Ch. 17 – Saved by an
Unlikely Foe
Slash followed Nucleus at a distance. In his weakened state, Slash kept getting
lower and lower to the sea, but then he realized his altitude and flew back
up. This happened several times as
Nucleus approached Sinster's new hideout in the Falkland Islands. Slash landed hard about a half mile from the
base, and scouted out the terrain up to the base. Slash decided to wait until that night to make his strike. He created a lean-too and took a nap to
build his strength.
Later that night, Slash awoke to see the base ablaze with
light. Hmm, Sinister must know that he
was there. Slash decided to fly in
above the lights and land just outside the actual base itself. Securing his three fraggers, he readied his
MP-5 and took off. He was outside the
base within seconds. Apparently, no on
noticed his entrance. He found an
unlocked door, and entered in. In the
dark, Slash could barely make out the hallway. Both hands were clamped on the gun, Slash moved down the hall towards a
main room. He slowly opened the door,
and found a lab similar to Sinister's old lab in Magneto's old fortress. Slash looked around, and found a secure
hiding spot. At that instant, Sinister
entered followed by a still crippled Nucleus.
"Now Nucleus, you have done well. I'm sorry about your arm. It can easily be repaired. See? I have a clone of your arm awaiting
here to be put onto your body. I'm
going to put you under anesthesia so I can reattach the arm. Let me go get some last minute arrangements
set up." Sinister placed Nucleus under,
and walked out. Slash waited a few
minutes until he was sure Nucleus was under. He pulled a fragmentary grenade off his belt, and pulled the pin. Still grasping the handle, he took a scalpel
and cut a giant slash across Nucleus's abdomen. The blood poured out as Slash battled through the fat and put the
grenade inside Nucleus. He released the
handle and pulled his hand out. Slash
jumped behind a computer as the fragger inside Nucleus went off. Nucleus awoke to see the bottom of his body
was blown apart. Slash pulled out
another grenade as Sinster entered.
"WHAT IS…YOU! I
should have killed you when I had the chance!"
"Can't do it now. Say hello to my little friend." Slash chucked the grenade at Sinister. Sinister just stood there as the grenade sailed through the air, and
Slash ran out the door. The grenade
went off as Sinister hit the intruder alarm. As he ran out the door, he tried to fly, but didn't have the strength. He stood back, pulled off the final grenade
and threw it at the fence. It blew a
hole in the fence as Slap and Airbag came running out of the fortress straight
at Slash. Now the rib injuries were
beginning to take their toll. Slash
turned and wildly fired off the clip of the MP-5. This barely phased the two big men who were tailing him. Slash clumsily put in another clip and then
collapsed. Slap and Airbag knew they
had him.
Suddenly, from the trees behind Slash came a pair of
blasts aimed at the two Nasty Boys. Slap and Airbag were shocked all the way back to the complex. Slash was sure that he was next, but
suddenly a figure appeared from the tree line. Somehow, he looked very similar to Slash. It was as if he had seen the man before. That was because he had.
"Well, you've done yourself good my boy." Said Magneto. "Your professor sent me to follow you and make sure that you
didn't get into much trouble. I am
glad, however, that you rid us of that evil mutant created by that madman. Now, I see you need to return home to
Xavier." He gently picked Slash up, and
flew back to the mansion. When they
arrived, Shadowcat was overjoyed.to see her husband brought home. She didn't even scold him for going off like
that. She just kissed him until he
finally pushed her away from the pain in his ribs. Xavier spoke to Magneto.
"Erik, thank you for saving one of my own."
"Well Charles, I thought he would have learned his lesson
the first time he encountered me. Foolishness can get you killed. However, you're very welcome Charles. Until we meet again…" With that, Magneto took off into the air, and
disappeared over the horizon. Xavier
now turned to Slash.
"That was a very brave…and foolish thing you did. I feel your emotions and why you did
it. That does not excuse you. Just be glad I was able to convince Magneto
to save you." Slash nodded.
"It won't happen again sir."
In the next few weeks after Slash healed, he personally
took his new team into the Danger Room to practice their skills at covert
ops. He learned why each had been
assigned to him. Gambit was a former
thief; Psylocke had the skills of an assassin; Wolverine use to work covert ops
much like him; Rogue had experience with cover ops back when she was with the
Brotherhood of Mutants; Shadowcat could hide anywhere, and of course Slash had
worked with the SEAL teams. Every day
in the Danger Room, Slash helped them hone their covert skills and learn
tactics from when he worked with the SEALS. Their level of successful completion on their simulated missions came
close to 100%. They had become quite a
Recon force indeed. Slash also did team
building exercises with them. Slowly,
they were becoming at the level of a mutant SEAL team, just without the
guns. Whenever Xavier brought in Gold
Team, and they went head to head with X-Recon (they just shortened the name),
it was the X-Recon that always won. So
Xavier decided to attach Cyclops for their next real mission as an attaché to
see if Gold Team could pick up some tips.
Slash and Shadowcat had moved in to the same
quarters. Slash had always wanted a
child since Erin told him of the joyous news before Slash was shipped out
overseas. Now, he really wanted a
child. Shadowcat was nervous at first
about the whole prospect at having a child. But soon she too opened up. It
took many nights of trying. Finally,
one day, Slash and Shadowcat entered the War Room with smiles on their faces,
while Xavier entered again with a troubling look on his face.
"Why are you so happy squid?" Wolverine scowled. Slash
just showed his teeth, and pulled out a cigar.
"I'm proud to announce that Shadowcat and I are going to
have a child." Suddenly, hands and hugs
filled the room with joy. But Xavier quieted
them down.
"I'm sorry to burst your balloon on this happy occasion. We have a new crisis involving a former
friend of ours. Colossus has been taken
by Gyrick, and he is doing the same thing he did to Slash. He is in excruciating pain. Peter is being tortured at another location,
and I feel we need to get him out of there now before we lose another
ally. X-Recon, you are on the job,
except I am going to make on personnel move. Morph is going to take Shadowcat's place. I don't want the new child harmed. I'm sure you can make do with Morph. Also Beast will tend to the injuries of Colossus on the
plane. Now, get going." They all ran off.
All I have to say is, expect
the unexpected in the next chapter.