Chapter 21
Save My Talia Pt. 1
Author's note: Hey everyone. I'm sorry for another long delayed post. I had just had my first baby back in June and for the longest time I couldn't think straight enough to due this chapter justice. I tried to make this one as long as I could and tried my best to get past my writers block and make it good. Please, tell what you think.
By the way, my husband wants me to try to write a crossover fanfic that is it's own story and is based on one of his Roll Playing Games he does with our friends. It is a mix of Resident Evil/Doom/Trigun/Outlaw Star/Bleach. He wants to know if anybody would be interested in reading it after I finally finish this story up.
Oh, yeah and here's a little WARNING: There is some pretty violent scenes in this chapter. Just to forewarn those who don't do well with violence.
Thanks for reading. Now enjoy. ^_^
The night was long.
Mystique, Fred, Lance, and Tabitha had all searched for Talia until it was nearly noon.
The boys and Tabitha were the first ones to arrive back home. They all sat quietly around the kitchen table, wracking their brains for all of the possible places that Talia could be.
Lance pulled out a map of Bayville and a sharpie. He crossed out all of the places that they had searched, marked the ones that they had not checked out, and weighed the possibilities of Talia turning up there. Tabitha sat next to him to study the map as well. She was about to suggest a location, but Lance had gotten frustrated, and got up.
"Where are you going?" Tabitha asked.
"Nowhere. I'm just goin' to do a few dishes." Lance replied, he moved to the kitchen sink and turned on the hot water. "Sitting around, doing nothing is driving me nuts."
"So you're gonna do dishes instead?"
"It's better than doing nothing. Maybe if I keep my hands busy and space out, an idea might come to mind."
Tabitha nodded, then turned her head to see what Fred was doing.
Fred being Fred, decided to rummage through the fridge in search of food.
"Freddy. I don't think you should be eating while you're upset." she said with concern in her voice. "I know it's what you do, but-"
Fred pulled out a large amount of food and set it down on the table. He held up a hand to silence Tabitha and looked at her with a serious expression, "Don't. I don't need to be lectured right now."
"I'm not trying to lecture you, Freddy. I'm just-"
"I know, Tabs. I know you're tryin' to help, but right now anythin' that anyone says is helpful will come out as annoying and frustratin' to me. Just lemme do my thing and leave me be. 'Kay?"
Tabitha sighed with defeat, "Okay, Freddy. You win." She pulled Lance's map closer to herself, so that she could examine it. After a few minutes she pushed the map away and turned to face the boys, "Why don't we just go to the Professor and have him track Talia down with Cerebro? It would be ten times faster than just guessing where she might be."
Both boys stopped what they were doing and looked at each other, then they looked at Tabitha.
Lance turned away from his work and leaned back against the sink, holding onto the ledge for support, "As much as we like that idea, Tabs, it's a definate no go for us."
"What? Why?" she looked at him with shock.
"If you remember correctly, we're not exactly number one on the X-Men's let's help people list. Hell, they won't even let Talia hang out with you, Kurt, and Kitty after they found out that she's really Toad. I doubt that they'll wanna help us search for a missing member."
Fred snort, "Hmph They'll probably think the less of us the better. Maybe even do a lil' happy dance.
Tabitha shook her head, "They may not like you guys, but I doubt that they'd stoop so low. Talia's a teenage girl, who's probably lost and scared right now. They've just got to help her." the boys did not seemed moved by her words. She rolled her eyes in annoyance and glared, "Come on, guys! We need their help. I'm sure even Mystique would agree with me."
"In a pigs eye she would." said Fred.
"And Freddrick would be absolutely right."
All three teenagers jumped with a start and turned to the kitchen doorway to see a discheveled Mystique slowly walking towards them. She was so exhausted from her search last night, that she didn't have the energy to keep up the form of Talia's mother. Her hair was frazzled and she looked as though she had been crying.
Mystique walked past them without a word. She made her way towards the cubboards and rummaged through them for her tea stock. She grabbed a coffee mug with a shakey hand, but lost her grip on it. It fell to the floor with a loud crash and shattered into tiny pieces.
"God dammit!" she growled and reached for another one, but that one slipped from her hand and broke as well, "Fuck!" she slammed the cubboards shut and touched her hand to her head as though she was nursing a headache.
Lance approached her and gently touched her shoulder, "Come on, Mystique. Let's get you to bed."
She shook her head no. "Talia's still out there. I have to keep looking."
She pulled out her car keys and started to head out of the kitchen, but Lance held firmly onto her shoulder, and snatched the keys out of her hand.
"You need to rest, Mystique." he said gently, "We all do. If we try looking for Talia now, we'll be useless."
Mystique wanted to argue, but she knew the young man was right, "I know. I just... I just wish I could have stopped her and told her what was really said between Magneto and I. What she heard- What she" her body began to shake uncontrolabley. She brought her hands to her face and wept.
Lance was at a loss. He had never seen his instructor/boss cry before. He looked back at his friends, who both looked as clueless as him. Lance truned back to her and tried to steer her out of the kitchen, "You're exhausted, Mystique. We all are. Once we get some rest, we can continue our search for Tal. Okay?"
She rubbed her eyes furiously with the back of her hand, trying to stop on tears. "Yes. That sounds like an excellent idea."
Lance led Mystique out the kitchen, leaving Tabitha alone with Fred.
Tabitha went over to the pile of broken mugs and began picking up the large pieces. "I don't quite care for Mystique, but I can't help but feel sorry for her right now." she said, not looking up.
"Hmph I don't." Fred grunted, getting up to search the fridge, "She's finally gettin' what she deserves for decieving Tal."
Tabitha looked up and eyed him angrily, "Isn't that like the kettle calling the pot black, Freddy?"
He glared back at her, "Don't you dare lump me in the same boat with her! What she did was far worse than what we were doin'."
She shot him a dirty look and went back to picking up the mugs broken pieces. "Whatever helps you sleep at night, Freddy."
"What? You think what we did was worse?"
"No. But I think it did do the same amount of damage. With everything that Tal has gone through since becoming a girl, I'm surprised that she didn't snap sooner." Tabitha threw the broken pieces away and washed her hands, "Everyone had a part to play in her disapearance, even you, whether you want to believe it or not. I still say that you guys should go to Professor Xavier and ask for his help before it's too late." She stared into his eyes with sincerety and seriousness. He averted his gaze and went back to roaming the fridge. She rolled her eyes and walked towards the back door.
"Where are you goin'?"
"Back home, until you guys get off of your high horse and talk to Xavier."
"I told ya, we ain't talkin' to that asshole."
"Then you might as well make peace with Tal's disapearance and move on. Cause you're sure as hell never gonna find her at the rate you all are going."
Tabitha slammed the door behind her as she walked out.
"Hey!" Fred slammed the fridge door and opened the back door. Tabitha was about to turn at the corner of the house. He stood on the cement platform that lay before the door and shouted, "Don't you worry. We'll find Tal without your precious Professors help. You'll see! We'll find her by dinner time."
She didn't reply. She slipped out of his sight and kept on going.
Fred cursed under his breath and slammed the back door on his way back inside of the house.
Meanwhile, at the Xavier institue...
Kurt awoke from his slumber and slowly made his way down the stairs. He heard his fellow housemates making a ruckus inside the kitchen. He yawned and entered the room.
"Hey, Kurt! Heads up!" Bobby shouted.
"Huh?" Kurt was so groggy that he did not even register Bobby's warning. Something big, smelly, and soggy smacked him in the face. "Vhat the hell?!" he pulled it off and looked at it with disgust. "Eeeew! Vhat is this thing?" he asked, as he stared at the moldy, unidentifiable object.
