_First Floor (administration), Control Tower_

	"I'm telling you, the people have a right to know!"

	Kelly sighed. Ever since she'd taken this job as the secretary for the
Video Rumble, she had dealt with a lot of pushy people--supervillains,
mutants, monsters, time-travelers, Mormons, that sort of thing--but this kid
took the cake.

	He wore a trenchcoat and fedora, with a small hand-lettered sign reading
"Press" sticking out of the fedora's brim, over a T-shirt and slacks. He
gestured importantly with a notepad, like some high-school kid's idea of how
a newspaper reporter should look, and in general kept maintaining that he
should be let into the control booth. It was bad enough that other
kid--Wilde--had managed to accidentally wander up there, but two in one
Rumble would cost Kelly her job.

	She cut off the kid's ranting with one upraised finger. "Listen, Jimmy
Olsen, they aren't letting anyone up there. Especially press. Especially not
now. You'll get your chance, *assuming* you're what you say you are, at the
press conference after the Rumble. Now vamoose."

	"Are you trying to say that you don't respect the First Amend--"

	Kelly pulled open the bottom drawer of her desk and pulled out her Official
Secretarial Tool Of Choice--a double-barrelled shotgun (a small tag hanging
off of the barrel said 'With love, the gang at Id')--and leveled it at the
kid. "I'm trying to say that you've met and exceeded my capacity to be
annoyed. Split or be split, kiddo."

	The kid muttered something vulgar and let himself out.

	Kelly put the shotgun on top of the file cabinet and shuffled her papers.
Yet another crisis, capably handled. What would they do without her?

_Wreckage, Penthouse Floor, RumbleDome Hotel_

	"You...are...a *magnificent* foe!" Kintaro marveled. Colossus handily took
every bit of damage the Shokan took out, and dealt back as much, if not
more. It had been a long time since Kintaro had fought anyone who required
his full strength and skill. He was in his element.

	The man of metal swung his fist without a word in return. Kintaro reached
out both right arms and caught Colossus' punch, retaliating with a heavy
overhand blow from both left arms. Colossus' skin made a heavy ringing sound
as both shots connected, but didn't flinch or go down.

	The series of three fireballs Kintaro spat, on the other hand, *did* take
him down.

	As he caught his breath, Kintaro took stock of the situation. Looking
around, he realized just where his fight had taken him; he was well-removed
from the rest of the action. Point of fact, he was in another room entirely,
one that seemed unoccupied save for three fat ruffians lying unconscious in
the far corner. Kintaro looked down at Colossus. He needed to disable this
man temporarily--the fight could be taken up later, when he was not under
the vampiress's control--and get back to Demitri's suite.

	Colossus interrupted this line of reasoning by grabbing Kintaro by both
ankles, hooking him off his feet, and swinging him around in a circle,
preparing to launch Kintaro through several walls and out of the building.
However, he was not used to fighting a Shokan, and, as such, was unsure what
to do when Kintaro's lower arms grabbed onto his legs and jerked them out
from under him.

	Both fighters went down in a heap. Kintaro, however, caught his fall with
his two unoccupied arms and rolled upright. As Colossus rose, Kintaro
clutched both sets of hands together and launched the single mightiest
attack of his life, a double double-fisted uppercut that had every bit of
his formidable strength behind it.

	A normal man, had he been struck, would have turned into a wet bag of pulp.
Colossus simply disappeared as though fired from a cannon, the sound of
Kintaro's fists meeting his chin that of the mightiest church bell. The
X-Man arced out over the ring and plummeted to earth, feeling a vague sense
of deja vu.

	Kintaro dusted his hands together and saluted Colossus, although he was
gone, with a Shokan warrior's farewell, before hurrying back to the
vampire's room.

_Control Booth (just outside front door)_

	Jon kicked at the wall. It had been such a good plan.

