Kurt crept along the passage as quietly as he could. Logan had waited at the mouth of the cave as they had discussed but he would be following soon if Kurt didn't double back.
The passage opened in to a cavern and he slowly edged around the corner.
"Do you think that she's alright?" Kent asked out loud, not aware of Kurt's approach.
Blockage sighed out loud and dropped her head in to her hands.
"None of us is alright." She spoke the words as though she had been saying them forever. "We need to get out of here before Sinister kills us."
Kurt peeked around the corner and saw Blockage digging through a pile of supplies. Obviously this was a storage cavern.
"What kind of a nutcase lives on an island and doesn't have a boat?" She asked disgustedly. "There was a dock before the damn island caught fire. Why the hell doesn't he have a freaking boat?"
She threw down a box in anger. It sounded like it was full of glass lab equipment. "Or aspirin!" She wailed, throwing her hands to her head. "That damn noise is making me crazy." She spit and roared as she spoke.
Kurt drew his sword silently. He could hear or sense Wolverine approaching cautiously behind him. He stepped out and circled around the two of them.
"Hey there." Kurt nodded. "You want to leave?"
Blockage swallowed slowly and nodded, slipping up, between Kurt and Kent.
"Tell me where Kitty is and we'll take you." Kurt said softly, eyeing the other entrances to the cavern.
"She went after Sinister." Blockage was obviously sober and relatively unaffected by the weapon. "Down there." She pointed back, past Kurt to an almost hidden passageway.
:"Logan!" Kurt called softly.
"Yeah." He stepped out of the shadows slowly.
"Take them to the Jumper."
"Tight fit." Logan observed.
"I'll ride on top." Kurt shot him a grin and motioned with his sword that Blockage and Kent should follow Logan.
The cavern shook around them and the air was filled with a crunching sound.
"Vhat is that?" Kurt asked.
"That's the sound of burning rock." Logan told him. "Hurry."
But the noise came again, this time with a flittering movement in the shadows. Kurt was sure he could hear labored breathing in the room with them.
"Send them away and then we play!" The Demon whispered.
"Go." Kurt called to them – Just as Kitty was phasing through the wall.
She had a large, misshapen mutant that appeared to be part bird in a headlock.
"Dinner!" She called out loud before realizing who was in the room.
Then she panicked.
Kitty pushed the birdman away and stopped to eye Kurt suspiciously.
She was about to speak when Kent lunged forward, screaming. Too late to do more than notice, Kurt turned his attention to match the boys focus. Sinister was standing in the shadows, betrayed by a glint of a gun barrel.
A beam leapt from the gun.
Kurt tried to scream her name but everything seemed to be happening in slow motion.
Everything that is, except Kent. He became a blur – like the dark swirls of dust that surround Kurt when he teleports, but Kurt could still make out his form through the haze. He was swimming madly across the room towards Kitty, moving just faster than the beam.
A spark of hope, some ancient kind of hope, flared within Kurt's mind. He didn't need to understand in order to hope.
The dark swirling cloud began to flush with red and Kurt watched, trapped in a horrific slow motion, as the red tint flew off and became dust, tracing his trail across the room.
Blood. Kurt realized. He's hurt … bleeding.
And then the room exploded with a rush of activity as Kent stepped in front of the beam and threw himself on top of Kitty.
Kitty, surprised, phased out of fear and he fell right through her as the beam tore harmlessly through her midsection.
Kitty roared, her eyes mad with rage and she flew at Sinister, catching him around the throat and plunging them both through the wall
The boy shuddered before Kurt could follow and something stopped him from teleporting through the wall to help Kitty.
Instead he dropped to his knees beside the boy.
"Vhy?" Kurt looked imploringly at the young man. "Why did you do it?"
"What do you mean?" He asked. "Dad, it's the weapon. You don't know … what … you're saying."
The boy collapsed but remained aware.
"Logan!" Kurt hissed. "Hurry." And then he took off down the nearest passage to where Kitty and Sinister had passed out of sight.
