31 Chapter 31: Chaos

The Wendigo. An ancient, cursed beast with an insatiable hunger for human flesh. Reeking of the dead, blood, cold midnight winds and something else. Something beyond the five physical senses. Something beyond their hideous hulking frames and blood tainted fur. An added aspect that uneased Bronte much more than the blade-like claws at the end of each finger or the foul yellow fangs protruding from their mouths.

He could feel it wafting from them as they stomped and raged across the increasingly more barren remains of Department H. That unseen force. Colder than the winds he couldn't feel. More penetrative, like it ignored his skin and gripped his metallic bones with physical hands. It made his skin tingle.

Magic. Somehow familiar..... distantly. like an ingredient he knew well hidden in the whole of a foreign dish.

"Focus, hermano!" Laura's voice snapped him out of his trance. "What happened to no more freezing?" Bullet holes steamed from her stolen kevlar vest and under armor. She looked just like one of the guards... minus the twin adamantium claws and fangs.

Bronte didn't get a chance to reply over the sounds of Alpha Flight and his siblings fighting off the wild monsters as a hand grabbed him by the back of his jacket and lifted him into the air. Laura as well.

"HAHAH! You guys looked like you wanted to fly!" Raze said as he carried them through the midnight air.

Beside them a man flew alone. His suit stood out in the darkness. Red and white-- skin tight and reflective like steel, under the veil of energy flowing around him like pure sunlight. Casually he looked over to them.

"Guardian." Laura said over the harsh winds and battle below.

"Whoever you are, I suggest you leave now and turn yourself in to the authorities at a later date. If you came here for destruction, your goal was met. But if you came here for information, you failed. You won't get a thing with two Wendigos on the lose."

"Fuck all that." Bronte and Laura said at the same time.

Laura continued afterwards, "If we won't get a thing, then it's safe to assume you won't do much on your own either."

"We have reinforcements. You do not." Guardian stated flatly as he raised a hand to one of the Wendigo's below and fired a volley of energy beams from a repulsor placed on his palm. They hit the floor like mortars, erupting mushroom clouds of sleet and melted snow where they missed the Wendigo's. The ones that landed did little more than leave the beasts with bald spots and increased anger.

"Something tells me you've had trouble reaching reinforcements." Laura yelled over the harsh winds.

Raze giggled like a mischievous demon..... ironically enough he looked like one in his current state as well.

Guardian's lower jaw flexed repeatedly.

"You don't have enough firepower to handle two Wendigo. You need us to eliminate your problem... how poetic, considering this place is the source of ours." Laura looked at him directly for the first time like the rest of them. Their eyes glowing in flashes as they reflected the light of war below like nocturnal predators.

He could've sworn they looked familiar.....

The silence ended with Guardians words, "Can any of you do whatever was needed to level the weapons lot earlier? These things have tangled with the Hulk before, we need firepower."

Bronte nodded, "I got i--"

Raze's maniacal giggles exploded into excited laughter turned Bronte to face Guardian.

"HAHA!!.... Of course, we do! Captain Canada, I give you our very own Mutant-Grade thunderbomb. Call him whatever you want, dreadhead..... ragdoll ... Storm Claws-- just don't call him a coward, last person to do that lost an eye and three fingers-- HAHAHA!!" Raze's physical form morphed repeatedly with the heightening of his motions and the battle below, shifting his facial features and bone structure from man to monster to something beyond.

Guardian watched on in discomfort as he threw Bronte, "BOMBS AWAYYYY!!!" The constant shape-shifting of Raze's vocal cords made the words unintelligible and booming like it was yelled through a horribly shaped loudspeaker.

Bronte never got a chance to speak. Or prepare himself. That was how combat went with Raze-- ever since the days back at the Xavier Institute. Raze was the living embodiment of unpredicability. Luckily, Bronte was known to adapt.

He closed himself up into a ball as he fell from the skies, twisting and flipping into a blurring shape. His Storm-State reawakened, changing the temperatures and movement of the winds around him. Thunder clouds bubbled and followed his descent like a spotlight from the heavens.

Two hundred feet... one fifty.... seventy .....

The Wendigo currently chasing after Gabbie and a white owl looked up just as he landed. Though it may have been blinded due to the lightning that landed with Bronte as he slammed his claws into its hideous face.

He grunted and snarled, pouring all the strength and inner ferocity he had into tearing apart it's face. The slashes of his claws maimed and burned the creature, sending shockwaves of magical electricity through its nerves and boiling its spilled blood.

For the first time, it screamed before dropping to all fours and running towards the trees like a charging bull. Bronte tried to run only to get caught on it's massive sharp antlers.

"Son of a bi--" His words were cut short as they blew through three evergreens and hit a maple tree where he was skewered in place.

The massive creature growled and shook to free itself, ripping up Bronte's organs and smashing into his bones in the process.

"AAACKK!!" He spit up blood onto the head of the Wendigo at his stomach while slashing and kicking at the creature.

"You get off him, you ugly fuck!" Gabbie snarled as she exploded into the forest and landed on the back of the creature, ripping into it's spine in seconds with her single bone claws.

"EEUUURRRAGHHNNN!!!" The Wendigo howled from a mauled face and broken jaw. The fact that it was still standing after taking one of Bronte's strongest attacks and this much damage after was horrifying.