"It's Kitty's meatloaf surprise. We hid it in the back of the fridge, so that she wouldn't sure us seconds."
"Yuck! How long has this thing been in there?"
Bobby looked at Jamie, who shrugged.
Bobby turned back to Kurt and shrugged as well. "I don't know, but I know it's been in there since before 4th of July."
Kurt's blue furry face had somehow managed to turn green. He dropped the moldy food and rushed out of the kitchen to purge himself in the upstairs bathrooms.
Bobby and Jamie laughed loudly at the sight.
"Will you two knock it off! We're all tryin' to watch the news." shouted Rogue.
They both winced and said simotaniously, "Sorry." then took their places at the kitchen table.
The tv blaired loudly as the female newscaster gave her report.
"This is channel 5 news, here to update you on current events. Late last night there was a horrific bus accident that left many injured, one dead, and one missing. The police have released any information as to how accident has occured or the names of the victims. All that we can tell you is that the accident happened sometime after midnight and the bus's designated destination was for New York. We will keep you updated, once we learn more. Please stay tuned. Thank you."
"Gee A bus wreck. Those don't happen very often do they?" asked Jamie.
"Not often. But those kinds of accidents do happen from time to time." answered Scott.
"I'm glad that none of us were on that bus." said Jean, "I would be a nervous wreck waiting to hear if any of us were the ones who died or ended up missing."
"I know what you mean." Scott nodded. "But at least we have the Professor and Cerbro. The Professor could find us in a heart beat."
Jamie nodded, then asked, "Couldn't we have the Professor find the missing person for the police?"
Scott shook his head, "He wouldn't know who to look for, since they didn't give out any names, and if they were human, Cerbro would be of no use."
"Oh. Well, that sucks." frowned Jamie.
Scott patted ruffled up the younger boy's hair and smiled, "I know. But like Jean said. It's a good thing that none of us were on that bus." he turned to Jean, "Hey, Jean. Can you see how long Kurt is going to be? I want us to head over to the Danger Room as soon as possible, so that we can go bowling later tonight."
"He's in the shower. He says he's not coming out until he's gotten all of Kitty's meatloaf surprise out of his fur."
"We could always have Logan shave him." Scott chuckled.
Jean giggled and paused for a second after relaying Scott's messege to Kurt, "Oh, my! Apparently Kurt is seriously taking you up on the idea. Some of the meatloaf isn't washing out."
"Poor Kurt. At least now we have a new weapon against the Brotherhood."
Kitty folded her arms and pouted as everyone laughed at her expense.
Hours later, back at the Brotherhood House...
Mystique was sleeping in her bed, when something stirred her.
Her eyes fluttered open, she rubbed them, and moaned as she sat up.
"Good evening, Raven." spoke an all too familiar voice, hiding in the shadows in the corner of her room.
"Magneto!" She gasped, "What are you still doing here? I thought you would have gone back to Asteriod M by now."
"Normally I would be. But there is something here on Earth that requires my attention. Including yours."
"Well, whatever it is, it can wait." she replied, throwing her legs over the edge of her bed, and stood up, "I something more important to attend to."
Magneto levitated towards her as she put on her jacket, and handed her an electronic tablet, "Does it have something to do with this?"
Mystique took the tablet, "What's this?"
"Push the button and find out."
She pursed her lips with annoyance and pushed the button. The screne glowed brightly and what Mystique saw on the display screne made her eyes grow wide. "Talia!" her legs shook so uncontrolably that she had to use her bed to catch herself.
The screne was showing a live video feed of Talia laying unconscious on a cold metal floor, the injuries from the bus wreck were clearly visible, and standing over her was Sabertooth.
So many emotions flowed through her at that moment. She wanted to scream and yell at her employer, but all she could manage was an angry whisper. "What did you do to her?!"
"She had a little "bus accident". Nothing serious, just a few minor scrapes and bruises."
She pulled her eyes away from the screne and looked at him with desperation, "Where is she? Where's my baby?!"
He narrowed his eyes at and walked back towards his hiding spot, "I knew you were distracted, but I didn't think things would have gone this far."
"Damn it, Erik! Just tell me where Talia is."
Her looked at her from over his shoulder for a few moments, then turned back around. "Why is it, whenever you aquire a child and become attached to them your work performance weakens?"
She set the tablet down and walked towards him angrily, "Maybe it's because I want to become something more than just your personal lap dog? Maybe it's because I want to be a-"
"A mother?" he interrupted, and turned his whole body to face her, "Don't make me laugh. You could never become a real mother."
"How the hell do you know?! You won't even let me try! You made me leave Rouge when she was a child to do missions. You caused me to drop Kurt off of a bridge when he was baby. And now you're keeping Talia away from me. Why? Why do you have such a problem with me wanting to be a mother?"
"Because, my dear, you are not mother material. You are an assassin. Sometimes even a mercanary. You've done more horrific things to innocent people that you are almost on the same animalistic level as Sabertooth. How can someone with such a bloody past that deals in death have the capability to keep something pure alive? Or even feel genuine affection?"
She scoffed at him, "And you think you're any better? You've killed hundreds of people in the name of a fucked up dream that will never come true. And yet you've somehow managed to keep your own children alive this long. But then again, you did abandon your son and dropped your daughter off at an insane assylum simply because you didn't want to take the time to raise them. I guess that makes you father of the year, doesn't it?"
With an angry sneer, he threw his hand out, and used his powers to pick her up off of the ground by her necklace. He contracted his fingers to make the chains tighten around her throat. She desperately pulled at the chains to keep them from going any deeper into her skin. Magneto looked at her with sadistic pleasure as her eyes began to roll in the back of her head.
"Do not lecture me on the moralities of raising a family, woman! I did what I had to do. Unlike you, I know which responsibilities come first." he released his hold on her and let her drop to the floor.
She collasped onto the floor and coughed as she gasped for air.
"Now that we can finally put aside those trifling questions of yours. Let's return to the matter of your young charge. You've been very lazy in your duties as my employee. So lazy in fact, that my plans for world conquest has been set back for far too long. I'm afraid that I'm going to have to rid you of this pathetic dillusion of yours and bring you back into reality."
Mystique sat up on her knees and stared up at him with fear, "What exactly are you going to do?" he said nothing. The fear swelled up in her chest and she crawled closer towards him. "No! Please! Please, don't kill her! I'm begging you. She's just a child."
"You have nothing to fear. The child shall not perish. Not yet at least. I do however plan on returning her to her true form. That way she will no longer be a distraction to you."
"You're going to turn her back? But-"
"There will be no arguing about this. I have made up my mind. As of right now, Wanda is researching her book of spells to reverse the curse. Once Toad is returned to his true form, I shall return him back to you. Then he will see that you never truly loved him, but were only using him for your own selfish amusement." he smirked when he noticed Mystique shed a singel tear. "You will return to your duties and complete the missions that I have assigned you. If you have not shown any good progress, then I will make you watch as I have Sabertooth kill the little welp in any way that pleases him. And we both know what he's like when he has a new toy to play with."
"You're an evil bastard, Erik."
"And you are a weak female, who lets her emotions get the best of her. Next time you decide to play mommy, do it when I no longer find you useful. Now, get up and get back to work. I have three new missions for you to do. I shall have the details texted to your phone. You have three days to complete them. Make sure you succeed or else."
With that Magneto used his powers to unlock her bedroom window and levitate out of the room.
