragon's Claws #20

"Let no one sneer at the bruisers of England - what were the gladiators of Rome, or the bull fighters of Spain, in its palmiest days, compared to England's bruisers?"
- George Borrow 'Lavengro'

The sun hung high in the sky, it's harsh and unforgiving glare striking the top of the dome and cascading down to the Arena below. The Arena itself wasn't much - a big circle with perimeter walls that extended up in excess of fifty feet, with a dozens and dozens of force field generators sitting on top of the walls, creating a network mesh that created the force field itself and prevented things from getting out - such as the combatants that fought within the Arena itself.

At each end of the Arena were the 'corners' where the combatants would appear, ready to duel until one of them was dead or mortally incapacitated - all for the pleasure of the Martian garrisons across the world. There were very few aliens within the Arena itself, but there were guards and then there were the judges. Three dark overseers watching from their tower, deciding the rules as they went. Within the compound that housed the heroes and villains they once battled the judges were referenced as the Fates, for they had the power to let you live or die, depending on how well they had been entertained, or on how much they'd either made or lost, for the Arena was a haven of gambling, not of money but of prestige in the Martian forces.

There were few rules here - kill or be killed, no trying to escape, and due reverence given to the judges at all times. Etorian Kaine had watched the fights, participated in some trial bouts but he had been taking it all in, and soon he was due to go out there himself. The trials were easy enough, pitting him against an alien enemy to see how he did, what odds he would get and give the aliens a feel for how he would do and he knew he had an arena fight scheduled, but his eyes weren't on that, or the judges. His eyes were on the prize he had come for - the circular shield that were embedded in to the Arena walls, the red and white stripes on the outer edges before getting to the white star on the blue background. The shield of Captain America, hung as a trophy and a reminder to the combatants that the greatest fighter of their era had fallen to this enemy.

That pissed him off. More than anything else, he wanted to get them and tear down their trophy, an icon perverted from the ideals it had been used to uphold to a symbol of the Martian victory. He knew that he was going to get the shield from where it was displayed and shove it up whatever orifice the aliens used for arseholes. He just wasn't quite sure of how, yet. Originally it had been embedded in the tarmac of the what had been Cape Citadel, falling from the sky after the initial attack and had dropped and slammed edge down in to the ground. The Martians had taken it from there not long after.

"You're looking at the shield," said a voice and Kaine turned to see who was speaking to him. He smiled as he looked on the worn face that stared back at him.

"Colonel Fury," he said. "Didn't know you were here."

"They don't let me fight," Fury replied. "They just keep me here, let me train the others as best I can and then let them go at each other, knowing it's my stuff that will get someone killed. Mental torture. You're the new guy. Kaine. Never heard of you before."

"I'm not so new," Kaine answered. "Just improved on the man I used to be."

"Which was?"

"Doesn't matter." He looked up through the windows of their holding area, staring at the shield. "That doesn't belong there."

"Got that right, but no way can anyone get it down. It's been tried." Fury sighed. "Ain't ever been in a war that we lost," he said. "Guess it had to happen sooner or later."

"Keep it together, old man," Kaine said. "This battle's not over yet."

"Is for us, no way out." Kaine looked at Fury and he could see the despondency in the man's eyes. He'd seen too many friends die out there and it was because of him in some way, but then a slow smile spread across the man's lips. "They couldn't break me with anything else. Gave them nothing."

"I know," Etorian answered. "You're still a good man, and we're going to get out of here."

"How d'you know?" said Fury.

"Because right about now, someone will be alerting Dragon's Claws to me being here, and they'll come."

Fury shook his "I don't know of them. Heard the name, but not much more, and I doubt even the Avengers could get out of here, let alone these Dragon's Claws."

Kaine shook his head. "That's the thing with them though. With Dragon's Claws about, you never know what's going to happen next." His eyes went back to the shield. "And I should know…" Then the chime sounded and he knew he was up to battle next. "Don't let them touch my stuff," he said to Fury. "I'll be back."

