Ch.5 - Trial By Fire
Wolverine was tapping his foot as Slash arrived at the
Danger Room. He looked irritated as
Slash smoothed out his new regalia.
"Well well. Navy
boy is damn proud to still be serving his country. Let's get in there."
Wolverine
shoves Slash in there and the door shuts behind them. Slash is taken aback by the size of the Danger Room.
"What
do you do in here?"
"We
practice our skills at fightin. Usually, you can fight drones or each other. In this case…you are gonna fight me. Computer, activate LoganSpecial!"
"Activated."
Wolverine
draws his claws, and rushes Slash. Slash manages to avoid Wolverine at first. Then Wolverine begins to hack with his claws.
"EasEY!" cries Slash as he fails to avoid Wolverine's
claws and his arm is cut up.
"What
the hell are you doing???"
"I got 16 more to go bub.
AAAARGH!"
This
is revenge for me shooting him, guess I'll have to teach him a lesson, thought
Slash, as he got cut again by Wolverine. Slash takes off and prepares to deliver the knockout punch he learned
while fighting in North Korea. Wolverine attempts to counter by jumping up. They both collide, sending each to the floor. Wolverine manages to get up first, and slash
Slash twice in his chest before Slash got up.
"Come
on bub. I can hurt you more than you
can hurt me. The only way you hurt me
was shooting me, and now, I'm getting you BACK! I can see you're not so tough without your guns."
"Be
quiet shorty. I can kill a man over 200
ways with my bare hands. I don't need freakin' can openers to do take someone
out. I'm gonna snap your neck.
URAHHHH!"
Both
of them go at each other again. From
the infirmary, Beast's machines began beeping.
"Who
is hurt? Attempting to localize. Danger Room!"
Beast
ran on all fours to get to the Danger Room. When he arrived, he found Wolverine with his neck snapped in four
places, and Slash with exactly 17 sets of slash marks and he was bleeding on
the floor. Beast ran on the wall over
to the intercom.
"MEDICAL
EMERGENCY! ALL PERSONEL REPORT TO THE
DANGER ROOM!"
Within
seconds all the X-Men were rushing to the Danger Room. Wolverine was unconscious as his healing
factor was working to repair the damage to his neck. Slash slowly looked up and saw how badly he was bleeding.
"Are…there…seventeen…sets…of…"
Slash looked up at Beast weakly.
"Yes
my friend."
"Good…"
and he passed out.
"Slash…Slash? Are ya awake sugah?" Slash awakened to see the face of Rogue
standing right over him.
"Yeah…I've
handled worse. The Iraqis captured me
during Desert Storm. They tortured me
within an inch of my life. I was
bleeding so bad, I needed a transfusion for a week before I came home. I was bleeding just as much out as I was
taking in. But we got several aviators
out of there. It was all worth
it." He seemed to stop to gather his
strength. "Oh yeah. Got the Medal of Honor for that one." Slash began to cough and cough up blood.
"It's
alright sugah. You be fine. Rogue's raht here, and ah aint leavin."
"Thanks
Rogue. I have one favor to ask you."
"Yeah,
ah can do almost anyting. Whaduya
need?"
"Go
to my quarters." He began to cough up blood again. "Bring me the picture next to the…wash
basin. I want to see my wife one more
time…in case I don't…make it."
"Done
sugah." And she was gone. Gambit came over to him.
"What
you doin in der wid dat can openr?"
"He
wanted a little…revenge for me shooting him up…and he…got it."
"You
crazy mon ami. Gambit never do dat wid
an angry Wolverine. Hey mon, Rogue
return wid what you ask for."
"Here
ya go sugah. Hope it makes you feel
better."
"You
already have." Slash's shaky hand
stroked the outline of Erin's face. Rogue began to cry at his display of loyalty and emotion. She turned and began to cry on Gambit's
shoulder. Before Slash passed out, he
heard a weak voice from somewhere to his right.
"Now
we're even bub."
"He's
coming out of it. Slash? Slash? Can you hear me?"
"Yes…"
A blue face was over him. Must be
Beast.
"You
have lost a lot of blood. But your
wounds are healing. You will make a
full recovery."
"Good…"
A new, hairy face appeared. It was
Wolverine.
"Hey
bub…welcome to the team."
"Was
that…my initiation?"
"Nope
my revenge for shooting me. But now we
know you have the heart of an X-Man."
"Good." Everything was becoming clearer. He could see everyone was gathered around
him.
"For
a time there, it didn't look good." Storm said from behind everyone.
"Well…actually,
I forgot…I'm suppose to run five miles today." That got a chuckle out of everyone. A wise and trusted voice spoke from behind everyone.
"Yes,
you have earned your preliminary 'wings.' " Slash gave off a big smile.
Please write a review for
this. I'd like to make this series an
ongoing story, and I really need input on where to take this story.