Once he was out of site, Mystique rose to her feet, and returned to her bed. She sat in silence for several minutes, until she realized that the electronic tablet was still lying on her bed. She picked it up and gently held it in her hands as though it would break at the slightest touch. Her eyes watered as she stared at Talia's unconscious body.
"Talia..." she sniffed and hugged the tablet close to her chest, "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."
Meanwhile, downstairs...
Fred and Lance were in the living room, looking over a map of Bayville; marking off the areas which they had searched for Talia the previous night. They were about to disguss their plans for the evening, when they heard the front door open and close. They looked up to see Pietro walking towards them.
"Hey, guys. What's with the long faces?" Pietro asked.
They both glared angrily at him.
"Whoa! What's with the death glare? Whatever it was, I didn't do it."
"Exactly." Lance grumbled.
"Huh?" Pietro was confused. He looked back and forth between Lance and Fred. "You guys want to give me a clue as to what you all are pissed off about?"
"As if you don't know." Fred sneered. "You've been dodging our calls all night last night."
"Is that what this is about? Sheesh! You guys are so needy."
Fred's face turned red. He took a dangerous step towards the white haired boy, but Lance put his hand on Fred's chest and stopped him.
Pietro jumped backwards with a start, "What the hell is wrong with him?"
"Check your phone and see how many messeges that we left you." said Lance.
Pietro arched his eye brown and pulled out his phone, "O-kay." he turned it back on and waited for it to tell him how many messeges he had. His eyes went wide, "Holy shit! You guys called 26 times?" he scrolled down the screne a bit more, "And Mystique called... Wow... 42? What the hell happened last night that you felt the need to get a hold of me this badly?"
"Tal snapped and ran away last night."
"What?! You're joking, right?"
Lance shook his head. "I wish I were. As soon as Mystique wakes up, we're all going back out to look for Tal."
"Don't bother." said Mystique, who was walking down the stairs. "I already know where she is."
Lance dropped the map and rushed up to her.
Pietro and Fred immediately followed behind him.
The three of them wasted no time in questioning their mentor.
"You know where she is?"
"How?"
"Is she alright?"
"Where is she?!"
"Tell us, Mystique! Tell us!"
Mystique felt so over welmed, she held her hands up and took a step back, "Please, calm yourselve!"
"Sorry, Mystique." Lance appologized, he signalled to his friends to be quiet. "We're just anxious to know where Tal is. That's all."
"I know you all are. It's just that-" she spotted Pietro and she narrowed her eyes at him, giving him a dark look, "When did you finally decide to return home, Pietro?"
Pietro was taken back by her dark look, "Uh... I just got home. Why?"
She put her hand upon Lance's shoulder and gently pushed him aside as she walked closer to the speedster. "Did you come home alone or did your daddy dearest drop you off?"
"I came home by myself. What's with the 20 questions, Mystique?"
"I've only asked 2 questions, but I certainly can make it go up to 20 if I don't like what I hear."
She reached out for him, but he took a cautious step back.
"Whoa! You mind backing off a bit, Mystique? The way that you're eye balling me is really making me nervous."
"Why? Do you have a guilty conscience?"
"What the fuck?" Pietro looked at his friends, who were just as clueless as him.
"Don't play dumb with me, Pietro Maximoff!" she snapped, "I know you know where Talia is. Tell me now or I'll end you right here, right now."
Fred pulled Pietro behind him and guarded him from Mystique, "Back off, Mystique. He don't know nothin'."
Her eyes snapped up towards Fred, "I beg to differ."
Lance grabbed onto her shoulders and held her back, "Hold on, Mystique. What makes you think that Pietro knows anything about Talia's where abouts?"
She craned her neck back to look at him, "Because I just got an unwelcomed visit from his father, who told me that he has Talia in his possession."
"What?" the boys gasped.
"You have got to be kidding me! What would my father want with Toad?" Pietro asked.
Mystique arched her brow, "You really don't know?"
"Seriously! I honestly don't know. Like I said. I spent last night avoiding my deranged father. I hate spending family time with him, especially when it's fake family time."
Mystique eyed Pietro a bit longer, before she was finally convinced. "You can let go of me, Lance." He kept a firm hold on her. "I'm calm now. Pietro gets to keep his life today." With much reluctance, he released his hold. She looked at the other two boys with much annoyance, "Are you two going to get out of the way or must I make you move?" They took a few steps back to let her finish making her way down the stairs. "I will explain everything, but first I need some tea." She then made her way to the kitchen and they proceeded to follow her. There they watched her rumage through the cubboards for her tea stash and mug. As she was boiling some water, Mystique would periodically check her cell phone.
They all stood there in silence, until Pietro could no longer take it anymore.
"Alright, Mystique. Are you going to tell us why my dad has Toad or are you going to keep everything to yourself, like you always do?" She didn't answer. She simply checked her phone again, much to his annoyance. He sped over to her and snatched her phone out of her hands. "God dammit, Mystique! Quit looking at your phone and tell us what's going on." She held out her hand and gave him such a menacing glare that it sent a shiver up his spine. He smiled nervously and carefully placed the phone back into her hand, "Heh Heh Please?"
"Your father took Talia for two reasons, the first reason is my own fault. I let my personal desires blind me and I chose to neglect my obligations to your father's cause. The second, I believe is because she lashed out at your sister, who is probably off somewhere still licking her wounds."
"Wait! Toad beat up Wanda?" a smile crossed Pietro's face, "Cool!"
Mystique poured her tea into her mug and continued, "Your father told me that he would not give her back, until I start doing my job again, and..." she closed her eyes to hide her pain, "until Wanda returns her back to her true form."
Fred felt a pain in his chest, "You mean-"
Mystique nodded her head, "Our little Talia will be no more." she stared blankly into her tea.
"We have to get her back! We can't let them do this!" Fred exclaimed.
"If I don't do as Magneto says, then he will have Sabertooth kill her."
"WHAT?!" Pietro shouted.
"No way..." Lance murmered.
"You're fuckin' jokin', right? Please, tell me that your jokin'!" Fred cried. Mystique gave him no reply. His heart beat rapidly in his chest as he began to panic, "We-We have to stop him! We just can't let him change her back. We just can't!"
Lance put his hand on Fred's shoulder and spoke in a soothing voice, "Calm down, Fred. We're gonna find her. Don't you worry."
Pietro nodded and smiled at his friend, "Yeah, Fred. Think of it this way. You'll get major brownie points with Tal for showing up as her knight in shining armor."
"Like hell he will!" Mystique shouted, making the three of them jump, "I told you already, Freddrick, that I absolutely forbid you from pursuing a romantic relationship her. My Talia deserves a real man, not a little boy who likes to play games."
Fred glared at her and stepped forward, "I ain't no lil' boy, Mystique!"
"Physically you are almost an adult, I'll give you that, but mentally you are no where near where you need to be to meet my standards to be the love of my little girl's life. You are a coward, who uses lowly tactics to win a woman's affections, instead of coming forward and confessing your feelings to her." he started to open his mouth to yell at her, but she continued on, and her tone rose slightly higher, "And before you try to deny anything, I want you to know that I know everything that you and your three idiots friends have been doing. Ever since your little kiss of desperation I've been keeping my eye on you lot. And let me tell you, it's taken a lot of restraint not to beat each and every one of you senseless for toying with Talia's heart."
"As if your any better." he retorted.
"Excuse me?"
"Lance and Talia over heard what you said to Magneto last night. About how you could never love Tal if she turned back into Toad. You made Tal believe that you loved her, then you turn around and say that shit. And you have the fuckin' nerve to accuse me of playing mind games? Fuck you, bitch!"
