------
Author's Note:
Greetings. Thanks for the reviews.
To answer a couple questions and comments, I'm probably going to put the Kurt/Pietro thing on a back burner for a bit. Not that it isn't important, but rather it will take longer to develop. After all, we're all aware that Pietro is a bit of a stuck-up jerk. It will take a while to grind that away from him. Slash-o-phobes can breathe easier. ;) I might turn this into a series of fics, if I can find the time to write more.
Oh, and those people who cringe at the mention of blood might want to skip this chapter entirely. Sorry.
Cheers, folks.
Jack
------
Jean scanned the corridor with her mind, searching out any psychic imprints she could find. Warren stood near her protectively, though there hadn't been any sign of Magneto or his flunkies. On impulse, she tapped her comlink. Static. The link had died almost as soon as the group had entered the base and she was positive that Magneto had done something nasty to the electronics.
She stumbled, feeling Warren grab her arms before she could fall.
"Careful there," he said quietly. Everyone was talking in hushed voices around here. Must be the scenery. This place looked like a city morgue, all stark walls and floors lit by bare light bulbs. She straightened. There had been a familiar mind, right...about...there.
"Spread out, guys," she said. "Company coming."
Rahne stalked forward, ducking into the next door frame on the right. All the doors they'd encountered so far had been nicely set about a foot into the walls. This made it a lot easier to sneak around if necessary.
You know, like now.
Jean motioned Doug to hide in another door frame as Warren turned to watch their backs. If she wasn't mistaken, that huge Russian guy would be along shortly. If they could take him down, perhaps they could wheedle more information out of him. Not for the first time, she wished that Scott or Hank were with her. How on earth were they going to nail a 500-pound man of stainless steel?
"Where's a 600-pound gorilla when you need one?" she muttered, questing out with her mind. Too late, she realized Colossus wasn't alone. She reeled as another mind bit into hers, catching herself on the wall. Strengthening her defenses, she fought off the attack and looked for the source.
It wasn't hard to find. A cry from Warren drew her eyes back the way they'd come. He was trying to avoid a woman with long auburn hair, ducking and dodging her attacks. Energy blades protruded from the woman's hands as she fought the large man. His wings were going to be a liability in this enclosed space, Jean saw.
She grabbed the woman with her mind, trying to slam her against the wall. The quicker this one went down, the sooner they'd be able to concentrate on Colossus. She struggled, unable to get a mental grip. Just my luck, she thought. Of all the mutants Magneto could get, he had to find another telepath/telekeneticist.
A shriek of nails on metal behind her announced that the big Russian had entered the fray. This was going to get messy in a hurry. A quick peek over her shoulder let her know that Rahne was doing her best to keep the guy's attention. If the girl wasn't careful, though, she'd be putty. It would only take one hit and she'd be down. At least Rahne seemed to have surprised him.
"Angel," she cried, turning her attention back to the fight in front of her, "quit being gentle!" The tall man was evading the woman with ease, despite his cumbersome wings, but he wasn't trying to disable her at all. Why can't Magneto's bully-boys have this sort of hang-up about hitting women?
She tried another tactic, wrapping her mind around the woman's feet. Maybe if she could get the woman unbalanced they could end this. It still wasn't working, though. The other telepath slipped her psychic bonds with ease, flaunting her agility. Warren jerked back from a stiletto-heeled boot to the head, wiping a thin streak of blood from his nose. He looked down at his hand as if unsure what he was seeing.
The woman took advantage of the momentary hesitation and leaped into the air. Jean threw her entire mind into a shield, stretching her hands out toward Warren. Time slowed around her. She wasn't going to be able to hold this shield. Warren looked back up and flexed his wings, a low snarl erupting from his throat. Jean blinked in surprise. Sounded like the gloves were coming off.
She watched, struggling to hold the shield in place, as he twisted to one side to present his side to the woman. His great wing unfurled and met the woman in mid-air. Time snapped back into motion. The woman was flung thirty feet down the hall, landing hard on her back. She didn't get up. Even at this distance, Jean could hear the wind being knocked out of her.
"I've got her, Jean," Warren told her as he strode purposefully down the hall toward the prone woman. Good.
Looking around, she saw that Rahne was still dancing around Colossus. The werewolf was panting heavily, she saw. She looked around for something - anything - with which to hit him. Nothing usable, unless she could rip one of these doors of the hinges. Rahne gasped in pain, staggering away from the big Russian.
Jean bent her mind to the task, pulling mightily at the thick oak door next to her. It trembled but didn't come free.
"Come here, Cypher!" she called. Perhaps if she had a little help she could get it loose. She had to do something and soon. Rahne was going to get smeared if this didn't work. Where was that boy? She continued jerking at the door, tipping her head back and gritting her teeth.
An electrical cable on the ceiling above her wiggled slightly and went slack. Electricity? Oh, this could work. This could work really well. She stopped struggling with the heavy door and followed the electric cord down the hall toward the big steel man.
Later, she would swear her heart stopped when she saw Doug sneaking up on Colossus with a stripped power cord in his hands.
The lights throughout the entire hallway went dim for a full five seconds when the boy tucked the end into the Russian's shorts. With a massive cry, the metal man stopped in his tracks. The electricity continued zapping the big man as he fell slowly forward. Rahne ducked out the way, somewhat less nimble than usual but it was enough. The sound when he hit the floor reminded Jean of a car accident she'd witnessed a couple years ago.
"Take that, ye buggering fool!" Rahne whooped, pumping her fist in the air. The girl exchanged a high-five with Doug.
Apparently the boy had judged the length of the cord correctly. As soon as Colossus hit the floor, it popped out of his shorts and swung lazily in the air just above him. She felt Warren come up beside her and set a bundle on the floor. He'd hogtied the woman, who was still unconscious.
"Wow," was all he said.
"Yeah, wow." Jean sent her mind out. None of Magneto's other henchmen were around, but she caught a familiar brush of mind in a room just ahead. "Leave her," she said. "Rogue is just up the hall." Without looking back, she led the way. A thrill of satisfaction ran through her as Colossus twitched on the floor when she passed.
"I've yer blood test here," Moira said, striding into the cramped lab. Hank looked up from his terminal, glancing at the broken glass on the table next to the computer. He unconsciously rubbed his bandaged left hand, suddenly nervous. The X-Venom wasn't having the effect on his mutated cells that the initial research had shown, but what if there was a delayed onset? He wasn't sure he wanted to see the new results. For all he knew, Moira was going to tell him he had a day to live.
And yet, despite having a sizable portion of the venom coursing through his veins, he was feeling quite fine.
Moira crossed the room in two steps, plugging the portable drive she carried into the back of his terminal. A moment later, the diagnostics of his blood test was called up on the monitor. How interesting, he thought. There doesn't seem to be a single trace of the venom.
"Are you sure this is from this morning?" he asked her, scrolling down the list of chemicals she'd found in his blood. After a cursory look, he called up a similar list run on his stored blood.