	He knew he could do a better job of commenting or commentating or whatever
it was called than that Wanderer kid could, and all that guy had had to do
was walk in at the right time. Once he was in there, it would be a snap!
Just a few witty comments, to show off his knowledge and skill, and he'd be
in. Why, Birdman would kick Wanderer out of the booth in a flat second.

	Now, how to get that secretary out of the way... Jon settled down to think.

	He didn't notice the shadow he was standing in until it was too late.

_Control Booth_

	"I can't believe this is happening, folks," Birdman said. "Guy has pulled
himself back into the ring! He looks mad, and Bishamon looks shocked to see
him! This could..." Birdman's voice trailed off as he noticed something
flying towards the booth.

	That something was Colossus doing his meteor impression.

	Wanderer, his eyes wide, completed the thought. "This could suck out loud."

	"EVERYONE GET DOWN!" Brant screamed. Every inhabitant of the control booth
hit the floor at once, paper and liquor bottles flying everywhere.

	At the last second, though, something happened to save them all.

	To someone watching, it would have appeared that Colossus executed a
perfect right-angle turn in mid-air, burying himself in the pavement at the
base of the control tower just before he would have come through the glass.
It was absolutely spectacular, and completely unfeasible by every law of
physics in existence.

	Misty John rose to his feet, a bottle in his hand. "You're welcome, guys."

	"Remind me to give you a raise." Birdman shook slightly. Next to him, under
the counter, Wanderer shook quite obviously, and gibbered a little as well.
"Have a drink. It's on me."

	"I think I might just have to, yeah." John pulled a second bottle out.

	"Was anyone hurt?" Scott asked.

	"I don't think--" Brant looked outside. "Never mind."

_Control Tower (base)_

	Kelly rushed out of the front door to see what the hell had made that noise.

	A massive gleaming steel man, Coliseum or something like that if she
remembered right, was buried up to his waist in the pavement, two crushed
cars on either side of him, so all that was visible of him were his legs,
bent over at the waist. Faintly, from within the crater, Kelly thought she
heard the man groan.

	She was wrong. The "kid reporter" she'd ordered out earlier lay unconscious
underneath one of the man's legs. It was he that was doing the groaning.

	Kelly walked calmly back into the office. "Yeah, this is Kelly, down in the
office. I think I'm gonna need a medical team down here." She looked outside
for a moment, and squinted at the wreckage. "Yeah, and I think *they're*
gonna need a jack and a spatula..."

_Wreckage, Room 1891, RumbleDome Hotel_

	"Thank you, Ryu, for this fight," D! muttered. "I'm enjoying the hell out
of it."

	No one listened to him. The crackling of Pyron's flames drowned out all but
the loudest sounds. The alien's anger translated into raw heat, enough to
fuse stone to glass, thus making it very hard to fight him effectively.
Ryu's Hadokens were effectively useless--throwing fireballs at Pyron was
similar to using a squirt gun on a swimming pool--and while Terry's Power
Waves were a little more effective, that was still not saying quite a lot.
Closing to attack him was suicidal.

	D! sidestepped quickly, and watched a meteor fly by him and out the window.
For the first time, he thought about how much he really did need a projectile.

	Suddenly, there was a puff of smoke from behind Pyron, and the alien seemed
to visibly slow down. The smoke obscured its form, and its fire died away.

	Unfortunately, Pyron just turned his flames up and turned around. "WHO
*DARES*?!!"

	Yoshimitsu, holding a fire extinguisher, muttered, "And now it's time for
another Good Idea, Bad Idea," and ran for his life.

	Pyron threw a meteor after Yoshimitsu, intending to incinerate the robot.
As it flew, a hand reached out and slammed the meteor to the ground like a
volleyball. The projectile burned through the floor and impacted into the
hallway below.

	"YOU!!" Pyron roared.

	"Indeed," Kintaro said mildly. As he jumped towards Pyron, the alien
transformed itself into a fiery ring, knocking them both down.

