Chapter X

X-23

X-23 ducked into the rubble of the demolished conveyor belt around her and watched as the woman in the trench coat proceeded to fight Sabretooth. For a while the woman kept the upper hand through her agility and the element of surprise alone, darting around the still staggered Sabretooth and landing one punch after the other. Nothing since Madame Hydra begging for her life had felt so nice to X-23 as the way this stranger made pounded the air from Sabretooth's lungs.

Soon however Sabretooth regained his bearings, while the woman, for some reason seemed to lose her edge, her reactions grew just that much slower, her punches became just that much less determent. To X-23 it was clear that the woman, despite her outward health, suffered from some sort of recent internal trauma that impacted negatively on her fighting ability and it was only a matter of fact until Sabretooth with his healing factor would overpower her.

For a moment X-23 considered leaving those two to their fighting and use that opportunity to set out and find Wolverine. If it was Sabretooth attacking a civilian X-23 would have interfered without flinching, but as far as she could tell the blonde woman was a skilled fighter as well as a mutant, no ordinary human would b al o stand against Sabretooth like that. And how was X-23 to know that the woman was not just another rival of Sabretooth and Wolverine? An obscure reference in SHIELD's databases to an assassin called 'Lady Deathstrike' came to mind.

But then again, the woman was obviously defending her, and she had called her by a name. Linda was close enough to the name Dr. Risman had given X-23 for it to be an honest mistake. Could the woman be somehow known to X-23? Could she be, if X-23 indeed dared to hope it, be an ally of some sorts?

The woman had succeeded in driving Sabretooth a few feet away from X-23, so she decided to slowly creep after the two combatants to get a better look at the woman. Hiding behind a concrete pillar X-23 watched in awe as the woman missed Sabretooth's face by just a few inches, he punch instead impacting on the concrete wall behind him, and utterly shattering a large section of it! The woman looked like a fury, wild blond hair flowing around her face like a halo, her blue eyes crackling like lightning, her skin flushed red all over. That was when X-23 recognized the woman; it was one of the people in Colonel Fury's department at SHIELD. The woman had looked just as angry the first time she had met Dr. Risman. It had made X-23 laugh. So she must have been the captive SHIELD agent Sabretooth had referred to. But since when was she a mutant? She had never demonstrated that level of durability and strength before. X-23 wondered, could ordinary people become mutants? Could someone who was long past the age mutant powers normally manifested go to bed one day and wake up breathing fire or with their body made out of sentient water? And if so; was the reverse possible too? Were mutants potentially liable to lose their powers spontaneously? X-23 shook her head, the idea of her waking up one day as a normal girl without adamantium claws and without animal senses was just wishful thinking. She had to help the SHIELD agent, but first she had to realign her shoulder. She gripped her shoulder with her healthy arm and gritted her teeth. Without her healing factor to assist her this would hurt even more than usually. She started to manipulate the bone. The pain was unbelievable, engulfing, maddening. Despite all her training, despite all her will she cried out. That should prove fatal.

"Linda!"For an instant the SHIELD agent averted her attention from Sabretooth. It was enough for Sabretooth to launch an attack with all his strength and all his weight, throwing the woman straight through a concrete pillar and into the wall. She was instantly out cold.

Now Sabretooth had his good mood back, laughing his disgusting wet laugh he turned to X-23, slowly walking towards her.

X-23 just crouched there. She could not explain it to herself; she knew how to handle this kind of situation, all she had to do was extend her claws and let her instincts take over, Sabretooth was a formidable opponent but she was skilled enough to have a chance. Yet, she looked down at her hands, flexing them to see her retracted claws under her skin, if readjusting her shoulder had hurt that much without her healing factor, how bad would extending her claws be?

"Awwww, is the little pup scared?" Sabretooth now towered above her. There was something in his eyes that had not been there before, something beyond murder lust, and although X-23 could not quite read it sent chills down her spine like little had ever done before. "I'm on a job, ya know? But the boss should be happy that I delivered the runt to him. It'd be only fair of him to let me play with you a bit. After all," he flexed his claws, "he never specified in what condition he wants ya delivered." And with that he brought down a dreadful swipe directly at X-23's face. More out of reflex than anything else X-23 closed her eyes as Sabretooth's roar resounded through every part of her being.

