Part II
Swallow 'fore you talk, Moira - I might even be able t' make out what th' hell yer sayin' that way. Why am I grateful fer what that bunch did? Long story, but I'll see if I can make it short enough not t' interfere with yer bedtime.
Lessee, quite a few years have passed since then, but as I recall, me, th' day started like another heapin' shovelful o' manure bein' dumped onto th' pile.
Th' X-ers had managed t' corral me again an' ol' Charley X had decided he was gonna get into my core an' either straighten me out or figure a way t' put me down. Th' way it came down.... well, I guess it was what he was after, but I bet he'd never chosen th' way it happened.
Lemme set it up fer ya so's ya know where all th' chess pieces were 'fore some idiot kicked over th' board. Me, yer not-so-friendly neighborhood Sabretooth, I was in a set o' restraints that were heavy as shit. Runt was off t' the side, mutterin' t' himself with Storm alongside. Xavier was right in front o' me with little redheaded Jean an' bleached blonde Emma just behind an' to his sides. I suppose th' two gals were feedin' power t' Xavier while he was burrowin' through th' red mists that filled my head back then. Beast an' Cyclops were in th' area as well, but not in my line o' sight. Jus' knew they were there 'cause I could smell 'em. An' hear Beast talkin'. Man never shuts up. Bet he even talks in his sleep. Yeh, I know - gettin' off track. Now where was I?
Obviously, there was no warnin' an' none o' us knew 'xactly what was goin' on at th' time. We had t' piece it t'gether as best we could after th' dust settled. One minute I'm fightin' against th' uninvited mind intrusion - next minute, everything went..... on fire. No.. hotter than fire. How would I know? Listen, pups - I've been burned up, blown up, kicked outta th' occasional airplane, run over, half-drowned an' froze. None o' that even came close t' th' pure intensity o' pain that swept me away in a blindin' excruciatin' extasy. Only thing I could even start t' compare it to was th' Glow that lil' Birdy used t' give me. Huh? No, that'll be a story fer another day.
But back t' what I was sayin' - this? This was as far past th' Glow as the sun is past a candle.
Runt says he'll never figure how I managed it, but apparently that fire kicked my adrenaline into extra-high gear.... I snapped outta those restraints like they were tissue-paper, but not 'cause I was tryin' t' do it. It was all a knee-jerk reaction. I wasn't even aware o' anything beyond th' purity o' th' pain. I ain't a philosopher or nothin', but only thing I can compare it to is a crucible. My brain.... hell, everythin' that makes me into me.... heated... melted. Purified.
I woke slow. I felt like - well, t' be truthful? Ain't a single other thing in my life I could even vaguely compare it to. But I felt ... this sounds stupid, I know, but I felt new. Like a snake that sloughed off an old, dead dull skin. An' I woke t' th' sounds o' mournin'.
We had been underground, so we'd been spared t' worst o' it. Best we could find out, some terrorists hacked their way into a security computer somewhere in Asia... mebbe Russia. Doesn't really matter. All ended up th' same. They made th' nukes launch - other nukes went off in retaliation. Well, don't take a genius t' know how that ended. Death on a global scale.
What had hit me was what had hit th' trio workin' on me. Death. Not of one, a hundred or even a paltry million. Billions. Jean an' Xavier were dead from brain hemmorages 'fore I woke. Frost must've felt somethin' goin' wrong - she somehow shut herself off. Comatose, but alive. Which is more'n you could say 'bout most o' th' telepaths in th' world. Telepaths weren't plentiful t' start with, but after th' bombs, less'n one percent remained. I believe they told me th' number world-wide was seventeen - that's known folks though. No telling how many others there may or may not be. An' those seventeen were divided into three bunches. Four, includin' Frost, were in comas. Three were made flat out insane. Remainder were operatin' at bare minimums due t' trauma. Bruised brains, I guess.
Anyways... back t' th' story. I woke an' th' first thing I see is Storm, cradlin' Xavier's bloody head in her lap an' cryin' like a kid with Beast practically howlin' as he's tryin' his best t' hold 'em both. Logan an' Cyclops looked t' be runnin' on automatic... jus' doin', not thinkin'. Logan had apparently just laid Grey's body down, then I heard Cyclops yell out fer Beast tellin' him that Emma wasn't dead. That got Beast t' jump up quick an' th' two o' them hustled Frost outta there.
Fer a minute, nobody noticed I was awake. Then I started movin' an' Logan snapped around.. an' then? He just stared at me.
Why? Well, you see, he felt it, smelled it - th' difference in me. So did I. All those years. All those fights. Two o' us hatin' each other's guts an' never really one hundred percent sure why. It was th' crazies that I had.... it had given me a scent not unlike a rabid animal gives off. Packs'll attack an' drive off or kill sick animals t' keep th' sickness from spreadin'. But now? That scent was gone from me an' we were both more'n a little confused about th' change.
Cyclops came back in lookin' more rattled than I'd ever seen him look - shook enough that it didn't even dawn on him yet that I was loose an' standin'. Then he started talkin' in a steady monotone an' we all knew why he was shook.
World-wide power-outages. Countless bombs goin' off. A death toll so big that likely th' total number of dead'll never be known. Entire cities wiped off th' map along with a few countries. Every capital o' any note? Pancake. World leadership? Well, th' UN got flattened too, if that gives ya a clue. Which it might not - guess it depends if you were payin' attention when Beast was tryin' t' teach you History.
Any ways? Things started goin' south fast. After findin' himself in th' odd position o' vouchin' fer me, Logan an' I teamed up t' help defend th' mansion grounds from the scavenger gangs that seemed t' erupt within hours. Mansion had its own generators an' other things they coveted. Between me, Storm an' Logan though? They soon decided t' look elsewhere.