"Aye," she said. Leaning over him, she rapidly typed in a command. The lists started whittling down as matching items were eliminated. Hank picked up his mug, taking another sip of that Ororo's ultra-bitter home- brewed coffee.
The eliminations took only fifteen seconds or so. Hank spluttered when he saw the single item left.
"You can't be serious," he said, swishing the dregs of the coffee around. He looked into the mug, thanking his luck for brewing Ororo's special batch instead of his usual that morning.
"Completely serious. Here," Moira told him, tapping another series of commands into the computer. "Look at this. I created a batch of this chlorogenic acid in the lab and filtered it into a sample of the venom." A movie file started playing.
Hank scratched his head thoughtfully. Apparently Moira had recorded the view from the electron microscope onto the computer. He watched in silence as the acid ate through every last trace of the venom in the sample. She'd done it!
Smiling up at her, he patted her hand. "We should give the kids a call and let them know about this," he said with a grin.
Bobby crept forward, keeping a close eye on Kitty. He couldn't really blame her for tossing her cookies in the hangar. He'd wanted to do that himself but, having not eaten much at breakfast, could only manage dry heaves. Poor Fred, he thought. I can't believe Magneto killed him.
The fact that the Blob was lying, rotting, in the hangar behind them cast a pall over their mission. He couldn't bring himself to make any smart remarks any more. Sean was handling this a whole lot better, but he was an adult. More experience, that sort of thing. Professor Xavier hadn't prepared any single one of current students for this. How do you train for tripping over a corpse in the dark?
Bobby thought back to JHS167, where he'd gone to junior high school only two years ago. During his final semester there, one of his classmates had been killed in a gang war on the lower east side. Everything was normal one day, and then the guy just wasn't there after that. He hadn't had to look at the guy's body turning ripe in the summer heat.
Fred, on the other hand, was going to stick with him a long, long time.
Kurt watched as Logan flattened himself against the wall. The big man took a deep breath and darted his head around the corner and back. He'd been doing this ever since they'd gotten close to Magneto. Kurt supposed it was the safest way to go, but it was taking forever to move around.
He risked a glance at Gambit. The wily Cajun was watching their back, three glowing playing cards tucked into one fist. So far the man had followed Logan's lead, but Kurt had to wonder at the wisdom of letting one of Magneto's allies help them out. Ok, former ally. Was the guy really an American police officer? He found that hard to believe, but Gambit did have the badge.
[Snikt!]
Wolverine's claws sliding out brought his mind back to the task at hand. Scenting the air once more, the big mutant beckoned them all closer.
"There's another hangar around this corner," he said almost too quiet for Kurt to hear. He leaned in. "Our buddy Magneto is at the far end by a business jet with some broad in a white outfit. Might be that White Queen you mentioned, Quickie."
Beside him, Pietro gulped. Kurt thought he saw Pietro's face go a little ashen. What had this woman done?
"Sabretooth," Logan growled, "is about twenty feet away and we'll have to go through him first. I saw Alvers near the plane, and smelled Chuck and yer sister - didn't see them, though." He paused, fiddling with the communicator switch. "This thing still ain't workin', so we're going to have to go in ourselves." He looked at each of them sternly. "Sabretooth is mine, ya hear me?"
Kurt nodded quickly. There wasn't enough money in the world to pay him to go toe to toe with that monster. Around him, the others did the same.
"All right. Gambit, once we're in yer gonna have to start distracting Mags and his bimbo. Nightcrawler and Quicksilver will grab our guys and get them topside."
And then he was gone, around the corner.
Kurt exchanged a shocked look with the other two, then peeked around the corner.
"Ach! Come on," he said. With another glance around the corner, he grabbed Pietro's elbow. That spot should do nicely.
[Bamf!]
Perfect landing, as usual. Kurt peered out from underneath the plane, eyeing the brawl on the far side of the room. Mein Gott, Logan looked downright savage as he tore into Sabretooth. He tore his eyes away with reluctance.
Logan had been right. Lance was lying, shackled, in a heap about ten feet from the plane. Magneto and the White Queen were standing between the older boy and the fight. Where was the Professor, though? Logan said he smelled him, didn't he?
Pietro stirred next to him. "I'll drag Lance under here with us," the white-haired teen told him. "Your teleport reeks. My father will be all over you if you just pop in and out."
Kurt sighed, but Pietro had a point. That sulfurous stench was pretty much a calling card that he'd teleported nearby.
"Fine. Be quiet about it, though," he said. He watched as Pietro started creeping out from under the plane. Now, to find the Professor. With a glance over his shoulder at Magneto, he pulled himself onto the wing and started peeking into the windows of the jet.
Logan dodged aside as Sabretooth launched himself at him. If nothing else, he thought, I'm getting plenty of exercise out of this jerk. Ducking a wild overhand swing, he raked his claws along the bigger man's ribs. He bared his teeth in a feral grin at Sabretooth's howl of pain.
"Having fun, bub?" he sneered at his archenemy, jumping back from another slash of Sabretooth's claws. He kept his back to the door through which he'd come, making sure the larger mutant's attention was focused on him. Kurt and Pietro materialized underneath the airplane. Good thinking, Kurt. Now he just had to keep Magneto and that lady of his from noticing them.
Off to his left, a barrel of jet fuel went up in flames, exploding upward in a gigantic ball of fire. Gambit cackled, jinking and dodging the scattered debris and flicking more cards in Magneto's direction. Logan smirked. Had to admit that it was hard to keep an eye on prisoners when someone was firing grenade-like objects at you.
Sabretooth leaped into the air, whipping his leg about in a flying roundhouse. Logan rolled forward, somersaulting underneath his adversary and coming to his feet. Crap. Keep your mind on your own fight, he thought to himself.
Too late. "The prisoners!" Sabretooth bellowed in rage, pausing momentarily in his attack to point behind Magneto. Logan risked a glance over his shoulder. Double crap. Pietro had dragged Alvers under the jet to the far side, but Kurt was more or less framed in the open doorway of the plane.
Have to finish this soon. The kids need me.
"Gambit," he yelled. "Nightcrawler needs a little help over there."
"Ah'm on it, mon ami."
There was another explosion behind him, but Logan didn't exactly have the time to sit around and watch the show. Sabretooth took another swipe at him and he didn't block quite fast enough. The balled fist caught him on the side of the head and his vision blurred for a moment as he spun through the air.
Kurt panicked. What was that colorful American saying? Oh, right.
The scheisse [1] had just hit the fan.
He ducked back inside the airplane, breathing hard. The Professor was still out cold, as was Pietro's sister. And he was running out of juice. A noise on the stairway let him know that Magneto or the White Queen was coming after him. This was going to hurt.
Professor Xavier and Wanda were chained to seats on either side of the aisle in the plane. Kurt grabbed the girl's wrist, stretching out as far as he could. It was no use. He couldn't reach the Professor. He wasn't quite long enough.
