Author's Note: At the advisement of a well-respected advisor, I've decided to make my chapters longer. So I hope y'all like this big, tasty chunk. I believe that including this chapter there should be five more, for a total of 9. Which is a good number if you're not a fan of 8 or 10. I'll try to get 'em up as soon as possible. (I know the pain of suspense). Thanks! Okay….gonna stop rambling now….onto the action!
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Chapter 5 - "Old Scars, Fresh Wounds"
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Gambit was already leaning against the East wall of the war room when Rogue arrived. He looked up at her as she entered. Rogue refused to meet his gaze. She quickly took a seat next to Bobby. Bobby noticed the scowl on her face, and the way she had blatantly ignored Gambit sent shivers up even his spine. "Hey, Rogue, everything okay?"
"Yeah, sugah," she put on her best smile, "Ah'm jus' tired is all. How d'ya like getting' dragged outa bed ta the war room at four in th' mornin'?"
"Tell me about it," Bobby yawned for emphasis. "All I know is this had better be good. I'm gonna get a cup of coffee. You want?"
"Thank ya, Bobby. That'd be nice." With the Iceman pacified, Rogue turned her attention to the other X-folk in the room. Almost everyone was there, she noted; everyone except for Hank who had begged another ten minutes to finish an "important experiment." Scott stood at the front of the room, checking his watch every now and again, and looking fairly annoyed. Across the table Betsy and Warren were talking quietly between themselves; as were Ororo and Logan, she noticed with a bit of surprise.
Eventually there was nowhere else to look but in the direction her eyes had been pulling all along. Remy was standing in the same spot. Though there were plenty of empty chairs, he seemed more than content to lean against the wall. His eyes were closed, and his expression was soft. Rogue wondered if he was even awake. The thought annoyed her. How could he possibly sleep after what just happened? But she quelled the feeling. Being pissed off all the time was getting old. Instead she tried to think about the fight from an objective perspective. He hadn't meant to get that angry, she realized. Maybe she should give in, let him make amends.
As if he could feel her stare, Remy opened his eyes and met Rogue's gaze across the room. A few strands of unkempt hair found their way across his eyes. She wondered how red on black could be so tender. Was that the way he'd looked at her? Rogue felt her stomach knot at the thought. He'd been with someone else tonight. In her mind she could see them tangled together. Her name was Angela. She had met a man in a bar, and in that one night had gotten closer to him than Rogue herself could ever dare to hope. There was someone else out there that knew the taste of his lips, and the warmth of his skin. Another person that wasn't her.
"Rogue, you sure you're alright?" Bobby startled her as he put down two coffee mugs. "You're as white as a sheet."
"No really, Bobby…," she could hear her voice waver, and took a breath to even it out, "Ah'm fine."
Bobby eyed her skeptically. He glanced in Remy's direction. He had reassumed his sleeplike posture. "If you say so, Rogue," he said, deciding to let it go. "I didn't know how you take your coffee so I just left it black."
"That's jus' the way ah like it, hun." She was glad that Bobby had broken her thoughts. Whatever it was that Scott had to say, it was undoubtedly important. She had to cool her composure and focus on the task at hand. If she didn't it meant that she, or someone that she cared about, could get hurt. The Cajun looked cool as a glass of sweet tea. Why shouldn't she?
Finally Beast swaggered into the war room, looking quite pleased with himself. He ignored Scott's impatient glare and took the seat next to Rogue. "Hey, Hank."
"And a good evening, or shall I say morning, to you, my dear." Rogue smiled brightly into his fuzzy blue face. Sometimes Beast's work made him so excited that it was positively contagious, and she was grateful for the levity.
At the front of the room Scott cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention to what he was about to say. "You're all here because we've recently gotten some significant information, and I want to act as soon as possible. There's a building in the city that we've learned is serving as a laboratory. Someone is holding children there. Younger kids whose powers haven't surfaced yet. Children of parents who are both mutants."
"For what purpose, Scott?" Storm questioned.
"We're not completely sure, but the Professor seems to think they are trying to find a way to 'cure' their mutations before they fully develop."
"I see," she commented. "So I'd assume that it was the Professor who told you of this situation?"
"So who's responsible?" Bobby piped up.
"Yes, the Professor alerted me, but neither of us is sure who's behind it. All we know is that the kids there are being held against their will, and I don't think their parents know where they are. That's assuming their parents are still alive."
"So we got some hostile f*ckers on our hands, huh?"
