Phil dove to the left and rolled once to dodge another flurry of shots laid down by X-Acute with startling precision. He was behind, way behind. The gunslinger was holding the cards, taking shots at his own leisure, and Phil was frantically trying to stay out of the way. There was a particular urgency to this fight, and Phil wasn't about to let on what it was to his teammates, but he hoped to hell he could stay ahead of X-Acute long enough to come up with something.
Another bullet barely missed Phil - and punched through the folds of his coat. It was fairly obvious now - the telepath's psionic shield should have deflected that round with ease. Nothing. Whatever had happened to him when he lost consciousness must have disabled Phil's psionic shield.
His only defenses now were speed, agility, and the sheer will to survive this.
"A little help?" the telepath muttered under his breath as he tumbled to the right to dodge another round. Nothing doing. The huge T5 robot had the team's undivided attention, and thus far, Phil was the only one who had yet to dispatch his original adversary.
X-Acute was maybe forty feet away now. His shots closed that distance in milliseconds. Fortunately, although his shield appeared to be out of commission for the time being, Phil retained his superhuman reflexes and still had enough telekinetic control to move himself around fairly rapidly. But what would have been his most important remaining advantage - uncanny kinesthetic awareness - just happened to be X-Acute's strongest suit. The gunslinger seemed to flip and dodge effortlessly, and more importantly, retained the upper hand in this fight.
A short distance away, Bruteforce eyed the approaching T5.
"I'm assuming you've tackled something like this before," he murmured to no one in particular.
The Thunderbird just nodded and clenched his mace tightly, taking a step toward the robot.
Brianna turned and noticed the ongoing battle behind them. "Griss..." she breathed.
The mercenary turned. A frown creased his face. "Damn."
"Shouldn't we help him?" the pretty winged girl asked.
Grissom nodded in the direction of the lumbering T5. "I think we 'ave more pressin' concerns at the moment, love," he pointed out sardonically.
Ed leapt into the air and charged at the robot. He dodged a swinging appendage effortlessly and zeroed in on the mechanical monster, brandishing Durendal with intent to kill.
"Go 'elp 'im," Grissom suggested. "We'll want you both in the air, if only to create a diversion." He turned. "I'll go see what I can do for Philsy over there."
"Be careful," Brianna advised the Brit. "I don't want to see you get yourself killed out here."
Grissom winked. "Nothin' to worry about, love. You forget with whom you're dealin'!"
Phil dove behind a boulder to evade a hail of bullets from the now amused X-Acute.
"Is that all you got?" the gunslinger taunted. "Are you just going to keep running away from me?"
Behind them, there was a resounding thunderclap as Durendal connected with the T5. It distracted X-Acute long enough for Phil to unleash a burst from one of his MP5s. Alerted by the chatter of the submachine gun, X-Acute vaulted into the air, the bullets missing him cleanly.
Rama Avatar stepped forward as Ed circled around for another assault. "Interesting," he observed as he examined the T5 carefully.
Ed's flight path was interrupted by one of the T5's wildly-swinging legs. It caught the winged metahuman at the midsection and hurled him backward and to the ground. The robot stabbed at the downed Italian with another leg - only to have Rama bury his sword in the metallic appendage. Wounded and enraged, the T5 sprang forward, but Rama simply hacked at it again, landing another vicious blow.
Phil was running out of options. If he stood any chance of stopping X-Acute, he had to take the fight to the gunslinger. He emerged from behind the boulder and dashed toward X-Acute, opening up with both MP5s. The gunslinger sidestepped and fired two shots. Each connected with gunmetal and knocked one of the MP5s from one of Phil's hands. Startled and weaponless, Phil threw himself to the ground and rolled out of the way of a string of shots - the last of which grazed his left shoulder. Phil gasped in pain, but he could tell the injury wasn't serious. Still, it had been a long time since he had actually been hit by a bullet - so long, in fact, that he wouldn't have remembered it at all.
X-Acute charged forward, victory within his grasp. Phil looked for somewhere to go but found no cover within reach.
Brianna let out a piercing sonic cry that temporarily overloaded the T5's sonic receptors. Bewildered, the robot swung a leg in the girl's direction but missed - and Rama seized the opportunity to strike again. Wounded yet again by the same blade, T5 staggered back and pulled that leg behind itself.
Where Bruteforce promptly wrenched it off.
Infuriated, the robot spun around, looking for the source of this new threat, but lost its balance and nearly toppled.
"We have him now!" the Thunderbird cried.
Phil was on his knees, his back to X-Acute, clutching his shoulder. He couldn't see the gunslinger, but his imprint on the telepathic landscape was just as visible to Phil, even facing the other way.
It looked like Smith was out of options.
"It looks like you're out of options," Phil heard X-Acute say confidently.
<<<Not just yet, mate>>> a voice in Phil's head called as a chrome-plated revolver materialized on the ground in front of him.
Phil's right hand drifted subtly over the gun and clutched it.
"You should've tried to negotiate before we... Shit!!!" X-Acute's voice cut off abruptly as he was struck in the back with the flat of a hurled sword. The gunslinger spun around to see Rama approaching him. Observing the Indian carried no other visible weapons, X-Acute spun back around and opened fire on Phil.
The telepath leapt straight up into the air, spun around in mid-leap, peered down at the upside-down gunslinger, and fired two shots with Grissom's revolver. The two shots struck X-Acute solidly in both shoulders, crippling both arms and spinning the man around before dropping him to the ground.
Arriving behind the fallen gunslinger, Rama nonchalantly retrieved his sword, nodded to the still-airborne Phil, turned, and charged back toward the flailing T5.
Smith landed beside the wounded X-Acute, who lay there gasping for breath. His injuries weren't life-threatening, but it made little difference, as the defenseless gunslinger glared up at the still-armed telepath.
"Go ahead," X-Acute sneered. "Finish the job. You earned it."
Phil leveled the revolver at X-Acute's head - and frowned, peering curiously at the man. Behind him, the T5 began to stagger about as the Vanguardians kept hacking at it.
"What are you waiting for?" the gunslinger growled.
Phil looked at the wounded man on the ground. He saw a desperate killer who had taken countless lives. He saw one of the most amazingly talented fighters in the world. He saw a vicious mercenary. He saw an ordinary man trying to use his talents to make a living.
He saw what Dirk Bell might have been if he hadn't found the MBL.
He saw what Phil Smith might have been if he hadn't gone to La Perdita.
"You gonna finish this or not?" X-Acute demanded.
"Yeah," Phil said softly. "I am."
And with that, he clubbed X-Acute over the head with the butt of the revolver. The gunslinger went limp as he slipped out of consciousness.
"Couldn't do it, could you?"
Phil turned to see Grissom walk up behind him. "No." He turned. "But I suppose I owe you... again."
"I've put it on your tab," the mercenary quipped. "I see you got grazed there," he observed, pointing to the telepath's shoulder.
"I'll get over it," Phil replied, still lost in thought. "Thanks for bailing me out," he said as he handed Grissom his revolver and went to retrieve his guns.
"I think we'd better 'ead back over there," Grissom suggested, "and 'elp the others finish off that robot."
"Sounds like a plan."
