The next chapter! Enjoy!

~~~N&L~~~~

Raven couldn't stop the small giggle that left her as she gently played with the spaded tip of Azazel's tail. It always fascinated her with how it moved about and also told what kind of mood Azazel was in. Mind you it took awhile for her to learn how to read it, but she had enjoyed learning how to.

The red mutant couldn't suppress the small smile that appeared on his face as he watched her mess with his tail. He sighed and laid his head back as he closed his eyes. The two mutants were enjoying a rather warm afternoon together. The rest of the group also went their separate ways, each enjoying a very much needed day off. He opened his pale eyes and looked toward the open window. There was a slight breeze to cool the two mutants and a ray of light bleeding through. He enjoyed the heat far more than he believed he should but ultimately, it was Mystique whom he was enjoying most. She lay besides him on the bed they shared, holding his tail and watching as it moved between her blue fingers.

"What are you doing?" He asked quietly. He closed his eyes and slowly pulled the appendage away from her in an attempt to gently break her grasp on it.

Raven also enjoyed the heat more than she knew she should but she didn't care. Hearing Azazel she stopped and looked to him with semi wide eyes. "Oh, sorry. I'm not hurting you am I?" Raven asked, worry clear in her voice as she let the tail go from the tip of her fingers. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt him, no, she had been getting ready to message it knowing the training he did with it.

"Not at all, Raven." He paused a moment to think and as he opened his eyes to look at her, he added, "I am merely curious." He moved the tail into his view and studied it himself. It was no different than what he remembered, obviously, but it was interesting nonetheless.

"I was going to rub and massage your tail. Don't laugh, but I like playing with it and I've seen the workout's you do with it, so I'm sure it's sore too." Raven explained, hoping that Azazel wouldn't laugh at her comment. She really did want to help relax him and what better way then to give him a massage?

"I think my tail is just fine. But thank you." He gave her a closed mouth smile and then moved to sit up. He looked her up and down before settling on her Golden eyes. "Is there anything you wish to do?" He shrugged, "I feel as if we are wasting the day." He stood up from their bed and stretched, his back popping a few times as he did so. Perhaps a massage would be nice, he thought. He softly smiled and then waited for her reply, his tail swishing calmly behind him.

Sitting up herself, Raven stretched as she came to sit beside Azazel while on the bed still. "Other than spending time with you, not really. And we are not wasting the day away. Not..really. Okay maybe a little. But how often do we get the chance to just relax?" Raven said as she enjoyed being able to do nothing for a chance, as she then plopped back on the bed, her arms stretched above her head. "The message I offered is still open." She said looking to him with a playful smile and tone.

Azazel smirked at her and then stretched once again. "I'm very bored. I don't like just doing nothing." He looked towards the door and then back at her. "Are you thirsty?" Perhaps a quick walk would do him good. He usually would simply teleport to the kitchen and then back to the room, but with him just laying around, he wanted to stretch his legs.

"I know another way to keep you from being bored." Raven said with a very playful smirk and tone, as she ran a slender finger down the length of her stomach, looking to it then right into Azazel's eyes.

Azazel smirked at her hinting gesture. He slowly made his way over to her as he said ,"Maybe I will take you up on this offer." He moved over her as she lay on the bed and planted a firm kiss on her neck. His tail began to wag as he grew excited for the coming moment.

Raven couldn't stop the playful giggle that left her as Azazel rested himself over top her and kissed at her neck. With a wide smile Raven ran her fingers through his thick black hair then they traveled down the front of his well shaped body and towards the belt that held his pants up and started to unbuckle them. The smile still in place Raven looked from what she was doing back up to Azazel's eyes.

Azazel lifted himself above her and looked into her eyes as well. "I guess this is a good thing to pass time with." He smiled at her and then continued to litter her neck with kisses and nips.

Azazel woke suddenly, feeling uncomfortable with the sudden coldness and the sterile smell of where ever he was. His eyes were shut and his face was pressed against the cool floor. He made no effort to move from where he was as he tried to associate his surroundings with anywhere familiar. He always had a sixth sense of where he was but for seem reason, he could sense nothing. There was no pulse he could sense, no breeze, no object around him. It was just emptiness. He stirred slightly, moving his body into a more comfortable position on the floor but did not attempt much else. He felt something, a collar of some sort, pressed against his neck tightly. Too tight.

He opened his pale eyes, his vision slightly blurred from the sedative that was forcefully administered. There was dim lighting that was coming from somewhere but at the moment he couldn't care where. There were solid, crisscrossing metal poles all around him and he wondered vaguely why until he got a better look around.

He was in a small cage like contraption that barely gave him enough room to sit up and was hardly big enough to hold a full grown man such as himself. As the red man sat up, he closed his eyes, trying to pinpoint where in the world he was. Nothing.

