A/N: You're all going to hate me. I know you will. Sarah already does. It's coming…
Everyone had gotten across the water to the base without falling, which Sabere took as a good omen. Unfortunately, she already had the beginnings of a headache, which wouldn't help with her concentration once she got inside. They stood on the rocky "beach," studying the drain entrance and trying to figure out how to get in without setting off alarms. Finally Kitty told them all to join hands and she pulled them through the drain – an extremely creepy experience that she had no desire to repeat, but would have to in order to get to Kurt.
Kitty led the way down the tunnel as it branched off to the left. Above their heads lay a grate that opened into a dark room that was doubtlessly the plumbing maintenance room. Jean floated the grate out of its frame as Kitty whispered last-minute instructions to Scott and Storm.
"If you go a few hundred more feet down that way, you'll come out…well, in the men's shower room. Take a right out the door and you'll go straight down the hall into the holding area. We'll already be there, hopefully with Kurt, but we'll probably need the backup. If you get there and we're already gone, follow the sounds of shooting and head straight back to the drain entrance."
"Got it. See you on the other side." He jogged down the drain with Jean and Storm as Sabere tried to remember why that sounded familiar. Oh, yeah…Kurt said that while the drug was… A coldness gripped her heart as she remembered that hellish night that seemed so long ago when both of them would have gladly died to end the pain. No one's going to die…we'll all be fine…
She lifted herself and Kitty up through the drain into the dark, silent room. Kitty grabbed her hand and they both sprinted for the left-hand wall, went through it, through the hall, through the next room, through a soldier – okay now that was weird – alarms sounded, but they both ignored it and kept running –
Kitty released her as they burst through the last wall and faced the semicircle row of doors of the holding area. Soldiers were all over, including on the upper-level balcony, and Sabere let Kurt's training take over and shielded herself as guns opened up on her. She launched a spike at the nearest one, watching in dismay as she hit him in the throat. Killing American soldiers was not something she had had in mind. Across the room Kitty slid through a door with Kurt, and Sabere managed a sigh of relief despite the rather dangerous situation. The soldiers moved in and Sabere whipped out the knives, slashing at anyone who got too close while desperately trying to avoid mortally wounding anyone. Kurt didn't have his knives, but he was teleporting unpredictably around the room, kicking and punching soldiers brutally.
"Kitty, screw the backup, go find Scott and have him meet us out there now!" She slashed through the pistol of a soldier behind her as Kitty sprinted through the far wall to find the others.
There were soldiers everywhere. The faster Sabere cut some back, the faster more appeared in their places – and the bigger the weapons got. Two with machine guns were on the upper balcony, but luckily for them, their fellow soldiers were too many for them to open fire. Still, Sabere was worried – Kitty was clear, but while Kurt was still with her, it would be all too easy to give a command that would clear the field – and give the soldiers a clear shot –
"Everyone move, down there! Get back!"
Shit.
The soldier who had just freed his pistol in front of her glanced at her apprehensively, then ran off with his comrades, blocking the exits. Kurt stood across the room, fists clenched and ready to spring. The floor was clear except for them –
"GO!"
She had no idea who had yelled, but at the time she didn't care. Kurt disappeared and reappeared next to her. He seized her arm, preparing to teleport them both out, but a burst of machine gun fire sent them leaping apart. Kurt teleported away again, jumping around the room in an effort to distract the soldiers while Sabere threw up a telekinetic shield as one of the soldiers emptied his gun in her direction. Then –
-kurt a door a gun dead-
Her shield wavered under the sudden onslaught of images. Sabere's reflexes were never distinct, but maybe, just maybe, she'd have enough time to warn him –
Frantically, she sent teke blocks into both the machine guns, effectively clogging both while she looked around for Kurt. Her reflexes were screaming to help him, but he was still 'porting around the room. Finally he stayed still in front of a door.
"Coast is clear! Let's go!" He was waving anxiously at her, and she opened her mouth to tell him –
-the door that's the door-
The door slid opened behind him. A man whose face she'd seen on the news, Geoffrey Stryker, the bastard responsible for everything, stood in the threshold, holding a pistol, aiming squarely at Kurt's back. Kurt whirled and saw him – the gun fired – Kurt vanished –
- and reappeared next to her, staring in mild surprise at the small hole in his chest.
Sabere seized him, trying to keep him upright, trying to fend off the inevitable, trying to focus enough to heal him – but it was all useless. Kurt's head tilted back, eyes staring vacantly at the ceiling.
No –
Stryker's voice brought her out of her trance. "Kill her."
She automatically shielded as bursts of machine gun fire erupted around her, dropping Kurt as she lunged for the other exit. Blinded by tears, she blasted it open and fled to the rendezvous point, pushing thoughtlessly past soldiers with telekinetic blasts. Scott was already there, waiting with the others.
"Where the hell's Kurt?"
She couldn't answer; answering would confirm what she was refusing to believe. Instead she ran ahead of him, overtaking Scott and leaping out of their hole in the pipe. The jet was hovering outside floating, and unbidden, she remembered Xavier's words from – was it only a week ago? It seemed so long –
Let's hope everything goes better this time around.
It could never have gone worse.