They're still not mine. I'm just borrowing them for a while.
X X X X X
"I'll take point," Logan said. He had the most experience in situations like this, and his enhanced senses would alert him to dangers ahead long before anyone else would know.
"Comm check," Scott ordered, and moments later they'd verified that all comlinks were functioning properly.
Logan took a last look at Rachel before turning and loping through the woods, following the directions Kitty had given him. They'd overshot their target by almost a mile, and he expected to meet an armed welcoming committee long before he reached their target.
The harsh click of a weapon cocking resounded in his ears, and he paused, listening, scenting. The sound didn't repeat, but he heard footsteps, loud, crunching. Whoever was in charge of these bozos had no sense of discipline or stealth.
Silently, he moved to the nearest tree and scaled it. "Company," he subvocalized into the comlink. "I see ten, about three hundred and fifty meters from where I left you. Automatic weapons."
The seconds of silence before Scott replied felt longer than they actually were. They'd gotten soft, Logan realized, accustomed to Jean or Rachel maintaining a mindlink during their missions. But Jean was on pregnancy leave, and Rachel wasn't able to maintain a link yet. At least she was walking, even if she did have to lean on Scott for support.
"Think you, Pixel, and Colossus can handle them?" Scott's voice came through his earpiece.
"We can take 'em. Gonna let them pass by me." Logan settled himself into position on a high limb to wait for the guards to pass beneath him. "Colossus, Pixel, don't worry about being seen. Just don't engage after two hundred fifty meters."
He heard their acknowledgments, then Alex's voice. "Do I need a code name?"
"You don't need one if you're not an X-Man," Scott replied. "But if you want one, go for it."
Logan bit back a sarcastic comment as the enemy guards passed beneath his perch. He needed to be quiet, both physically and mentally, until they'd gone.
"Probably should have one, just so I don't stick out," Alex was saying.
"In my memory, you went by Havok." Logan smiled to hear Rachel's voice, shifted position on the limb. When the guards were another few steps away, he could drop from his position.
"Havok," Alex repeated. "Guess that'll do."
"Pixel, Colossus," Logan said. "Where are you?"
"I can see them," Peter said. "Two hundred meters from where you left us."
Logan dropped from the tree. "I'm coming up behind them. Engage at your discretion."
"We are ready." The metallic echo in Peter's voice told Logan he'd shifted to his armored form. The yelp from one of the guards told Logan they'd seen Peter and Kitty. Then gunfire filled the forest.
Against the harsh rattle of machine-gun fire, the clangs of bullets bouncing off Peter's armored form stood out sharply. With all that racket, the guards would never hear him coming.
At least, he thought as he closed the distance between him and the last of the guards, Peter and Kitty didn't have enough skill to have taken all of the guards down before he got some fun.
Peter was closing on a second guard, the first already unconscious on the ground. Kitty appeared to be enjoying the stunned reaction of the guard she faced far too much. Not that Logan could blame the guy -- it wasn't every day you fired and fired and fired and the bullets went right through your intended victim.
"We don't have time for you to play with him, Kitty," he subvocalized.
She grimaced, but stepped forward and put her intangible hand on the machine gun. The guard yelped when she phased it out of his hand, then reversed it and clubbed him over the head with it.
While a part of him winced at seeing a weapon used like that, Logan had to give her credit for inventiveness. Then she passed out of his immediate awareness when he launched himself at two of the guards unlucky enough to be standing close enough together that he could strike them both at the same time.
The strike disconcerted them, and a kick to one and a gut-punch to the other brought them both down.
Moments later, all of the guards lay unconscious or bleeding, and Peter was giving the all-clear signal.
- X -
Rachel hated having to lean on her uncle -- or anyone -- for support. But at least she was walking and her headache had faded to a dull presence behind her eyes. She was thankful that she hadn't broken any bones, let alone her neck. She'd hate to have come back through time, and finally convinced Logan to see what they could be to each other, only to die before she could completely enjoy the results of that.
She had to smile when she saw the bodies. She sensed that the guards were alive, but the pile of weapons and ammunition next to them told her they'd been thoroughly searched before they were jumbled together.
"We need zip-ties," Peter said, his voice in an odd stereo, coming both from him -- muffled, thanks to the earplugs -- where he stood ten feet from her and from the comlink in her ear -- crystal clear and sharp.
"Shoelaces." Logan handed him a few that he'd already gathered. "And pile their boots with those weapons."
Moments later, the guards were secured and the pile reminded Rachel of an odd sort of campfire base. Her father opened his visor and blasted the pile.