Lance leaned over to Pietro's ear and whispered, "Should we step in and stop this?"
Pietro shook his head and whispered back, "You can if you want, but I'm not going in there. I actually like living."
"Yeah, no kidding. When do you think we should intervene?"
Lance and Pietro continued to watch the fight between their friend and mentor helplessly.
Mystique clutched her mug tightly, her anger rose with every word that Fred spoke. "How dare you speak so diserspectfully to me!?"
"You don't deserve my respect, Mystique. Nor from anybody else!"
"If they had listened to the whole thing from the beginning they would of realized that that was sarcasim. Magneto was trying to make abandon my affections towards Talia, so that I could get back to work." Fred frowned at her, but stayed silent to hear what she had to say next. "Since Toad became Talia, I've become obessed with seeing for myself if I could become a mother and to understand why I have failed as being so with my own children. I understand now that it was because I put my job above their needs. I feared Magneto's wrath and I hated myself for what I had done. Especially after I watched Kurt and Rogue turn their backs on me. After that... After that I convinced myself that I was simply not mother material, but then when I learned that was not the case when Toad became Talia. My feelings for her are genuine. I even confessed to her that I see her as my little girl and told her how I felt. I just wish she would have listened a little longer to hear me tell Magneto that even if she were to turn back into her old self, I would still love him as though he were my own. Because deep down, Talia and Toad are one and the same, despite gender differences." She looked hard into Fred's eyes, "I was at least straight forward with my feelings. That's more than I can say for you. "
Fred clenched his fists tightly.
Lance and Pietro gulped at the sight, but were relieved to see that Fred had stood his ground and controled his temper.
"You're right." he said coldly, "I did resort to playing mind games and I regret it. Especially now that I know that Talia shares my feelings. If I could, I would take it all back and start over, so I could tell her truth instead of bein' a coward. But I can't and so I have to live with it."
Mystique folded her arms in front of her chest, "Don't think that just because you're admitting to your failures it's going to change my mind about you. Talia deserves much better than you. I would rather her enter a relationship with my son Kurt over the likes of you. I would even prefer Gambit over you."
"It ain't up to you, who Tal hooks up with. If she wants to be with me or someone else, then it's her choice. But I'm gonna at least tell her how I really feel."
Lance and Pietro looked on at their friend with pride as he stood up for himself and spoke his words instead of using violence. They then looked at Mystique to see what she would reply with in return.
She tapped her right arm with her left forefinger, taking in Fred's words. After a long silence she responded, "I still stand by what I say, but at least for once you are thinking clearly. But..."
"But what, Mystique?" Fred asked.
"But even if we wanted to prevent Wanda from turning her back, we can't. We don't know where Magneto is keeping Talia and if we try to go after her, he will have her killed, and it won't be a quick death if I know Sabertooth. Besides... I don't think Talia wants to stay a girl after all of what she went through last night."
"So, what? You're just gonna give up and let Magneto win?"
"If we want Talia or Toad back alive, then we have to do as he says. He will give us Toad back after I've completed the new missions that he wants me to do."
Fred shook his head in disbelief, "I can't believe I'm hearing you, of all people, say that you're gonna give up. We have to stop them from turning her back, so that she can at least know the truth."
Mystique unfolded her arms to pick up her coffee again. She turned it slowly in her hands as she considered Fred's words. She looked at Pietro for a moment and thought to herself, 'I could send the boy to go seek out his father. With his speed he would be able to cover all of the ground that we have yet to check and get into places that we are unble to go. But what if he get's caught? We would lose our only valuable asset and Talia in the same night.'
The look in Mystique's eyes gave Pietro an idea as to what she was thinking about. He stepped foward and flashed her one of his cocky smiles, "I know what your thinking Mystique and I have to say that I'm all for it."
She looked at him with disbelief, "You'd risk your life to find Talia?"
"Yeah. I mean, Toad is one of my friends after all. If we lose him or her, then I would have one less person to push around."
Lance and Fred snapped their necks around to give Pietro the deadliest glare that they could muster. He jumped and sped to Mystique's side for safety.
Mystique couldn't help but chuckle a little. Even though Pietro's words sounded cruel and mean, she knew the true meaning behind them. She cupped the left side of his face and said, "Go find her. If you think you can save her without getting caught, then by all means do it. But if it looks like you can't, then just return home, and inform me of your findings."
"Will do Mystique." Pietro gave her a mini salute and spoke Fred before speeding off, "Don't worry, Fred. You'll be kissing toads again in no time at all. Catch you guys on the flip side."
Meanwhile, Magneto had made his way back to the hide out where he was keeping poor Talia. His hide out was an old broken oil ship that had crashed itself upon a bed of sharp rocks many years ago. Once he landed upon the ship's deck, he was immediately greeted by Pyro and Gambit.
He noticed that Pyro's goggles had a rather large crack in the left eye glass and that his cheek was bruised from where they were shoved into his face. "I take it that you had some trouble with the welp?"
Pyro scowled and spat out some blood off to the side, "The bitch woke up and tried to escape. Took me thirty minutes to catch the dirty little sheila and when I did, she kicked me in the face!" he emphasized the last part by pointing at his bruised cheek.
Mangeto arched his eyebrow, "Why did it take you so long to catch her? Where was Sabertooth? He was suppose to be watching her."
"He's the bloody reason why she got away in the first place! The dumb bastard got bored and decided to play a game of cat and mouse with her. And the bloody bloke didn't do a damn thing to help me when she attacked me!" Gambit snickered, which made Pyro angry, "It's not funny!"
Gambit sniggered, not even caring that his employer was standing right in front of him, "On contrair, mon ami. It was quite hilarious."
Magneto frowned and said, "I fail to see the humor in my prisoners escape attempt."
"Ah, but what our dear Pyro failed to inform you was dat he decided to tease de over sized kitty about his continuous losing streak against de Wolverine. A subject dat he is most sensative about, as we are all away of." Gambit chuckled as Pyro shot him a dirty glare, "So it is not Sabertooth's fault really. He was merely wishing to educate our young friend here in de etiquets of not talking smack when one has no means to back it up."
Magneto glared at Pyro, "We will talk about this later. Where is Toad now?"
"Down in the belly of the ship, boss. It was the only place that we could think of that she would have a harder time getting out of. Due to that part bein' partially flooded with sea water and the wall bein' all slippery. Should make stickin' to walls damn near impossible."
"It had better." Magneto walked past Gambit and Pyro and made his way down to the belly of the ship. When he walked into the room, he found Sabertooth leaning over the top railing; chuckling as Talia tried to climb the walls in vain. Magneto quietly snuck up behind him and spoke in a icey tone, "Having fun?"
Sabertooth jumped and turned around, "Just havin' a bit of fun wit the frail, boss."
"So I've heard." Magneto walked towards the edge of the platform and noticed that the stair case leading to the main floor was missing. He turned his head slightly to look at Sabertooth, "I see that you've already taken the neccisary measures to prevent future escapes."
"That was flame boy's doin'. He melted the entire stair case to nothin' after he caught her."
Magneto his attention back to the damaged stair case, "This will make feeding the prisoner difficult, but it should be interesting to see how long it takes for a toad to die of starvation." His eyes then moved to the floor where massive spikes from the rock bed had damaged the haul. "Unless she drowns first."
Gambit stepped into the room, he had heard what Magneto had said, "I thought dat you were going to release de petite after Wanda turns her back."
Both Magneto and Sabertooth turned around to face him.