And then she opened them again, confused over the lack of pain, and the only thing she saw was Sabretooth's right foot racing towards her face. Again following a reflex she jerked her head back, but as the foot collided with her face, there was no pain either, no feeling at all as the foot disappeared in front of her. She barely registered the noise of Sabretooth growling behind her as she suddenly found her field of vision filled with first a mane of dirty blond hair, and then obscured by what appeared to be brown leather, both belonging to the figure of Sabretooth jumping away from her, colliding face-first with the ground and sliding befuddled over the floor. X-23 was on the verge of screaming, why didn't Sabretooth attack her, hurt her? What was holding him back, what was preventing him from touching her?

"Shhhh!" Shadowcat's voice sounded from behind X-23 back. She glanced back to see Shadowcat, half phased into the floor and grinning at her. The other girl was holding on to X-23's left leg. So that was what was happening, Shadowcat had been making her intangible and Sabretooth had been clawing and pouncing right through her. X-23 felt herself giggling at that, the whole situation was just so bizarre. Strange, she would have imagined that being phased felt like….something, but it did not feel different from being tangible at all.

"Laugh at me, will ya?" Sabretooth's voice was furious by now as he made for another assault at X-23. His growl turned into a painful whimper as a beam of hot-pink energy impacted into his side, shooting him down just moments before pouncing at the two mutant girls and throwing him into a conveyor belt.

"Sabretooth! Down!" Cyclops stood in the rubble from the section of wall the female SHIELD agent had punched in earlier. His hand still on the release of his visor, he did not divert his eyes from Sabretooth for even a split second.

"Nightcrawler, teleport Agent Danvers out, she's wounded! Shadowcat, get Laura away from here!"

Nightcrawler appeared and whisked the SHIELD agent away in a blink of an eye and two successive blasts of brimstone smoke. X-23 was relieved that the woman who had been injured defending her was save now, but she was not ready to leave the battlefield yet herself, not before Wolverine was found. Tearing herself free from Shadowcat's grip before the latter could phase her through the floor she rolled across the ground and back onto her feet. She was used to fighting alone, yet strangely the appearance of the X-Men gave her a feeling of security, of refreshed strength and courage, much like a wolf might feel at the arrival of his pack to help him against a enragen mountain lion. She extended her claws, and, yes it did hurt much, much more than usual. It was like she could feel the adamantium tear through every single fiber of her skin, but she knew she was strong enough to take it, she had to be, a pack was only as strong as its weakest link.

By now Sabretooth had recovered and, jumping right through Shadowcat, came once again for X-23. He was a rabid dog, bellowing and growling inhumanly. X-23 made for a counter attack, but it proved unnecessary as a burst of broken window glass heralded the entrance of Jean Grey from above. The young woman glided through the air with the grace of an Olympic diver only to seemingly freeze in midair as she extended her arms. There was something of a golden glow about Jean Grey as she used her telekinesis to lift Sabretooth up with a swipe of her arm and locked him safely in midair.

Sabretooth roared, trashed about, droplets his saliva flying in every direction as it collected as foam in front of his mouth. The struggle visibly put strain on Jean Grey, forcing her to conserve her telekinesis by landing.

"Scott! I don't think I can hold him much longer, he's too strong!" every muscle in Jean Grey's body was strained as she held Sabretooth's trashing, writhing weight in place.

Cyclops put his hand on his visor again, "Kitty, get Laura out now!"

Shadowcat was about to place her hand on X-23' shoulder, but she jerked away.

"I'm not leaving before we have found Wolverine!" she declared, she was not going to leave before she knew that Wolverine was safe. If Sabretooth had done anything to him, it would be her fault and she had to atone for that by executing revenge upon him.

Cyclops bit his lip, "Fine, you can stay, but don't get in our way."

X-23 nodded. Yeah, she thought, I, the professionally trained living weapon will get in the way of some stupid kids.

"You can release him now, Ms. Grey." Cyclops and Shadowcat looked just as confused as X-23 felt at the arrival of Colonel Fury and his SHIELD agents who suddenly seemed to pop up from every little crack and crevice the assembly hall offered, all armed to the teeth, all aiming at Sabretooth. Colonel Fury smiled, his hands clasped leisurely behind his back, "We will take care of Mr. Creed from here on."

Moving her hands down vigorously Jean Grey slammed Sabretooth into the ground. She went down to her knees, Cyclops hastening to her side. By the time Sabretooth got up from the clouds of dusts he was already surrounded by the gun barrels of not less than five SHIELD agents. To X-23's surprise Sabretooth surrendered, raising his hands. It disappointed her, she would have preferred to take care of him once and for all, freeing herself and Wolverine of his looming presence.