"Let's go," he said.
- X -
Why did I volunteer for this, again? Alex looked at the subdued guards. None of them were dead, as far as he knew, but he had no doubt that Scott would order deadly force if he thought it was necessary. He swallowed, wondering whether he'd be able to kill someone.
He wasn't a fighter -- not like his father nor, apparently, his brother. He'd always preferred rocks, sand, shale, and his lab. He shouldn't be here. He should've stayed behind, traded places with Iceman. Oh, Scott's argument that the Hellfire Club didn't know about his power made perfect sense, but Alex was more than his power.
But he was here now, and he'd see it through because he'd promised. Never again, though, not if he had any say in the matter.
"Leland's here." Scott's voice came clearly through the tiny earpiece Alex wore, even as he realized that it was getting harder to move. Alex concentrated, struggled to lift his foot and move it forward a step. That proved impossible, and even standing upright was becoming a challenge. Beside him, Rachel's weight against his arm felt unbearable, and he sensed her struggling to remain standing as well.
"Indeed I am." The gravelly voice came from ahead of them, and Alex looked in its direction. A portly man in a three-piece suit stood there, his hands resting on the head of his walking cane. "Not all effective powers are flashy. And keeping you from walking is good, but I rather like the idea of you kneeling."
Alex felt as though he'd suddenly gained five hundred pounds on a frame with no practice carrying it. His knees buckled, and he fell, unable to support Rachel any longer. She fell to her knees beside him with a grunt. It would be so easy to use his power, but did he have the right? More to the point, would he manage to use his power before Leland made his blood too heavy for his heart to pump?
"Sphinx, Pixel, take care of him." Now Scott's voice sounded strained, and Alex guessed it was from the effort of standing straight.
"I've got him," Kitty said, and Alex blinked when he saw her running toward Leland, apparently unaffected by his power.
"You should be on your knees," Leland said. "Now."
He stretched a hand toward Kitty, but she closed the distance between them quickly, and Alex felt his jaw drop open when she stuck a hand into Leland's chest.
"Don't back up," she told him, "or you'll pull yourself right off of your heart."
"What are you doing?" Leland's voice sounded strangled. Alex couldn't blame him.
Kitty didn't answer. Her expression grim, she kept her hand embedded in his chest.
Even from this distance, Alex could see the sheen of sweat forming on Leland's face. Leland's expression changed from confidence to fear, and he swatted at Kitty's arm. His hand went through her arm, and Alex marveled at the control of her power that suggested.
"Let him go." A blonde woman in a white suit emerged from the trees. "Or I'll kill your friends. One thought is all it will take."
- X -
"Cyclops?" Scott heard Kitty's voice in his ear. Since she'd grabbed hold of Leland's heart -- or he assumed that's what she'd done -- the weight bearing down on them had lessened considerably.
He was already turning his head toward Emma Frost, his thumb reaching for the visor controls in his glove.
Frost turned to him with a chilly smile. "You'll be first."
Scott breathed in and out, once, forcing the breath past the weight still pressing on his chest thanks to Leland's power. He'd spent half his life in the company of the strongest telepath in the world, half a decade loving another. Constant exposure to them had both strengthened his natural shields and given him insight into a few other tricks.
One of those tricks was how not to think, simply be aware of what happened as he withdrew into his own mind. He withdrew now, and finally fell to his knees, catching his weight on his fists.
Frost smiled, certain, no doubt, that he'd finally succumbed to Leland's power -- and he had, though he'd controlled his fall so that his fists were balled, his thumbs near his forefingers. If he was careful, if he moved slowly enough and didn't think about it, he could blast her before she knew what he was doing.
"Shall I give him a quick death, or a painful one?" Frost mused aloud.
Shaw answered her rhetorical question. "Both. Kill them so we can end this farce."
Scott raised his head to look at Frost, turning his power on at the same time, and his thumb brushed hidden electronic contacts.
The visor opened, ever so slightly, as pain lanced through his mind.
- X -
Rachel had watched in horror as Frost focused on her father, trying to gather her mental strength to attack. She had no illusions as to how effective it would be, but she had to try to save her father.
Then ruby light exploded from his visor and Frost jumped backward. It was the opening she needed. Frost was a stronger telepath than she was, but the distraction of the blast meant that Rachel could slip past the other woman's shields and put her to sleep.
I'm no pushover. Even as Frost struggled to regain her footing, she threw up hasty shields.