	Kintaro, once he was on his feet, powerslammed Pyron, burning himself badly
and ignoring it. The sound shook the entire floor, knocking fighters and the
remaining furniture over. Pyron instantly retaliated with a Fiery Planets,
engulfing Kintaro in flame. The Shokan's fur disappeared in a flash, and
Kintaro roared in rage.

	Meanwhile, in the hallway outside, a figure moved among the bodies of the
fallen fighters. Stopping beside one of them, it gestured, and the fighter
came awake suddenly.

	"Good evening, Robert," the figure said. "You're needed."

	"What? Who? YOU!"

	"Of course it's me, Robert," the figure said, sounding tired. "It's nearly
always me."

	"But why?"

	"Later. Right now, you're needed."

	Back in the suite, Pyron laughed, and surrounded Kintaro with fire,
ignoring Terry and Ryu's attempts to distract. The Shokan growled and threw
a haymaker through the walls of flame separating them, hitting Pyron
squarely on the "chin". This cut its laughter short rather abruptly.

	"You will pay for that," Pyron promised. "Starting now." It began to glow
like a small sun, making its previous radiance look wan. Kintaro's image
began to warp in a heat mirage, his moisture slowly baking out of him.

	A burst of white energy from behind Kintaro saved the Shokan's life,
stopping Pyron's heat discharge with an equally intense burst of cold. The
alien screamed, and attempted to incinerate its attacker with a flaming
meteor. Iceman simply froze the meteor and shattered it when it drew near.

	The fighting between them was fierce, and the outcome was never truly in doubt.

	Pyron, now an ice sculpture, stood at the end of the hallway, an
unconscious Kintaro lying at its feet. The smell of burned Shokan filled the
air.

	Iceman looked around, trying to find the man who'd awakened him. "Where..."

	Ryu and Terry ran out into the hallway. "Thanks, man," Terry said. "We were
running out of tricks."

	"No problem," Iceman said absently.

	"Is there something wrong?" Ryu asked.

	"Just one thing," Iceman said. "Where's Magneto?"

_The Ring_

	"Well, there's something you don't see every day," one of the flames
commented, watching Colossus fly overhead en route to planting himself in
the concrete.

	"We have other things to worry about," the armor said mildly.

	Bishamon buckled as Guy Bushin Slide Kicked into his kneecap. As he did so,
Guy kicked himself to his feet and hit Bishamon five distinct times, feet
and fists flying like bullets.

	"Case in point," the armor observed.

	Bishamon groaned in pain. "Could you stop the witticisms for a moment and
think about tactics?" As Guy drew near a second time, Bishamon drew blood
with a quick jab, swinging up and around into an overhead chop that shaved a
great deal of skin from Guy's left arm. The Street Fighter simply ignored it
and kneed Bishamon in the face before axe-kicking him to the ground.

	"Hit him until he falls down," the flames suggested.

	"Thank you. Now I remember--it's a curse." Bishamon flung both flames out
at Guy as he jumped backward, trying to get room to plan. They bounced off
of Guy's block.

	"Just trying to help in our own special way."

	Guy feinted a kick to Bishamon's stomach. Bishamon wasn't fooled, and
hooked Guy's free leg out from under him with the blunt edge of his blade.
As the ninja struck the mat, Bishamon thrust downward, the sword's tip going
for Guy's throat. Guy rolled out of its way, rolled back the opposite way to
dodge another thrust, rolled forward to avoid the subsequent attack at his
head, and kicked Bishamon squarely in the crotch.

	Metal echoed. Men winced. The armor voiced a loud complaint.

	Bishamon didn't react. Being a cursed spirit has its advantages. Not a lot,
granted, but some.

	Guy quickly somersaulted forward and dove between Bishamon's legs, coming
out on his hands and springing away as Bishamon turned around.

	"They are going to try to throw each other out of the ring *eventually*,
right?" Wanderer asked.