Dragon's Claws gathered in their meeting area, their ordeal at the hands of SX nothing more than a dark memory and they were moving on from it as best they could, although there were one or two loose ends to tidy up first.

"Thanks for getting us out of that one, Cable," Jessica said as she looked on their guest and rescuer. "SX was on us before we even had a chance."

"I know," Nathan Dayspring-Summers replied. "You were lucky on several counts though. First, I'm familiar with the technology that corrupted the X-52 computer system. Techno-organic viruses and I go way back, so I was easily able to fix the problem." The SHIELD agents had read the files on Cable and knew as much - or as little - about him as he wanted them to and that he had been infected by the virus as a child and it had held his powers in check most of his life was well documented. "Second, I'm one of the few people on the planet who can actually get in here without being detected by security."

"How is that?" asked Jack. "So we know?"

"Other than advanced tech from the future, the Arsenal survives in to my timeline," Cable replied. "Bobby, you never wondered how a bunch of rebels against Apocalypse and Stryfe's empire gained as much weapons and tech as we did?"

"You got it from here?" said Roberto and Cable smiled and gave a knowing nod. "Clever."

"It's going to undergo a lot of changes in the next few thousand years, but the structure is secure enough." Cable looked at them all. "I got access in here because I knew the weakspots - time and again this place is broken in to and invaded by hostiles, and I used that knowledge to get in. I've left schematics for you to make the place more secure."

"Thanks," said Jack and he turned to Jessica. "We'll need this more than ever now that X is gone. Whatever Cable did wiped the main memory core. We've the backups that allow the systems to run, but it's not sentient. It's just a computer now."

"Can you fix it?" asked Sam and Cable shook his head.

"Sinister created a virus that was intelligent," he said. "Simply restoring the system wouldn't have been enough, and it infected the core AI and related systems. The anti-virus I introduced destroyed everything that SX was, and in essence he was a corrupted version of X-52."

"You did what you had to," said Jessica. "I think we're all just glad you came to rescue us."

"He didn't," Elena said as she looked at him. "That was accidental. He came here because he needs our help."

"That's pretty rude," said Cable, glowering at her. "Even though you're not really supposed to be able to do that unless I want you to."

"My mind fire abilities let me sense the truth," she said. "You were hiding something."

"What's going on?" asked Roberto, stepping in before it got ugly. "Cable, I've not seen or heard of you since the evacuation to Genosha."

"You know I don't agree with Magnus," Cable replied. "I went to see what else I could do. Domino and I have had more than enough experience fighting guerrilla warfare, so we went on our way to see who we could find. We heard rumours that Logan survived."

"But you felt him die," said Roberto. "Plus his bones were taken from Genosha, I was on the team tasked with finding them."

"No," said Samantha. "Logan's bones are missing. They were never recovered after the initial assault."

"I said it was another mystery for another time," said Jessica. "The bones in Genosha don't… didn't… belong to Logan. They belong to Victor Creed. All except for one hand." She looked at Elena, who knew the fate of that hand well enough. "All I know is this - Creed did something in Genosha, and he escaped from there to Australia and it was in the Outback where Logan stopped him. He never talked about what happened properly but when it was over, the bones were taken away by Magneto, to ensure that nobody could use them again, except for the hand, which is all SHIELD ever found."

"How do you know?" said Elena, her old hatreds resurfacing.

"Because Logan went after him not long after he drafted me in to SHIELD." Jess closed her eyes. "Whatever Creed did, it went beyond anything he'd done before and all Logan said afterwards was 'it's done, just leave it'. So we did. If I'd told you who the bones really belonged to, you might never have gone on the original mission."

"And we didn't find them anyway," said Sam. "Didn't get time."

"So why say they were the bones of Wolverine?" asked Roberto.

"It was one of the few things Magnus and I agreed on - to stop people looking for the bones anywhere else. The heart of Genosha was well guarded," Cable said. "Then again they always had the psionic taint of Creed, so I knew they weren't Logan's. Plus they were a good memorial, and though Magnus and Logan didn't always fight on the same side, they had respect and Magnus used the bones for Logan's tomb."