Scott scowled a bit at Wolverine's omnipresent lack of tact. "So it would appear. And we all know that the 'scientific' methods of such individuals are not often humane."
"Those poor chil'ren." Rogue's problems suddenly seemed pale in comparison.
"Now that you all know what the situation is, I think we should head to the Blackbird. I want to get out there before it gets any later. I'll fill you all in on the details, and your specific assignments, on the way there."
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The laboratory turned out to be a slaughterhouse that had been shut down early in the twentieth century. The first team had entered cautiously. Hank had found a way to neutralize the alarm systems remotely, but the rest of the security provisions remained intact. The upper level of the building was dark and smelled of decay. Rusted metal hooks hung from the ceiling, swaying slightly as the rotting floorboards heaved beneath their feet.
It was Wolverine who'd found the entrance, hidden beneath the floor. At the bottom of the steps they found a solid metal door with an advanced electronic locking system. Gambit had quickly and quietly eliminated the obstacle, allowing them access to the massive complex.
The rest of the X-Men followed soon after, making it their priority to find any living threats and get as much information out of them as possible. As for Gambit, he now found himself apart from the group. He was looking for those kids, relying on instinct to tell him where they might be held.
The complex was huge, with a very sophisticated security system, he noted. It went down into the earth, floor after floor. The labyrinth held enough tricks to keep the X-Man on his toes. Stepping on the wrong floor tile could cause a small explosion, or a puff of noxious gas to be released. Security cameras watched his every move, and let whoever was running this joint know just where he was. Even if he took out the cameras, there were still motion detectors. Triggering them released a small army of robotic aggressors, which Remy had learned the hard way. Still, he'd never met the security system that could handle him. Even the mansion's security wasn't so much that he couldn't get around it if he needed to. As long as he stayed focused he would be fine.
It was that focusing thing that kept giving him problems. He was still thinking about how stupid he'd been, and how he was ever gonna get her to forgive him. Forget forgiving, he'd be lucky if she ever spoke to him again. It seemed that Rogue had grown immune to the charm that often got him out of these types of situations. If only he hadn't mentioned the girl! Why did he do that? Now Rogue thought he'd slept with her, and he couldn't very well take it back. "Non, chere," he muttered to himself, "I didn't sleep wit de femme. Jus' said dat ta piss ya off."
'Whoosh!' A long metal dart flew just past his ear, sticking into the metal wall behind him. Gambit froze. "Merde…where de hell am I? De Temple o' Doom?" He refocused his attention to the task at hand. Acting like that he was going to get himself killed.
He moved through the halls with the stealth of a panther, and the grace of a snowflake. That's what comes of being a master thief, not to mention an exceptionally agile mutant. He didn't really know where he was going. He just trusted in his senses. Eventually he came upon a large, secured sliding door. Gambit was now three floors below ground level. "And here we are," he breathed. The door was solid. Probably constructed of adamantium. He quickly sized up the lock. It was a keypad that required a digital access card. Nothing he couldn't handle with ease. He slipped a blank, plastic card into the lock and gave it a small charge. Perfect, it was just enough to short out the locking system. Now for the door itself: a charged playing card, placed at just the right spot between the panels, was enough to force them apart.
Entering the room, Gambit was not prepared for what he saw. It was a long hall with high ceilings. Lining both sides were dozens of individual cells. Everything was colored in a sanitary, stark white. It glared against the bright overhead lights, causing Gambit to shield his sensitive eyes. Instead of bars there were thick panels of specially coated glass, practically impossible to break. Within each cell dwelled a child, ranging from toddlers to about twelve-years-old.
"Holy…," Gambit stood frozen in place. His voice shook as he absorbed the horrific scene. "Dere must be at least fifty of dese pups." At the sight of Remy, several of the children ran to the glass, pounding and screaming for him to help them.
Without a second thought he moved toward the center of the room where the main control panel stood. It was complex, but with a little time he should able to disengage the cell doors. He could feel the sweat gathering at the back of his neck as he worked. To his right a little girl yelled out to him, "Get me out of here!"
Her scream was desperate. She was sobbing uncontrollably. He noticed sadly that she couldn't be older than eleven. Pausing for a moment he kneeled in front of the cell. "Shhh," he hushed her softly. "Don't worry, petite. Ah'll get ya out of here. I promise."
Her body shook as she caught her breath. "Just hurry…please." Gambit gave her the most reassuring smile he could, and returned to the control panel. He moved quickly through the programs, looking for the key that would release her.
