A/N: In slight shock right now…just watched ROTK trailer. oh………my……….GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cried. At the trailer. That's how cool that movie is. Also helped me recover from seeing Animatrix…man, that was a WEIRD movie. Made even less sense than the real thing. Also got a crushing blow…X2 isn't coming out until November 25!!! NOVEMBER!!! Why why why so far away?? Grrr the movie industry really ticks me off sometimes. Ok 'nuff ranting…off to try to save this failing plot.
For a minute, no one moved. Scott's fingers hovered at his visor, and Sabere tried desperately to get a sense of what was about to happen through her unresponsive reflexes. Finally one man moved to stand directly between the X-Men and Stryker. Sabere couldn't see much of his face from under his helmet, but she caught a glimpse of an eyepatch. Stryker saw it too, and snarled at the man and raised his gun at him.
"Fury! What the hell are you doing here?"
"You're operating outside restrictions, Stryker. Your brother, at least, had permission to operate as he was." The man had his own weapon in front of him, and didn't seem at all perturbed to be standing in the middle of what was about to become an extremely dangerous situation. In fact, he had the attitude that he had been in this sort of predicament before, and it didn't bother him in the slightest.
"The restrictions went out the window weeks ago, Fury. Whenever they are involved, we can't afford to have restrictions." Stryker glared at Scott before returning his attention to Fury.
"You know how much damage your lack of restrictions caused? Half of New York is on fire because of you. If these people hadn't called me in, the President himself would have."
Stryker paused. Apparently the full consequences of his drug had been more than even he had expected. "If I get a chance to refine the drug – or, if I had gotten the test group I asked for – none of that would have happened."
"Well, time's up, Stryker. Put down the gun and - "
He didn't get a chance to finish. Stryker opened fire at Fury and yelled for him men to do the same. A couple threw down their guns immediately, not wanting to fire on their own men, but most obeyed orders and Sabere found herself back in the memories of three hours prior. Gunshots, chaos – and Kurt.
Stryker.
The temporarily dormant hatred immediately blossomed, and she lunged past Magneto at Stryker, shielding herself as he opened fire at her. She launched a spike directly into his chest, putting as much telekinetic force behind it as she could stand.
She dropped into a barrel roll and came up pivoting on one foot, knives in hands, using them as the focus points for her shields. To her shock, Stryker was still standing – the spike was protruding out of his armor.
"Tough luck, bitch," he snapped, and opened fire. She immediately compensated her shields to block the onslaught, remembering how easy the projectiles had passed through Rogue's uniform. Stryker fired until the gun was empty, and scowled at the dozens of bullets that hovered in front of her. She dropped them to the ground, and leaped up in a flying kick that threw him back several feet. She was so focused on him that she ignored what was happening behind her, and Mystique threw herself across the room to plant both feet solidly into the back of a soldier who was about to start shooting. He flew over Sabere's head with a yell and crumpled in the hallway. Sabere nodded briefly in thanks, and returned her attention to Styker.
The man had gotten back to his feet and had a small pistol in hand. Sabere readied her shield again, preparing for another fight, but suddenly Stryker was blasted to one side by a fierce jet of red light.
Scott's fingers released the trigger on his visor and left Stryker collapsed and bloody against the far wall. If he wasn't dead already, he certainly would be soon. Sabere turned away from the sight and met Scott's glance. She felt sick, and not just from the carnage. She was truly mad at Scott for taking her revenge – for the first time in her life, she had wanted to kill.
The idea made her want to curl up in a corner and cry.
Already the fight was over – the few of Stryker's loyal men were surrounded by the members of S.H.E.I.L.D and had surrendered. Two S.H.E.I.L.D agents lay dead, along with five of Stryker's men.
"Sabere, some help?" Storm called from across the chamber. She was supporting another S.H.E.I.L.D agent who had been shot twice. Sabere ran towards them, already summoning her healing energies and trying vainly to ignore her headache.
For the first time Sabere found herself facing a truly serious wound. One bullet had grazed the man's stomach, and the other was embedded in his liver. She focused her mind and turned her thoughts inward, almost seeing through the man's skin to the damaged organs. She didn't bother with painblocks – there wasn't enough time. Both bullets flew from the wounds and fell to the floor. Sabere's eyes narrowed and she held her hands just above his skin, focused on repairing the damage, and let the energy flow.
She lost track of time, but when she felt that the wounds were healed she decided that only seconds had passed.
"Thanks," the man sighed, sitting up. "I knew I came here for a good reason. Logan was right about you."
To Sabere's surprise, the man was Fury. He held out a hand. "Nick Fury. Logan called me out here to help you out –I owed him a few favors, anyway."
He stood up and called to his men. "Okay, let's clean this place out. I want everything brought to me, don't pass anything over, and don't leave any door unopened."
Fury walked off without another word, leaving Sabere with Storm. Sabere was too exhausted and overwhelmed to care that she had just saved the man who had made this entire operation possible. She massaged the growing headache right between her eyes. Storm squeezed her shoulder. "Are you going to be okay?"
"I don't know yet…I'll walk around…I don't know…" Sabere was spacing and she knew it, and was in no condition to focus. She wandered to the back of the chamber and watched as each cell door opened, revealing harsh and empty rooms behind them. A glint of light caught her eye as she stepped forward, and she turned towards its source in the corner of one room.
Sabere knelt in the cell and scooped up a necklace – Kurt's rosary. The light had reflected off one of its dark crystals as it lay on the floor. She ran the beads through her fingers until she was holding the crucifix.
"I'm sorry, miss, but we're going to have to keep that," a soldier instructed next to her. "Orders."
"It's fine, private." Fury was standing right behind her. "Let it be."
The soldier nodded and moved on. Sabere draped the rosary around her neck and made her way outside. Logan was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. It was far colder in the hallway than in the chamber, and Sabere wrapped her arms around herself as the freezing Atlantic winds chilled her even through the uniform.
Logan stopped her as she tried to walk by. She stared down at the floor, too numb now to even cry. Logan hesitantly touched the crucifix. "I know this isn't what you want to hear, but…he's where he spent his whole life trying to get. He's gotta be happy."
Sabere sighed. "That doesn't make it any easier."
"I know it doesn't, but you can't blame me for trying."
She started up the stairs when he called her back. "Sabere, I…" He bit his lip as if he wasn't sure what to say. "Look, I know this won't make anything any better, but…he loved you. That's what Liebe means – love."
Sabere gripped the banister and hurried up the stairs, trying desperately to ignore the new wrenching heartache. The black jet sat in the rain, surrounded like she was by the bleak cold.