And here it is again! (in a circus anouncer's voice)" Ladies and Gentlemen! In conjunction with Marvel and POW entertainment, DragonChild157 is proud to bring the X-men, for your reading pleasure!"
LOL, in a bind for time, so here it is in all it's glory! Enjoy!
"This way!" Kurt called.
It had taken him all of 15 seconds to teleport Jackie to the jet and get him settled there with beast and the children. He had been gratified to hear that the girl Trisha was stable. Beast thought she would be all right.
He had hurried back to the room, and from there it had taken him virtually no time to follow the sounds of his friends down the hall and take the lead.
Auger had apparently taken his captives upstairs.
Wolverine had left claw marks here and there on the walls to mark the way they'd gone.
They didn't need those claw marks on the walls now. The screams echoing down the hall ways were leading them there faster than any compass or trail marker could have. Two voices he decided. The scream of one suddenly cut out, while the other climbed upward in an agonized crescendo, only to quickly fade back down into silence.
"Rhett!" Throwing caution to the winds, the x-men raced round the last corner and came to a stop in the open doorway. It was a bloody sight that met their horrified eyes.
Wolverine stood over the bloody forms of Auger and Rhett, his adamantium claws gleaming sickly through the red blood that coated them.
Kitty turned and stumbled back into the hallway, fighting her stomach to retain her dinner.
At Wolverine's feet, was Auger's head. His body was lying on top of Rhett a few feet away.
Wolverine glanced back at them, then touched a hand to his com link. "Hank." He said grimly. "Bring th' jet, a stretcher, an a body bag. An step on it." He nonchalantly kicked Auger's head out of the way with his foot and crouched beside the bodies.
Kurt bounded across the room. "Is he alive?"
Wolverine retracted his claws and pressed two fingers to the side of Rhett's neck. "Yeah elfie, he's alive." He pried Auger's lifeless fingers off the hilt of the knife buried deep in Rhett's side. "Can't say th' same for this creep."
With a low growl, he grabbed the headless body by the belt and dragged it off their young friend. Kurt wiped ineffectually at the blood on Rhett's face, smearing it more than actually wiping it off. He shook his head in frustration.
"I cannot tell vhat is his und vhat came from Auger."
"Jus' th' knife wound is his." Wolverine answered. "It's th' only one smells like him. Jeanie, can ya do somethin' 'bout that?"
"Wolverine, stop calling me Jeanie." She growled.
She crouched by Rhett, checking the wound carefully. Behind her, Auger's shirt tore itself into long strips and floated forward to hang at her side, knotting themselves to form one long strip. She nodded and grabbed the end that dangled by her hand. A gesture of her other hand lifted Rhett from the floor so she could wrap her makeshift bandage around his waist.
"Kurt, I need you to hold this while I bind it in place. I don't want to take it out and risk hurting him worse."
Kurt nodded and pressed his hands on either side of the knife. Jean looped the bandage around again and again, tying it firmly in place. Rhett moaned as she pulled it tight, but he didn't wake.
The com links beeped and Beast's voice came over the line. "I'm here. The jet is prepped and ready to take us back to the mansion."
Kurt picked up Rhett's hand and reached for Jean, only to have her pull away. "No Kurt. Teleporting Rhett while he was injured did some damage last time. I don't want to risk it while the blade's still in. Go get the stretcher for Rhett and the body bag for Auger."
Kurt nodded and disappeared into his blue smoke. He was back in a moment.
"Here."
He passed the body bag to Wolverine and slid the stretcher under Rhett. Jean set him down and the belts on the stretcher wrapped around him, seemingly of their own accord.
"Allow me." Colossus said, grabbing the stretcher's middle and hoisting it up onto his shoulder like a light weight board.
Wolverine calmly shouldered Auger's body. Auger had already proved he could come back from the dead. Wolverine wasn't about to leave the body here. When Auger came back, Wolverine wanted him to be somewhere he could be watched.
Somewhere he couldn't cause trouble.
They were almost out of the building when Kurt froze in his tracks.
"Ericka!"
Horrified expression's crossed the faces of the others as they realized that they'd forgotten about the missing little girl! Kurt turned and started running back down the hall.
"Get Rhett back to the mansion! I vill find Ericka und meet you back home!"
"You got it!" Cyclops called.
Kurt teleported back down to the basement. The water had settled, and it was now ankle deep. He sloshed through the dirty water.
"Ericka! Ericka! Vhere are you?"
A sudden thought struck him and he turned on his image inducer, so as to appear less threatening.
An hour passed as he conducted his thorough search of the basement. He was nearing the end when he suddenly froze. There was a sound just on the edge of his hearing. He closed his eyes, focusing solely on that sound.
A small voice was crying.
He slowly began making his way toward it.
"It's ok honey. I'll get you out." Said an unfamiliar voice.
He hopped over some floating debris and stepped into the store room the voice and the crying was coming from. The floor was lower in here, the water deeper. At the far end of the room, Ericka lay trapped beneath piece of wreckage, the water lapping at her chin. Someone dressed in dirty sweats was desperately trying to lift the wreckage up and off the little girl.
He jumped up to grab the pipes overhead and scuttle across the ceiling. Once above them, he dangled down by his toes and tail.
"Let me help you."
He caught hold of the wreckage and pulled, every muscle straining to left the heavy debris. The stranger looked up and gave a startled cry stumbling back to land on her rear in the water. Kurt paid her no attention.
"Ericka. My name is Kurt. I am a friend of your brother, Rhett. Vhen this is high enough, crawl out!"
"Ok..." Ericka whimpered.
Inch by inch he slowly lifted it. At last he heard some splashing below. Looking down, he saw the stranger pull Ericka quickly out from under the wreckage. The girl took several steps back, and he let the mangled mess he was holding fall back to the floor with a splash.
He let go of the pipes, flipping in midair to land in a crouch on top of the wreckage he'd just dropped. "Are you all right?"
The strange girl nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." She looked down at Ericka, who was nestled in her arms. "How 'bout you?"
Ericka nodded. "Where's Rhett? And Jeremy?" she asked anxiously.
Kurt smiled reassuringly and offered his arms. "Jeremy und Rhett are with the x-men. Come, I vill take you to them."
The little girl crawled into his waiting arms and he cradled her against his body. He offered his hand to the older girl.
"It may take me a few jumps to get there, but I vill take you to them."
The girl put her dirty hand in his gloved one. He smiled, careful not to show his fangs, lest he frighten her. "Und vhat is your name?"
"Alice."
REVIEW! Hope I blew your socks off with this one. Or at least confused the daylights out of you...
