Exit Wounds
"Leave them alone! You can't do this!" Kitty screamed, frantic and finally panicking; tears finally gave way to the hopeless situation and began streaming down her face. Peter knew putting Kitty behind himself would be useless, she cemented herself in front of him, she demanded to be in full view of her team. He continued to press his massive hand over her shoulder and against her chest, and held her firmly against his abdomen. The gun barrels were only inches from their faces, but they remained more concerned for their fallen friends.
"People know were here! They'll come for us! And if they die-" Jean commanded, just before she was punched in the jaw by one of the commanding officers.
"That's enough! You will stand down! All of you will, or so help me I will make you witness those two being thrown to sharks! You understand me mutants!?" The officer was short, bald, and red in the face. He was the recruiting officer that Gambit had impressively robbed blind in order to infiltrate the army of Genosha, and he was no longer following protocol as he screamed in Jean's face. Jean's knee-jerk response was to spit in his face, it was the final straw.
"Pull 'em apart! They're chum!" The officer bellowed, and turned to Kitty and Peter. "You two can thank your stupid friend." He said grimly, as he wiped his face. He then pointed to the officers standing over Rogue and Gambit. The soldiers wordlessly understood their orders and pulled the two limp and battered mutants apart and began to drag them to docks.
"NO!" Kitty shrieked. Peter decided at that moment once they got outside to the docks he would fight to his death and perhaps one of the girls would get away, he had lost any hope for Remy or Rogue. He continued to restrain Kitty, and guided her along as the armed men began pushing them toward the docks, with their guns aimed, so that they could witness the death of their friends before they began their lives of servitude.
"STOP!" Jean screamed, but the soldier restraining her tightened his arm around Jean's throat, silencing and nearly choking her. He then nearly lifted her by the neck as he pulled her over to join the grim procession to the docks to observe the murder of her teammates. Jean walked in complete dread as she stepped on the blood steak paths that Rogue and Remy made as they were being dragged toward the sound of crashing waves. Jean saw Kitty crying and screaming hysterically; she was kicking at the soldier closest to her, Peter held her in place. Jean's world became soundless, she couldn't hear the stomping of the men's boots, or Kitty's shrieking, she only heard the sound of her own heartbeat. Remy attempted to move his legs as he slipped in and out of consciousness, and Rogue wasn't moving at all, Jean focused on Rogue's limp feet. Was she dead? Was her friend and teammate dead? Once she was thrown into the ocean, would she be alive enough to drown? Halfway through her grim thought she thought she saw Rogue's toes move, then her legs twitch. Jean was willing her to move as if she still had her telekinesis, she desperately needed to see her friend live. Jean's prayer was answered when shockingly, Rogue ripped the soldier's hand gun from its holster, elbowed him in the leg so that it bent backwards and broke, the soldier dropped and before he could scream, Rogue ripped the gun from the other mercenary dragging Gambit, and doubled handed, she precisely shot the four men escorting Kitty and Peter without even opening her eyes. She then immediately stood tall, dropped the two guns, and grabbed the two mercenaries that had been dragging herself and Gambit by their collars and unbelievably tossed them like rag-dolls at the dozen armed men. The men that weren't on the ground or totally bewildered began to line up and took aim at the naked, bloody girl that had just rose from the dead.
"Take your best shot, amateurs!" 'Rogue' ordered as she stood with renewed strength, waiting for the men to make their next move. Jean was roughly separated from Kitty and Peter as they were thrown up against opposite walls, they were directly across from each other, each with a new mercenary with a gun jammed into their backs. Any attempt to help Rogue with her sudden revolt would be met with a hole through their abdomen.
"Big mouth, fer such a beaten up little girl!" The short, bald commanding officer was un-phased, he refused to believe this mutant could gain an upper hand on his operation. He didn't care that she had somehow gotten a second wind and began her attack. He was furious and no longer cared about Genosha's protocol, he wanted her dead. No sooner had 'Rogue' attempted to get into the air, a shock wave of electricity shot through her limbs.
"Ahh!" 'Rogue' dropped to her knees in complete surprise and gritted her teeth. These people were treating her like a common mutant and that she could not tolerate, her seething rage almost made her animalistic. She squinted with her, now, blue eyes through thick dirty pieces of hair and tried to focus on who had the remote to her restraint collar. "This is the collar the girl was talking about." Danvers though angrily, as she clenched her fists.
