Chapter Text
This chapter continues the Great Captain theme due to the ongoing interactions between Illyana and Gorgon in X of Swords event, which I really like. Some folks think its taking too long, but good story telling takes time to set things up, to show everybody as people and not cardboard cutouts of characters. As I was reading I was struck by the comment to Illyana by Gorgon in Marauders #14 as they got done assessing the foes in the upcoming X of Swords back when everybody thought it was going to be just physical fighting.
Gorgon turned to Illyana and said. “Kill as many as you can as fast as you can.” A comment that I think shows that Gorgon respects Illyana’s abilities a great deal.
Oh, and the source of the “trashtalk” in this chapter is from youtube video 3n6X0s03frk (Girl SECRETs guys DON’T know about!) All I can say is Oh Dear God, at least I now know why women go in mass to the rest room but the rest has scarred me for life as I am a dude and some issues women have to deal with never ever crossed my mind.
Part 57a: Assay
Gorgon (Tomi Shishido) and Magik (Illyana Rasputin) were sparing in a Krakoa meadow. He was dressed in his usual formal male Japanese Kimono (white silk with red swirls) bare feet, with his usual red mask hiding his eyes. Illyana was dressed in her usual tight black leather field costume that showed a great deal of skin, black boots, and her odd black armor on her left arm and shoulder (goggle both if you don’t know how they look). They were in the midst of doing a ritualized Arnis (Filipino martial arts) dance with two sticks each. This is a training/practice technique as both sides know the moves of the dance as it were. Each move is either a strike or a block that leads into a strike. This can be done in a blazing fast series of moves between two skilled practitioners as the moves are known. Most impressive to the uninitiated who don’t know that the moves are rehearsed and following a pattern, and still very impressive to those who do know if the dance is executed well, and this was such a dance.
See youtube 1S1_6_RAM_A for a nice example of the Filipino Arnis (although it is a bit dramatized). Doug Narcaida has a nice one at xsrYKRIn2d8 on youtube, or Xj7UdeTx5Vw which does a bit of editing on the action, which is a bit of a cheat, but all three show many of the moves nicely.
Just who is Tomi you might ask?
BEGIN INFO DUMP (see Wikipedia for full details)
He is a powerful mutant and has been a member of the Hand and Hydra. Tomi possesses a variety of superhuman abilities as a result of genetic mutation and mystical enhancement from the Hand. His primary mutant ability is the ability to transform an individual into stone by making eye contact with them. As such he often wears a mask or pair of dark sunglasses in order to see without affecting those around him. Whether the face wear possess any sort of special properties or are composed of some special material designed to block his power was never revealed. An extraordinary level of intelligence, psionic abilities combined with advanced knowledge in multiple academic and artistic fields. His high intellect, and abilities, makes him extremely arrogant towards most people.
As a child, he possessed near superhuman levels of intelligence, said his first words at two weeks of age, could walk at three months, and was able to read and write by his first birthday. He became an accomplished painter by age four, among the top artists in all of Japan and composed an opera at age six. This is also the age when Shishido attempted a second suicide. In his youth he lead the extremist mutant terrorist death-cult called the Dawn of the White Light
By age eighteen, he sought out the Hand. Before leaving his home, he killed his entire family and his only friend to prove that he was ruthless enough to join the terrorist organization. After finding the Hand sanctuary and slaying all of its guards while blindfolded, the Gorgon went inside and pledged his allegiance to the Hand's Jonin. When the master questioned his dedication, the Gorgon impaled himself with his own sword, fatally injuring himself, and told the master to resurrect him. The Jonin were impressed and brought him into the fold
After his resurrection by the hand, the his strength, speed, reflexes/reactions, agility, dexterity, coordination, balance, and endurance are all heightened to superhuman levels, the exact limits of which are unrevealed. Also he possesses an accelerated healing factor that enables him to repair damaged or destroyed tissue with extraordinary speed and efficiency, this has been shown to heal from massive trauma inflicted by Wolverine's adamantium claws, bludgeoning, and falling from great heights while continuing to fight. His psionic are a level of telepathy/empathy allowing him to hear the thoughts and feel the emotions of others. His telepathy also enables him to perceive his surroundings if necessary, such as when he's blindfolded. Much like his physical capabilities, the exact limits of these psionic powers remain unknown.
