All around, everyone was surprised. Only one person in the room had ever really dealt with Sentinels before, and that was Kitty, although Meggan had encountered things like them. Andre, Lars, and Illyana did not even know what they were, and had never seen one. No one had seen the latest, new Prime Sentinel version. So, needless to say, everybody was surprised.
But no one was more suprised than Andre.
"What is this?!" Andre screamed. "What’s happening?!" He ran to Jill, checking her.
"We’ve already explained to you," Jill said. "Now, we are to engage combat." Jill raised her hands, preparing to blast him.
Swiftly, Neophyte flew into action. He morphed through the floor, grabbing Andre along the way, and re-appeared across the room. "Jill" wound up blasting the wall with a surprised look on her face.
Meggan jumped into action. She did not have the connections to Jill that Andre once did, so this was obviously easier for her to do. Nonetheless, she could not help feeling bad about hitting Jill. She did not hit her with all her strength, because she did not really want to hurt her. Maybe somehow she could be saved....
Jill did not even blink when Meggan hit her. She hit Meggan right back, right across the face, and Meggan screamed in pain and shock.
Kitty ran to Meggan, and helped her up.
Immediately, the other Prime Sentinels flew into action. Three of them took advantage of the one person who had just stood there in surprise. They blasted Illyana until she fell unconscious.
"Oh, no!" Kitty shouted, running intangibly to Illyana’s aid. She glanced back at Meggan. The numbers were not even, not at all. There were seven of these new Prime Sentinels, and only five members of Excalibur- four of which were conscious, and two of which were experienced members. What were they going to do?
Meggan reacted instinctively. She flew towards the three sentinels who had attacked Illyana, and quickly knocked them down with all her strength, one by one.
Meanwhile, Neophyte and Andre where being chased through the house by another Sentinel, the one that used to be Dove.
"Dove!" Andre shouted. "Why don’t you leave us alone?!
"This unit is not Dove," "Dove" spoke. "This unit is Prime Sentinel #167." She blasted at Andre and he dodged the blast, barely.
"This is crazy, Andre!" Neophyte shouted, running into the bedroom and slamming the door on the Sentinel.
"Call me Blue during battle, Neophyte," Blue corrected. Neophyte nodded, and smiled grimly. The door began to break under stress, and the two stood back. Blue held his hands up at the door and prepared himself.
"Dove" blasted through the door, and the moment she did, Blue hit her with as much of the hottest water he could muster. It flew out of his hands and directly at "Dove’s" face. "Dove" screamed.
"This unit’s visual sensors are damaged!" "Dove" shouted. "Switching to infrared scanners."
Blue kept hitting her, until her "skin" melted off, and metal was revealed to be underneath. Blue and Neophyte gasped. They were beginning to understand that these things weren’t just human. They lost their humanity long ago.
The Prime Sentinel that was once Dove fell to the floor.
Blue and Neophyte sighed in relief. Blue’s eyes began to tear, and Neophyte gave him a hug. "She wasn’t real," Neophyte assured him.
"I know," Andre said. "But that doesn’t make it any easier."
***
Back in the kitchen, Meggan was battling three of the sentinels, and Kitty lay in the middle of the floor, guarding Illyana’s body from the sentinel once known as Jill. Meggan had managed to knock two of the sentinels down.
"Defending yourself is useless," "Jill" insisted. "This unit is logging proceeding encounters. Operating parameters reformatted for phasing fields. It will be a matter of moments before we can counteract it."
Kitty’s mind raced. She phased tangible, vulnerable before Illyana’s body, and she jump-kicked "Jill" right in the face.
"Jill" hit Kitty right back, giving her a bloody nose. Kitty fell to the floor.
Meggan was still dodging around and hitting the other three prime sentinels when she saw Kitty. She concentrated, and came up with an idea. Focusing her powers, she short-circuited the prime sentinel’s energy fields, knocking them all "unconscious." They fell to the floor, as did Meggan. Kitty ran over to her. "Are you okay?" she fretted.
"Yeah, it’s just that doing that took a lot outta me," Meggan explained. "I’ve never done it before."
"Well, you did fine, Meggan," Kitty insisted. "Thank you."
"Anytime, friend," Meggan grinned, getting up again. "How’s Illyana?"
They walked over to Illyana, and Meggan gently picked her up. "We have to find Blue and Neophyte," Kitty decided.
"We’re right here," Blue whispered, walking into the room.
We have to get out of here, guys," Kitty said. "We’ll try and make it back to the plane, okay?"
"Okay," Neophyte said. Blue just kept silent. His face turned pale at the sight of his "friends" on the floor, but he nonetheless stepped over them and left his old apartment.
"Well, looks like I need a new place to live," Blue said.
They all looked at him sympathetically.
To Be Continued
Next: More OZT!
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