Chap 12
AN-I think I'll edit this tomorrow, but I wanted to post it tonight. Here it is, the longest chapter yet and still not the end!
Storm was explaining the holographic map of the base at Alkali Lake.
So basically, get in, flip switch, get kids, get out. Got it. Liadan thought to herself. She was standing a lot closer to Victor than she would have normally been-which is saying something, since she's been glued to him since they were reunited. The air inside the jet was so thick with tension it was almost suffocating. The X-Team was already suited up, and Liadan was wearing a spare pair of Storm's boots they had found. They were a bit big, and she stuffed the toes with toilet paper, but they would be better than her bare feet in the snow.
It was decided that Mystique would go in first, to "flip the switch" as Liadan called it, so the rest of the team, and Brotherhood, could get in. The X-Men would search for the children, while Magneto and Mystique did whatever it was they would do. That left Sabertooth and Liadan who couldn't decide between Fae or Maeve, to patrol, and take down as many guards as they could.
"I don't think Liadan should be doing this." Jean said to Storm and Logan as the holographic map faded away.
"I don't like it either." Ororo replied. Logan just grunted and glared.
"Perhaps ve should-" Started Kurt, but Liadan left Victor's immediate brooding vicinity to interrupt them.
"No. You guys need to stop. These are my peers." She said simply. Victor slowly stalked up to her side. "And I will do what I can. Remember, I can mess with the guards and they can't really hurt me. So let me do what I can. If worse comes to worse and push comes to gunshots, you have to admit you could really use another person who can't die."
"We don't have to like it. But I still think…maybe we should call your mother." Storm obviously didn't think that as a seventeen year old fae, Liadan was old enough to make her own decisions.
"Would you rather we wasted time to check if it's ok for me to live my life with my mom, or we just go and save the others and shut this thing down?" The teen put her hand on her hip, and set her jaw. "You cannot tell me you chose the former. Can we go now?"
……………
The snow was deep, but Victor walked in front of her, cutting a path so she could follow in his wake.
"You need better clothes." He rumbled discontentedly back to her.
"Yeah and these bastards need to not attack my school while I'm going to bed." She panted back with a wry smile.
He did some sort of man huff-grunt back to show his agreement and distaste. He had wanted her to wear his duster but it was ridiculously too big for her. Instead, just before they left the other teens on the jet, he took off his long-sleeved, hand-made leather jerkin style shirt and handed it over to her with the command to put it on. The gesture nearly made her melt with joy, and the sight of her man topless nearly made her melt with something else entirely.
"But won't you get cold?" She asked while snaking her hands over his torso, smiling softly at the fine golden cords of silk brushing her palms. She rejoiced in every moment they had to spend smooshed so closely together.
"I still have my jacket. And I'll be fine. But I'm not lettin' my girl go cold." He growl/purred at her sexily. "Now come on. Arms up." He didn't ask and she didn't care, she complied quickly with a small grin and allowed him to pull his shirt onto her,
They snuck in with the X-Men and Nightcrawler, with Magneto, Liadan, and Jean centered more toward the middle of the group.
"Mr. Lensherr, why are you in the middle?" Liadan asked before the light bulb switched on. "Oh! Like with Rogue. Gottcha." She teased half playful. Hey the mood had to be lightened somehow.
"This is not the time my dear." He replied coolly with a hint of his condescending smile. And indeed it wasn't. They had met back up with Mystique and discovered where the children were.
"Where's Logan?" Liadan asked from the monitor room, looking around for her friend.
"He's gone." Jean replied, a little more mournfully than proper.
"Shit." Victor snapped to no one.
From there everything moved so fast. Storm and Nightcrawler went for the children, Cyclops attacked Jean. Then Magneto and Mystique branched off and left Sabertooth and Liadan alone to roam the halls.
"Why'd you cuss at Logan?" She asked him quietly as they crept through the halls, trying to make their way to where Storm and Kurt went for the kids.
He stopped and turned to look at her. "I cuss a lot little one. I don't mean any disrespect, but you're just gonna have to get used to it." Then he turned to keep going. "I'm sure I'll cuss at him a lot. The runt and I don't exactly have the best track record in the end."
"What d'you mean?" Now it was Liadan's turn to stop and look at him.
Victor sighed. "I don't think he even remembers it, but we used to work together."
"Really?" Liadan was shocked. But it makes sense. Victor was pre-prejudiced and Logan doesn't seem to like him, he really doesn't have much of a reason unless they did...hmmm.
