Gambit blinked when Jubilee cut loose with a curse that would have made half the men in the Theives Guild blush, well if they spoke that particular obscure dialect of Cantonese. "Wha..?"
"Wolvie stopped fighting!" Jubilee shouted. "HUSK! CHAMBER! GET LOGAN'S FLANKS! Hit 'em HARD, Gambit!"
The young Cajun let loose a few choice words of his own as he charged an entire deck of cards as he ran forward to block the men charging the frozen Wolverine. Jubilee ran at his side, ignoring the throbbing in her head.
Well, not ignoring it. She let a wild grin that rivaled Wolverine at his worst cross her face as she rechanneled the pain into her powers.
"Synch! Link up with Jubilee!" She heard Storm order over the thundering blood in her ears.
Several Hydra fighters stared blankly at the tiny teenaged girl as she flipped end over end *over* the man called Wolverine with a wild whoop. Even after seeing several of their compatriots get thrown back by her brightly colored blasts of lights they were still surprised by the raw power of the explosion that tore up the ground in front of them.
Logan shook his head sharply when he lost sight of Silver Fox.
"Jubilee?" he asked hesitantly. What the blazes was one of Xavier's kids doing in the Canadian wilderness? But this wasn't Canada, it was Westchester... What the f*@$ing h@ll was wrong with him?
"Snap out of it, Wolvie!" Jubilee snapped as she blasted her fireworks into the face of one of the few Hydra that had been thrown forward rather than back.
A blast of psionic fire rolled forth, forcing even more to retreat. Logan risked a glance in the direction of the blast's source to find a young man in black standing protectively over a blonde girl who looked like her skin was ripping itself off.
His head snapped around again at the sound of choppers. Flashing away to another fight again, Logan was suddenly standing knee deep in the mud and blood of Nam with an air strike coming in. He blinked again, back in Westchester, when someone screamed.
Marie.
Logan roared and charged between *his* Marie and the man who had shot her.
Mac
**********
The Professor had scrambled under the bed at the first explosion. It was the only thing in the room big enough to hide under. It had to give him some protection from the attack.
'How dare they trap me in this room? Don't they know who I am?' he thought with indignation. Then he realized, 'No, of course they don't know who I am, but still, they have no right to keep me prisoner here against my will.'
Oh, the lawsuits he could file. If he didn't have to protect his identity so fiercely, he would make them pay.
It's not like he was doing anything wrong. He hadn't done anything to these people. They'd come into *his* laboratory, destroyed *his* research, stolen *his* weapon. The perfect weapon. That's what Logan had been; what he'd finally turned him into, if just for a short while. He'd had a complete set of memories created especially for him. A custom-made personality, perfectly complementing both his human and animal sides. He was finally in a position where he could reach his true potential.
He'd lived a joke of a life before, denying who he truly was, the animal side that made him unique. He'd been miserable. The Professor was set to put an end to that suffering, but Logan had escaped before the mental conditioning was complete. The second time they'd caught him, nothing went wrong. They'd given him a new life, people he could care for and fight alongside. Then that ignorant telepath with his meddling students had interfered and ruined all of his hard work. He'd lost his weapon again. It wasn't fair.
A whistling, loud and getting louder, interrupted his thoughts and the world flashed and exploded around him. The ceiling collapsed, crushing everything in the room, including the bed.
The springs digging into his back and squeezing his chest, he tried to cry out for help. He couldn't get enough air. Every breath he took was shallower than the last as every exhalation allowed the bedframe and mattress to settle on his body more completely. He tried banging his fists against the floor, but there wasn't enough room in the cramped space.
'It's not fair. It's just not fair,' he thought as the shallow breathing slowed and then stopped.
Khaki
**********
"You imbeciles!" Silver Fox screeched into their headphones and into the night air.
It was then that a stray paff went towards Silver Fox. She got out of the way, of course, but it was then that she realized that if she took out, or took the two leaders, she could either win or possibly hold them ransom for her three 'friends'. She took a look and saw a girl firing bright lights, like fireworks, and the devil himself, with glowing cards. The girl was most definitely in charge of one of the groups, and the boy with the devil eyes certainly looked like the second-in-command.