He wondered vaguely if this is what being blind was like.

He looked around calmly so as not to aggravate his pounding headache as he looked for Erik. His leader was next to him in an adjacent cage, once again, too small for the average person. Wherever they were jolted suddenly and Azazel realized that they were in some kind of truck, perhaps for transport. He growled lowly at that as he attempted to stretch his aching back in a way too small space.

Like Azazel, Erik was trapped. Slowly he began to regain consciousness from the heavy drugs that had been pumped into his body. Cautiously, Erik kept his eyes closed as he listened to what went on around him, feeling as, if whatever he was in continued to move forward. Hearing no one, he slowly peeked open an eye. The pounding in his head was nothing new, so it didn't faze him much. But what did faze him, was seeing Azazel in a cage much like his, wearing a metal collar, with a single guard standing in front of the trailer door as the only means to stop them. As if that could stop them. But then why wasn't Azazel doing so? Sitting himself up, it was then Erik felt the collar, the same type that Azazel wore, pressed tightly against his neck. It was as he went to use his power's to rip the things off when he realized with horror that he couldn't.

Looking from Azazel, into the truck trailer, Erik saw as several more cages lined the sides, but none of them held any other mutants. With a feeling of dread that he hid, Erik looked back to Azazel. It would seem it was just the three of them. "What's the last thing you remember?" he asked.

Azazel turned his head slowly towards the man keeping guard. He had not noticed him at first which once again aggravated him. He should have sensed him.

He was not expecting Magneto to speak to him, nor was he actually expecting himself to have the capacity at the moment to speak. His mind was still hazy from the drugs and he feared that whatever came out would hardly make sense to the mutant before him. He rubbed his eyes roughly as he tried to compose himself.

"Raven...That is...That is last memory." His voice was slurred and his accent thicker than usual. He shook his head, willing the drugs away. He peeked through his hands at the guard who had not moved. It's not like he was much of a threat right now anyways.

Azazel then spoke again, realizing that he didn't really give Erik much more than his dream. "Emma, she is safe. They caught us." The throbbing pain on his right cheekbone suddenly began as if reawakened by him recalling his memories. He had been punched quite a few times as he went down. He removed his hands from his face and looked toward Erik with a faraway look in his eyes. In all honesty, he'd rather be sleeping.

Erik was quiet as he let Azazel speak. He could see how difficult it was for the crimson mutant to remain focused. Erik wasn't stupid. He wouldn't be surprised if Azazel had more drugs pumped into him because of his powers and his skills as an assassin. Hearing that Emma escaped brought relief to him. With her still out there she'd be able to get back to HQ and form a plan. But with how easy it had been to bring them down, he knew it'd take much help to get them out. If they could get the collar off Azazel they'd be set. "Rest my friend." Erik said in a soft commanding tone. "Regain your strength.

"Can't", was all the red mutant said. He wasn't about to fall asleep while this human was around. It unnerved him that he was so defenseless. That he was stuck in a cage. He did close his eyes momentarily in order to steady his mind, but relief didn't find him. His head hurt and he couldn't help but blame it on that guard that quietly observed them. He would die first. He glared at he guard but it was not acknowledged at all. His attention turned to the collar around his neck. He reached for it calmly, feeling the smooth edge of it against his crimson skin. It was very tight and he wondered momentarily if Erik's was like that too.

A thought dawned on him, why not just teleport? He closed his eyes and focused but nothing happened. He tried harder this time and only accomplished making his headache worse. He groaned in pain as he pressed his hands roughly on the side of his face attempting to dull the pain.

Erik didn't blame Azazel for not wanting to fall asleep in a dangerous situation, and they most certainly where in one.

It was when Azazel did close his eyes and groan in pain that Erik did act. "Be calm. It will pass." Erik said knowing from experience.

Azazel looked at Erik calmly. He relaxed a bit and hunched over as he then looked at the guard coolly. The truck they were in stopped suddenly and Azazel was pushed roughly into the the bars of the cage from the force. He swore in Russian and then glared at the seemingly unmoved guard as he attempted to sit back up.

Being a little more in control of himself, Erik had been able to catch himself before he hit the bars of the cage he was in. It was then an idea came to mind. Looking from Azazel to the guard, he noticed that if the crimson man wanted he could lash out with his tail and grab the guard. If they managed to catch him off guard, they might be able to get themselves free. "You alright?" Erik asked Azazel with a small agitated growl, feeling for the moment, helpless to do anything.

Azazel snapped his head toward Erik when he spoke and he nodded slowly. The drugs were finally wearing off and he was much more alert than he had been just a few minutes ago. He curled his tail close to his body in a subconscious effort to comfort himself. He was not having a good experience and he would not leave a tip for the guard.