That was when he glanced in her direction and grinned. "Congratulations Colonel for capturing me once again," his voice was mocking, "and you even managed to save both the pup and the bitch. But I'm afraid you come just a little late to rescue Wolverine."

It was like a bomb had just exploded in the centre of the room; behind X-23 Kitty gasped Jean Grey looked up, her flushed face suddenly paling, Scott bent himself over her, as if ready to throw up. Even Colonel Fury, now standing next to X-23 betrayed his shock at those news by the way the fingers on his left hand twitched for just a second.

X-23 felt….how could she really express how she felt? It was like someone had just punched her into the stomach, like readjusting a dislocated shoulder, like extending her claws without her healing factor. It felt like all these things together and a million times worse. Wolverine. Good, noble Wolverine, gone? Had Sabretooth really succeeded in his eternal hunt for Wolverine? Had she allowed him to keep her from rescuing Wolverine for too long, causing him to bleed to death without his healing factor? No it was not fair! It could not be! Wolverine gone and Sabretoth the monster still around? Wolverine dead just when they were supposed to finally be a family? All her fault for getting scared and running away? No this could not be true! This had to be some sort of bad dream!

"You MONSTER!" she screamed and rushed towards Sabretooth, but Colonel Fury held her back. He seemed not to mind her screeching at the loudest volume she could force her lungs to produce or the fact that she trashed about wildly with her razor sharp claws. He just forced her into a firm grip, pressing her against him, while continuing to talk with Sabretooth.

"Where is the body?"

X-23 was ready to slice his head off, how could the Colonel dare to talk so calmly about Wolverine being dead? How could he dare to talk to Sabretooth, Wolverine's murderer at all? Why hadn't he killed that vile creature yet? She had to get out, but the Colonel's hold on her was too strong. She bit him, her teeth slicing straight through the Kevlar covering his hand, drawing blood and even hitting bone, but still Colonel Fury paid her no more attention than was needed to keep her captured.

"Logan's not dead," declared Jean Grey standing up and approaching Sabretooth. The look on her face was at first one of relief, then her eyebrows sunk, only to rise again rapidly as her eyes grew wide. "He's captured. He's in the hands of somebody who had been looking for him for a long time." Her face grew distorted with pain, she touched her forehead. "I can't get to the information as to where he took Logan. He's like Mystique; his mind is closed to me."

Sabretooth chuckled, "You bet it is, Red. My new sponsor equipped me with some spiffy new mental defenses not even Baldy could break. So what chance does a greenhorn like you have?" He glanced at X-23 as he made that last remark. X-23 knew that Sabretooth tried to yank her chain, but, to her great humiliation, it worked. Her whole being from way down in her stomach to all the neuron synapses in her brain, was screaming. She tried to break free from Fury again, stronger than before, but again to no avail.

"That is enough!" Fury's voice was strained, angry even. He addressed his men, "take him to the headquarters. Even if we can't get him to talk, we can at least remove him from the equation for good."

Sabretooth did not resist as the SHIELD personnel secured him, merely smile with his yellow, dripping fangs, "If you say so, Colenel", and then chuckled again.

X-23 struggled against Fury's grip the whole time as they watched Sabretooth being led away. Only after they had heard the SHIELD jet with him aboard lift of did Fury release her, slowly and carefully. All X-23 wanted as this point was to run, run away and find Logan and fight and kill whoever had him captured and free him. That was her mission now. She attempted to bolt away but Fury placing his hand on her shoulder kept her back.

"It's not what Logan would want, kid."

How dared he! She swung around, holding up her claws into Fury's face and wanted to growl at him, asking how he dared to propose to her what Wolverine might or might not want! She however only came as far as "How da-…!" before she could feel a sort of stinging in her eyes and her voice trailed off into incoherent sobbing.

The Colonel's voice changed, becoming softer, "Hey there, no need for that."

Somehow this little bit of kindness was enough for X-23 to latch on to as she clung her arms around Fury's and started to weep loudly.

He laid his hands on her shoulders, "We'll find him kid. You have my word, we'll find him."

Yes they would, agreed X-23 in her mind. SHIELD had the power, the connections, the resources. They would find whoever was holding Wolverine. And once they had found them, X-23 would wrest that information from them and made the captor bleed.