She grabbed her second-in-command, and sneered into his face, "See those children? I want you to grab them, and I wanted it done two minutes ago!"
"..R..Right." The second-in-command stammered.
"Oh, use the stun gas!" Silver Fox barked.
"Yes, ma'am!" The second-in-command saluted.
He quickly got together a couple of the troops. They would distract the enemy while he sprayed them in the face. A evil grin worked across his face.
"Quick, execute plan beta-234. And I want it done to those two children."
"B..but, sir, whenver we get near them, the Asian chick goes and blasts us away." a brave (stupid) man spoke up.
"Well then you better move quickly, and stay out of the way of her powers, or I'll have your head on a plate." The second-in-command said as he grabbed the 'stupid' man by his uniform collar.
"Yes sir!" the man saluted.
And the plan was carried out.
They worked quickly and quietly. In the midst of the chaos there were two great people, Gambit and Jubilee, who had no idea that they were about to be kidnapped.
BLINK
"Blink, what are you doing?" Jubilee yelled at her.
"I'm s..sorry, but Mr. Creed said I would be safer here with you, seeing how well you're doing." Blink said.
"Easy, petite. Jubilee means no harm, she'd just got a loud mouth." Gambit said with his eyes twinkling.
That's when the stun gas hit them all, and they went unconcious with little surprised looks on each of their faces. The next surprise came when the Hydra warriors filled the area with some kind of gas that made it hard to see where anyone went. It was like that for 10 whole minutes, since Storm was unconscious for the whole time. When the gas was cleared, they could see that they had left. And everyone was all right, well almost everybody.
"Where's Clarice?" Creed asked.
Sparrow
**********
Jubilee's head came up slowly, and the deep throbbing pain behind her eyes was even worse than when she'd been knocked out. "I'm really beginning to hate people who gas me," she grumbled as she forced her eyes to move around the small room where she was tied to a chair with her hands behind her back.
Gambit was still knocked cold and chained against the wall across from her. Clarice was sitting, untied in a chair to Jubilee's left, but she was just staring blankly at the wall in front of her.
"Blink," Jubilee called softly. "Blink? Come on, girlie. Answer me." She blew an annoyed breath through her teeth and turned her attention back to Gambit. "Hey, Gumbo? Gambit? Oh, Remy.... Hey, Cajun! Rogue's leaving Wolverine for you!"
"Huh?" Gambit managed groggily. "What you talkin' bout, p'tite?"
"Bout time, swampthing!" Jubilee snapped. "Oh, lookie! I've been kidnapped! AGAIN!"
Gambit gave her an almost charming grin. "Y'gonna make dis a habit, Jubes?"
"Shut up and pick the frigging locks," Jubilee ground out.
"Can't do dat, chere," Gambit said shaking his head slowly. "Them Hydra goons, dey done took all dis poor t'eif's toys." His red on black eyes slid over to Blink. "What dey do t'her?"
"Don't know," Jubilee muttered as she twisted at the ropes holding her hands behind her back. "But what d'ya wanna bet that Creed rips who ever did it a new hole ta breathe through?"
"Gambit don't never bet on a sure t'ing, p'tite."
Mac
**********
Jubilee grinned, and was about to make a smart aleck remark, when the splitting pain in her head began to throb even more and she bit on her lip to hold back a squeak. 'Cause she was Jubilee, and Jubilee didn't squeak.
Minkychan
**********
Domino was down to her last bullet. She loaded and did a complete scan of the battle in front of her. Somehow, even though much of the school was destroyed, the section of roof she was on was untouched. It was total chaos below. A group of half-trained children taking on Hydra elite troops were holding their own and then some to protect their home and each other.
"I'm going to have to make this bullet count." She said to herself. "Ooo, what do we have here?" Standing just outside the treeline was a woman with long black hair who looked to be giving orders. Domino sighted her in on the scope. "Yes," she breathed out taking aim. The woman wore the markings of a Hydra field commander.