"Stay down, you freak!" One of the men hollered. She refused to listen and began to stand. Being called "freak" nearly caused Danvers' eyes to dilate in anger. She wasn't one of these genetic mistakes, she was born a pure human being that never mutated, and her hatred was undeniable.
"Rogue don't!" Jean screamed, she believed there had to be a better way to do this, the mercenary jammed the gun painfully into Jean's back to silence her, but Rogue completely ignored Jean and the rest of her teammates as she fluidly tore through the armed men. It was all happening so quickly, that Jean barely noticed Rogue's altered voice.
"We will shoot!" A startled mercenary called out, disturbed by the sight of this battered girl displaying the same strength of her large Russian friend.
"Do it!" 'Rogue' barked back, calling the armed mercenary's out on his threat.
"What?!" Kitty yelled in confusion. "Rogue, are you crazy?!" Kitty twisted under the grip of the man that held her.
"Settle down, little girl!" The mercenary that held her said as he roped an arm around Kitty's neck and continued to keep the gun jammed into her back. Peter's somber demeanor began to crack as the mercenary that held Kitty cocked his gun and hissed threats directly into her ear. The look of Kitty's terrified eyes began to ignite a rage in Peter that frightened himself.
"You heard her! She wants to be put down!" The bald commanding officer demanded. The first row of men fired off their weapons.
"STOP!" Jean screamed.
"Rogue, No!" Kitty cried out. Seven of the armed men shot at Rogue, and six of the bullets that hit her did nothing, the seventh bullet, she caught with her bare hand and threw it back at the mercenary that held Jean. The speed of Rogue's pitch sent that bullet straight down the middle of Jean's hair, and hit the mercenary effectively blowing a hole clear through his cheek, and taking off part of his ear. He screamed and fell flat on his back; Jean fell to the side and quickly moved away from the man that held her.
"Jean?!" Kitty called out, confused as to what was going on and she wasn't sure if Jean was shot or not. Seeing her teammate fall instinctually made her run toward her, and again she twisted against the mercenary's firm grip. She knew fighting was useless, he was at least a foot and a half taller than her, and armed. If only she had her powers.
"Don't you dare think you're gettin' away from me!" He commanded and tightened his grip around Kitty's throat. It took very little time for her to run out of air and she began to choke, she scratched desperately at his arm to release her. All the while Peter's anger mounted into a white hot rage and the moment Kitty ran out of air, Peter lost control and slammed his entire body weight against the mercenary that held him, which caused the mercenary's wrist to brake and bend the gun away from Peter's back; his head was also successfully slammed against the stone wall behind them. Needless to say, Peter's mercenary dropped down to the ground, knocked out cold. The man that held Kitty turned his gun on Peter, and he pulled his trigger but he succeeded in only shooting the ground in front of Peter as Kitty, with her last bit of strength, landed a sharp knee into the mercenary's stomach just as he fired, and he landed face first to the ground. Peter then stomped his large foot down onto the fallen mercenary until he felt ribs break and he was sure he would not get back up. Kitty dropped to the ground and tried taking in gulps of air.
"Katya!" Peter cried, his voice full of fear and concern, but all Kitty could do was cough. Peter went to his friend's side immediately, thankfully no one was interested in them. All eyes and resources were purely focused on the single female mutant, though bloody and battered, was tearing through the dozens of armed men and mutants as though she were an army herself.
"We-we gotta get- get to Jean!" Kitty coughed. Peter nodded and helped her stand they then raced over to Jean and pulled her up off the floor. Peter stood over them, preparing to use his own natural strength to, quite literally, throw anyone to the side that attempted to come near them.
"Are you guys okay?" Jean asked, she forced herself to get her head in the game and she seized control of her team.
"Fine, thanks to Peter!" Kitty said, actually managing a smile. "What are we going to do? We got nothing!" Kitty said, as she touched the collar around her neck. A wave of armed men and mutants rushed in their direction, but they went unnoticed because their main focus remained on taking down the rampaging, nude female mutant. No sooner had they stood together when someone finally declared this an emergency and hit an alarm. The siren was so loud that the three young mutants covered their ears and a blue warning light began to flash, which made everything a bit difficult to see. They all looked at each other as things when from bad to worse as everything around them became all the more disorientating, but Jean and Kitty had been trained for this and Jean yelled between siren blares.