"You're sure he wouldn't be upset about it, seeing as the two of them were mortal enemies?" Elena suggested, not happy about this at all.

"The way we saw it was if people thought he was dead, then nobody else would be looking for him."

"So? Did you find him?" asked Roberto and Cable shook his head.

"If he's out there, he's in no condition to help or he's captured and can't. Either way, he's gone."

"Back to the story of why you need our help," said Jessica. "Where have you been?"

"The Arena," Cable said. "I got in, I watched and tried to find a way to get people out, but it's been no such luck this far. Domino was captured, and I only just managed to get away, but I've tried getting in since. Last week I saw this." He played a holo-recording. "The man's called Etorian Kaine, nobody knows who he is or where he came from but he's a new addition to the captives and in all of his trials he did this." They watched as Kaine fought the aliens in the trials and defeated them using fighting skills and what appeared to be claws, generated of super-heated plasma and he quickly won his bouts and at the end he shouted:

"Dragon's Claws!"

"That's cute," said Jessica. "I take it he means us?"

"We think so," said Cable. "My underground support team have looked at it, and came to the conclusion he means you. I'd not heard of you until this, but you've garnered a reputation. You've done a lot of little things, and some quite large ones as well. There's only one thing."

"Who is he and why does he call us?" Sam said. "Never seen him before."

"None of us have," Jessica said. "I mean the claws could be localised hot-knives, meaning it could be Pen, but how could he be here?"

"The same way you have the spirit of Arthur inside you?" suggested Sam. "The legacy of the Pendragons is that their spirit never dies and lives on in a new form. The modern day Knights all have their founding in the original Knights of the Round Table."

"Or it could be a trap," said Jack. "We're known, Jess is their number one most wanted and this is a bit obvious."

"We need to think about this," said Jessica. "For now, we can offer you a room while we consider what to do next."

Cable nodded. "All I can ask, but if we can get in and free Etorian Kaine…"

"We might be able to free some others as well," said Roberto, knowing that his former mentor was thinking of Domino, but they all knew of someone who had been captured and sent to the Arena for the sport of the enemy.

They just needed to decide if it was worth the risk…

Kaine stood in the transport tube, waiting to be sent up to the Arena via pneumatic pressure. The access hatch failing to open had caused the deaths of combatants before they even entered the Arena. There were rumours that opposing alien factions sabotaged them deliberately in order to win more prestige by default, though this had never been officially proven. He felt the rush of cold air around him and heard the whirr as the hatch opened and he was blasted up and out. The hatch closed again and he landed in a crouch, keeping his balance as he did so.

"Not a bad way to travel," he muttered as he looked at the screen above the opponents entrance. Smiling Tiger was apparently the name of his enemy and remembrance dawned on him as he felt his mind go back. He knew of this one, formerly a member of the Folding Circle, oft foes of the New Warriors. How was it that he'd been told of him? Wolverine on acid, assuming his healing factor let the drug do what it did and Kaine had an uneasy feeling. "This could be bad." He was fast, had claws, body armour and enhanced senses if he recalled rightly. He also couldn't speak, so far gone in to ferality that he had lost the ability of communication. Even though his opponent was some way from him, Kaine could see that the man, or whatever the hell he was, was ready for this and Kaine focused, three claws appearing on each hand, each claw a foot in length and generated by super-heated plasma. He knew he could extend them or even fire them if he wanted to, but there was no point doing that just yet. The aliens thought he was a melee fighter, getting in up close and personal with his opponent and he knew how to fight. He'd always been good at that, trained with the brightest and the best and he used that to his advantage.