"Yeah, military in Canada a long time ago. No shh. I think we're getting close, and I don't want anyone to hear you." He pulled her into a quick embrace and kissed her hard, actually letting her feel some of the fear he harboured for her. When they broke apart they looked at each other with such passion Liadan felt the very air would combust.
She gave him a curt nod and followed him out toward were his nose and instincts were leading them.
"Oh wait a sec!" Liadan called softly but excited. She put her hand to the wall. "I don't know why I didn't think of this before!"
She opened herself to the power and let everything that was connected to the concrete of the dam flow in and around her. She couldn't figure out what the other members of the Brotherhood were up to but it seemed that Jean and Scott were fine. The Professor was in some sort of trance but in good health, and Storm and Kurt had the children not too far from where Liadan and her man stood.
"Uh oh." She caught a glimpse of Logan in her astral searchings-if that's what she did, she still didn't really get her powers and the professor was in no place to answer her questions right now.
"Something bad's happening with Logan! We have to go-that bitch!" Some woman was attacking her friend quite viciously.
"What?" Victor's eyes quickly darkened and he went immediately to Sabertooth mode.
"Logan's fighting someone and I think it's a distraction. I can't really tell, but it feels wrong."
"He's only fighting one person, you said female? He'll be fine, let's get those kids out of here."
………….
Liadan was worrying about way too many things at once. So she just followed Victor's lead. The Sabertooth knew what he was doing and was taking extra precautions so as not to put his girl in any more danger than she insisted in being in.
The first set of guards they came across Liadan had felt through the walls, so they had advanced warning. Victor had made her hide in a doorway while he took care of them as effectively as he could.
Shit, I really didn't want her to have to see that.
Damn…Victor just killed those soldiers…stop thinking about it! Adrenaline, come back!
The second group Victor scented just before they turned the corner.
"Liadan! Hang back!" He ordered before jumping to protect what was his.
He was so graceful and so powerful. Liadan was entranced by his deadly dance. Two necks snapped before guns were drawn. But blood was drawn before the first shots had a chance to ring out. Victor slashed through a man's neck with his claws to keep him from advancing. He had really wanted to keep things as clean as possible for Liadan's sake, but the soldiers weren't playing that game. Soon bullets ripped through the air. And Liadan was following orders, she really had hardly fought at all, just pushed the men back towards Victor's sphere of destruction. She would have felt pity for them, had they not been involved in this whole ordeal. So far they had both avoided injury but it didn't seem like that would be the case for long, there had to be at least ten men in the group Victor was almost single handedly fighting off.
Victor had taken out at least four when one soldier stepped back and took aim. Liadan saw with a sudden chill how he raised the semi-automatic to his shoulder and started to set his sights on Victor's head.
"Victor! No!" She shouted, running forward to prevent the monstrosity from happening. Her shriek was shrill and panicked. Victor quickly dispatched the man who stood closest to him and swung around to see what was happening.
His blood turned to ice. Liadan had tackled the soldier and was now grappling on the cold, grey concrete in an ever widening pool of crimson. He ripped through three more men in an attempt to get closer to her. He couldn't see who was the worse for wear with all of the blood, so he did something he couldn't remember doing in a long time.
God, please not her! He screamed in his mind, a roar of rage and fear erupting from his mouth.
The few remaining men were closing in on the pair who were tearing at each other on the floor.
"Get away from my Mate!!" Victor roared loud enough to bring down mountains. He surged forward and ripped the last men to shreds in no time. He turned to the tangle on the ground with blood dripping down his front. He never was one to mind if work turned messy. "Liadan!"
……….
Her hands were slick with blood and her body burned and gently buzzed from the healing it was automatically performing. The man was much taller and much stronger, and definitely more trained than she was, but she refused to let that stop her. Victor was in trouble, and she wouldn't be able to live without him again now that she knew how much he meant to her. She fought with a blind fury she didn't realize she could feel, biting and clawing anything that felt vulnerable. But the soldier had the upper hand. His blows felt like they came from a sledge hammer, and he soon had her underneath him.
"Get away from my Mate!!" Victor was roaring like an enormous lion. At least he is alright now. She thought as she tried hopelessly to flip her enemy over. Please God let him be alright.
"Liadan!" He was still shouting which meant he was still ok.
"You picked the wrong couple fuck-ass!" She grunted into his face just as she loosened a rather large and wickedly sharp curved knife from the man's leg holster. She had finally gained the angle she needed and rolled him over with her knee in his groin. "Victor do we need him?!" She shouted quickly.