Rachel strained to burrow around or through the other woman's shields. Another distraction -- she reached out with her telekinesis and yanked Frost toward her. Frost dug her fingers into the ground, trying to slow her progress, but Rachel only pulled harder.
Hate to mess up that pretty white suit, Rachel sent. Along with the words, she sent a telepathic blast designed to give the other woman an instant migraine.
The blast ricocheted off Frost's shields -- it was a vivid description, Rachel decided, even if it wasn't entirely accurate -- and then Rachel's perceptions shifted. Instead of lying in a forest, she rested naked on a king-sized bed lined with silk sheets. Through an open window, she saw the tops of trees, then ocean in the distance. Jasmine and lavender scented the pillows, and a light breeze teased her, whispering against her skin, bringing her to arousal.
Rachel sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, determined to see where she'd been taken, but every brush of skin against silken sheet only served to make her burn more. She'd never felt so ready to bed the next person who came into the room, and a small part of her didn't think it mattered whether that person was male or female.
A door to one side opened, and instinctively she turned to face this new -- threat? Why did she call it a threat? Wasn't her lover returning from a quick shower?
Rachel frowned. No, her lover wasn't taking a shower. He was -- he was where she was supposed to be. Which was -- where, exactly?
"Morning." Logan stepped into the room, a black silk robe dangling open. It swirled around his thighs and caressed his rampant cock as he crossed the room to rest his hands on the bed on either side of her hips. He leaned close to her, the lapels of his robe whispering against her breasts. "Ready for more?"
She shivered at the feel of his breath against her ear, the teasing ache in her nipples. Her hands moved up his chest, kneading the muscle there through the thin fabric of the robe.
"Always ready for the Wolverine," she whispered just before her mouth met his. Her arms went around his neck before she realized she was going to touch him. He leaned forward, pressing her down to the bed, pinning her with his body.
His touch, his taste, were intoxicating, and it was easy to lose herself in them. Her hands roamed his body, touching, stroking, drawing that pleasure out.
"Oh, yes, sweetheart. Touch me. Nobody else's touch felt as good as yours."
"Really?" Her hand wandered lower, caressing more intimate places.
"God, yes. Touch me there, sweetheart. Please."
Her questing fingers found his cock, and he moaned.
She twisted, hard.
He yelped and jerked back, the illusion shattering around them. Rachel found herself standing on the astral plane, facing Emma Frost.
How'd you know?
He'd never call me sweetheart. Rachel focused a mental attack at the other woman. On the astral, it appeared as a spear, flying true toward Frost's head.
Frost deflected it, sent her own attack toward Rachel. But Rachel had already launched a second bolt. Rachel winced at the psychic backwash already rolling through her. Frost was strong, easily as strong as her mother, stronger than she was.
She summoned her will, reinforced the attack she'd launched. She'd have to make this one count.
Frost had apparently had a similar thought, Rachel realized in the instant that she saw Frost's own attack bolt rocketing toward her. Strange how the mind supplied images for things that were beyond its normal comprehension. So she "saw" two lances aiming for each other, much like the jousters of old had done. In this case, the lances collided, splintering their ends against the other.
She felt the blow almost as if it had been physical, and Rachel reeled backward, fell back into her body. In the split second before she blacked out, she saw Frost fall as well.
- X -
Logan's gut clenched when he saw Rachel fall. That the other telepath fell as well was small comfort. But still the rest of the Hellfire Club needed to be taken down.
In a heartbeat, he assessed the threats from each of the remaining Hellfire Club members. Kitty still held the fat guy's heart. One man's skin was turning black, absorbing all ambient light, even as Logan watched -- da Costa, presumably. Two other men and a woman stood somewhat back from the fray. The last member of their group -- Logan caught a subtle shift in the man's scent. Where it had been a typical male scent, now it was overlaid with something canine, and Logan could see the man's body beginning to shift as well.
Shapeshifter. Von Roehm. Some instinct sent him toward the canid man before Scott could give orders. He can yell at me after we kick their asses.
Two quick steps and he'd launch himself at the canid man. Adamantium claws would make short work of him.
His foot had just touched ground for the second step when the shriek pierced his ears.
He managed to keep his balance, if barely, and slapped his hands over his ears. This was worse than the scream he'd heard so briefly when Stryker invaded the mansion -- higher pitched and designed to incapacitate. If it weren't for the earplugs, he'd already have been unconscious. Almost a full ten seconds after the scream began, he saw the other X-Men had heard it, too.
He saw Scott's mouth moving in a word that might have been, "Blast --"
Then his world went dark and blissfully silent.