She was only 400 yards away. As Domino squeezed the trigger, an explosion and a cloud of smoke appeared between her and her shot. Domino let out a colorful curse and headed towards the door leading downstairs so she could join the others on the battlefield. That was when she heard the helicopters.
"Now what?" She looked up to see who was heading their way now.
-----
Logan turned his claws on the man that held the gun. He quickly stepped over the pieces and picked up Marie. She had a bloody wound on her chest and was gasping for breath. Things shifted again,and he was in a bedroom,and she was gasping for breath. There was blood on her nightgown. He had hurt her. He needed help. He had promised her that he would protect her. He remembered the train station and telling her that he would.
"Help me! Someone help me!" he called out over the battlefield as he tried to stop the bleeding.
-----
"We've got to get her to the med lab," Jean said. She was kneeling next to Rogue trying to treat her. It had taken her a couple of minutes to get across the smoke filled expanse that was once the front lawn. Rogue had a collasped lung at the very least; there were very likely other injuries as well. They didn't have much time.
"No go," said John from behind her.
"Yeah," said Bobby. "We were down there protecting the younger students. The shelling brought the roof down. My ice shields could only hold it for a few minutes. We only made it out alive because Clarice teleported everyone just before they gave."
Bobby looked around for the girl through the thinning smoke but didn't see her. Sabretooth was nowhere in sight either, so Bobby just figured she was with him. That girl sure had a strange taste in friends.
-----
Fury sat in the first chopper. He was more than ready to kick Hydra butt.
"Sir, I still can't reach anyone at the school. All communication lines are down." Said the co-pilot, working the radio equipment.
"Keep trying," Fury responded while he flew the chopper in. The school had just come into sight, and it was a war zone. Half the building was gone. Fury made a pass overhead to try to find a place to land. He thought he found a spot to set his troops down when a thick smoke covered the battle below. He couldn't see the ground to land. He flew another pass, and spotted the Hydra transports starting to take off in retreat. He wasn't going to let them go that easily.
"Attack those transports, I want them out of my sky!"
-----
Silver Fox looked out at the sunset. They almost hadn't made it back. After the that botched battle at that school, Fury's people had attacked their retreating transports. She had lost over half of the remaining soldiers under her, but she had managed to make it to safety with her hostages.
She put her cup to her mouth and winced at the pain in her shoulder. That sniper had been good. She had been careful to keep her distance when she had seen her other subordinates being picked off. She would make them pay for this insult as well when she got her hands on the three of them. Three children for the three men she wanted dead. A cruel smile made its way across her face. Logan, Creed and North would surrender themselves or the children would suffer the painful deaths she had in mind for them. She would be sure to send them each a personal video of it, too. She took another sip of her Vodka her mind going over the various forms of torture she would use.
Lurker
**********
"How bad is it, Jeanie?"
"Not as bad as it should be. We've never been able to judge exactly when the last of Rogue's absorbtion power ends. She's been more intuitive than normal for hours after she stopped being able to communicate telepathically when she absorbs a telepath. I think there may be a fraction of your healing factor left."
"Let's make it a whole number." He reached for her face.
-----
"Can you make do with a bobby pin?"
"Yeah, it not as easy as in de movies, but I can."
"Good." Jubilee reached up and pulled one out of her hair.
"You don' wear your hair up."
"Nope an' that's why. People'll expect pins if it's up, they don't if it's down."
Jason Barnett
**********
Logan poured his life into Marie, holding her cheeks and kissing her forehead.
~Come on, Marie. You can do it. Come back to me.~ He forced the thoughts through the connection before Jean telekinetically separated them, and he collapsed into seizures.
-----
Clarice was terrified. She hated not knowing where she was. If she couldn't get a feel for the area around her, she couldn't transport herself. It left her feeling isolated and alone. It was like it was back in Canada. They'd kept her blindfolded whenever they'd moved her, there. This time, she had just been unconscious. She was so disoriented, they hadn't even bothered to tie her up.
Someone was shaking her now. She could hear voices. "Clarice! Come on, girl. Snap out of it!"
"Jubilee?"