"We have to get Gambit and Rogue-"Jean's first order was interrupted by Rogue plowing through the chaos with a huge steel pipe she had ripped from the wall. She was effectively clearing a path directly outside to the dock, it was unclear if she was doing it for Jean and the others or if she was just angry.
"How would you suggest this?!" Peter asked as the warning alarm continued to blare and the blue flashing lights were causing a dizzying strobe effect. He was in awe of Rogue's strength and didn't know how he would begin to escape with her and the others. He was ignoring his exhaustion but without his powers he knew he would succumb to his human limitations soon and he wanted to be gone before that could happen.
"What's happening to her?!" Kitty asked. She watched in shock as she saw Rogue give no regard to the mutants attacking her with their powers. Enslaved mutants were ordered to attack 'Rogue' but the shear strength, speed, and experience of Danvers' abilities heavily outweighed theirs, and they only succeeded in slowing her down.
"I-I don't think that's her!" Jean didn't need her powers to see that Rogue was transitioning into her vengeful persona Carol Danvers. What Jean wasn't sure of was whose side Danvers was on but she sincerely doubted it was theirs.
"What are you…? Oh no! That psycho-soldier will kill Rogue!" Kitty concluded, and she wasn't necessarily over reacting. Danvers had been a willing participant in the mutant testing that went on in the abandoned mine. On all accounts it was very clear that she had a hatred for mutants and a very bad temper, which was all the worse for Rogue now that they were one. Danvers used Rogue's body to fight without stalling until the full force of the shock collar restraint sent another surge of electricity through her body. Without her abilities it would have killed her and it would have most definitely killed Rogue. She dropped down out of the air, but not to the ground, instead Danvers landed delicately, smugly, on her tip toes and smiled through swollen cracked lips as a group of armed soldiers and conditioned mutants encircled her; they thought since she had suddenly stopped fight that she was ready to submit and that they had finally gotten the upper hand. The men, in larger numbers, took aim at Rogue's head with more lethal weapons and the mutants prepared to use their powers on one of their own, all waited for orders.
"Permission to shoot, sir?" a nervous soldier asked the short bald commanding officer. Instead of answering he stepped out front to face the nude and bloody female mutant. He thought as all the others thought, that the mutant could no longer continue her attack under the pain of the restraint collar and was finally ready to surrender.
"I don't know what kind of mutant you are, or why we can't shut off your powers but you can feel…and you will feel this!" The short bald commanding officer used the remote connected the young mutant's collar to inflict as much pain as he could before ordering his men to fire. His smile was large and terrible, but faded as the bloody girl's smile became larger and even more terrible than his. It suddenly dawned on him that he had no power over her, she wasn't in any real pain, the collar was useless. His eyes became wide, this jaw dropped fearfully and panicked orders flew from his mouth. "F-fire, dammit! Fire! Fire!"
To the horror of every mercenary, the young battered mutant simply tore the collar from her neck and it exploded in her hands doing absolutely no damage to her. At that sight all of the mercenaries' trigger fingers loosened and they shot a hail of bullets without orders, but all they saw was their newest mutant subject smile with unnerving smugness, and an even more unnerving calm as she proceeded to tear through the group of men and their weapons as if they were harmless toys.
"The collar isn't working!" Some of the men yelled in panicked .
"It won't work because I'm not a mutant!" Danvers protested. She was only stopped briefly by a bold, cocky young mutant that bravely, or stupidly, wrapped his arms around Rogue's bare waist and neck.
"I got her! Time to turn you off, sweetheart!" The cocky mutant was named "Cal"; he was the same mutant that had approached Kitty in the bar earlier that night, and he had attempted to "recruit" her by using his mutant ability to turn off powers. Thankfully Peter had used his sheer size to chase him off, Peter was successful by removing Kitty from harm's way, but he was not at all satisfied that Cal walked away unharmed.
"You mutie freak! Get offa me!" Danvers simply turned around and grabbed Cal by the neck and after a quick frisk of Cal's pockets, she retrieved something, smiled, and then intentionally, or unintentionally, sent him sliding right to the feet of Piotr Nikolaievich Rasputin. Peter smiled as he almost gleefully knocked Cal out cold, and then dropped to the ground like an iron safe. The sound he made as he hit the ground made Peter smiled with satisfaction even as he continued his outnumbered fight.
"Was that necessary?" Jean asked Kitty. She simply smirked and shrugged. "Right. We gotta get closer to Rogue and help anyone who's trying to get out!" To this day Jean had no idea if it was only a coincidence or if Danvers heard her, but Jean and Danvers made eye contact and she began barking orders as well as Scott Summers did.