	"I hope so." Birdman covered the mike and shouted something unintelligible
and violent into the phone. "Change the scoreboard! You heard me. Put Guy's
name back on it. I don't care, *break* the damned thing if you have to! No,
I don't care. I'm already going to have to rebuild the damned hotel, what's
a scoreboard here and there?"

	"About thirty-seven hundred fifty without labor," Brant volunteered.

	"Oh, shut up."

	Guy barely got out of the way as Bishamon brought his sword down. The ninja
handsprung over Bishamon's head, twisted in midair, air-blocked one of the
flames, and clipped Bishamon's legs out from under him.

	As Bishamon got to his feet, visibly exhausted, Guy pointed at him.
"I'm...going...to say this once. Do *you*...wish...the hari-kiri?" Guy
couldn't seem to catch his breath.

	"I...can't." With effort, Bishamon brought his sword back into his stance.
"Believe me...I've...tried..."

	"Just remember...I asked..." Guy charged him for the last time.

_Wreckage, Room 1891, RumbleDome Hotel_

 	Dan hit the floor, blood pouring down his face, and wiped it out of his
eyes. He was used to getting the living crap beaten out of him on a regular
basis, but this was exceeding even his limits.

	Hearing an exclamation, he rolled over and threw a Gadoken,
managing--barely--to dispel a Soul Fist before it could reach him.
Morrigan--*a* Morrigan, anyway--came slowly towards him, still glistening
faintly from her birth, faint streaks of blood running from her mouth and
knuckles.

	"Hello, little boy," the Morrigan said with a cheerful grin. "Would you
like to hear a bedtime story before you go to sleep?"

	"If I say no, will it make a difference?" Dan asked, getting to his feet.

	"Once upon a time, there was a little boy in a pink gi." The Morrigan
stepped casually towards him. Dan kicked her in the stomach, and she didn't
react. "He poked his nose in where it didn't belong. In this--" 

	Dan punched her in the jaw. She simply reached up, stuck it back into place
with a wet clicking sound, and continued, "In this place, where the little
boy's nose didn't belong, there was an evil witch. At least, that's what
people always called her, and she didn't really care what people thought, so
I guess she really was an evil witch."  Dan backed away frantically, and
felt his back hit the wall. "She caught the little boy and his friend
*peeping*." The doppleganger put one hand to her cheek in a mock gesture of
shock. "Can you believe it?"

	This was freaking Dan out. "KORYUREKKA!"

	The Morrigan blocked both Dragon Punches and grabbed Dan. "And do you know
what evil witches do to *nosy* little boys?"

	Dan swallowed hard.

	"You don't want to know. Trust me." She threw Dan against the wall behind
him, holding him there with one hand. Her spikes rose up behind her like a
peacock's feathers. "But it would feel a lot like this..." 

	Dan, perhaps mercifully, blacked out moments later.

	Meanwhile, Robert was faring about as well as Dan had. The Morrigan he
faced was the same one who had been fighting most of the day, but Robert
wasn't exactly fresh either.

	"Robert, Robert, Robert," the Morrigan lamented, a spike stabbing across
Robert's shoulder. "You know that you aren't good enough to win, so why are
you bothering?"

	"Because I'm a whole lot better than you think, bitch." Robert jsidestepped
another Shadow Blade. As Morrigan came back to the ground, Robert slammed
into her back and side with a flurry of dancing kicks, ending with a vicious
roundhouse that sent her into the air.

	Unfortunately, the second Morrigan appeared, flying up after the first.
Plucking the first Morrigan out of the air, she set her gently down.

	"Oh, crap..." Robert muttered.

	"How are you doing, dear?" the second Morrigan politely asked.

	"I've been better," the first admitted. "What should we do about this one?"

	The second Morrigan licked Dan's blood contemplatively from her mouth. "We
should probably kill him..."

	"I completely agree."

	A new voice, smooth and cultured, cut in. "Excuse me, ladies."