Long enough. Yes, he was.
He released Wanda's wrist with moments to spare, snaking his tail around her instead. Whoever was on the outside was nearly there. He licked his dry lips, hesitating.
"Going somewhere, boy?"
Kurt's jaw fell open. Pietro hadn't told them that the White Queen was drop-dead gorgeous. The woman's white hair fairly glowed with a nearly metallic sheen. Her silk outfit whispered and slithered against her as she slowly walked up the aisle. She had the most amazing blue eyes, he noticed. Clear as the ocean outside his window in fact.
"You don't have to leave, my dear," she told him in a sultry voice. "If Magneto can't find a use for you, I'm sure you'll find a home with the Hellfire Club." That sounded like such a good idea to Kurt. All he really wanted was to stop what he was doing and join this woman. His tail unwound itself from Wanda without thinking and he took a tentative step forward.
A groan from the Professor cut through the fog of his thoughts and he blinked a couple times. Wait, what was he doing?
"Don't you want to come with me, my dear Kurt?" the woman asked in the same voice. It wasn't as attractive now for some reason. He wrapped his tail around Wanda again.
"Leck' mich, Gertrud! [2]" he snarled at the White Bitch. With a quick movement, he jumped across the rows separating Wanda and the Professor. The sound of his gloved hand slapping the shiny dome of the Professor's head was quite loud in the narrow cabin. Ah, success. And now for a parting gift.
[Bamf!]
Bobby rounded the corner first, which may have been a mistake. Oh jeez, he thought as he scrambled out of Sabretooth's way. He called his power into play as he stumbled against the wall, sheathing himself in living ice. His eyes bulged when he saw what happened next.
Sean didn't bother dodging out of Sabretooth's way. Jogging lightly around the corner, the man took a single step into the air and hovered directly into the larger mutant's path.
"Get outta my way, Banshee," Logan growled somewhere off to Bobby's side. Sean, Banshee, ignored him, hovering to a halt in front of Sabretooth. The Irishman looked at the leather-clad Sabretooth with a dismissive look.
Then he opened his mouth.
Bobby got his hands up to his ears just in time. Banshee let out the most unearthly shriek he'd ever heard, knocking Sabretooth a solid ten feet back and onto his butt. Bobby stared at the fallen mutant in fascination, then dragged his eyes to Magneto and the airplane beyond.
Even at this distance, he could see Magneto's eye widen just before the man dove for cover behind a packing crate. Undeterred, the concussive wave tore through the air where the man had stood a split second before. Bobby winced as every window on the small business jet shattered at once, bursting inward to spray the interior of the plane with glass shrapnel. He gasped as the sheer force of whatever Sean was doing mauled the airplane. A dent the size of a manhole cover appeared in the fuselage with a horrendous groan.
A hand touched his elbow and he flinched. Gambit pulled his hands away from his ears.
"Come wit' me," the man told him. "We can grab Magneto if we act quick."
Bobby looked back at Sean. The man was still hovering in mid-air, but at least he had shut his mouth. Catching Bobby's eye, he grinned widely.
"Told ye it wasn't a power fer indoors, laddie."
"Iceman, Banshee! Not laddie!"
Sean gave him a flippant salute. Bobby rolled his eyes. They could all be killed or worse in the next few minutes and the man was making funny. Guess people react to stress in different ways. Might be nice to be able to just laugh off death that way. Oh well. Spreading his hands over Sabretooth, he covered the huge mutant from neck to shoes in ice.
Kurt reappeared inside the airplane a minute after he'd left, thinking that the White Queen wouldn't have loitered once he'd teleported the Professor and Wanda out. Thankfully, he was right. The interior of the plane was a mess, thought. It seriously looked as though every window in the thing had exploded at once. Thank heaven he'd 'ported out when he did. The nearest seat was a mass of tattered fabric and cotton stuffing. He shuddered at what might have happened had be remained inside a moment longer.
Crouching on all five, he moved forward to the entryway and peeked outside. Ah, good. Apparently the fight was more or less over.
Magneto had his back to Kurt, along with the White Queen. The woman's immaculate white silk uniform was shredded along one side and he could see rivulets of blood dripping down one dainty arm. She must have still been inside the plane when it, when, well, when whatever happened.
Ranged around the two mutants in a loose half-circle were most of the X-Men and their allies. Kurt wondered where Jean's portion of the team was, but clearly Logan and Sean had things under control. He straightened and stepped carefully down the stairs with a nod in Sean's direction. The Irishman gave him a thumbs-up.
"Do you really think you can stop me?" Magneto was saying. Kurt moved off to one side, where Pietro was struggling with Lance's bonds. They'd need bolt cutters to get those things off. From the looks of it, Magneto had twisted a solid steel bar into a figure eight around the older boy's wrists.
He looked at Magneto and the Queen. The woman was standing defiantly, left arm locked around her right bicep to staunch the bloody wound there. Magneto merely had his arms folded over his chest and had a most contemptuous look on his face.
"Ye've got no choice, man," Sean lilted in a harsh voice. "Give yerself up now before someone else gets hurt."
Magneto smirked evilly. "Oh really," he said with a chuckle. The man lifted his hand in an almost lazy gesture. Nails shrieked in protest as they popped, one by one, out of the crate next to his feet.
[Snikt!]
Logan's voice cut through the groaning metal. "Don't."
"Or what?" Magneto asked. There was an amused tone to his voice that Kurt didn't like. He watched as the lid of the crate slipped back, but a grunt of pain from the other direction distracted him.
Logan had taken a step forward and was standing utterly still now. His claws were sliding in and out of his arms one at a time in a strange pattern. Magneto chuckled again.
"A skeleton of metal and he decides to attack me. How quaint."
Kurt swallowed. There had to be something they could do.
Magneto gestured with his hand again. A very large pump-action shotgun floated out of the crate, leveling itself at Logan. Kurt didn't even have time to react.
"Let's see just how well that healing factor of yours works, shall we?" Magneto whispered in the tense silence. The shotgun pumped itself, looking for all the world like it was being held by the Invisible Man. The noise was very loud in Kurt's ears.
Not as loud as the gunshot that followed. Logan made a surprised sound and fell to the ground. The shotgun pumped a second shell into the chamber and fired at the prone mutant. Again. Again. Again.
Kurt had turned his head away after the second shot, but now he opened his eyes. Logan was lying in a spreading pool of blood and he wasn't moving. Fact is, the man's back looked like raw hamburger. Kurt gasped.
"Mm. Pity, that," Magneto was saying conversationally to the White Queen. "He's had Weapon X conditioning, you know. He'd have been a great asset in the coming war." The man raised his hands out from his sides and made a negligent gesture at the shotgun. The gun dropped back into the crate.
Kurt watched as a dozen syringes floated slowly up from the same crate. Oh boy.
