A/N: So turns out I wasn't quite done with this story yet. This picks up after the fight in Confessions, except with an alternate ending. You might want to read that one before you read this. Let me know if you think I should continue!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of Marvel's characters and any references to real people are for entertainment purposes only. I'm not making any money off of this. Which is really unfortunate.

I came to again, maybe only five minutes later and almost didn't want to open my eyes. I could be anywhere. I got up the courage and cracked them open, just for a peek. I was still lying face up in Africa. Kioni was bending over me, her long hair falling over us like a curtain. Her eyes were red, like she'd been crying.

"Oh, God, Wade…" she trailed off in sobs. I sat up a little bit to look around.

The ground was covered in blood; some the color of dry rust, others fresh and in puddles. "Gary" was leaning over what looked like Mhina. He wasn't moving. Akina had her kids in her arms and was trying to calm their bawling. Her husband was running around trying to restore order and see who needed help.

And Stryker, Creed, and Betsy were gone. I looked at Kioni questioningly.

"They just left," she said between sobs, "Creed grabbed that purple-wearing bitch," I snickered, "and they jumped on this helicopter that came out of nowhere. I don't know if they'll come back." I struggled to my feet, my head swimming. Kioni nearly knocked me over again as she threw herself into my arms. "Wade," she sobbed harder into my blood-stained and ripped shirt, "Mhina, he's not moving. I think that they killed…" she dissolved into body shaking sobs.

And now I knew why they had left. They did what they came to do. I wasn't important enough to them right now. They could always come and get me at some later time. I sighed. This was not good. I looked back over at Gary. For once, his pudgy face wasn't smiling. He looked grave. I glanced over at Kioni. She looked like she was on the verge of a breakdown. I touched her arm.

"Hey," she looked up at me. "You ok?" I knew it was a stupid question, but it had the intended effect. She steeled her shoulders and nodded at me, her tears still on her face but no longer running from her eyes.

"Yes," she said firmly. She swallowed hard one time, then looked back over at Gary and Mhina. Without another word, she headed toward them. I tagged along. I was pretty sure I knew what we were going to see once we got over there. I couldn't hear or see Mhina breathing. Which generally, is not a good sign. I followed close behind Kioni, not looking too forward to how she was going to react.

We came right up to the body. I bent down to feel for a pulse. All I felt was cold skin. I tried not to pull back too quickly. I know I'm a professional assassin or whatever, but dead people still give me the heebie-jeebies. The body was lying in a pool of blood, the eyes wide open and glassy, ten puncture wounds in two arches on his chest.

Sabertooth was such a bastard.

I heard a sharp intake of breath as Kioni caught sight of what I was seeing.

"How did it happen?" I asked Gary. I was pretty sure Mhina was alive when I got knocked out. I winced as the cuts all over me began to seal themselves back up. A few bystanders were looking on in amazement but I shook them off. I thought it was pretty obvious now that I was a mutant.

"When the big man knocked you out, he ran over to stop him from killing you." Gary said softly, his trademark glee gone. I had to be impressed. I didn't even know the guy and he had died for me. It probably wasn't the best time to point out that somehow I couldn't die anyway. Instead I just looked at Gary, urging him to continue. "He grabbed one of your weapons and drove it into the man's back. I thought he had killed him, no man could survive that…"

"No normal man," Kioni interjected. "He is a mutant."

Gary's eyes widened to saucer like proportions. I don't know how he could have missed the fact that both Creed and I had been splitting each other open and sealing ourselves back up for the last half hour. This guy wasn't the brightest crayon in the box.

"A mutant…" he babbled.

"Yeah. So am I." I said it nonchalantly. Kioni kept silent. I can't say I blamed her. Gary was looking at me like I had just said I worshiped the devil.

"You?!" he choked out.

I rose my eyebrow at him and he staggered back like I was going to melt him with my mind. I averted my eyes back to Mhina's body. Sure enough, one of my katanas was lying near his hand, blood covering it to the hilt. He had gotten a good hit in. I could imagine him plunging it into that hairy back, and then Creed just turning around and sinking those yellow talons into him. Poor sap. I didn't like him, but I didn't want him to die. Akina's husband ran up to us.

"We need to move him out of sight. And someone will have to tell his family…"

"I will," Joshua had emerged. He had blood on his shirt and was holding a stained red cloth to his arm.

"You've been shot!" Kioni was at her father's side in an instance, followed closely by Akina. He brushed them off.

"It is just a graze. I will be fine after some stitches. We need to focus on those less fortunate." Despite the fact that the man had taken a bullet to his arm, he was all business. I could see where the sisters got their mannerisms from.

"Was it Stryker?" Joshua looked at me questioningly.

"The white man with the too-large sunglasses? Yes. Luckily for me is a terrible shot." I had to smile at that one. I'm guessing Stryker got distracted by the fact that his house cat was writhing in pain outside with me. Either way, he hadn't finished the job. Which presented me with another problem. Stryker always finished the job.

"He'll be back," I announced to the general assembly a few minutes later. We had moved Mhina into the mansion/warehouse and the kids had been sent away with their mother and father. Joshua and Kioni looked up at me.

"I assumed that yes. Which is why we must do what we can to prevent another attack." Joshua covered Mhina's body.

"He'll still come. The man has resources and connections like you won't believe. When he wants something done, it happens."

"You know a lot about him. And he seems to know a lot about you. In fact, it seems as though you were here to kill me. How can I trust you?" A gun was at my head a second later. Damn, should have seen that coming. I'm pretty sure the bullet wouldn't kill me, but I was in no mood to lose my memory again. Not when I had some of it back.

"Father, don't." Kioni calmly placed herself between me and the gun. "He did not know. He was another tool of Stryker's. He never had the intention of harming anyone here." Well, that was nice of her. I'm starting to think she likes me.

"How can you be sure? He is obviously a powerful mutant--"

"Thanks!" I smiled brightly at the compliment. Both father and daughter shot me matching "are you kidding me?" expressions.

"The point is, he could have tricked you." Joshua finished.

"Just because mother tricked you does not make us all bad," Kioni said gently. Joshua looked hard at her for a moment. Kioni continued. "I've been monitoring his desires and emotions since he arrived. And I assure you, he is innocent. At least in this matter." she added as an afterthought.

The gun slowly lowered. "Your best chance is if I go after him. I'm pretty sure I'm worth more to him right now then you are. No offense." Kioni's lips turned up slightly.

"You can kill him?" he asked.

"If I can get Creed out of the way first, yeah." Joshua looked skeptical.

"Are you a trained fighter?" he asked.

"I think he's a mercenary. Or perhaps an assassin." Kioni imparted.

"A mercenary?" Joshua looked like the news took years off of his life. Which was not good, seeing as he had cancer and all.

"Yeah. I don't know how I got started with it, but I think I'm pretty good at it," Joshua buried his head in his hands. Kioni shot me a warning look. "Anyway, I'll be getting out of your hair soon. I'll just go get my stuff…" I started to back out of the room.

"I'm coming with you," Kioni announced. Her father opened his mouth to protest right as I yelled at her.

"WHAT?!" we both exclaimed.

She just crossed her arms and looked hard at us. Oh jeez…

So, should I keep going?