	Both Morrigans turned around.

	"But did you know four out of five Yoshimitsu units surveyed think killing
Robert is a bad idea?" 

	The second Morrigan screamed as Yoshimitsu's energy blade seared through
her from left shoulder to right hip. As the two pieces fell apart, nothing
was revealed on the inside save darkness, as Morrigan's invested power lost
its physical form and discorporated. The doppleganger's body was gone before
the pieces hit the floor.

	"Isn't that incredible?" Yoshimitsu exclaimed. "And it's still sharp enough
to slice through this tomato!" He stabbed at Morrigan, who, although doubled
over from sympathetic pain, still had enough presence of mind to block it. 

	"Little creature," she snarled, "you *annoy* me! SUPER SOUL FIST!"

	The psychic bat slammed into Yoshi, sending the robot tumbling
sword-over-teakettle. Morrigan smirked.

	Her satisfaction didn't last.

	A Ryuken hit her squarely in the face. Robert came flying after his
fireball, his entire body firmly behind a flying roundhouse kick to
Morrigan's head.

	As Morrigan got up, her head rolling at an odd angle, Robert dashed in--

	--and a fan appeared in his shoulder like a magic trick.

	Robert wrenched it out and dodged backward as Mai advanced, throwing her
maiougi ninety-to-nothing from whatever dimensional space she conjured them
all from. Blades seemed to fill the air, cutting across Robert's arms and
chest like a storm of crows.

	Morrigan got up, her neck intact again, and through the tattered ruin of
her face, smiled at Mai. "Thank you, dear." Morrigan concentrated, and new
skin began to form over the front of her skull.

	Mai beamed. She had pleased her Mistress. She was happier than she had ever
been.

	Of course, that didn't last long.
 
	Yuri, several feet behind Mai and slumped against the wall, opened her eyes
and weakly coughed. She felt broiled; Mai had snuck in a Flame Flash Kick
and stunned her for a couple of minutes. Fortunately, Mai was distracted; by
what, Yuri couldn't see well enough to tell.

	Shaking her head (which was a mistake; the colors were astonishing), Yuri
staggered to her knees, and looked around. The first thing she saw was Mai.

	Yuri got to her feet, gritting her teeth. "Shiranui," she yelled, her voice
coarse, "*WE'RE NOT DONE YET*! RAIKOHKEN!"

	Mai heard her, and hastily turned around. A fireball struck the ground in
front of her and exploded, setting her alight.

	As Yuri landed, Mai staggered away, then forward, planting her hands and
cartwheeling into her Cho Hissatsu Shinobibachi. As Mai left the ground,
elbow extended, the entirety of her body burst into violent orange flame.

	Yuri couldn't dodge or block; she didn't have the time. Instead, she jumped
forward to meet Mai, feet extended, screaming "HIEN HOUOU KYAKU!" Her legs
blurred, like she'd done to the giant Zeus, striking the fiery Mai a
thousand times or more within a second. Unfortunately, Yuri's attack, while
powerful, also left her open, and Mai's flaming elbow took her firmly in the
solar plexus.

	Yuri hit the floor burning, barely alive.

	Mai fell, more broken ribs than cracked and more cracked ribs than whole.

	Yuri weakly hoisted herself onto her elbows, looking at Mai, trying to inch
closer to her so she could at least fall on top of her if need be.

	Mai opened her eyes and looked into Yuri's. It was barely visible, but the
wounds on her neck had closed. She finally whispered, "Yuri...I'm so
sorry..." She reached out one trembling hand as her eyes closed again.

	Yuri took Mai's hand. "It's...it's not your fault..."

	Both women passed out, lying across from each other on the floor.

	Morrigan snarled at them, her face once again recognizable. "It's so hard
to get good help these days..." She rushed at Robert, who was busy pulling
fans out of his skin, her fingers stiffened into claws, and raked across his
chest with both hands. Blood and cloth flew; Robert screamed.