Bobby skidded to a halt behind a large steel drum. A metallic twang sounded as the needle he was evading buried itself in the barrel. He took a deep breath. Ok, this wasn't good. He peeked over the top of the drum, which held jet propulsion fuel. Yeah, and hiding behind a freakin' gas tank isn't much better, he thought. Everyone else was doing the same, running for cover.
Wait a minute. I'm encased in ice. Those things probably can't hurt me.
He stood up, less afraid. Lifting his arms, he prepared to turn the lady in white into a Popsicle. The woman turned his way, arching one lovely eyebrow. And then his brain throbbed as she smiled as him. He dropped a moment later, unaware of what hit him.
Jean ran through the corridor as fast as she could. Good thing she'd gone out for soccer this year, she thought. Otherwise I'd have been left behind a long time ago. The Professor had apparently awakened, for she'd received a message and image from him not two minutes before.
'Get to the hangar! Logan is in great danger!'
And so here she was, running as though a life depended on her. That wasn't too far off the mark when she thought about it. Rahne had gone into her wolf form and was ahead of the rest of them. Warren, Doug, and Rogue were close behind. For some inexplicable reason, the Southern girl hadn't been drugged or worse. They would get there in time. Jean wouldn't have it any other way.
Rounding a corner, she flung a hand up in surprise, stopping a syringe of green fluid less than a foot from her eye. A convulsive motion with her fist and the glass container shattered against the wall. She strode into the room, surrounded by an aura of her own power.
"Stay back," she called over her shoulder. The other three would be vulnerable to this, having powers that were always in effect. The possibility of dying a horrid death would be enough to deter anyone else, but the girl was already moving quickly through the room.
Taking a deep breath, Jean started plucking needles out of the air, ramming them home in wooden crates or breaking them against the walls. There were a few that she couldn't turn aside and she knew Magneto was fighting against her. For those needles, she simply squeezed the glass with her mind until it shattered.
A mind brushed against hers and she knew the woman next to Magneto was going to try to attack her with psychic powers. Boy, was that one in for a rude awakening.
Being a telepath means having a highly advanced mind, and so Jean found it rather effortless to keep her shield-bubble in place. She concentrated, of course, but on a subconscious level. The same was true about her psychic shield.
Jean smirked as the woman Pietro had called the White Queen gasped and grabbed at her temples. Looks like she found my booby trap. Time to end this.
'ENOUGH!' she mentally projected.
Kurt cradled Logan's bleeding - and heavy - body to himself, teleporting around the hangar in an attempt to evade Magneto's assault. Whatever else was going on, he knew what would happen if Logan was hit by one of those things.
Oh yeah. He knew there was a reason he hated getting shots.
So many teleports in so little a space of time was having a serious effect on him, however. He made one final port, coming to a halt on top of the plane. Panting with the effort, he carefully lowered Logan to the roof of the jet and fell to his haunches beside the man. Logan didn't look any better. He thought the man had healing power out the wazoo, but it sure didn't seem to be working. At least the guy was breathing, if shallowly. Wasn't that a good sign?
He flinched violently as Jean's mind tore through his.
'ENOUGH!'
All movement stopped. Well, most of it. Bare needles, some still attached to the broken remains of glass reservoirs, clattered to the ground.
"You're finished, Magneto," Jean said, her clear voice ringing through the wide hangar.
Magneto laughed from somewhere below Kurt. It was a truly demented sound.
"You're right," he told her in a calm voice. "I believe I'll be going now."
Kurt crouched over Logan, instinctively protecting the man as Magneto floated up almost directly in front of him. The White Queen was holding his hand, hovering under Magneto's power as the two floated gently toward the wide hangar doors. Magneto raised a hand and the door bent outward. Kurt shielded his eyes from the sudden glare of sunlight.
Logan coughed thickly, spraying Kurt with blood and thicker things. The sound turned Magneto's head and Kurt cringed as the man frowned. A very, very large syringe with a needle nearly a foot long floated up from somewhere below the roof of the plane. It hovered closer and closer to Kurt. Kurt saw it shake and twitch in midair a couple times.
"Ms. Grey, this is a chromium needle, not one of those cheap glass ones." The needle in question steadied, and then moved forward again. "And I am the Master of Magnetism. Please don't try that again." A sad smile came over his face. "I'm afraid that one of you is going to have to be an example for the rest of you pitiful people. Wolverine should do quite nicely," Magneto said.
Kurt hunched, covering as much of Logan's broken body as he could.
"Over my dead body," he hissed at Magneto. The man shrugged without changing expression.
"If need be." The needle shot toward Kurt, who closed his eyes and braced himself.
Jean watched helplessly as three things happened.
First: Rogue stripped off a glove and grabbed Warren's wrist for a brief moment. The pale girl gasped, eyes widening in shock, and gritted her teeth in pain. An odd sound, similar to that of tearing cloth filled the quiet room for an instant.
Wings sprouted from Rogue's back, big beautiful wings, and Jean realized that the sound was only partially her clothing being ripped. Blood dripped from the feathers as Rogue beat her new, powerful wings into motion and leapt into the air.
With a savage cry, the girl reached out toward Magneto, who reeled away from her bare hand toward the door.
Second: a series of glowing playing cards shot over her head. Gambit must have been behind her. The cards exploded in midair, driving Magneto and the White Queen out of the hangar into the bright summer sunlight. Rogue dodged aside as the cards blew up in her path.
Third: Pietro, whom everyone seemed to have forgotten, scurried into motion from his hiding place near a doorway to her left. With a couple long strides he moved in a near-blur, running across the hangar toward the plane. He jumped onto the wing, never breaking stride and flung himself into the path of the needle.
An eerie silence settled over the room.
[Bamf!]
[Bamf!]
Kurt knelt between Logan and Pietro, surrounded by the rest of the X- Men. Logan was healing on his own. Instead Kurt stared at Pietro's back, where the needle had tented the fabric of his uniform. The syringe was so long, and the white-haired teen was so thin and malnourished, that it had driven right through him. Someone vomited in the background.
Pietro coughed, blood leaking from his lips to trickle down his cheek. He blinked a couple times, slowly, staring at nothing in particular. His skin was coated in a light sweat and was faded nearly white. Kurt felt a sour taste come into his mouth and he swallowed hard.
He stared helplessly at Jean, who knelt at Pietro's back. Reaching out with a tentative finger, she brushed the needle. Pietro shuddered and he squeezed his eyes shut.
"Oh, shit," he wheezed. "That really hurts."
------
Yeah, before you ask, the White Queen was indeed using her telepathy on Kurt to make herself seem like a succubus. If I had that kinda mental power you can be sure I'd be doing the same thing.
Translations:
[1]: Fairly obvious. Next!
[2]: "Kiss my ass, you bitch!" I've no idea where Kurt such foul language, but this is just another delightful example of my grasp of obscene German slang. Apologies to anyone offended.