"I've changed my mind."
Gambit's eyes grew wide, which made Sabertooth smirk, "What? But you promised Mystique dat-"
"Promises are made to be broken, Gambit. Especially when it comes to that particular woman. She is too willful and too stubborn. I had planned on giving her back the boy, but then an excellent idea came to me. What better way to break one of my most stubborn of minions than to give them false hope and then take it all away by destroying the one thing that they cherrish most in the world. She will be so distraught that she will never again think of straying from my path to fullfill her maternal desires."
Gambit shook his head, unable to believe what he had just heard, "Dis is fucked up, Magneto! I'm sure dat Mystique will do anything dat you say after you give her back Toad. You don't need to kill him."
"You're probably right, but why take the chance? Anyways, I'm not going to kill the little brat right away. I'm going to make him suffer for all the problems that he has caused me while in this rediculous form. Especially, after what he did to my Wanda. I'll keep him alive just long enough for Mystique to see him and then kill him right in front of her."
Gambit gritted his teeth and clutched his staff tightly in his hands.
Sabertooth sniggered as he eyed the young boy, "Looks like you're lil' theif don't like that idea much, boss."
Magneto eyed Gambit and moved closer to him, their noses nearly touching, "Do you have a problem with my plans, Gambit?" shards of loose metal and broken bars levitated off of the ground and were pointed dangerously at Gambit's head.
Gambit was quiet for a moment, but then flashed a dark smile, "Non, mon ami. Gambit tinks dat your plan is perfect. Gambit just wanted to make sure dat dis is really de route you want to go."
"Good. Then you can relieve Sabertooth and take over watching the welp. Everyone will take turns watching him, until the time has come to teach Mystique her lesson." Magneto motioned for Sabertooth to follow him, then said to Gambit, "Make sure he doesn't escape. Or else it won't be just him that I have Sabertooth kill within the next couple of days."
With that, both Magneto and Sabertooth left the room and closed the iron door behind them. Leaving Gambit and Talia alone with one another.
Gambit walked over to the broken ledge, he knelt down, and peeked over, so that he could see Talia. Talia was leaned against the ship's wall, just short of where the stair case would have landed. She pressed her hands and body against it, weary from exerting so much energy in her escape attempts. Her clothes were soaked, her hair was matted from sweat, and the frigged waters of the sea came half way up to her shins.
"Petite? Are you alright?" he asked.
"N-N-No." she said as she shivered. "I'm c-c-cold, wet, my body aches, and I'm s-s-scared."
"I know you are, Petite, but you must stay strong. Gambit's goin' to find some way to get you out of here."
"I don't know if I c-c-can, Gambit." tears started to form in her eyes, "Lately anything that gives me hope tends to fall appart and be a lie."
"What do you mean, Petite?"
Talia let herself sink down to the cold watery floor, brought her knees to her chest, and wrap her arms around her legs. "Everyone was right... Mystique n-never really loved me. She was just u-using me."
"I'm sure dat isn't so, Petite."
"I over heard her confess it to Magneto last night!" she shouted. Gambit fell silent and waited for her to continue. "What made last night even worse was that I realized that I will never be able to compete with Tabitha. I was going to tell Freddy how I felt, but when I saw how happy him and her were when they hugged..." Talia's lower lip quivered, she burried her face into her knees and began to cry, "Wanda's right. Why would Freddy want to be with an ugly, disgusting; little toad like me when he has someone as hot as Wanda to be with. No matter what gender I am, I'm always going to be ugly and alone."
There was a long moment of silence between the two of them. After a while, Gambit rose to his feet and leapt over the edge, used his acrobatics to land on his feet without hurt himself. Talia fell backwards into the water when he landed right next to her with a splash. Before she could say anything, Gambit scooped her up into his arms, craddling her, and carried her over to a dry cargo bed that was covered in a cloth and was tied down. Once he set her down up on it, he took off his brown trench coat, and draped it over her shivering shoulders.
"Why did you jump down here, Gambit? You won't be able to climb back out!"
He sat down next to her and pulled her close to his body, sharing his warmth with her, "You let ol' Gambit worry about dat. Right now, Gambit needs to worry about his special Petite." He rubbed her body with his hands, trying to help speed up the warmth. "Dat dere water is too cold for you to be sittin' in, Talia. You'll get sick."
"What does it matter?" she said, leaning into him. "Everything in my life has gone to hell. Magneto won't even give me a chance to start a whole new life in another town."
"It matters to Gambit, Petite. Gambit needs you to stay strong and keep your head up. If you start to lose yourself now, den you will never escape."
"And how am I going to be able to do that? The walls are too wet for me to stick to and the platform up there is too high for me to reach, even with my tongue."
"Just be patient. Gambit will find a way." he leaned over and gave her a kiss on her head, "Just don't give up."
"But-"
"Please?"
Talia sighed and nodded. "Alright. I'll hold out for a little while longer, but only because you asked me to."
"Gambit would rather you hold out for yourself, but Gambit will take what he can get."
"Bucket Head isn't going to like that you're helping me. You know that?"
"You just let Gambit worry about him. Alright?"
"Okay."
Gambit sat with Talia through his entire watch, until Colossus came to relieve him. By then Talia had gave in to her need for sleep. Gambit gently laid her down on the dry cargo and spread his trench coat over her like a blanket. He walked back towards the platform where Colossus was waiting for him with an extended rope.
Colossus loward the rope to his comrade and spoke in his heavy Russian accent, "You are taking big risk, my friend. If Magneto sees you showing Toad compassion he will-"
"I know, mon ami. But you know as well as Gambit dat de High an' Mighty Magneto won't ever come down here himself, unless it suits him. As long as you're de one dat comes to relieve Gambit of his duties, den our boss will never know what transpires down here." Gambit replied, he took a hold of the rope and let Colossus pull him up. Once Gambit was back on the platform, he looked back at Talia for a while.
Colossus noticed this and asked, "Why do you look at her like that?"
"Like what, mon ami?" Gambit asked, looking back at his comrad.
"Like the way you look at Rogue, when you think no one else is looking?"
Gambit smirked, "It is not de same."
"I don't understand."
"I know." Gambit gently patted Colossus on the cheek and walked out of the room.
Colossus blinked in utter confussion, but decided it was best not to question the young theif's words.
Gambit walked down the corridors of the ship. His footsteps echoed loudly as he walked to his room alone. He walked to the end of the hall and rounded the corner to where the ships personal cabins were. There he spotted Pyro standing by Gambit's cabin room's door. Judging by the look in the young boy's eyes, he had been waiting for him.
"And to what does Gambit owe de pleasure of dis little visit, mon ami?" he asked, flashing one of his charming smiles.
Pyro glowered at him, "That charm of yours may work on everyone else, mate, but it don't work on me. I know a player when I seem one."
"Oh? You already foolin' around on Wanda? Not a wise choice, mon ami. Especially when she has de powers to hex your dick off."
"I'm not fooling around on my girlfriend, you bloody wankah!"
Gambit chuckled, "Den how would you know what a player is, unless you've been one yourself?"
"Gaaaagh! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Pyro screamed, he threw himself at Gambit, grabbed him by the front of his shirt, and shook him.
Gambit merely laughed and let the younger boy get his frustration out, "Is something wrong, mon ami? You seem rather tense. Ha Ha"
"Grrrrrrrrr" he shoved Gambit away from him and paced around for a bit, until he finally calmed down. He faced Gambit again and smirked, "You know, that charm of yours may be your be quality, but it's also your down fall."
"Says de one who has no charm at all."