-----
Cyclops was in full 'Fearless Leader' mode. He was collecting the students and X-Men together, trying to get an accurate count. If anyone was injured or trapped in the mansion, they had to know as soon as possible. Going through his mental lists, he surveyed the group: Jean treating patients, check. Logan passed out on the ground, check. So far, it was the same as the aftermath of any other mission.
After going through his list, the regular students were all accounted for. That new purple elf was missing, though, and so were Gambit and Jubilee.
"Jean," Scott said, approaching his fiancee.
"Hmm?" Jean asked, occupied with wrapping one of the younger student's injured arm with a make-shift bandage.
"Gambit, Jubilee, and that new girl, Blink are missing. I don't think they're back in the mansion. Can you search for them? Are they injured?"
Jean closed her eyes and then snapped them open again. "I can't sense them anywhere," is what she tried to say, but the sound of the returning helicopters drowned her out.
'Those helicopters had appeared right before the attacking soldiers disappeared,' Cyclops thought. "Everyone get ready. They might be coming back."
Khaki
**********
A blue SUV rounded another bend on a winding road.
"Honey, it's a left up here," said the woman in the passenger seat.
"The place has money," said the man driving. He had been passing one mansion with large estate after another for the past five miles. He turned left where his wife had pointed and pulled onto Greymalken Lane. Xavier's School for Gifted Children was supposed to be just ahead about a mile or two according to the man at the gas station.
"Honey, I think one of these mansions is on fire. Look at all that smoke," said Mrs. Ferguson to her husband.
"Someone is taking care of it," Mr. Ferguson motioned with one hand to the helicopters headed in the direction. "Check the map again, I don't want to be late talking to this Professor Xavier. I want to know why Clarice isn't with those specialists that were supposed to help her in Canada."
Lurker
**********
Little did Hydra know, that Tyger Tiger and her daughter, Karma, had hitched a ride on their helicopter.
Sparrow
**********
Jubilee and Gambit looked up from the still slightly dazed Blink when the air vent over their heads fell open. Gambit stared at the slim girl, near Jubilee's age, as she slithered out of the air shaft.
"Karma!" Jubilee muttered with a grin. "Now that is what I call style!"
The other girl grinned back with a dark glint in her eyes. "Mother is going after the computer core. Who wants to help cause a distraction?"
-----
The Fergusons stared at the destruction in front of them as their SUV slowed to a stop. A man in some sort of military uniform jumped out of one of the helicopters only to have another man in black leather start yelling at him.
"Darling," Mrs. Ferguson said slowly, "are you sure you have the right address?"
Mac
**********
"I think it is."
-----
"How'd you get in here Karma?"
"Possessed a guard and made him let us on the helicopter before they took off. How are you?"
"Fine, except for Clarice. She's kind of out of it."
"Hmmm, I could possess her to get you all off here."
Jason Barnett
**********
"Well you could, but would it be like ethical?" Jubilee asked. This continuing kidnapping and gassing thing was just too much, she wanted to dish out some payback. Just beat up a few guards, was that asking too much?
Lurker
**********
That's when the pain in her head decided to announce itself again, and Gambit noticed a flash of pain go across her face.
"Petite, you all right?" Gambit asked.
Jubilee forced a smile, "Never better Gumbo!"
Sparrow
**********
Jubilee looked back at Karma, eager to get a little payback for her terrible headache and all that gassing/kidnapping stuff. "So what did you say about creating a distraction?"
"Mother is trying to get in to the computer core, but it's bound to be well-guarded. If we could draw away a few of the guards, she could gain access. We need to know where we are, so when we steal a helicopter, we know where to head."
"We can have a little fun beating up guards, and she can take down their network. Sounds like a good plan to me. So, what kind of distraction were you thinking of?"
As Jubilee asked this question, alarms began to blare throughout the complex. The security camera monitor, having finally returned from his lunch break to find his captives out of their bonds and moving around the cell, had sounded the alarm.
"Well, looks like something distracting is going on. Gambit, have you got that door picked yet?"
"Done, chere, but what about Blink?"