Author's Note:
Greetings. Thanks for the reviews.
To answer a couple questions and comments, I'm probably going to put the Kurt/Pietro thing on a back burner for a bit. Not that it isn't important, but rather it will take longer to develop. After all, we're all aware that Pietro is a bit of a stuck-up jerk. It will take a while to grind that away from him. Slash-o-phobes can breathe easier. ;) I might turn this into a series of fics, if I can find the time to write more.
Oh, and those people who cringe at the mention of blood might want to skip this chapter entirely. Sorry.
Cheers, folks.
Jack
------
Jean scanned the corridor with her mind, searching out any psychic imprints she could find. Warren stood near her protectively, though there hadn't been any sign of Magneto or his flunkies. On impulse, she tapped her comlink. Static. The link had died almost as soon as the group had entered the base and she was positive that Magneto had done something nasty to the electronics.
She stumbled, feeling Warren grab her arms before she could fall.
"Careful there," he said quietly. Everyone was talking in hushed voices around here. Must be the scenery. This place looked like a city morgue, all stark walls and floors lit by bare light bulbs. She straightened. There had been a familiar mind, right...about...there.
"Spread out, guys," she said. "Company coming."
Rahne stalked forward, ducking into the next door frame on the right. All the doors they'd encountered so far had been nicely set about a foot into the walls. This made it a lot easier to sneak around if necessary.
You know, like now.
Jean motioned Doug to hide in another door frame as Warren turned to watch their backs. If she wasn't mistaken, that huge Russian guy would be along shortly. If they could take him down, perhaps they could wheedle more information out of him. Not for the first time, she wished that Scott or Hank were with her. How on earth were they going to nail a 500-pound man of stainless steel?
"Where's a 600-pound gorilla when you need one?" she muttered, questing out with her mind. Too late, she realized Colossus wasn't alone. She reeled as another mind bit into hers, catching herself on the wall. Strengthening her defenses, she fought off the attack and looked for the source.
It wasn't hard to find. A cry from Warren drew her eyes back the way they'd come. He was trying to avoid a woman with long auburn hair, ducking and dodging her attacks. Energy blades protruded from the woman's hands as she fought the large man. His wings were going to be a liability in this enclosed space, Jean saw.
She grabbed the woman with her mind, trying to slam her against the wall. The quicker this one went down, the sooner they'd be able to concentrate on Colossus. She struggled, unable to get a mental grip. Just my luck, she thought. Of all the mutants Magneto could get, he had to find another telepath/telekeneticist.
A shriek of nails on metal behind her announced that the big Russian had entered the fray. This was going to get messy in a hurry. A quick peek over her shoulder let her know that Rahne was doing her best to keep the guy's attention. If the girl wasn't careful, though, she'd be putty. It would only take one hit and she'd be down. At least Rahne seemed to have surprised him.
"Angel," she cried, turning her attention back to the fight in front of her, "quit being gentle!" The tall man was evading the woman with ease, despite his cumbersome wings, but he wasn't trying to disable her at all. Why can't Magneto's bully-boys have this sort of hang-up about hitting women?
She tried another tactic, wrapping her mind around the woman's feet. Maybe if she could get the woman unbalanced they could end this. It still wasn't working, though. The other telepath slipped her psychic bonds with ease, flaunting her agility. Warren jerked back from a stiletto-heeled boot to the head, wiping a thin streak of blood from his nose. He looked down at his hand as if unsure what he was seeing.
The woman took advantage of the momentary hesitation and leaped into the air. Jean threw her entire mind into a shield, stretching her hands out toward Warren. Time slowed around her. She wasn't going to be able to hold this shield. Warren looked back up and flexed his wings, a low snarl erupting from his throat. Jean blinked in surprise. Sounded like the gloves were coming off.
She watched, struggling to hold the shield in place, as he twisted to one side to present his side to the woman. His great wing unfurled and met the woman in mid-air. Time snapped back into motion. The woman was flung thirty feet down the hall, landing hard on her back. She didn't get up. Even at this distance, Jean could hear the wind being knocked out of her.
"I've got her, Jean," Warren told her as he strode purposefully down the hall toward the prone woman. Good.
Looking around, she saw that Rahne was still dancing around Colossus. The werewolf was panting heavily, she saw. She looked around for something - anything - with which to hit him. Nothing usable, unless she could rip one of these doors of the hinges. Rahne gasped in pain, staggering away from the big Russian.
Jean bent her mind to the task, pulling mightily at the thick oak door next to her. It trembled but didn't come free.
"Come here, Cypher!" she called. Perhaps if she had a little help she could get it loose. She had to do something and soon. Rahne was going to get smeared if this didn't work. Where was that boy? She continued jerking at the door, tipping her head back and gritting her teeth.
An electrical cable on the ceiling above her wiggled slightly and went slack. Electricity? Oh, this could work. This could work really well. She stopped struggling with the heavy door and followed the electric cord down the hall toward the big steel man.
Later, she would swear her heart stopped when she saw Doug sneaking up on Colossus with a stripped power cord in his hands.
The lights throughout the entire hallway went dim for a full five seconds when the boy tucked the end into the Russian's shorts. With a massive cry, the metal man stopped in his tracks. The electricity continued zapping the big man as he fell slowly forward. Rahne ducked out the way, somewhat less nimble than usual but it was enough. The sound when he hit the floor reminded Jean of a car accident she'd witnessed a couple years ago.
"Take that, ye buggering fool!" Rahne whooped, pumping her fist in the air. The girl exchanged a high-five with Doug.
Apparently the boy had judged the length of the cord correctly. As soon as Colossus hit the floor, it popped out of his shorts and swung lazily in the air just above him. She felt Warren come up beside her and set a bundle on the floor. He'd hogtied the woman, who was still unconscious.
"Wow," was all he said.
"Yeah, wow." Jean sent her mind out. None of Magneto's other henchmen were around, but she caught a familiar brush of mind in a room just ahead. "Leave her," she said. "Rogue is just up the hall." Without looking back, she led the way. A thrill of satisfaction ran through her as Colossus twitched on the floor when she passed.
"I've yer blood test here," Moira said, striding into the cramped lab. Hank looked up from his terminal, glancing at the broken glass on the table next to the computer. He unconsciously rubbed his bandaged left hand, suddenly nervous. The X-Venom wasn't having the effect on his mutated cells that the initial research had shown, but what if there was a delayed onset? He wasn't sure he wanted to see the new results. For all he knew, Moira was going to tell him he had a day to live.
And yet, despite having a sizable portion of the venom coursing through his veins, he was feeling quite fine.
Moira crossed the room in two steps, plugging the portable drive she carried into the back of his terminal. A moment later, the diagnostics of his blood test was called up on the monitor. How interesting, he thought. There doesn't seem to be a single trace of the venom.
"Are you sure this is from this morning?" he asked her, scrolling down the list of chemicals she'd found in his blood. After a cursory look, he called up a similar list run on his stored blood.