"Oh, I've got charm, mate. It's just don't use it the same way as you do yours. You may have everyone here fooled, playing the neutral, but loyal theif to Magneto. But I know better. I've been watching you."
"Hopefully not when Gambit takes a shower."
Pyro squinted his eyes and frowned, "There are not enough words to tell you how much I re-ally hate you right now."
"Den make some up. Until den, Gambit wants to get some sleep. So, if you'll excuse Gambit-" he started to open his cabin room door, but Pyro blocked him with his hand and slammed it shut.
"You're not going anywhere, until you've heard what I have to say. I know that your going in there to call Mystique to let her know where we're keeping Talia."
"And why would Gambit do dat?"
"Because I know for a fact that you care for the little frog and that you've been taking side trips to Mystique's place to see her."
"What proof do you have of dis?"
"My girlfriend for one. She tells me everything. So if you so much as try to sneak a messege in a bottle to Mystique, I'll convince Wanda to tell Magneto that you're trying to help Toad escape. Then he will have Toad killed before anyone can come saver her and it will be all your fault. Think you can live with her blood on your conscience, mate?" Gambit didn't say anything. Pyro smirk, "Heh That's what I thought. Now. Be a good boy and hand over that cell phone you keep on you. I wouldn't want you to have second thoughts after all."
"You'll get my cell phone over my dead body."
Pyro felt a shiver go up his spine when he heard Gambit speak in the 1st person, instead of his usual 3rd person, but he kept his cool. "Have it your way, mate. But just so you know, I'll be watching you 'very' closely. Oh, and if I were you, I wouldn't go making any trips into town. Who knows what could happen while your away. If you get my drift."
"Dat's fine. Just make sure dat dere are no accidents, while Gambit is here. Otherwise..." he reached over and touched the fuel tank on Pyro's back, tapping it lightly, "Gambit can't garrauntee dat your fuel tanks haven't been tampered with."
The boys stared at eachother in silence for a very long time.
"Tch Whatever, mate. Enjoy your nap." Pyro said, finally making a move to leave. He headed in the opposite direction that Gambit had come from. He had only taken five steps, then suddenly a glowing playing card flew above his head and exploded. He yelped and spun around.
Gambit shrugged his shoulders innocently, "Gambit saw a misquito." Pyro sneered at him and continued on his current path. Gambit waited for him to dissapear out of sight before finally entering his room. He closed the door behind him and laid down on his bed. He put his hands behind his head and contimplated on how he was going to save his friend as he stared up at the ceiling.
The very next evening, Mystique recieved her new missions from Magneto. When she looked them over, she was not surprised at the high level of danger that they posed to her life. There were three missions that she was required to pull off. The first one was to break into a nearby high security facility and descretely release mutant prisoners that were sentenced for execution. The second one was for her to sneak into certain undercover businesses that were actually safe houses for anti-mutant terrorist groups and place several bombs that were set to explode after the mission was complete. Then the third mission was very vage in detail. She was to meet up with Magneto to help him with a special mission that would prove her loyalty once and for all. All of these missions, she had to do all by herself to save her precious child.
She went into her garage and began collecting the necessary gear that she needed for her first mission. As she was going through her secret hiding places that she kept her more dangerous items, she did not notice that Fred was standing in the open doorway, watching her.
Fred was on his way out the front door, when he heard Mystique making a loud commotion in the garage. Seeing her gathering up deadly weapons shouldn't surprise him, but for some reason it did this time. He had thought about approaching the woman and asking her why she needed so many weapons, but instincts told him to steer clear of her right now. Not only that, but currently she was the last person that he wanted to have a conversation with. Fred simply shook his head and continued onto his original path.
Lance stood outside by his jeep, until he saw Fred come out of the house. He opened up his driver side door and said, "You ready, bro?"
"Yeah." Fred said, opening the passenger side door and climbed in along with Lance. After they closed their doors, Lance turned on the engine, and they continued their search for Talia. Fred pulled out their town map, unfolded it, and examined it. He frowned and grumbled, "There ain't that many places left for us to look for Tal in. Damn map gots more scribbles on it than Pietro little black book. Have ya heard anything back from him yet?"
Lance shook his head, "No. I tried to text him about an hour ago and he hasn't responded. I have a feeling that he's either in a situation where he can't answer or his phone is dead." Fred folded his arms and huffed with frustration. Lance took one hand off of his steering wheel to give Fred a comforting pat. "Don't worry, buddy. We're gonna find Talia. I promise you."
"Yeah... But-But what if what Mystique said about Tal probably not wantin' to be a girl anymore is true? What am I gonna?"
Lance put his hand back on the wheel and shook his head, "I don't know, Fred. It's gonna be hard, but if she does decide to turn back, then you're gonna have to try to go back to just being just friends again."
"I don't know if I can, Lance. I've had feelings for her for far too long." he stared out the passenger window and shut his eyes to fight back a threatening tear. "After we rescue her, I mean... After we rescue Toad, I'll pack my things and leave town."
"What?" Lance glanced over at his friend, not sure if he heard Fred correctly.
"Once we get our old Toad back, there ain't gonna be no point for me to stay. Things are gonna be already awkward as it is. I ain't gonna be able to look at Toad without seein' Tal's face everytime."
"But, Fred, Toad is your best friend! What is he gonna do if you leave?"
"He'll still have you and Pietro. Well... You at least. I'm not gonna mention Mystique, cause I don't believe anythin' that she said last night. She's a user and will always be a user."
"If that's the case, then what she said about you being a cower is true too."
"Shut up, Lance! You know Mystique just as well as I do."
"Yeah, and I know that people can change, Fred." he gave Fred stern look, "I believe that Mystique has changed. I've never seen her invest so much of her time into someone other than herself."
"Whoop dee do. So Mystique has turned her hobby into an unhealthy obssession." Lance shot him a dirty glare, then slammed on his breaks. Fred gasped as the seat belt choked him and yelled, "What the fuck, Lance?! Are you tryin' to kill me?"
"Get out."
"What?"
"You heard me. Get the fuck out of my car!"
"B-But, Lance-"
"I'm not gonna have someone riding with me that's already given up. If you want to throw yourself a pity party, then go do it somewhere else." Fred suddenly felt very small at the moment and quietly got out of the jeep. Just before he closed the passenger side door, Lance said one more thing. "By the way. If you do go through with this skipping town business instead of facing the situation, I'll never forgive you. You'll be dead to me."
"Lance, I-" Fred tried to defend himself, but he knew that his words would fall on deaf ears. He closed the door and watched Lance drive off. Fred shoved his hands into his pockets and looked at the ground with shame. After a while, he kicked up some dirt and continued his search on foot.
That evening everyone who was part of the Brotherhood, besides Wanda, were doing what they thought was the best route to reclaim their Talia. Mystique went on her missions, she refused to come back home, until they were complete. The boys were all split up, searching for their friend with no luck. There was a time when Lance almost considered calling his girlfriend and asking her for the X-Men's help, but his pride wouldn't let him. At least not yet.
Another lonely night passed for poor Talia as she sat on the dry cargo bed with Gambit's trench coat wrapped tightly around her. It was the only comfort that she was allowed as time slowly ticked away.
It was Sabertooth's turn to watch her and watch her he did.
Talia shuddered everytime she looked up to see him staring at her. She was scared of the massive feral man and he knew it. Fear was something that always got him excited and depending on his target he would try to provoke it even more.
She turned her back towards him and tightened her hold on Gambit's trench, and said in a meek voice, "C-Could you, please, stop staring at me like that? It makes me uncomfortable."