There was no way for him to know what was happening upstairs.
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Yet Another Author's Note: I thought about ending the chapter here…but I couldn't do that to you guys :) Thank me later. Onward ho!!!!!!
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Cyclops dodged a large robotic adversary. It was twice as tall as he was, and damn fast! He barely avoided another attack.
"Quit screwin' around, one-eye!" Wolverine thundered behind him as he took out a similar foe. "I got the smell of somethin' human."
Cyclops took the robot's 'head' cleanly off with a powerful blast. "I'm right with you, Logan." He followed Wolverine's form as it quickly rounded a corner.
"Heads up!" Wolverine dodged a laser blast that flew past him, and nearly hit Scott. The offender was a middle-aged man, desperately fleeing their pursuit. "You son of a…," Wolverine chased after him. Scott followed on his heels, still a bit shaken by the close call.
When they caught up with the man, he had locked himself in a booth with thick glass walls. He was doing something at a control panel. Wolverine lunged at the door, thrashing away wildly with his claws. Suddenly he was pulled aside. The blast of a gun hit the door.
"Thanks, Ro," he nodded to the white-haired woman who had saved him. "I knew there was another one in here."
The 'other one' that he referred to was a second man, similarly draped in a white lab coat like his counterpart within the booth. Beast stepped from the shadows behind him, and quickly relieved him of his weapon. "Not the best idea, my friend," he commented, shaking his finger disapprovingly.
As Logan returned to the task of breaking into the booth, Cyclops confronted the man Beast held in the air. "What is he doing in there?" he demanded.
The man smiled vaguely. "Destroying evidence." Immediately after this cryptic reply, the man began to seize. Surprised, Hank laid him on the floor. Within moments he was dead.
"Strange…" Beast inspected the corpse, and found the remnants of a small plastic capsule between his cheek and teeth. "Cyanide," he concluded.
Scott furrowed his brow and looked up at Hank. "What did he mean, 'Destroying….?" His eyes went wide with the realization. "Logan, Storm! Get down!"
Responding to the warning, the X-Men leapt for cover. The four huddled behind a corner. Wolverine was starting to get annoyed that Scott had flown off the handle, when…
'BOOM'
The building shook as the explosion scattered the booth in all directions. "Sh*t!" raged Logan, covering his head. Soon they could here explosions resounding throughout the complex.
"Umm…fearless leader? I believe that it's time we make a hasty departure," noted Beast, "I believe our adversary set off some sort of self-destruction sequence."
"X-Men! Get out of the building!" He shouted the command into his com-badge over the thunder of the explosions.
Racing to the exit, Storm and Rogue all but ran into each other. "Ro, what's goin' on?"
"The complex is self-terminating, Rogue. We all have to get out of here!"
"Where's Remy? He ain't respondin' to his badge."
"He was in the lower levels looking for the children, but I'm sure he's on his way out." Storm grabbed Rogue's forearm, "We've got to move, now!"
Another blast rocked the complex and the two women were tossed aside. "Rogue?!" Storm searched for her teammate, but did not see her.
In the next room, Wolverine heard Ororo's voice. In a full sprint he burst into the room, effortlessly scooping the woman into his arms. "Time to go, darlin'."
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Gambit clenched his jaw in frustration. This was taking a lot longer than he'd hoped. Maybe longer than it should. He felt the pressure of the little girl's eyes burning into him as he worked. 'Hurry,' they seemed to whisper.
"Jus' a few more minutes," he begged.
But he didn't have a few more minutes. The sound began as a low rumble in the ceiling. It moved down the walls and behind the cells. Gambit looked up from the control monitor. He knew what the noise was a moment before it was born.
With a furious crash the detonation tore through the cells. The glass doors shattered out with its force. If he hadn't been behind the control panel, the flying shards would have torn Gambit to shreds. He leapt over the booth and tried to get to one of the cells. Smoke and flame clouded his view. Coughing, he covered his face with a sleeve.
'No!' his mind screamed in disbelief. "Dis ain't happenin'.'
Rogue appeared at his side and tried to pull him away from the fire, but he was oblivious. "Gambit! We gotta go! NOW, Cajun!"
"Get off me!" he shouted back, shaking himself from her grasp. "I ain't leavin' dem."
"They're dead!" she shouted through her sobs. He stared at her incredulously. She spoke to him softly, "They're dead, Remy. And ah ain't leavin' ya… Not again."