The Wendigo bucked, ripping open a gash up to Bronte's chest with it's antler and sending Gabbie into the air.

Before she could hit the ground it swung back a massive leg and kicked her into a tree.

Bronte snarled and sheathed his claws to hammer fist the Wendigo's antler in his stomach until it broke free from it's giant head with a booming snap.

Bronte hung from the tree, slashing at the Wendigo as it backed away just in time to pursue Gabbie who was just getting up.

The owl from before divebombed the Wendigo to distract it.

Weird. His siblings were able to communicate with predators, but there was no communication shared this time.

"WAHHHHHH!!!" The Wendigo roared with frustration and caught the bird as Bronte pulled himself and the antler in his stomach from the tree.

He fell, hitting the ground weakly. As he looked up, he found the owl in the Wendigo's grasp expand. Odd colorful winds reminiscent of the northern lights and snow swirled around the bird as it's face morphed and its body extended, strapping with muscle and hulking bone until it was a bird no more.

Suddenly two Wendigo's were facing each other.... and this one seemed to be on their side.

They battled like brutes, punching and headbutting each other wildly. Each hit sent snow flying everywhere along with foul smelling spit and cracked teeth. As Bronte watched, looking for a way in, he found himself noticing the one on their side losing despite it's better circumstances.

It was fighting too human. Too reserved to technique and muscle memory.

It was then that the faceless wendigo landed a punch, followed by slamming shape-shifting Wendigo's face into a tree repeatedly and throwing it off towards Bronte. He jumped out of the way just as it slammed into the tree behind him.

Without giving a second glance to the massive creature behind him, he re-entered the fight with Gabbie.

The Wendigo was ready, swinging at Bronte wildly.

He dropped to a slide in the snow to avoid the attack, ripping open three lines of red in it's legs.

"Did that owl turn into a Wendigo?!" Gabbie asked.

"Focus, Gabbie.... but yea, it did." Bronte replied as the beast jumped straight into the air and slammed it's fists to split the earth.

The battle continued between the three with the Wendigo slowly being worn down despite it's otherworldly durability. Its healing rate was as fast as their damage output. They just couldn't get hit.

It was just at that moment when Gabbie made a misstep. She went in to cut open it's midsection. Only jumping in the air wasn't the best idea.

The Wendigo went berserk, swinging and spinning like a wild animal. It swatted Gabbie away. Bronte hopped in front of her only to be grabbed by the beast. His otherworldly speed that allowed him to run with Northstar was fading for some reason.

Before the Wendigo could do anything, a blur of black whistled through the forest.

Suddenly Bronte was hitting the ground along with three of the Wendigo's fingers. Laura was a lifesaver.

He jumped on the Wendigo, using his claws to climb its arm and reach the head. Its neck was still halfway cut from before. He went to work as the Wendigo jumped and plowed its way through the forest. Cutting, stabbing, burning, freezing. The end was nea--

An earsplitting boom of impact exploded from outside of the forest, followed by the second Wendigo bursting into the forest and crashing into them. Its body was hot, steam spiraled from the massive burn marks on its hairless skin. The heat faded quickly as they all rolled through snow and tree in a mangle of bodies.

"Continue the physical assault coordinated around my geothermic energy blasts. Naturally, heat is their weakness." Guardian's voice carried through the forest as Alpha Flight entered. Someone said something else he couldn't hear due to the Wendigo's beginning to fight to free themselves. And Bronte was right in the middle.

In a rush, he cut himself free just as Guardian fired two blasts at them both followed by Sasquatch and the allied Wendigo taking down the healthier of the two. Raze flew in on batwings yelling something about a group hug.

The Wendigo reached out to grab him only for the Mutant to shift shapes, slimming out his body to snake-like proportions that allowed him to completely wrap around the creatures' arms and attempt to hold it in place. If anyone would be able to, it was Raze. Nobody else could throw a truck like a basketball.

The two strained as Laura and Daken rushed in. Bronte got up from the ground, feeling his stomach drop as Raze began to rip apart.

"oooOOHAHAHA!! These things are STRONG!" Raze sounded as if he was being tickled. As if their second trump card wasn't falling short.

Daken stopped, understanding a new approach was needed. Laura continued, banking on her speed.

Bad idea.

Raze cursed as the Wendigo ripped him in half. Bronte's stomach dropped.

Laura roared and lunged at the creature slamming her claws into its face. The Wendigo screamed and grabbed her with its remaining hand. She fought like hell, falling short as it used its teeth to rip off her arm.

"AAAAHHH!" Her screams felt like a physical pain peeling away Bronte's skin. His composure. His sanity...

Effortlessly, it threw her deeper into the forest.

The Wendigo stepped after Daken in the distance, hesitating as its feet fell on wet grass. All the snow had melted in less than a second. The ground was slowly losing its wetness, drying out and cracking as flames sparked and bit at the trees.

Daken slammed his sword into the ground and popped his claws. His clothes and skin burned away as the heat rose to deadly levels. He bared his teeth angrily.

"Bronte..... hotter."

Bronte had never been so willing to listen to his brother. He raised his claws, now orangish yellow like blades cut out from the sun. Whitehot steam poured from his mouth and flames danced along his dreaded braids.

The Wendigo didn't get a chance to initiate the charge.

"RAAAAGHHH!" Bronte and Daken moved. Overwhelming the creature as they abandoned reason and fought through whatever the Wendigo dished out.