"Aye," she said. Leaning over him, she rapidly typed in a command. The lists started whittling down as matching items were eliminated. Hank picked up his mug, taking another sip of that Ororo's ultra-bitter home- brewed coffee.
The eliminations took only fifteen seconds or so. Hank spluttered when he saw the single item left.
"You can't be serious," he said, swishing the dregs of the coffee around. He looked into the mug, thanking his luck for brewing Ororo's special batch instead of his usual that morning.
"Completely serious. Here," Moira told him, tapping another series of commands into the computer. "Look at this. I created a batch of this chlorogenic acid in the lab and filtered it into a sample of the venom." A movie file started playing.
Hank scratched his head thoughtfully. Apparently Moira had recorded the view from the electron microscope onto the computer. He watched in silence as the acid ate through every last trace of the venom in the sample. She'd done it!
Smiling up at her, he patted her hand. "We should give the kids a call and let them know about this," he said with a grin.
Bobby crept forward, keeping a close eye on Kitty. He couldn't really blame her for tossing her cookies in the hangar. He'd wanted to do that himself but, having not eaten much at breakfast, could only manage dry heaves. Poor Fred, he thought. I can't believe Magneto killed him.
The fact that the Blob was lying, rotting, in the hangar behind them cast a pall over their mission. He couldn't bring himself to make any smart remarks any more. Sean was handling this a whole lot better, but he was an adult. More experience, that sort of thing. Professor Xavier hadn't prepared any single one of current students for this. How do you train for tripping over a corpse in the dark?
Bobby thought back to JHS167, where he'd gone to junior high school only two years ago. During his final semester there, one of his classmates had been killed in a gang war on the lower east side. Everything was normal one day, and then the guy just wasn't there after that. He hadn't had to look at the guy's body turning ripe in the summer heat.
Fred, on the other hand, was going to stick with him a long, long time.
Kurt watched as Logan flattened himself against the wall. The big man took a deep breath and darted his head around the corner and back. He'd been doing this ever since they'd gotten close to Magneto. Kurt supposed it was the safest way to go, but it was taking forever to move around.
He risked a glance at Gambit. The wily Cajun was watching their back, three glowing playing cards tucked into one fist. So far the man had followed Logan's lead, but Kurt had to wonder at the wisdom of letting one of Magneto's allies help them out. Ok, former ally. Was the guy really an American police officer? He found that hard to believe, but Gambit did have the badge.
[Snikt!]
Wolverine's claws sliding out brought his mind back to the task at hand. Scenting the air once more, the big mutant beckoned them all closer.
"There's another hangar around this corner," he said almost too quiet for Kurt to hear. He leaned in. "Our buddy Magneto is at the far end by a business jet with some broad in a white outfit. Might be that White Queen you mentioned, Quickie."
Beside him, Pietro gulped. Kurt thought he saw Pietro's face go a little ashen. What had this woman done?
"Sabretooth," Logan growled, "is about twenty feet away and we'll have to go through him first. I saw Alvers near the plane, and smelled Chuck and yer sister - didn't see them, though." He paused, fiddling with the communicator switch. "This thing still ain't workin', so we're going to have to go in ourselves." He looked at each of them sternly. "Sabretooth is mine, ya hear me?"
Kurt nodded quickly. There wasn't enough money in the world to pay him to go toe to toe with that monster. Around him, the others did the same.
"All right. Gambit, once we're in yer gonna have to start distracting Mags and his bimbo. Nightcrawler and Quicksilver will grab our guys and get them topside."
And then he was gone, around the corner.
Kurt exchanged a shocked look with the other two, then peeked around the corner.
"Ach! Come on," he said. With another glance around the corner, he grabbed Pietro's elbow. That spot should do nicely.
[Bamf!]
Perfect landing, as usual. Kurt peered out from underneath the plane, eyeing the brawl on the far side of the room. Mein Gott, Logan looked downright savage as he tore into Sabretooth. He tore his eyes away with reluctance.
Logan had been right. Lance was lying, shackled, in a heap about ten feet from the plane. Magneto and the White Queen were standing between the older boy and the fight. Where was the Professor, though? Logan said he smelled him, didn't he?
Pietro stirred next to him. "I'll drag Lance under here with us," the white-haired teen told him. "Your teleport reeks. My father will be all over you if you just pop in and out."
Kurt sighed, but Pietro had a point. That sulfurous stench was pretty much a calling card that he'd teleported nearby.
"Fine. Be quiet about it, though," he said. He watched as Pietro started creeping out from under the plane. Now, to find the Professor. With a glance over his shoulder at Magneto, he pulled himself onto the wing and started peeking into the windows of the jet.
Logan dodged aside as Sabretooth launched himself at him. If nothing else, he thought, I'm getting plenty of exercise out of this jerk. Ducking a wild overhand swing, he raked his claws along the bigger man's ribs. He bared his teeth in a feral grin at Sabretooth's howl of pain.
"Having fun, bub?" he sneered at his archenemy, jumping back from another slash of Sabretooth's claws. He kept his back to the door through which he'd come, making sure the larger mutant's attention was focused on him. Kurt and Pietro materialized underneath the airplane. Good thinking, Kurt. Now he just had to keep Magneto and that lady of his from noticing them.
Off to his left, a barrel of jet fuel went up in flames, exploding upward in a gigantic ball of fire. Gambit cackled, jinking and dodging the scattered debris and flicking more cards in Magneto's direction. Logan smirked. Had to admit that it was hard to keep an eye on prisoners when someone was firing grenade-like objects at you.
Sabretooth leaped into the air, whipping his leg about in a flying roundhouse. Logan rolled forward, somersaulting underneath his adversary and coming to his feet. Crap. Keep your mind on your own fight, he thought to himself.
Too late. "The prisoners!" Sabretooth bellowed in rage, pausing momentarily in his attack to point behind Magneto. Logan risked a glance over his shoulder. Double crap. Pietro had dragged Alvers under the jet to the far side, but Kurt was more or less framed in the open doorway of the plane.
Have to finish this soon. The kids need me.
"Gambit," he yelled. "Nightcrawler needs a little help over there."
"Ah'm on it, mon ami."
There was another explosion behind him, but Logan didn't exactly have the time to sit around and watch the show. Sabretooth took another swipe at him and he didn't block quite fast enough. The balled fist caught him on the side of the head and his vision blurred for a moment as he spun through the air.
Kurt panicked. What was that colorful American saying? Oh, right.
The scheisse [1] had just hit the fan.
He ducked back inside the airplane, breathing hard. The Professor was still out cold, as was Pietro's sister. And he was running out of juice. A noise on the stairway let him know that Magneto or the White Queen was coming after him. This was going to hurt.
Professor Xavier and Wanda were chained to seats on either side of the aisle in the plane. Kurt grabbed the girl's wrist, stretching out as far as he could. It was no use. He couldn't reach the Professor. He wasn't quite long enough.