"Girl that can walk through stuff! Get over here!" Danvers demanded and at an almost blurring speed Danvers grabbed Kitty and unlocked the collar from around her neck with the small gold key she had recovered from Cal. Kitty's eyes lit up at the realization of her freedom and immediately began using her powers.
"My name is Ki-"
"I honestly don't care! Just stick your hands into that center circuit board when I tell you!" Danvers was thankful that the little mutant suspended her suspicion of her and obeyed her orders. It was now pointless for anyone to even try apprehending Kitty she was fully phased now.
"Okay now kid!" Danvers demanded. Kitty quickly placed her hands into the circuit board as she was told.
"Now what!?" Kitty asked impatiently.
"Grab hold of anything that feels like a bundle of wire and pull like hell!" Danvers ordered as she pushed a group of armed men and mutants. Kitty stuck her small hands into the bundles of rubber-sheathed wires and ripped them from their circuit boards, then she excitedly watched as any white light immediately went out and the code blue warning light was replaced with a much more severe deep red, the unrelenting alarm continued to blare. Hundreds of echoing clicks resonated against the stone walls as the collars of all the enslaved mutants unlocked then simultaneously dropped, some mutants took off running for the docks, others stood around not knowing what to do, some took the opportunity and attacked any mercenary they could get their hands on, and others actually continued to follow their orders.
"Peter!" Kitty called out, Peter's smile grew as he was now free to transform himself into pure organic steel. Jean used her ability to surround Kitty, and herself in a dome of protection. Peter remained outside of the protective barrier as he, almost joyfully, disarmed and knocked out attacking mutants and armed men.
"Are you guys good to handle this?" Jean asked, as she surveyed her teammates and their current situation.
"We're fine! What do we do now?" Kitty searched the darkness around them, mutants and armed men alike slammed their hands and guns against the dome. Kitty immediately felt like she was surrounded by zombies as they pressed their hands against the glass-like dome, slamming their fists and weapons to get at them. They did not completely understand what was preventing them from attacking the young mutants, but it didn't stop them from trying.
"We get out of here!" Jean exclaimed, she was tempted to help the rest of the mutants held here, but it was impossible to tell the difference between the true prisoners and the hopelessly brain washed.
"What about Rogue?!" Kitty asked.
"And Remy?" Peter added with his back pressed against Jean's telepathic dome.
"Rogue is holding her own for now, but where's Gambit?!" Jean asked searching the darkness. She had forgotten about him in all of the insanity.
"I don't see him! We lost track of him once Rogue went berserk!" Kitty said as she tried to avoid eye contact with the hateful faces of the ones outside of the dome.
"Go to the docks! Help anyone get out who's trying to get out!" Jean ordered Kitty and Peter. "Phase out with Peter until you guys can get a little distance between you and the fight before you go on the offensive. Got it?"
"What about you?" Peter asked, he thought they would all leave together, not separately.
"I'm fine now, help them and yourselves! I'll be right behind you with Gambit!" Jean ordered. She pushed her way into the heart of the fight toward Rogue and levitated above her. Danvers immediately noticed and was immediately annoyed by Jean's presence hovering above her head.
"Are you still here?!" Danvers barked at Jean, as she continued to tear her way through the onslaught of armed men and brainwashed mutants. "I'm sorta busy!"
"I'm not leaving without Gambit or Rogue!" Jean could barely stand this woman while she was saving her and her friends, it was very difficult to conceive living with her in your head 24/7.
"Rogue's not in! He's over there, but he's probably dead by now! Now don't bother me!" Danvers yelled over her shoulder. Just when she didn't think she could be anymore irritated Danvers felt a bullet ratchet against the back of her head. Danvers turned around to see the smoking gun that had shot Gambit in the back, was positioned right in the middle of her face, Johnny stood behind it. He was beaten and whizzing, blood continued to pour from his mouth and wounds, and his driving obsession for revenge was the only thing keeping him on his feet. The soul of the smug Danvers smiled at him. Johnny was beyond the frame of mind to understand that she was no longer the girl he had first laid eyes on, instead she was now a possessed body with the soul of the vengeful Carol Danvers and she knew exactly what needed to be done. She quickly reached forward and grabbed him by the neck and levitated above the fight. She wanted to have a little talk with the man.