Blink joined them by the door. "Don't talk about me like I'm not here. I'll be fine once we get out of here." Silently she thought to herself, 'I wonder if Mr. Creed is worried about me. I hope he made it through that battle ok.'
-----
Rogue sat up from the lawn, clutching her head, next to a bandaged Logan. What had been the first light of dawn had transformed itself into a bright morning, well, as bright as you could get with the smoke still rising here and there from the mansion. 'He did it again! No, I did it. I've hurt him again.'
"Jeanie." Her raspy voice called the doctor to her side.
"How are you feeling, Rogue?"
"Like sh*t."
"Well, I see Logan's back in there for a while."
Rogue ignored the comment, more interested in finding out, "How is Logan? Will he be ok?"
"He'll be fine. We just have to give him time."
Rogue nodded and took in her surroundings. There were a few helicopters here and there spread out on the property. 'S.H.E.I.L.D. helicopters,' Logan's presence in her mind added. Standing next to one was Cyke and a truly pissed off colonel.
"Nick Fury!" Rogue shouted, getting up to join them. "What the h*ll are you doing here?"
Khaki
**********
Nick Fury turned around to see that white streaked mutant running towards him, and she looked a lot healthier than she was before.
"Oh, no! Logan's back in there." the one called Cyclops said as he smacked his hand against his forehead.
Nick raised a questioning eyebrow, "What do you mean, he's back in there? From what I can see, he's lying on the ground."
"It's not that," Cyclops said as if he were talking to a child, "When Rogue touches someone, she absorbs their energy, in the case of mutants, it's their gifts, and personalities as well. So to speak, Logan's personality is running around in Rogue again."
"Ah!" Nick said.
Sparrow
**********
Nick Fury watched as the teenaged girl stalked over to him. She was certainly moving like Logan. Wait a second, that Asian girl, Jubilee, had mentioned someone called Rogue. This was Logan's girlfriend?
"Why do I get the feeling I should have my old buddy up on charges?" Nick muttered to the air.
Cyclops gave him a strange look that went unnoticed behind his visor.
"FURY!" Rogue snarled loudly as she got right up in the man's face. Okay, with her height it was more like right in the middle of his chest. Hmmm, right about where I'd be, darlin', Logan observed inside her head. "Do ya got even the faintest idea how badly ya coulda f*#$ed up? Where d'ya get off chargin' in like we can't handle a couple a Hydra morons?"
The cigar threatened to fall out of Fury's mouth as he stared down at her.
-----
Jubilee growled under her breath. "Move it, Cajun!"
Gambit moved to the side quickly and pulled Blink with him. "Don' wan t'get caught in dat, ami."
Jubilee focused on the lock and pressed her hand flat against it. After a moment the entire door blew off it's hinges.
"On with the distracting," Karma said cheerfully as she did a quick mental sweep of the hallway. "So, any ideas?"
"We split up," Gambit said. "You and Jubilee, me and Blink."
Blink nodded. "Karma can keep a mental 'eye' on me, so I can open a portal between our teams if we need to get back together."
"That works," Jubilee said with a careful nod of her own. "Come on, Karma. Let's go kick some tail."
Mac
**********
"Look, Logan... Rogue, whoever you are. From the look of your... his body over there, you weren't 'handling' the Hydra that well. Besides, I came here to pay back Hyrdra for a 'gift' they sent S.H.I.E.L.D., helping you out is just a bonus."
"So, Hydra's been busy," Rogue said. "Anyone know why they decided to attack the school?"
"Nope, but they sent *us* a clear message," Dum Dum said, joining the group. "One of their new higher-ups has a thing against Hydra. This Silver Fox is not..."
"Silver Fox." Rogue clutched her head, collapsing to her knees. Logan's emotions flooded her and the memories flicked through her mind so fast she couldn't hold on to them. She tried using the techniques the professor had taught her to control new personalities, but the absorption was so fresh and the memories so strong, she couldn't stop it.
Silver Fox. He *had* seen her. She was alive!