Long enough. Yes, he was.
He released Wanda's wrist with moments to spare, snaking his tail around her instead. Whoever was on the outside was nearly there. He licked his dry lips, hesitating.
"Going somewhere, boy?"
Kurt's jaw fell open. Pietro hadn't told them that the White Queen was drop-dead gorgeous. The woman's white hair fairly glowed with a nearly metallic sheen. Her silk outfit whispered and slithered against her as she slowly walked up the aisle. She had the most amazing blue eyes, he noticed. Clear as the ocean outside his window in fact.
"You don't have to leave, my dear," she told him in a sultry voice. "If Magneto can't find a use for you, I'm sure you'll find a home with the Hellfire Club." That sounded like such a good idea to Kurt. All he really wanted was to stop what he was doing and join this woman. His tail unwound itself from Wanda without thinking and he took a tentative step forward.
A groan from the Professor cut through the fog of his thoughts and he blinked a couple times. Wait, what was he doing?
"Don't you want to come with me, my dear Kurt?" the woman asked in the same voice. It wasn't as attractive now for some reason. He wrapped his tail around Wanda again.
"Leck' mich, Gertrud! [2]" he snarled at the White Bitch. With a quick movement, he jumped across the rows separating Wanda and the Professor. The sound of his gloved hand slapping the shiny dome of the Professor's head was quite loud in the narrow cabin. Ah, success. And now for a parting gift.
[Bamf!]
Bobby rounded the corner first, which may have been a mistake. Oh jeez, he thought as he scrambled out of Sabretooth's way. He called his power into play as he stumbled against the wall, sheathing himself in living ice. His eyes bulged when he saw what happened next.
Sean didn't bother dodging out of Sabretooth's way. Jogging lightly around the corner, the man took a single step into the air and hovered directly into the larger mutant's path.
"Get outta my way, Banshee," Logan growled somewhere off to Bobby's side. Sean, Banshee, ignored him, hovering to a halt in front of Sabretooth. The Irishman looked at the leather-clad Sabretooth with a dismissive look.
Then he opened his mouth.
Bobby got his hands up to his ears just in time. Banshee let out the most unearthly shriek he'd ever heard, knocking Sabretooth a solid ten feet back and onto his butt. Bobby stared at the fallen mutant in fascination, then dragged his eyes to Magneto and the airplane beyond.
Even at this distance, he could see Magneto's eye widen just before the man dove for cover behind a packing crate. Undeterred, the concussive wave tore through the air where the man had stood a split second before. Bobby winced as every window on the small business jet shattered at once, bursting inward to spray the interior of the plane with glass shrapnel. He gasped as the sheer force of whatever Sean was doing mauled the airplane. A dent the size of a manhole cover appeared in the fuselage with a horrendous groan.
A hand touched his elbow and he flinched. Gambit pulled his hands away from his ears.
"Come wit' me," the man told him. "We can grab Magneto if we act quick."
Bobby looked back at Sean. The man was still hovering in mid-air, but at least he had shut his mouth. Catching Bobby's eye, he grinned widely.
"Told ye it wasn't a power fer indoors, laddie."
"Iceman, Banshee! Not laddie!"
Sean gave him a flippant salute. Bobby rolled his eyes. They could all be killed or worse in the next few minutes and the man was making funny. Guess people react to stress in different ways. Might be nice to be able to just laugh off death that way. Oh well. Spreading his hands over Sabretooth, he covered the huge mutant from neck to shoes in ice.
Kurt reappeared inside the airplane a minute after he'd left, thinking that the White Queen wouldn't have loitered once he'd teleported the Professor and Wanda out. Thankfully, he was right. The interior of the plane was a mess, thought. It seriously looked as though every window in the thing had exploded at once. Thank heaven he'd 'ported out when he did. The nearest seat was a mass of tattered fabric and cotton stuffing. He shuddered at what might have happened had be remained inside a moment longer.
Crouching on all five, he moved forward to the entryway and peeked outside. Ah, good. Apparently the fight was more or less over.
Magneto had his back to Kurt, along with the White Queen. The woman's immaculate white silk uniform was shredded along one side and he could see rivulets of blood dripping down one dainty arm. She must have still been inside the plane when it, when, well, when whatever happened.
Ranged around the two mutants in a loose half-circle were most of the X-Men and their allies. Kurt wondered where Jean's portion of the team was, but clearly Logan and Sean had things under control. He straightened and stepped carefully down the stairs with a nod in Sean's direction. The Irishman gave him a thumbs-up.
"Do you really think you can stop me?" Magneto was saying. Kurt moved off to one side, where Pietro was struggling with Lance's bonds. They'd need bolt cutters to get those things off. From the looks of it, Magneto had twisted a solid steel bar into a figure eight around the older boy's wrists.
He looked at Magneto and the Queen. The woman was standing defiantly, left arm locked around her right bicep to staunch the bloody wound there. Magneto merely had his arms folded over his chest and had a most contemptuous look on his face.
"Ye've got no choice, man," Sean lilted in a harsh voice. "Give yerself up now before someone else gets hurt."
Magneto smirked evilly. "Oh really," he said with a chuckle. The man lifted his hand in an almost lazy gesture. Nails shrieked in protest as they popped, one by one, out of the crate next to his feet.
[Snikt!]
Logan's voice cut through the groaning metal. "Don't."
"Or what?" Magneto asked. There was an amused tone to his voice that Kurt didn't like. He watched as the lid of the crate slipped back, but a grunt of pain from the other direction distracted him.
Logan had taken a step forward and was standing utterly still now. His claws were sliding in and out of his arms one at a time in a strange pattern. Magneto chuckled again.
"A skeleton of metal and he decides to attack me. How quaint."
Kurt swallowed. There had to be something they could do.
Magneto gestured with his hand again. A very large pump-action shotgun floated out of the crate, leveling itself at Logan. Kurt didn't even have time to react.
"Let's see just how well that healing factor of yours works, shall we?" Magneto whispered in the tense silence. The shotgun pumped itself, looking for all the world like it was being held by the Invisible Man. The noise was very loud in Kurt's ears.
Not as loud as the gunshot that followed. Logan made a surprised sound and fell to the ground. The shotgun pumped a second shell into the chamber and fired at the prone mutant. Again. Again. Again.
Kurt had turned his head away after the second shot, but now he opened his eyes. Logan was lying in a spreading pool of blood and he wasn't moving. Fact is, the man's back looked like raw hamburger. Kurt gasped.
"Mm. Pity, that," Magneto was saying conversationally to the White Queen. "He's had Weapon X conditioning, you know. He'd have been a great asset in the coming war." The man raised his hands out from his sides and made a negligent gesture at the shotgun. The gun dropped back into the crate.
Kurt watched as a dozen syringes floated slowly up from the same crate. Oh boy.