"Well hello, Johnny right? Nice to finally meet you face to face, love your work. It's clear you're a sick man, trust me, I've been around enough unstable men to know your type...and you won't quit, will you? You'll hunt this girl to the ends of the Earth. As long as you're breathing you'll want her. Leaving you alive would mean Rogue would suffer through restless nights, nightmares, and general terror waiting for you to come back for her someday. The way you hurt this girl is reason enough to snap your neck, fortunately for you, she's only a mutant, so no harm no fowl. She lives in New York, happy hunting Johnny." Johnny squinted his eyes in confusion, Danvers promptly grabbed his wrist and broke his arm; the gun in his hand went off and shot one of the attacking mercenaries. Danvers then turned to the group of men and said, "Here you might want to get him some help." As if tossing a sweater, Danvers then sent Johnny's body into the group of men.
Jean was about twenty feet away and amidst the fighting, gunfire, screaming, sirens, and frantic chaos she actually found who she was looking for. Tucked into a recessed portion of the stone wall, was Gambit. He was huddled into a fetal position, crossing his arms across his ribs, a pool of blood grew underneath him.
"Gambit?!" Jean said sinking down to his side, and desperately tried finding signs of life. She instinctually placed a telepathic barrier around them, as she felt for a heartbeat. "Gambit?! Come on, Remy!" Almost in response to his name his eyes snapped open and he took in a painful, labored breath.
"Je-Jea…n…?" It was very brief, but miraculously Remy spoke and was actually coherent.
"Don't say anything, we're leaving!" Jean probed his mind so he wouldn't have to speak.
"Ro-Ro…?" Gambit struggled. Jean tore his jacket and quickly tied it around his rib cage to apply pressure to the bullet wound.
"Stop trying to speak! Rogue is fine, we won't leave without her either!" Jean pressed her palm tightly against his back in a sort of hug, and noticed there was no exit wound on him, the bullet was still inside him somewhere so she acted quickly to telepathically move them above the fighting and behind Rogue. She was still fighting away the barrage of mutants and gunfire.
"This has been satisfying and all, but are we all ready to leave?" Jean held Gambit's limp body within her hovering telepathic dome.
"You got what you were looking for, just go!" Danvers was very much temped to knock her telepathic bubble straight out to the docks herself.
"Not without Rogue!" Jean demanded, she nearly dove into Rogue's head to retrieve her friend but she wouldn't have been able to hold onto Gambit or maintain the telepathic dome if she tried to do them all at once.
"I appreciate your loyalty but she isn't here! She alive though, which isn't something he'll be for long unless you all get out of here!" Danvers motioned to Gambit.
"We are out! We're waiting for you! X-men don't leave their own behind!" Jean said fully aware of the blood beginning to pool at her feet staining the bottoms of her shoes.
"Well in that case…" Danvers said as she gave one full press to the crowd in front of her, Jean watched as they fell forcefully over each other and then, almost casually, Danvers took to the air and flew to the opening of the docks where escaping mutants were still making their way to freedom with the help of Kitty and Peter. She made her escape look so mundane it was almost comical, Jean couldn't believe it.
"Could she have done that at any time?" Jean thought and she came to realization that Danvers was far more powerful than Rogue realized. Even more confliction came when Jean also concluded that she had been communicating with Rogue in her subconscious and that she had sent Danvers to help, and ultimately save all of them. She was a bigot, that was obvious, but a woman of her word. Jean quickly followed her outside, away from the stale cave air to the warm ocean spray and clear night sky. Kitty and Peter had been stationed on the rocks leading up to the dark cliffs. Jean sensed Kitty almost right away and immediately went toward her.
"Jean! Is Gambit alive?!" Kitty asked, she and Peter were already climbing the rocky shore line back to high cliffs in order to get back to civilization and to find a way home.
"He is, but he needs attention!" Jean said. Peter gently took Gambit's injured bleeding body into his massive arms and used his large palm to administer pressure to his bullet wound. He nearly smiled when he saw with his eyes partially open, however Peter had no idea of how coherent he was.
"P-P-Pete…? Pl-Pla-!" Gambit said as he coughed blood onto Peter's chest, he was unable to get his message to his teammates about the drunk cargo pilot that would be landing any moment now on the other side of the island. He was the same pilot that Remy's had conned into flying him over for free.