Sabertooth chuckled lightly, "Why? I thought all lil' girls liked it when a man takes an interest in em'."
"No, offense, but you're not exactly my type."
"Ah, that's right. Pyro told me that you were into the biggins."
Talia's eyes grew and wide and she glowed red from embarrassment. "Don't believe everything that that moron says. He just likes to start gossip."
"Heh Heh Yeah, he sure does. But I know for a fact, that he's tellin' the truth on this one. I can tell by how pink the tips of yer lil' ears are and by the sudden change in yer pheramones." he placed his hands on the railing and took a big sniff, "You like Blob boy. No. I take that back. Yer infatuated by him."
"No, I'm not!" she yelled, spinning around to face him.
"Heh Then why did ya get wet, when all's I did was say his name? The nose knows, frail. You can't lie to me." he gave her a toothy smile and leaned closer to the edge, "Tell me, has Blob boy made any real moves on ya?"
"Shut up! I don't want to talk about this with you!" she covered her ears and shut her eyes tightly.
"I take that as a no. I'm also gonna go out on a limb and say that no one has popped yer cherry yet."
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" she shook her head violently, trying to drown out his voice, but to no avail.
Sabertooth threw his head back and released a throaty laugh, then said, "Ya know, yer more than likely gonna die tomorrow. How's about ya let yer ol' Uncle Sabertooth do ya an act of kindness and take care of that for ya. I'd hate to a pretty young frail such as yerself die a virgin. It's be an aweful waste."
Talia froze when she heard his words and stared up at him with horror in her eyes. Her stomache twisted in knots, her heart skipped a couple of beats, and all of the color had drained from her horror struck face. He sniggered and in one swift motion he hiked himself over the railing, and landed in the freezing waters on his feet. Talia let out a yelp and leapt backwards off of the cargo bed.
"You stay away from me!" she screamed, as she ran to the opposite side of the ship.
Sabertooth smiled menacingly, as he crouched down on all fours, and bounded towards the young girl. "Oh, how I love it when they run!" he leapt onto the cargo bed and poll volted himself at her. Talia let out a scream as she ducked out of the way and changed her course. Sabertooth bounced off of the ship's wall and used it to hurl himself at her. He landed right behind her, once he stood up, he reached out, grabbed her by the back of her dress, and hurled her back onto the cargo bed. Talia landed on her back with a hard thud. She gasped as the air left her lungs. Before she knew it, Sabertooth was on top of her. He wrapped a massive hand around her throat and pinned her abdomen down with the other. She wriggled around and gasped, as she clawed at the hand that was holding her throat. "Keep struggling, frail." he bent his head down next to hers, he licked the side of her face, and whisper in a hot breath next to her ear, "I love it!"
"LET ME GO!" she brought her knee up and kicked him in the ribs several times, then used her flexibility to kick him in the back of his head.
"GAAAAGH!" the last blow was enough to piss him off. He pulled the hand that was on her throat away and back handed her. Her cheek bruised almost instantly and blood dribbled down the corner of her mouth. He reached behind her head, grabbed the back of her hair, and yanked her head back to where she was looking him in the eyes. "Stupid, bitch! I was gonna be nice about poppin' yer cherry, but now I think I'm gonna make ya suffer."
"FUCK YOU!" she spat a large mucus glob in his face. It caught him so off guard that he let go of her momentarily. She kicked him as hard as she could and tried to scramble away.
Sabertooth toppled off of the cargo bed and into the water. He used the salt water to wash the mucus off of his face. He then looked up to see Talia race towards the landing; she tried to leap up to the platform, but alas it was in vain. He rose to his feet and stalked towards her, extending his dangerously sharp claws further out. "Where ya gonna go, frail? Ya can't climb them walls and ya can't reach that platform in one jump niether. Face it, yer trapped down here with me."
Talia looked over her shoulder, she began to panic even more when she saw his extended claws and how much closer he was getting. "Oh, no!" she whimpered and tried to run to the left, but Sabertooth was quicker. He grabbed her by her hair, pulled her back towards himself, and roughly slammed her back against the metal wall. "Ack! Let go, you sick son of a bitch!" she began kicking out at him and swung her fists wildly even though his face was out of her reach.
Sabertooth let out a feral growl, as he slammed her against the wall again to stun her. He raised slightly out of the water, so that her feet could not use the floor as momentum for her powerful kicks. He then took a hold of her wrists in one hand, covered her mouth with the other, and pressed his thick heavy frame against her tiny body, pressing her further into the wall. Right now, Talia was more scared than she had ever been in her whole entire life. She began to cry and begged him with her eyes not to do what he was about to do. Sabertooth merely chuckled and caressed her cheek with his thumb, "I'll give ya this, frail, you were more fun to chase than most girls I've had in the past. All of em' had the same pleading look that yer givin' me right now. Sometimes I would take pitty on them and just end their life right then and there, but only sometimes. And right now, this aint one of those times. Heh Heh" Talia tried to plead with him from under his hand, but he shook his head, "Oh, you don't know how much I wanna hear ya beggin' for me not to do all the nasty things I plan on doin' to ya. But because of that little slime trick ya did back there, I can't trust ya not to do it again. So now..." he turned her around, so that the front side of her body was pressed against the cold metal wall. He removed his hand from her mouth to place it on her neck, then he released her hands. His free hand trailed down the side of her body, he copped a feel of one of her breasts, then slid his hand down to her thigh. He paused momentarily to caress her thigh and to listen to her cry. Slowly his hand began to creep up her skirt, he lean in, and took a big whiff of her scent, "Ooh, you don't know how good ya smell to me right now. I'm gonna enjoy this very much."
"Please... Don't! Please! I'm begging you. Ahah!"
Sabertooth's hand crept up to her underwear, he breathed in her ear, "Keep on beggin' me, frail. It get's me hotter." he chuckled, as he hooked the elestic band with his claw, and he was about to pull when he suddenly heard the sound of Pyro's voice.
"Oy, mate! Where are you?" Pyro walked to the edge of the platform and peeked his head over, "Oh. There you are. Having a bit of fun with our prisoner are we?"
"You know it, Pyro. Ya want some of this after I break her in?"
"Nah. I got my own sheila to take care of my needs. I never would have thought that you were into fucking ugly girls, mate."
"A frail is a frail. It don't matter to me, as long as I can get a rise outta em'."
"Well, you better hurry up and get your jollies before Gambit gets here, mate. You know how he feels about you raping our female prisoners."
"Hmph That's too bad. I wanted to have fun with this one for a very long time. How about ya go and distract the swamp rat for me before he gets here."
"I'm already here, mon ami."
Pyro jumped and turned around. Before he could even say Gambit's name, Gambit kicked him square in the chest, and sent him flying over the platform's ledge. Pyro scream on his way down and hit the watery floor with a splash.
Sabertooth let go of Talia and got into a defensive stance, "Bad move, punk!" he scaled the wall with his claws, once he was high enough, he pushed himself off of the wall, and aimed for the platform.
Gambit stood their with his hand behind his back, until Sabertooth was almost apon him. He then pulled out a portable gas canister that he had charged with his powers from behind his back. Sabertooth's eyes widened when he saw it and tried to manipulate his body to change direction.
"Bang." said Gambit, as he threw the canister. It hit Sabertooth's center and exploded on contact. Sabertooth went crashing down into the waters like a firey ball of death. Gambit threw a rope down to Talia and exclaimed, "Hurry, Petite! Before he has a chance to get back up!"