Tomi is an extraordinary hand-to-hand combatant, even before his resurrection, trained in multiple forms of martial arts. He is an expert swordsman and typically prefers to use a katana during combat. Also, he typically uses his psionic abilities to read the minds of his opponents during combat situations (even highly trained minds like Wolverine's and Elektra's), enabling him to predict and counter their every move. Likewise his mythical abilities are not fully known, but he has been shown able to resurrect the formerly dead who serve his bidding as well as enact rituals which enable him to raise ancient creatures from eternal slumber.
Later, Gorgon became connected to Hydra. He responsible for the capture of Wolverine and brain washed him. Wolverine the managed to infiltrate the Baxter Building and steal technological blueprints from Reed Richards that were very useful to Hydra, and committed a number of terrorist attacks resulting in the deaths of numerous costumed heroes and hundreds of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents before being finally caught during an assault on the X-Mansion and subsequently deprogrammed. Later Gorgon and Wolverine engaged in a brutal battle, inflicting devastating injuries upon one another. The Gorgon managed to gain the upper hand and attempted to use his mutant ability to transform Wolverine into stone; Wolverine's claws were extruded at the last moment, forcing the Gorgon to see his own reflection. As a result, the Gorgon's power was reflected back upon him. Once the Gorgon had been turned into stone, Wolverine shattered his body.
Hydra forced The Hand to resurrect the Gorgon using the rock fragments of his body, at which time was given the sword Godkiller and later the blade Grasscutter. Gorgon ended up being a member of the second incarnation of Dark Avengers as Wolverine. He and the original Madame Hydra secretly plan to kill Osborn if their co-conspirator proves to be too dangerous and use the Dark Avengers to cause discord by serving as a voice of the "disenfranchised" unsatisfied with the status quo. Although he is generally suitable as "Dark Wolverine" due to his skills and healing powers, Gorgon lacks the real Wolverine's claws instead relying on fake claws that are a part of his costume. Afterwards, there are may instances of Gorgon doing bad things with the Hand and Hydra
END INFO DUMP
As the two danced, as it were, they conversed, and it was Tomi’s turn.
Tomi: “Captain America?”
Illyana: “Shield. He throws it way too much. I mean… it’s a shield. At least Thor throwing a hammer makes more sense, but the same inherent weakness.”
Tomi: “Both are good weapons.”
Illyana: “Not if you take them away. And shields are meant for shielding and are not known for being throwing weapons. Did that once to Captain America back when I was a teen. He threw his shield at Magneto but one teleportation disk later and pfff, no more shield, and a very priceless expression. Thor was at least smart enough to not throw his hammer at me when we fought in Limbo.”
Tomi had not known about the fight between Illyana and Thor. “And Captain America?”
“He came by a few days later at the Xavier school and was really pissy about the missing shield with Erik who was running the school at that time. Anyway… we, meaning me, gave it back. Which was a bit of a bummer as we had been using the shield as a sled, which it was really good at, by the way, as it was winter.”
Tomi blinked a few times, not that you could see it due to the mask that he wore due to his gaze causing people to turn to stone. “You… used Captain America’s shield as a sled?”
“Yep. It was fun.”
“And he learned of this?”
A trademarked Illyana wicked grin. “Yep.”
A smile and a few chuckles from Tomi. “Impressive…”
It was Illyana’s turn. “Hawkeye.”
A tone of dismissal from Tomi. “Bows… “
Illyana defended bows. “Dani is really good with hers.”
“Regardless… his bow is not mystical. And trick arrows are not… amusing.”
A slight smirk from Illyana. “So the Hand does not use bows?”
A comment that slightly annoyed Tomi as she had a valid point. “Granted, but they do not use trick arrows, nor does Dani.”
Illyana let it go, but did suspect that Tomi had a personal grievance about trick arrows.
It was Tomi’s turn. “Logan.”
“Same as with Sabretooth.” Was Illyana’s answer. “Both are close in fighters unless otherwise armed. Keep your distance. And both are obsessed with stabbing as a solution to all problems.”
Tomi was rather convinced Illyana also believed stabbing was a go to solution, a feeling more then a few people had, but he was smart enough not to mention that.
As the two fought, they were discussing battle weaknesses of various people. Tomi was not in complete agreement about Illyana’s distance comment. “But such conflict is the most satisfying in fact. To meet a foe blade to blade and win, thus demonstrating one’s innate superiority.”
A small nod from Illyana. “True…”
Tomi stepped back and ended the Arnis dance as he held his bamboo sticks ups while suggesting… “Swords?”