"Oh God! Jean!" Kitty nearly shrieked at Gambit's worsening condition, "Remy?! What are you trying to say!?" Kitty was trying desperately to hear Gambit's painful words over the continuing chaos of yelling, rapid gun fire, and somewhere deep within the cave a shake of some sort of explosion occured. Jean was too distracted by another severely beaten teammate hovering in front of her to acknowledge Kitty's frantic questions.
"Rogue? Is-is that you?" Jean asked, as she telepathically levitated herself to meet a familiar face with an unfamiliar gaze.
"No. I kept my promise to her and now I'm out of here." Danvers said turning her back to Jean.
"Wait! You can't just take off! That's Rogue's body!" Jean demanded, grabbing Danvers' arm. It took nearly no effort at all for Danvers to pull away. Jean actually had to let go so she wouldn't get her hand broken, but she still refused to back down. "Where are you taking her!?"
"I'm going to get my life back! And if I can't have it the way it was…then this is me now." Danvers bitterly responded, she then turned her back on the group of mutants again and began to fly toward the United States.
"Don't go! You can't leave!" Jean demanded. She was so distraught that she nearly took off after her at that moment. Peter's voice was the only thing that caused Jean to turn away from Danvers as she began to raise higher into the night sky to set a course for Washington.
"Jean, she will not come back. We must call the X-men. Get help for Gambit, then we go after Rogue." Peter said sincerely. It sounded reasonable enough but Jean couldn't let Rogue be taken and held captive in her own mind. She floated in front of Peter with Gambit in his arms and she thoughtfully looked over her two new teammates, quickly gave out a very difficult order.
"You're right… You guys take care of Gambit, get him home." Jean said, pushing the hair away from Gambit's face "I'm going after her!" Jean then looked at Kitty, she knew Kitty was not going to like this decision.
"You're what?" Kitty said, as she nearly turned pale at the thought of being in charge of a dying man with the additional impossible task of getting them all off the island and back home.
"Danvers knows what Rogue knows. She'll follow her body. Scott and the others are taking Danvers' body to D.C., so that's where I'm going!" Jean said, determined to follow her teammate to the other side of the world if she had to. Thankfully it was a clear night and Rogue's body was still within flying distance.
"How do you expected us to get back?" Kitty said becoming angry as well as scared. Taking charge wasn't a position she was comfortable with.
"A-a plane! In the east…the east part of the island! A cargo plane!" Jean exclaimed as she read the last message Remy's memory was desperately holding on to. He was falling in and out of consciousness, and he came to life just long enough to make Jean aware of the drunk cargo pilot that was due back on the island any time now dropping off supplies from the main land.
"A plane?! But Jean-" Kitty protested.
"Get a move on! Through that part of the jungle and directly east it'll take no time at all! Jack the plane if you have to!" Jean ordered, as she extracted the information from Gambit's mind.
"You're seriously leaving?! But-But I haven't logged enough hours for my pilot's license yet!" Kitty said, positively terrified at the sight of Gambit's dark red blood streaking down Peter's reflective sliver arms.
"You'll figure it out, Kitty! Gambit has you and Peter. Rogue is all alone; this is my responsibility. I'm counting on you and I know you can do this!" Jean said over her shoulder as she hastily pursued Danvers.
"Hurry Katya! She has her plan, and she gives us ours! Hurry!" Peter beckoned. Kitty gave up on fear, she didn't want to disappoint Peter, seeing as he was unafraid and in control, something she bitterly envied.
In less than an hour, the young mutants commandeered the pilot's plane and were in the air. It was surprisingly easy. The pilot was annoyed by his empty flask, and distracted with counting a wad of money he had just been paid; Kitty and Peter could have walked right pasted him and he wouldn't have noticed. It took no time at all for him to abandon his unlocked plane as he stumbled over to the closest and liveliest bar within walking distance. He carelessly left everything in the plane including keys. Peter administered medical attention to Gambit using the emergency kit on the plane and with Kitty's first aid knowledge they were able to stabilize him. Kitty used all her understanding of aviation to keep them in the air and in a difficult decision they veered the plane toward home. They needed to get Gambit to the school's infirmary and under the care of Dr. McCoy. It was Peter's request that they didn't go to a traditional hospital. He doubted very much that they would get any help too close to Genosha, and anti-mutant activity was becoming so widely known that if they were found out to be mutants they would be turned over to authorities and Gambit would not be treated. Hopefully they would be able save their own people because they weren't able to do much on the Island nation of Genosha.