Talia ran to the rope, she used Pyro's body as a spring board to jump higher than she would have if she were just on the floor. Pyro flinched at the action and coughed. Gambit helped Talia the rest of the way up the rope and pulled her onto the platform. She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly.
"Oh, Gambit! I was so scared!" she cried.
"Dis ain't the time, Petite. We have to get you off of dis ship before Magneto realizes dat Gambit is helping you to escape." he took her by her hand and ran out of the room, leading her down the winding cooridors of the ship.
Not long after they left, Sabertooth rose to his feet. His clothes were incinerated, save his pants, which now looked like burnt shorts. His blackened, smokey body, was slowly regenerating back to it's original state. He roared with fury and ran back up towards the platform, grabbing Pyro along the way.
Gambit and Talia raced for their lives to get to the top side of the ship. Neither one of them let go of the other's hand nor did they speak. Gambit had only one goal, one thought. He had to get Talia away from the these people and get her someplace safe. Talia however was too scared to even think. All she could do was follow Gambit blindly and try to keep up.
Once they made it to the surface, Gambit looked over at Talia, "How are you holding out, Petite?"
She was bent over, her breathing was hard, and she spoke in a raspy voice, "I don't think I can run anymore, Gambit."
"We're almost out of here. All's we have to do is make it over dat railing over dere. Den we will be scott free. Just a little bit more. You can make it, right?"
"I-I'll try, Gambit."
They both bolted for ship's railing that was closet to the shore.
Gambit squeezed her hand tightly and said, "Hold on, Petite. Dis is gonna be one bumpy ride!"
Talia braced herself as she and Gambit got ready to hike themselves over the railing.
Then suddenly, the metal railing came to life.
Gambit and Talia stopped dead in their tracks and slowly backed away. Gambit stood in front of Talia to sheild her from any potential threat. He looked around, until he spotted the master of the railing.
Magneto levitated down towards them from the captain's bridge. He did not look happy.
Sabertooth, now completely healed, and Pyro quickly emerged from the lower decks and were walking towards them menicingly.
"Stay close to me, Petite." he whispered to her.
"Gambit... There's too many of them. There's no way you can protect me." she whimpered.
He pulled out his quarter staff and held it out in front of him defensively. "Have faith, Petite. Have faith."
Magneto landed in front of them and his two subordanents stopped just right behind him. His back was to the moon, which gave his caped frame an eerie look. "You dissapoint me, Gambit." he said in a monotoned voice, "Here I thought you were my most loyal of henchmen, but now I find that you are helping my prisoner escape. Why?"
"Because dis girl has done notting to you to deserve your wrath, Magneto. It's Mystique. If you have a problem wit her work ethics, den you need to take it up wit her. Not take it out on an innocent bystandard."
"Have you forgotten how this welp cause my own child physical harm? I do not take dangerous threats to my family lightly. She is by no means innocent."
"Niether is Wanda. Your daughter has been notting but cruel and rude to Talia. Gambit says dat she got what was comin' to her."
"Enough! Hand over the welp and I may let you leave my services in one peace."
Gambit shook his head, "Non, mon ami. Gambit won't hand Talia over to a bunch of blood thirsty monsters and rapists of young girls." he said the last part with a direct glare at Sabertooth.
Magneto followed Gambit's gaze, then turned back, "If you had Toad over, I will promise you that Sabertooth will not be permitted to violate her body."
"Dat ain't good enough. Gambit wants her live an' to be able to leave an' go wherever it is dat she wants. Gambit will even take her out of de country to ensure dat Mystique will no longer get distracted from her work. Just let her go."
Magneto thought about it, then said, "No." he raised his hand and flicked his wrist. The metal railing came whipping around down towards Talia and Gambit.
Gambit pushed Talia out of the way and ended up becoming ensnared in Magneto's trap. "Run, Petite! Run!"
Talia rose to her feet, she hesitated, wanting very much to try and save her friend, but she knew she could not. She turned towards the derailed ledge and raced for it. She had just stepped on the ledge and sprung herself forward, when suddenly Sabertooth's hand caught her by the back of her dress, and pulled her back onto the ship.
"NO!" Gambit cried out.
Sabertooth threw Talia at Pyro's feet, "Hold her." he snarled. Pyro obediantly picked her up and held her in a head lock. Sabertooth turned his attention on Gambit, who was trying to reach for any part of the metal railing to charge with his powers. Sabertooth punched Gambit in the jaw, then upper cut him in the ribs. Gambit let out a gasp and coughed up blood. Sabertooth then knocked him to the ground and began pummeling him with a fury of blows. He made sure to hold back enough, so not to kill Gambit, but used enough of his strength to make Gambit suffer.
"Stop it! You're killing him!" Talia screamed.
"She's right, Sabertooth. That is enough for now." said Magneto. Sabertooth begrudgingly obeyed. "Now. Stand him up. I want him to watch what consequences have come from his actions." he turned his gaze to Pyro and gave him a nod.
Pyro smiled sadistically, "Oh, we're about to have some fun, bitch. It's pay back time for what you did to me and my sheila." he punched her in the side of her head and knocked her to the ground. Then he began to kick her in the ribs over and over again.
"TALIA!"
"Shuddap, punk! Just sit tight and watch the show."
Talia screamed as she felt her ribs crack. She was tried to get up to fight back, but she was exhausted from running and her head was spinning wildly from the blow. She tried to crawl away, but Pyro grabbed her by her ankels and dragged her back.
"Where do you think you're going, bitch? I ain't done with you." he walked over to a pile of debree and pulled out a thick, heavy metal bar. He shook it a couple of times to get the feel for it, then walked back over to her. He stood by her leg and raised the bar, high over his head. "This prevent you from pulling anymore escape attempts."
"NO!" Gambit looked over at Magneto desperately, "Magneto! Don't let him do dis! Stop him, please!" Magneto said nothing. Gambit tried again, "Stop him! If you let dis happen, den you'll be a monster just like dese two! Show her mercy, I'm begging you!"
But Gambit's pleas fell on deaf ears and Magneto let the horrorific events transpire.
Pyro put all of his weight into the bar. It came crashing down on Talia's calves with a sickening snap. Talia threw her head back and let out a blood curdling scream. Pyro raised the bar over his head and brought it back down on her other leg. The same snapping noise echoed loudly as if it were a pin dropping in an empty room. Talia rolled over on her back, screaming and writhing in pain, as she tried desperately to reach for her broken legs.
Pyro had started to raise the bar above his head, but Magneto stopped him, "That's enough, Pyro. I believe that we have made our point clear. Take her back down to ships belly." Pyro nodded and dragged Talia away by the back of her hair. Magneto turned back to Gambit, who was glaring at him with a murderous intent. "Hmmm I still see signs of a rebelious look in your eyes. If that's the case, then you are no longer of use to me. Sabertooth. You know what to do." Magneto walked away and left Sabertooth and Gambit alone.
Sabertooth dragged Gambit over to the broken railing and looked down. He smirked and said, "You don't know how long I've been waitin' to do this, punk."
"Sabertooth. If you so much as touch her again-"
"Don't worry, punk. Now that someone else has broken her, I don't have any interest in her. I do have one question though." he reared his hand back and extended his claws, "Which do you think you'll die of first? Bleedin' out or drownin'?" He released his hold on Gambit, then swiped at the young man's throat. Blood splattered through the air and Gambit plummeted head first into the ocean's freezing salt water. Sabertooth smiled a tooth smile, when he saw Gambit's blood stain the ocean's surface and saw no signs of him coming back up. "Have fun in Hell, swamp rat. Heh heh"
To Be Continued...