He looked into her eyes. They held an iron determination that was hard to resist. She was right. Weakly, he allowed himself to be taken.
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Chapter 5 - "Old Scars, Fresh Wounds"
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Gambit was already leaning against the East wall of the war room when Rogue arrived. He looked up at her as she entered. Rogue refused to meet his gaze. She quickly took a seat next to Bobby. Bobby noticed the scowl on her face, and the way she had blatantly ignored Gambit sent shivers up even his spine. "Hey, Rogue, everything okay?"
"Yeah, sugah," she put on her best smile, "Ah'm jus' tired is all. How d'ya like getting' dragged outa bed ta the war room at four in th' mornin'?"
"Tell me about it," Bobby yawned for emphasis. "All I know is this had better be good. I'm gonna get a cup of coffee. You want?"
"Thank ya, Bobby. That'd be nice." With the Iceman pacified, Rogue turned her attention to the other X-folk in the room. Almost everyone was there, she noted; everyone except for Hank who had begged another ten minutes to finish an "important experiment." Scott stood at the front of the room, checking his watch every now and again, and looking fairly annoyed. Across the table Betsy and Warren were talking quietly between themselves; as were Ororo and Logan, she noticed with a bit of surprise.
Eventually there was nowhere else to look but in the direction her eyes had been pulling all along. Remy was standing in the same spot. Though there were plenty of empty chairs, he seemed more than content to lean against the wall. His eyes were closed, and his expression was soft. Rogue wondered if he was even awake. The thought annoyed her. How could he possibly sleep after what just happened? But she quelled the feeling. Being pissed off all the time was getting old. Instead she tried to think about the fight from an objective perspective. He hadn't meant to get that angry, she realized. Maybe she should give in, let him make amends.
As if he could feel her stare, Remy opened his eyes and met Rogue's gaze across the room. A few strands of unkempt hair found their way across his eyes. She wondered how red on black could be so tender. Was that the way he'd looked at her? Rogue felt her stomach knot at the thought. He'd been with someone else tonight. In her mind she could see them tangled together. Her name was Angela. She had met a man in a bar, and in that one night had gotten closer to him than Rogue herself could ever dare to hope. There was someone else out there that knew the taste of his lips, and the warmth of his skin. Another person that wasn't her.
"Rogue, you sure you're alright?" Bobby startled her as he put down two coffee mugs. "You're as white as a sheet."
"No really, Bobby…," she could hear her voice waver, and took a breath to even it out, "Ah'm fine."
Bobby eyed her skeptically. He glanced in Remy's direction. He had reassumed his sleeplike posture. "If you say so, Rogue," he said, deciding to let it go. "I didn't know how you take your coffee so I just left it black."
"That's jus' the way ah like it, hun." She was glad that Bobby had broken her thoughts. Whatever it was that Scott had to say, it was undoubtedly important. She had to cool her composure and focus on the task at hand. If she didn't it meant that she, or someone that she cared about, could get hurt. The Cajun looked cool as a glass of sweet tea. Why shouldn't she?
Finally Beast swaggered into the war room, looking quite pleased with himself. He ignored Scott's impatient glare and took the seat next to Rogue. "Hey, Hank."
"And a good evening, or shall I say morning, to you, my dear." Rogue smiled brightly into his fuzzy blue face. Sometimes Beast's work made him so excited that it was positively contagious, and she was grateful for the levity.
At the front of the room Scott cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention to what he was about to say. "You're all here because we've recently gotten some significant information, and I want to act as soon as possible. There's a building in the city that we've learned is serving as a laboratory. Someone is holding children there. Younger kids whose powers haven't surfaced yet. Children of parents who are both mutants."
"For what purpose, Scott?" Storm questioned.
"We're not completely sure, but the Professor seems to think they are trying to find a way to 'cure' their mutations before they fully develop."
"I see," she commented. "So I'd assume that it was the Professor who told you of this situation?"
"So who's responsible?" Bobby piped up.
"Yes, the Professor alerted me, but neither of us is sure who's behind it. All we know is that the kids there are being held against their will, and I don't think their parents know where they are. That's assuming their parents are still alive."
"So we got some hostile f*ckers on our hands, huh?"
Scott scowled a bit at Wolverine's omnipresent lack of tact. "So it would appear. And we all know that the 'scientific' methods of such individuals are not often humane."
"Those poor chil'ren." Rogue's problems suddenly seemed pale in comparison.