	A Super Shadow Blade found its mark, and threw him thirty feet away. As he
staggered up, blood pouring down his forehead and chest, Morrigan licked one
of her spikes, and grinned.

	"Spicy," she purred. "An acquired taste, I'd bet." Robert threw a weak
fireball at her, his injuries starting to slow him down, and she barely
noticed. "Come on...you might even enjoy it."

	"No way," Robert snarled, walking forward. His knees shook.

	"Your loss..." Morrigan backed away from him, quickly, so quickly that
Robert didn't realize what she was doing and charged after her. Flying
forward suddenly in a Valkyrie Turn, Morrigan's drill found its mark. Robert
screamed in agony.

	He slumped over, but Morrigan didn't let him fall. "Now, now,
Robert...we've still got a lot of fun ahead of us." She jetpacked straight
up, holding him tightly, and brought him close to her face, preparing to
drain his body dry. "If you taste this good," she purred, licking a drop of
blood off of his forehead, "I wonder how your girlfriend wo-"

	Robert brought his fists together as hard as he could on either side of
Morrigan's head. 

	Something gave.

	Morrigan's eyes abruptly lost their focus. Her jetpack stopped firing, and
both of them dropped to the floor. Robert landed first, standing, and
launched Morrigan back into the air with a Ryuga.

	As Robert looked to see where Morrigan would land, he saw Dan, on his feet
and his face covered in blood, standing close by. Dan motioned with his
hand; Robert nodded as Dan crept into position.

	In midair, Morrigan's jetpack cut back in, and she righted herself so she'd
land upright. That turned out to be a mistake. Robert plowed right into her
before she'd touched the ground. She stabbed at him with her hands, carving
deep wounds into his skin, but Robert was far beyond caring.

	"You..." Robert's hands found her left arm, swinging out in a hammer punch,
and snapped it. "...do..." As Morrigan tried to heal the broken bone,
Robert's GeneiKyaku found its mark, snapping a foot into her chin and
cracking her neck for a second time. "...not..." As Robert landed, he
slammed a Kick Dance into her, a thousand kicks or more lashing into her
chest and stomach. "...touch..." A roundhouse wheel kick crushed Morrigan's
sternum. "...*YURI*! HAOHSHOKOHKEN!" The Supreme Roar sent Morrigan tumbling
backwards in flames.

	Robert moved after her to finish the job, but she popped right back up, her
bones fully healed, and drove her spiked heel into his chest, digging it in.
Morrigan levitated upwards, snap-kicking him twice in the jaw before Soul
Fisting him off of her heel. Robert collapsed, only barely managing to get
vertical in time to see her come forward.

	"This is over, boy..." she hissed.

	"Damned right it is..." Robert's form blurred as he jumped straight at
Morrigan, his foot extended, hell to pay. Morrigan raised her arms to ward
him off--
	
	--and someone tapped her on her shoulder. "Oh, Morri..." Dan drew his fist
back, his arm trailing blue shadows.

	"RYUUKO RANBU!"

	"HISSHOU BURAIKEN!"

	Caught between both Dan and Robert, Morrigan blocked neither. On either
side of her, both men threw a dizzying array of attacks, fists and feet
flying rapidly, using every bit of skill, rage, and adrenaline they possessed.

	They finally spun upward and delivered a final rising uppercut, slamming
into both sides of Morrigan's jaw, juggling Morrigan into the air between them.

	It almost seemed like a sunburst bloomed behind Dan, shadows dancing
throughout the room.

	Morrigan Arnsland fell, utterly defeated.

---
Thomas Wilde
wanderer@ecom.net,  vox_ex_machina@hotmail.com
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/3114/index.html
***********
You only see what you want to believe
When you light in the back with those tricks up your sleeve
That don't mean I can't hang
But the day that I die will be the day I shut my mouth
	-Sublime, "Same In The End"