Bobby skidded to a halt behind a large steel drum. A metallic twang sounded as the needle he was evading buried itself in the barrel. He took a deep breath. Ok, this wasn't good. He peeked over the top of the drum, which held jet propulsion fuel. Yeah, and hiding behind a freakin' gas tank isn't much better, he thought. Everyone else was doing the same, running for cover.
Wait a minute. I'm encased in ice. Those things probably can't hurt me.
He stood up, less afraid. Lifting his arms, he prepared to turn the lady in white into a Popsicle. The woman turned his way, arching one lovely eyebrow. And then his brain throbbed as she smiled as him. He dropped a moment later, unaware of what hit him.
Jean ran through the corridor as fast as she could. Good thing she'd gone out for soccer this year, she thought. Otherwise I'd have been left behind a long time ago. The Professor had apparently awakened, for she'd received a message and image from him not two minutes before.
'Get to the hangar! Logan is in great danger!'
And so here she was, running as though a life depended on her. That wasn't too far off the mark when she thought about it. Rahne had gone into her wolf form and was ahead of the rest of them. Warren, Doug, and Rogue were close behind. For some inexplicable reason, the Southern girl hadn't been drugged or worse. They would get there in time. Jean wouldn't have it any other way.
Rounding a corner, she flung a hand up in surprise, stopping a syringe of green fluid less than a foot from her eye. A convulsive motion with her fist and the glass container shattered against the wall. She strode into the room, surrounded by an aura of her own power.
"Stay back," she called over her shoulder. The other three would be vulnerable to this, having powers that were always in effect. The possibility of dying a horrid death would be enough to deter anyone else, but the girl was already moving quickly through the room.
Taking a deep breath, Jean started plucking needles out of the air, ramming them home in wooden crates or breaking them against the walls. There were a few that she couldn't turn aside and she knew Magneto was fighting against her. For those needles, she simply squeezed the glass with her mind until it shattered.
A mind brushed against hers and she knew the woman next to Magneto was going to try to attack her with psychic powers. Boy, was that one in for a rude awakening.
Being a telepath means having a highly advanced mind, and so Jean found it rather effortless to keep her shield-bubble in place. She concentrated, of course, but on a subconscious level. The same was true about her psychic shield.
Jean smirked as the woman Pietro had called the White Queen gasped and grabbed at her temples. Looks like she found my booby trap. Time to end this.
'ENOUGH!' she mentally projected.
Kurt cradled Logan's bleeding - and heavy - body to himself, teleporting around the hangar in an attempt to evade Magneto's assault. Whatever else was going on, he knew what would happen if Logan was hit by one of those things.
Oh yeah. He knew there was a reason he hated getting shots.
So many teleports in so little a space of time was having a serious effect on him, however. He made one final port, coming to a halt on top of the plane. Panting with the effort, he carefully lowered Logan to the roof of the jet and fell to his haunches beside the man. Logan didn't look any better. He thought the man had healing power out the wazoo, but it sure didn't seem to be working. At least the guy was breathing, if shallowly. Wasn't that a good sign?
He flinched violently as Jean's mind tore through his.
'ENOUGH!'
All movement stopped. Well, most of it. Bare needles, some still attached to the broken remains of glass reservoirs, clattered to the ground.
"You're finished, Magneto," Jean said, her clear voice ringing through the wide hangar.
Magneto laughed from somewhere below Kurt. It was a truly demented sound.
"You're right," he told her in a calm voice. "I believe I'll be going now."
Kurt crouched over Logan, instinctively protecting the man as Magneto floated up almost directly in front of him. The White Queen was holding his hand, hovering under Magneto's power as the two floated gently toward the wide hangar doors. Magneto raised a hand and the door bent outward. Kurt shielded his eyes from the sudden glare of sunlight.
Logan coughed thickly, spraying Kurt with blood and thicker things. The sound turned Magneto's head and Kurt cringed as the man frowned. A very, very large syringe with a needle nearly a foot long floated up from somewhere below the roof of the plane. It hovered closer and closer to Kurt. Kurt saw it shake and twitch in midair a couple times.
"Ms. Grey, this is a chromium needle, not one of those cheap glass ones." The needle in question steadied, and then moved forward again. "And I am the Master of Magnetism. Please don't try that again." A sad smile came over his face. "I'm afraid that one of you is going to have to be an example for the rest of you pitiful people. Wolverine should do quite nicely," Magneto said.
Kurt hunched, covering as much of Logan's broken body as he could.
"Over my dead body," he hissed at Magneto. The man shrugged without changing expression.
"If need be." The needle shot toward Kurt, who closed his eyes and braced himself.
Jean watched helplessly as three things happened.
First: Rogue stripped off a glove and grabbed Warren's wrist for a brief moment. The pale girl gasped, eyes widening in shock, and gritted her teeth in pain. An odd sound, similar to that of tearing cloth filled the quiet room for an instant.
Wings sprouted from Rogue's back, big beautiful wings, and Jean realized that the sound was only partially her clothing being ripped. Blood dripped from the feathers as Rogue beat her new, powerful wings into motion and leapt into the air.
With a savage cry, the girl reached out toward Magneto, who reeled away from her bare hand toward the door.
Second: a series of glowing playing cards shot over her head. Gambit must have been behind her. The cards exploded in midair, driving Magneto and the White Queen out of the hangar into the bright summer sunlight. Rogue dodged aside as the cards blew up in her path.
Third: Pietro, whom everyone seemed to have forgotten, scurried into motion from his hiding place near a doorway to her left. With a couple long strides he moved in a near-blur, running across the hangar toward the plane. He jumped onto the wing, never breaking stride and flung himself into the path of the needle.
An eerie silence settled over the room.
[Bamf!]
[Bamf!]
Kurt knelt between Logan and Pietro, surrounded by the rest of the X- Men. Logan was healing on his own. Instead Kurt stared at Pietro's back, where the needle had tented the fabric of his uniform. The syringe was so long, and the white-haired teen was so thin and malnourished, that it had driven right through him. Someone vomited in the background.
Pietro coughed, blood leaking from his lips to trickle down his cheek. He blinked a couple times, slowly, staring at nothing in particular. His skin was coated in a light sweat and was faded nearly white. Kurt felt a sour taste come into his mouth and he swallowed hard.
He stared helplessly at Jean, who knelt at Pietro's back. Reaching out with a tentative finger, she brushed the needle. Pietro shuddered and he squeezed his eyes shut.
"Oh, shit," he wheezed. "That really hurts."
------
Yeah, before you ask, the White Queen was indeed using her telepathy on Kurt to make herself seem like a succubus. If I had that kinda mental power you can be sure I'd be doing the same thing.
Translations:
[1]: Fairly obvious. Next!
[2]: "Kiss my ass, you bitch!" I've no idea where Kurt such foul language, but this is just another delightful example of my grasp of obscene German slang. Apologies to anyone offended.