“Sure.” With a flick of Illyana’s hands her sticks faded away and a Japanese katana appeared in her hands while Tomi retrieved his own blade that he had left leaning upon a tree trunk.
A bow from each to the other, then an on guard poise for a long second before the clash of steel. The combat was quick and over in but a few moves as Tomi had his blade at Illyana’s throat. They stopped, back away, reset, and resume again in a flurry of sword strikes only to again have it end with Tomi again being the winner, this time his sword is at the back of Illyana’s neck.
Reset, but this time they redo the first set of moves slowly as Tomi shows Illyana how he had bested her. They do this several times and then resume at full speed. This time it takes Tomi two additional moves before he is once again the winner. Back and forth the combat practice went. While practicing Illyana poised a question.
“What is the strangest way you’ve defeated somebody?”
Tomi grinned and then began to recount. “I once slew five people with just a pair of…”
Illyana interrupted him. “If you say chopsticks I will stab you.”
Now most people did not interrupt Tomi, or issue threats about his storytelling, but Illyana was his peer, a great captain, and the two has established a certain rapport. Instead he simply stepped back and inquired…
“Why?”
Illyana practiced a few blocking moves as she answered. “All of you ninjas have a story about killing people with chopsticks. It’s apparently some weird right of passage that all uber ninjas must pass. Or a silk fan, lots of you guys have stories about using fans as well, but all of you have at least one chaps stick story.”
A brief pondering look of thought from Tomi as he watched Illyana practice the moves, then… “I once choked a man to death with his own intestines.”
“Pfff...” Was Illyana’s reply. “Intestines are way too squishy to strangle somebody with.” Any bystanders would likely wonder just how Illyana knew this, or was so clinical about it.
Tomi grinned. “I said choked, not strangled, think about it…”
Illyana did and made a face as she figured it out. “Gross…”
“That it was, surprisingly effective, and did serve as a lesson to some unruly subordinates. What strange and bizarre way have you defeated a foe?”
“Trash talk.” Was her answer.
“You killed a person with trash talk?”
“Not killed… defeated.”
Now Tomi was a master of trash talk, or so he believed, as do almost all those who engage in such. He was a bad ass, knew it, and shared that opinion with almost all who dared to fight him.
“Who? And what I have to ask.”
“Who was some Avenger, I forget which one… it was a he and maybe… Hawkeye? … Naa… Might have been Black Knight, there was a sword involved. Anyway, we were fighting in that I was minding my business and he decided to fight me, or to be more specific ‘I’m taking you in Lady!’ as he tried to arrest me. It was after the whole Phoenix Five mess so likely related to my locking up a bunch of Avengers during that misunderstanding. Anyway I wasn’t in the mood so I declined, rudely I guess as he got all huffy like most Avengers get, heck the Black Widow is still upset about what a happened between us on the blue area of the moon.”
Illyana was being rather chatty, something only a few people get to see. Kitty being the most in the know, but Tomi was finding that Illyana apparently liked talking with him.
“Anyway he was most insistent and I was so not in the mood, so I told him a few things about being a woman that men do not understand or realize and that if he persisted in bothering me I was going to curse him to experience all the nasty things that felt by X Gals.”
Tomi was rather disbelieving. “And that dissuaded him? An Avenger? Declined combat over… cramps?”
Illyana gave a brief example as she described some of Dani’s periodic issues with her menstrual period as Tomi expression slowly morphed into one of absolute male horror. Oh… and perhaps Illyana had been experiencing some feminine issues herself when the Avenger had accosted her.
“Please feel free to never share such stories again.” Was Tomi’s reply when Illyana was done. “I fear you are one sentence away from reducing me to a six year old boy who thinks girls are nasty. I must wonder why I have never heard such before.”
A shrug from Illyana. “Girl’s don’t like sharing such details with guys… plus I almost always like fighting. Really pissed me off when the Falcon said he didn’t want to fight me back when the Inhumans and Avengers were being dicks, so I teleported his not willing to fight me dick ass to the ass end of nowhere in the Midwest.”
Tomi, after a completely out of character full body shudder of horror, and an internal pledge to get a male telepath to block what Illyana had told him, asked a question that had been meaning to ask. “I’ve often wondered, do the other telepaths enjoy practicing with you? I find the inability to read your mind to be most enjoyable when fighting and a great aid in focusing upon the fundamentals.”
Another shrug from Illyana. “So do… some don’t.“
They resumed practice, each time one would initiate strike and one would at first defend. As they fought they again conversed as Tomi commented.