"Fuckin' mutie bitch! You aint worth shit!" The soldier tried to spit at her, but it ended up on his own face.
"No." He answered slightly dazed.
"'kay." She grunted again and grabbed the nameless solder's hair and ripped the knife across his throat.
………
Victor was stunned and Liadan was in battle mode. She had shut down any emotion that would compromise her situation. "Let's move." She said it as an order as she climbed off of the still bleeding body of her first kill, wiping the knife on the soldier's pant leg.
Victor was afraid she'd break down if he said anything, but he was more afraid that she was already broken.
"Liadan, that was your first." He said quietly as he quickened his pace to walk abreast with her.
"I know, but I really don't think it's a good idea to process it right now. We can do that after the mission. Let's get everyone home safe first. Then I can fall apart. Ok?" She was so cool and so precise, but the last question came out a little shaky.
"Don't worry little one. It was necessary."
"Hell yes it was necessary!" She cried. "That bastard would have killed you! And me! And any other mutant he had the chance to.
Let's just get out of here. His blood smells like shit, and I want to go home and get a shower and go to sleep."
…………
They had regrouped for the most part. Magneto had called Victor on his communicator and told him that he and Mystique were out. Victor told them he'd meet up with them at the base later.
"Ok. We're all here right? Let's get home." Storm rallied the children.
"Where's Logan?" Liadan asked for the second time that day.
Everyone looked around, like they expected him to just come strolling out of the john at any minute.
She sighed and put her hand against the wall again. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and pushed down the feelings she had spinning around in her head.
"Oh my God!" She breathed and snapped her eyes open.
"What is it?" Victor was by her side in a heart beat.
"Something is wrong with the dam. We have to get out of here right now!" She called to the group. Then more quietly to Victor and the other adults added; "There's so much pressure. I think it's going to blow."
"This way!" Scott Called to the group, marching ahead to lead them to safety.
"Trust me; you don't want to go that way." Logan appeared just as the huge doors to the spillway shut in their faces. "Follow me." He took off jogging and everyone followed, the professor with Storm and Kurt in the front, Victor and Liadan in the back.
Her feet got heavier with each step and her eyes started to get glazed. Victor's heart pounded painfully and his gut clenched when he looked down at her.
"Little one!" His worry was only evident to Liadan. "What's wrong?"
"The pressure." She said weakly, tears starting to leak from her eyes. "It hurts. It hurts so badly."
Victor's face paled as he pulled his life into his arms. He didn't think he'd make it without her.
"Just hold on little one. I won't let anything bad happen to you. You are mine. I-" He cut himself off and kissed her. He kissed her with such feeling her tears started to fall double time. She was falling apart in his arms, so he simply picked her up and ran.
He ran until they were outside in the clean air staring at where the helicopters were parked.
"The helicopters were right here!" Logan raged. But the jet crash landed not too far away.
Liadan was almost unconscious and Victor was sick with worry.
"Oh God! Put me down Victor!" She spoke with such urgency he didn't wait but swiftly swung her to the powdery ground where she promptly doubled over and emptied her stomach.
"Liadan, little one, what can I do?" He asked helplessly as he knelt beside her and put a large warn hand on her back.
"'m sorry! It's just all too much." She nearly sobbed into the snow, finally allowing the last section of her life to surface.
"Don't apologize Liadan." Victor rubbed her back, and brushed her hair from her face. "Most people wouldn't have been able to go as far as you did to make their friend's lives better. Most people wouldn't even go that far to make their own lives better. Darlin', I am so proud of you."
"I think I just need to cry a little bit." She smiled weakly up at him.
Victor gulped, gathering his strength. "Come 'ere." He motioned to her, then gathered her in his lap in the fresh snow away from the others and her mess. "You need to cry, then you'll cry, but I won't let you go." He held her from the world, fiercely protecting her from anything and everything. He rocked her gently and soothed her, rubbing her back and brushing down her long hair as she wept for everything, her face buried in his neck.
AN-Ok I'm almost positive there is only one more chapter to this story! This chapter was the longest yet, I'm pretty sure. I hope you enjoy it…I've never written any sort of intense fighting type scene so even though it doesn't really go into detail, I hope it all make sense. I'm also a little out of it because of this cold I have so some things might be a little strange. Please feel free to message me or review me about it, it will save me a lot of time when I'm going back through this.
Thanks for reading so far, as I said, there should only be one more chapter to go!
Review with how you think I should end it because I want it to go one way, but I know it will work better for the story if I go another…cryptic. Much Love,
Ceilidh