-----
"Uhm, excuse me. I was wondering if you could tell me where I might find..." Mrs. Ferguson had walked up to the group of men around the closest helicopter. One man had strange visor-like eyeglasses and the other two men were in some kind of military uniforms that she didn't recognize. As she approached the group, she saw they were surrounding a young woman, kneeling and clutching her head. "Oh my, is she all right?"
The man with the visor put his arm around her shoulders and started leading her back to her car. "As you can see, we're dealing with something of an emergency here. You'll have to get directions from someone else."
"No," Mrs. Ferguson said, stopping. "You see, I'm looking for my daughter. My husband and I were told she was brought here, although I can't understand why. She was doing fine at that facility in Canada. They told us they would find a cure for her mutation in no time."
"Excuse me, Ma'am, but what was your daughter's name."
"Clarice. Purple. Beautiful little girl. You can't miss her."
Khaki
**********
"Hey, Karma. There's not enough bad guys coming!" Jubilee whined, while sitting on a huge pile of bad guys.
"Um, Jubes, tone the volume down. And besides, the ones you're sitting on is good enough to extract information from." Karma said.
"Sorry, I was having a pre-mutant day there for a second." Jubilee said while shaking her head, which caused another moan from her lips.
Sparrow
**********
Sabretooth stood in the trees watching everyone. He should just take off. He didn't want S.H.E.I.L.D.'s attention. He didn't understand why but his gut was telling him to stay clear or fight. The thing was his gut was telling him to make sure the pup was all right first.
He sniffed the air trying to catch her scent in all the confusion. You would think that being purple, he would have seen her by now. She was cute but would stand out in any crowd. He had thought that this school might be safe place for her. After last night's attack he was rethinking that. The way her scent had changed when she talked about her parents there was fear there and sadness. He couldn't send her back to them either. What he would do with her, he didn't know. He didn't even understand why he cared other than that there was a sense of goodness and peace when he was with her. It came from her, in her heart and he didn't want that destroyed. He'd find some way to keep her safe, but first he had to find her.
Lurker
**********
The alarms blaring around her alerted Silver Fox. "What is going on?" she demanded of her second in command.
"There's an alert in the detention area. The prisoners have escaped."
"Where are they now?"
"We've sealed the entire detention area. The guards there are keeping them busy enough. However, there's an unauthorized person in the computer core and we can't reach her."
"How did they escape?"
"They had help. Plus, they used their powers. Combined, they used them to..."
"I thought I ordered them to be bound and placed in separate cells."
"Yes, but we decided..."
"You decided?" Silver Fox yelled as she grabbed her assistant roughly by the collar. "You decide nothing. I am in command here. This incompetency will not be tolerated. I will deal with the invader in the computer core. Fill the detention area with tear gas and bind the prisoners and put them in separate cells, as far away from each other as possible."
-----
"Rogue?" Jean was by her side, pushing the hair away from her face to look in her eyes.
"I'm ok, Jeanie."
"What happened?"
"Memories. Logan's got so many, so much more than the last time. The ones about Silver Fox are weird, though. First, she's alive. Then, she's... she's dead and that Sabretooth... Creed... killed her..." the anger consumed her and bone claws shot from her hands. Luckily, nothing had been in their way. The pain seemed to bring Rogue's personality back to the surface. Looking down at her bleeding hands, "Ok... ow." The bone claws disappeared back into her hands and she watched as the wounds healed. "Miss Grey, what's happening?"
"Rogue, you were telling me about someone named Silver Fox."
"Yeah, Logan's memories are weird because she's alive and she's dead and both of those memories occurred at the same time. He just saw her during the battle and she was leading those troops, so she must be alive, but why was she here, and why was she attacking the school?"
Khaki
**********
Tyger looked over the computer carefully. She'd crashed a few intranet systems for rivals but nothing like this. The information Hydra must have at their command...
"Get away from that," a voice commanded.
Tyger grabbed her gun, spun, and fired. The bullet caught Silver Fox in the shoulder.
The wound slowly began to close, making Tyger Tiger stare in shock. It was like watching Logan at maybe a third of the speed. "Oh, crap a healing factor."
Jason Barnett