“I am… surprised how well we converse. Most are not so… welcoming.”
A bit of a shrug from Illyana. “I can relate. Bet you don’t get much crap from people.”
“True… Few are willing to give me ‘crap’ as you say, likewise yourself.”
“Yeah…”
Now more then a few mutants who had done evil and vile things were not the most popular, and more then a few were on the receiving end of the ire of their onetime victims. But Tomi was mostly ignored by whose who were angry at his past behaviors. Interestingly, Logan was one willing to associate, and drink, with Tomi. Now Tomi was not reformed, meaning he had not repented of his prior actions, he had just shifted his loyalty to Krakoa.
Tomi stated. “I first wondered why you were selected to be a great captain. Why not... Braddock, Ororo, Logan, or some others. I have even heard mention that some thought your friend Dani would be an appropriate choice.”
“And…?”
“The first two are squad leaders. Ororo is not suited for what this duty entails, her talents are better utilized on the quiet council, better for her to be the hand that holds the blade rather then being the blade most of the time.”
“Ororo is very dangerous when she wants to be, never underestimate her.” Was Illyana’s reply. “Those who do find that she is able to do what needs to be done.”
A nod of agreement from Tomi. “Yes, but will be troubled by more then a few things that I, or you, can and will do with no remorse. Logan is lethal, but not sufficiently powerful. But I have found that they choose correctly, for a variety of reasons. Some of which I’ve only recently come to understand.”
“A counter…” As Illyana’s comment.
“Yes… to others, and to me. Concerns that are most warranted as I could easily defeat most. But you…”
“But me…?”
“You are a delight as I have so few to measure myself against. For you are as much a killer as I, as is Logan if not… more.”
“We are who… what… we are.”
“Yes… But I would like to face you with your soul sword as that is your fighting best.”
The Japanese sword in Illyana’s hand faded away and the soul sword took its place as Tomi assumed a defensive stance. As they eyed each other Tomi proposed… “A bet… the loser shall buy the winner a drink at the place of his choosing.”
“Her choosing…” Corrected Illyana. “Or have you already forgotten what befell you at the Quarry?”
“No… but that was ruled a cheat.”
“I won…”
“Not per the rules.”
“Pfff the rules.”
They got ready but then… Tomi paused. “This…” An expressive wave from Tomi at Illyana, “Is a lie. A good one, most… beguiling. But a lie non the less. You appear weaker then you are. Deliberate miss direction. Likewise your occasional pretense to be more… silly then you are. Acting… blonde I think some call it.”
A glare from Illyana at Tomi. “I am as I wish to be.”
A small smile from Tomi. “But not as you are, or can be. Most may be blind to the ways of magic but to be as you are, to look as you do, locks away aspects of your power.”
Illyana disliked such… understand. “I have my reasons.”
“I’m sure you do. I may even understand them. But… I wish to fight you at your peak. Otherwise any win by me is irrelevant.”
This was a request hat Illyana would usually disregard, but this was from a fellow great captain. “I… dislike to appear, to be, other then as I am.”
“But you can, you do, in times of distress where such mortal trappings are a hindrance to what needs to be done. You have done it before as I’ve descriptions of such. I’ve heard stories of what happened between you and Dormammu. I… request this of you.”
A resigned sigh from Illyana, then… horns grew on her forehead, feet morphed into hooves as her eyes went from blue to yellow burning pits. Her incisors grew as a tail flicked into being and her air was now part flame.
“Happy?”
This was not quite Illyana’s ultimate expression of power as described to Tomi when Illyana took down Dormammu, but was likely as close as he was going to get. “Quite… even if this is not your ultimate expression.”
“Ultimate?”
“I have… heard stories from some about Dormammu.“ Some being those who were there when Illyana took down Dormammu. Some statements being ‘like a small Balrog from Tolkien but with breasts, but not in a sexy way, a thing of darkness and flame.’ being one description from Egg (formally known as Golden Balls).
A bit of a growl from Illyana about that particular situation. “I was very upset.”
With that combat engaged and….
Part 57b: Bar with no doors
Later…
The two were at the Bar with no doors, which was having a slow night. Tomi had never been to the bar and was quite pleased to have finally gain admittance. He raised his cup in a toast to Illyana who likewise raised her cup as they then sipped upon some very fine Saki.
Who won you might inquire, or more specifically, who was buying?
Well… I think you’ll have to ask them.