The alien voices announced the match and the combatants and there was some music playing as well, to the cheers of the aliens watching it. The communication devices they used to broadcast the shows, to give an interactive feel, unless it was a major event and then the doors would open to the alien crowds, but this wasn't a major event. It was a first time match for Kaine and he'd been paired against Tiger because of the similarities in powers, though Tiger had obviously been here a while. Then a might GO! Sounded and the battle was on, Smiling Tiger moving across the Arena floor with incredible speed as Kaine wandered forwards, watching him move. There was some space still between them though he'd be there in seconds but he could see patterns in the movement, how Tiger ran and as Tiger leapt towards him, claws bared and ready to slash Kaine in to small pieces, Kaine jumped up and performed a spinning kick that clouted Tiger in the head and Tiger was sent sprawling as Kaine touched down. Tiger was quickly on his feet again and he was angry and he pounced quickly, grappling with Kaine and the two men fought, struggling for supremacy in order to get in close enough to use their claws.

Kaine's claws weren't as versatile as Tiger's, having a more fixed position than the claws at the ends of Tiger's hands, so Tiger had the span on his hand with which to slash, but Kaine's claws produced an exceptional amount of heat, which was causing some discomfort to Tiger. They wrestled on the floor, each trying to get in close yet keep the other away at the same time. Each of them was suffering wounds and cuts from the other, some minor, some major, but nothing that would end this with finality and then Kaine did what he had to do - he shifted his hold and freed his hand. Tiger smiled, giving a hiss as he saw an opening and he struck as Kaine struck as well and Tiger's claws entered his lower abdomen, Kaine's claws hacked in to Tiger's groin. Tiger howled with pain as he felt the claws slice in to his genitalia, the smell of burning flesh filling his hypersensitive nostrils and Kaine took advantage and drove his own claws in to Smiling Tiger's chest, piercing the man's heart and the match was over. He pushed Tiger's corpse off his body and staggered to his feet, seeing how badly injured his gut was. He was barely holding in his guts, but they were there and he was alive, for now and the crowd cheered.

"DRAGON'S CLAWS!!" he shouted, as he held his hand up signalling his victory and then numerous shock weapons struck him and he fell to the floor, knowing this was how the captive was removed from the Arena. He had killed for their amusement, and he hated himself for it, but there was no other way, not until help arrived. He would have time to heal up before his next bout, they had devices that could rebuild flesh and bones. He'd made his point and he looked up seeing the shield hanging there. "Soon," he whispered. "Soon."

At the Arsenal, the team watched the match, using technology provided by Cable to hack in to the signal.

"Can you replay that last bit, and zoom in on his face?" Jessica asked as she watched Kaine lying there. Jack nodded and used the systems to do as she requested. "Soon."

"I wonder what he meant," Sam said. "He certainly called Dragon's Claws." Then she saw something glinting in the sun as the aliens took him away. "What was that?"

"What was what?" asked Roberto.

"I saw a glint."

"You too?" Elena said. "I thought it was just something on screen."

"I'll check," Jack said and he zoomed in on the scene, playing it in slow motion and then they saw it. "Checking." There was an audible silence for a moment. "87 per cent chance of a match."

Sam looked back at the screen. "And that answers that."

"What?" said Cable.

"We're in," said Jessica. "We're going to go in and get Kaine, Domino and whoever else is in there. We'll tear it down or die trying. Guys, get your stuff together."

"What did you see?" Cable asked, not sure what was going on here.

"He was wearing a medallion," said Roberto as he walked over to a drawer and retrieved an object. "Which looks identical to this one." He showed him it. "It's a device for contacting Limbo."

"It looks just like a St Christopher," said Cable as he examined it. "Anyone can have one."

"There are subtle differences that you'd only know if they were pointed out," said Roberto. "It belonged to Pen Dragon, which means if Etorian Kaine has one then there's not many ways he could have gotten hold of it. So he's either Pen Dragon or he's someone who knows about him, and us." He looked at his former mentor. "We'll be ready to go soon enough."

Cable nodded as he watched Roberto leave. He didn't like doing this to him, or any of them. They were good people, doing a great job, but he had other considerations and sacrifices needed to be made. There wasn't any other way and he hoped one day he'd be able to forgive himself for what he was about to do…