Now that Erik had Azazel's attention, he silently kept looking from the guard to Azazel's tail, in a semi slow manner to not attract the attention of said guard, hoping the red man would understand what it was Erik had planed.

The guard of course had seen the movement of Erik's eyes as he continued to look straight on. He figured the two wouldn't try anything since they didn't have their power's and he having a gun gave him a false sense of confidence.

In all honesty, Azazel had absolutely no clue what Magneto was trying to say. He furrowed his brow as he thought for a good long moment before he caught on. He slowly unraveled his tail but continued to look at Erik so as not to draw attention to the moving appendage.

As fast as the older mutant possibly could, he grabbed the guard's leg and yanked him roughly off his feet, making him crash to the floor violently. The man went still and Azazel moved as close as he could towards the man to see what the damage was. The man's dark hair was glistening slightly and he was obviously unconscious. He smiled wickedly and then reached for him through the bars.

"I do hope that is what you wanted." Azazel said as he reached for the keys on the man's belt. He finally grabbed them and with a quick flick of his tail, he had the keys in his hand. It only took him a moment to get out of that tiny cage and when he finally stretched, he breathed a sigh of relief.

He handed the keys to Magneto so he could get himself out.

Erik was quiet as he watched Azazel quickly take out the guard. As Azazel handed him the keys and he unlocked the cage, a satisfied smile came to his face.

"Yes, it was." Erik said, stretching out his body as he stood to his full height. A heavy frustrated sigh left Erik as he saw that there was only one key on the guard. Seems the humans had thought this out better. "So much for getting the collars off." Erik said with some agitation, as he quickly knelt down by the guard and took what weapons and ammo he had. "This will have to do." He said standing back up.

Azazel watched Erik grab the man's gun and ammo and sneered in disgust. "Guns are so..." He shrugged. "I don't like them. Very impersonal." He moved toward the door and slowly unlatched it. He hoped that no one would be on the other side and to his delight, he was right. He slowly pushed the door open to see that they were surrounded by dense woods. He looked back at Erik to make sure he was following and then the red mutant bolted for the trees. He didn't have the drive to get into a fight right now and he hoped that his leader wouldn't attack any humans with that loud gun of his.

He kept running, not even looking back to see if he was with him. To be honest, it was every man for himself in a world like this. He would not mourn Erik's death, just as he had not mourned Shaw's. Just another death to add to the list.

Better then nothing, Erik thought as he quickly followed after Azazel into the dense woods. No, he would not wast any ammo when it wasn't necessary. And while Erik didn't expect Azazel to stop, in situations like this it did help to have another there for help. They would need each other to make it out of this one. "Just keep going." Erik instructed as he followed closely after Azazel at a dead run.

Azazel grunted as a reply. It wasn't like he really needed to be told to keep going. He didn't care for many people. But if he had to order the Brotherhood by importance to him, Erik would be at the bottom. He quickly changed course, leaping over a fallen tree. He ran until his lungs started to give out on him.

He finally stopped in a small clearing. He breathed heavily as he tried to get his breathing back under control. After spending who knows how long crammed in that cage, the chance to stretch his legs was welcomed wholeheartedly. He wasn't used to staying still for very long, preferring to stay active and doing something with his time.

Now that he was away from the humans, he needed to figure out how to get home with this collar on. It was too close to his skin to get much of a grip to rip it off so that was out of the question.

Being younger Erik was able to hold himself up much better then the older mutant, breathing only slightly heavy as he stopped a few feet away along side Azazel. Though he had to admit, it felt good to stretch his legs as he had. He kept himself on high alert as they stopped briefly in the clearing.

"We need to stay in the cover of the woods. It'll be harder for them to find us." Erik said more rambling at feeling uneasy being in the open as they were. And he wasn't saying it because he thought Azazel stupid, no. He knew Azazel would feel the same way, being an assassin and a warrior, it just came with the territory of knowing how to hide and or strike at your target.

After a few seconds of looking around, Erik started to head off again, in what he hoped was the right direction home. Having no idea where he was or land marks or even the stars to go by, Erik was acting more on pure intuition then anything else as he headed into the woods once more. He didn't stop to see if Azazel was following, though he hoped he did more out of safety in numbers then for any other reason.

Azazel knew that he was speaking sense. They had to stay out of sight. Still breathing heavily, he followed close by to Erik. He looked around calmly as they walked through the woods. He desperately wanted that collar off. He could be home right now, drinking a cold glass of water. He sighed as his breathing evened out.

"Do you know where we are going?" He spoke normally now. The drugs had worn off finally.

"No." Erik said in all honesty as he kept moving forward through the woods. He wasn't going to lie to Azazel, there would be no point. But he did hope to get his bearings soon. Perhaps by coming across a town he could learn where they were.