"Now that you all know what the situation is, I think we should head to the Blackbird. I want to get out there before it gets any later. I'll fill you all in on the details, and your specific assignments, on the way there."
*********************************************************************************
The laboratory turned out to be a slaughterhouse that had been shut down early in the twentieth century. The first team had entered cautiously. Hank had found a way to neutralize the alarm systems remotely, but the rest of the security provisions remained intact. The upper level of the building was dark and smelled of decay. Rusted metal hooks hung from the ceiling, swaying slightly as the rotting floorboards heaved beneath their feet.
It was Wolverine who'd found the entrance, hidden beneath the floor. At the bottom of the steps they found a solid metal door with an advanced electronic locking system. Gambit had quickly and quietly eliminated the obstacle, allowing them access to the massive complex.
The rest of the X-Men followed soon after, making it their priority to find any living threats and get as much information out of them as possible. As for Gambit, he now found himself apart from the group. He was looking for those kids, relying on instinct to tell him where they might be held.
The complex was huge, with a very sophisticated security system, he noted. It went down into the earth, floor after floor. The labyrinth held enough tricks to keep the X-Man on his toes. Stepping on the wrong floor tile could cause a small explosion, or a puff of noxious gas to be released. Security cameras watched his every move, and let whoever was running this joint know just where he was. Even if he took out the cameras, there were still motion detectors. Triggering them released a small army of robotic aggressors, which Remy had learned the hard way. Still, he'd never met the security system that could handle him. Even the mansion's security wasn't so much that he couldn't get around it if he needed to. As long as he stayed focused he would be fine.
It was that focusing thing that kept giving him problems. He was still thinking about how stupid he'd been, and how he was ever gonna get her to forgive him. Forget forgiving, he'd be lucky if she ever spoke to him again. It seemed that Rogue had grown immune to the charm that often got him out of these types of situations. If only he hadn't mentioned the girl! Why did he do that? Now Rogue thought he'd slept with her, and he couldn't very well take it back. "Non, chere," he muttered to himself, "I didn't sleep wit de femme. Jus' said dat ta piss ya off."
'Whoosh!' A long metal dart flew just past his ear, sticking into the metal wall behind him. Gambit froze. "Merde…where de hell am I? De Temple o' Doom?" He refocused his attention to the task at hand. Acting like that he was going to get himself killed.
He moved through the halls with the stealth of a panther, and the grace of a snowflake. That's what comes of being a master thief, not to mention an exceptionally agile mutant. He didn't really know where he was going. He just trusted in his senses. Eventually he came upon a large, secured sliding door. Gambit was now three floors below ground level. "And here we are," he breathed. The door was solid. Probably constructed of adamantium. He quickly sized up the lock. It was a keypad that required a digital access card. Nothing he couldn't handle with ease. He slipped a blank, plastic card into the lock and gave it a small charge. Perfect, it was just enough to short out the locking system. Now for the door itself: a charged playing card, placed at just the right spot between the panels, was enough to force them apart.
Entering the room, Gambit was not prepared for what he saw. It was a long hall with high ceilings. Lining both sides were dozens of individual cells. Everything was colored in a sanitary, stark white. It glared against the bright overhead lights, causing Gambit to shield his sensitive eyes. Instead of bars there were thick panels of specially coated glass, practically impossible to break. Within each cell dwelled a child, ranging from toddlers to about twelve-years-old.
"Holy…," Gambit stood frozen in place. His voice shook as he absorbed the horrific scene. "Dere must be at least fifty of dese pups." At the sight of Remy, several of the children ran to the glass, pounding and screaming for him to help them.
Without a second thought he moved toward the center of the room where the main control panel stood. It was complex, but with a little time he should able to disengage the cell doors. He could feel the sweat gathering at the back of his neck as he worked. To his right a little girl yelled out to him, "Get me out of here!"
Her scream was desperate. She was sobbing uncontrollably. He noticed sadly that she couldn't be older than eleven. Pausing for a moment he kneeled in front of the cell. "Shhh," he hushed her softly. "Don't worry, petite. Ah'll get ya out of here. I promise."
Her body shook as she caught her breath. "Just hurry…please." Gambit gave her the most reassuring smile he could, and returned to the control panel. He moved quickly through the programs, looking for the key that would release her.
There was no way for him to know what was happening upstairs.
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Yet Another Author's Note: I thought about ending the chapter here…but I couldn't do that to you guys :) Thank me later. Onward ho!!!!!!