Azazel followed quietly. There was nothing for him to really do at that point.

After about an hour had past, Azazel stopped walking and spoke up,"What are we supposed to do? We can't keep walking. We need to set up some sort of camp or we need to get these collars off." He crossed his arms defiantly. That he knew of, Erik was out of his element. Out here, the older, wiser mutant would be in charge, he would make sure of it.

With a heavy accepting sigh Erik stopped walking, knowing that Azazel was right. They couldn't keep walking at this pace with no clue as to where they were.

Looking around at their surroundings, Erik knew that this was a good spot to rest for the night. Being right up against a high cliff face with a small carved out cave from time and the elements. Erik knew this was a well protected spot.

"We will rest here." Erik said with a nod as he turned to look at Azazel. "I agree. We need to get these collars off." Erik said as he started to gather things to make a fire. Being late fall the days were already cold and it was just going to get colder.

First the fire then they'd focus on trying to get the collars off.

Azazel nodded and then set to work on getting firewood. Being surrounded by trees was a plus and all of the wood was dry. It seemed that their luck was turning around.

Once the fire was started by Azazel, he sat down by the cave entrance. The sun was setting from the way the sky was fading and the temperature began to drop. He kept quiet, not initiating any conversation with the man near him.

Erik had also helped in gathering the fire wood and the rocks for the outline. As he gathered the rocks he kept an eye out for one that he could use to try and get the collars off by the locks.

And he had found one. It was long thick but sharp at the end. Walking up to Azazel he showed him his find. "Think we could use this to get the collars off by the locks?" He asked as it never hurt to get a second opinion and with Azazel being older he'd know more about how to survive.

Erik wasn't stupid, he knew by looking at Azazel that he had had a hard life and no doubt he had to be on his own and survive by his own wits and instincts to make it.

Azazel looked at the rock in his hand and gave a small smile. "It seems the great controller of metal has been reduced to hitting rock on things. Funny how life works." Azazel stood up from where he was standing and grabbed the rock from his hand. He examined it before handing it back to Erik. "If you want to whack a rock against your neck, you can."

He walked toward the fire and sat next to it.

Erik gave Azazel a unamused look as he gave an irritated sigh. "Oh, and I suppose you have a better idea." Erik said as he tilted his head at the teleporter with an raised eyebrow.

Azazel looked at Erik with an amused expression towards his now sour attitude. "I don't have an idea. But that is dumb idea." He chuckled quietly and then continued to observe the fire, throwing a leaf in every so often.

After a few moments, he spoke. "We should sleep. Figure things out tomorrow."

"I don't think that is a wise idea." Erik said as he moved away from Azazel over to the other side of the fire. "We should take shifts. Four hour intervals." Erik said looking to him sternly, not liking the idea of both of them sleeping at once. He felt it left them to open to attack, too vulnerable.

Azazel sighed. "You are worrying too much. I think we will be fine. If anything, I know I will wake up." He leaned back on his hands and stared at Erik. "I am sleeping. You can stay up if you wish." With that, Azazel stood up and moved a little deeper into the small cave.

Erik didn't say anything as he watched Azazel get up and leave to rest. Erik still felt uneasy and no doubt wouldn't be getting much rest any time soon.

With a soft sigh Erik sat down on the rock Azazel had been sitting on and tried to keep warm by the fire.

Azazel sat down against the hard wall and rested his head back, closing his eyes. He needed sleep badly. He slowly drifted off into a dreamless sleep, the sound of the fire crackling acting as a lullaby.

Erik wasn't sure how long he stared into the fire for before he drifted to sleep without even realizing it. Or for that matter what it was that had woken him, as he stood quickly with a start, looking around in a slight panic. Looking back into the cave, Erik saw that Azazel was still asleep. Taking deep breathes to calm himself, Erik eyed his surroundings. His only warning had been the soft rustling of a bush, before a tranquilizer dart hit him once more in his upper arm. As before, Erik had no time to get off any sort of warning before the drug took full effect and unconsciousness took over.

Azazel startled awake at the sound of Erik falling over. He looked to him, assuming he had only fallen asleep, and then closed his eyes once again. His breathing had already started to even out again when he heard footsteps near the mouth of the cave. He opened his eyes slowly and looked toward Erik who was being taken away on a stretcher by two masked men.

Instantly, the red mutant jumped up and lunged for the men, succeeding in grabbing one and throwing him into the fire. As the man began to scream, another shot a dart into Azazel's chest. He ripped it out violently and went after the shooter, only to be shot by another man in his neck. Faster than before, Azazel started to feel the effects of the drug and he fell to the ground only a moment later.

~~~N&L~~~

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