*********************************************************************************
Cyclops dodged a large robotic adversary. It was twice as tall as he was, and damn fast! He barely avoided another attack.
"Quit screwin' around, one-eye!" Wolverine thundered behind him as he took out a similar foe. "I got the smell of somethin' human."
Cyclops took the robot's 'head' cleanly off with a powerful blast. "I'm right with you, Logan." He followed Wolverine's form as it quickly rounded a corner.
"Heads up!" Wolverine dodged a laser blast that flew past him, and nearly hit Scott. The offender was a middle-aged man, desperately fleeing their pursuit. "You son of a…," Wolverine chased after him. Scott followed on his heels, still a bit shaken by the close call.
When they caught up with the man, he had locked himself in a booth with thick glass walls. He was doing something at a control panel. Wolverine lunged at the door, thrashing away wildly with his claws. Suddenly he was pulled aside. The blast of a gun hit the door.
"Thanks, Ro," he nodded to the white-haired woman who had saved him. "I knew there was another one in here."
The 'other one' that he referred to was a second man, similarly draped in a white lab coat like his counterpart within the booth. Beast stepped from the shadows behind him, and quickly relieved him of his weapon. "Not the best idea, my friend," he commented, shaking his finger disapprovingly.
As Logan returned to the task of breaking into the booth, Cyclops confronted the man Beast held in the air. "What is he doing in there?" he demanded.
The man smiled vaguely. "Destroying evidence." Immediately after this cryptic reply, the man began to seize. Surprised, Hank laid him on the floor. Within moments he was dead.
"Strange…" Beast inspected the corpse, and found the remnants of a small plastic capsule between his cheek and teeth. "Cyanide," he concluded.
Scott furrowed his brow and looked up at Hank. "What did he mean, 'Destroying….?" His eyes went wide with the realization. "Logan, Storm! Get down!"
Responding to the warning, the X-Men leapt for cover. The four huddled behind a corner. Wolverine was starting to get annoyed that Scott had flown off the handle, when…
'BOOM'
The building shook as the explosion scattered the booth in all directions. "Sh*t!" raged Logan, covering his head. Soon they could here explosions resounding throughout the complex.
"Umm…fearless leader? I believe that it's time we make a hasty departure," noted Beast, "I believe our adversary set off some sort of self-destruction sequence."
"X-Men! Get out of the building!" He shouted the command into his com-badge over the thunder of the explosions.
Racing to the exit, Storm and Rogue all but ran into each other. "Ro, what's goin' on?"
"The complex is self-terminating, Rogue. We all have to get out of here!"
"Where's Remy? He ain't respondin' to his badge."
"He was in the lower levels looking for the children, but I'm sure he's on his way out." Storm grabbed Rogue's forearm, "We've got to move, now!"
Another blast rocked the complex and the two women were tossed aside. "Rogue?!" Storm searched for her teammate, but did not see her.
In the next room, Wolverine heard Ororo's voice. In a full sprint he burst into the room, effortlessly scooping the woman into his arms. "Time to go, darlin'."
*********************************************************************************
Gambit clenched his jaw in frustration. This was taking a lot longer than he'd hoped. Maybe longer than it should. He felt the pressure of the little girl's eyes burning into him as he worked. 'Hurry,' they seemed to whisper.
"Jus' a few more minutes," he begged.
But he didn't have a few more minutes. The sound began as a low rumble in the ceiling. It moved down the walls and behind the cells. Gambit looked up from the control monitor. He knew what the noise was a moment before it was born.
With a furious crash the detonation tore through the cells. The glass doors shattered out with its force. If he hadn't been behind the control panel, the flying shards would have torn Gambit to shreds. He leapt over the booth and tried to get to one of the cells. Smoke and flame clouded his view. Coughing, he covered his face with a sleeve.
'No!' his mind screamed in disbelief. "Dis ain't happenin'.'
Rogue appeared at his side and tried to pull him away from the fire, but he was oblivious. "Gambit! We gotta go! NOW, Cajun!"
"Get off me!" he shouted back, shaking himself from her grasp. "I ain't leavin' dem."
"They're dead!" she shouted through her sobs. He stared at her incredulously. She spoke to him softly, "They're dead, Remy. And ah ain't leavin' ya… Not again."
He looked into her eyes. They held an iron determination that was hard to resist. She was right. Weakly, he allowed himself to be taken.