Notes: An extra long one this time. Lucky you.
Disclaimer: This is not mine. See first chapters for details.
Rating: PG13+
Other: This story is AU. Readers Replies at the bottom.
Chapter 10: The Warrior
'Left! Left!' cried Kurt, following his own advice and careening down the left corridor on all fours. Logan was amazed Kurt's memory was serving him so well, for to him all the white corridors looked identical. He had no time to ponder this, though, no time to ponder much of anything as they sprinted down those sterile halls, guards hot on their tail.
Any element of surprise had long been lost, and their journey through the base had become increasingly difficult. For a time they had only to worry of the enemies in front of them, then a group of guards had come down a side-passage they had missed and had given chase. Their numbers had only swelled since then, now half a platoon seemed to be pursuing them down the twisting halls, running them ragged.
'Why,' gasped Spyke, 'don't we turn and fight them!'
It was a question born out of frustration, and was a rhetorical one at that. Logan didn't dignify it with a reply. There were too many of them, the confining corridors put him and Spyke especially at a distinct disadvantage, this was not their territory. Besides, there were only two of them really, Kurt might be able to lend some support, but while his gun remained securely in its holster he was of little use in a serious fight.
'Not far to go!' called Kurt, panting a little, 'just one more turning, then down a bit, and we come to one of the security doors. If we jam that behind us, then we buy ourselves some time. Ja?'
'What if it's already closed?' Logan yelled back, but the elf gave no answer.
They had nearly reached that final turn when they were ambushed.
A largish contingent of guards, about seven or eight in all, rounded the corner before them and let loose, full blast, with their guns.
Luckily all three men had excellent reflexes, they dove to the ground seconds before the guards fired, and so all narrowly missed being hit.
Logan was up on his feet again with a trice, and charging with berserker fury at his enemies. By unspoken agreement he took the guards to the front, whilst Spyke dealt with those behind. Kurt bounded his way between the two, doing what good he could.
He climbed and bounced against the walls, at one point he managed to tear the guns out of two surprised solders hands.
'Bad boys,' he grunted, knocking them out with a few dexterous flips, 'shouldn't play with dangerous toys!'
For Wolverine the fight had no such witty repartee, it was a long slog of pain. Sweat stung his minor wounds, already healing, screams and gunshots filled his ears, the scent of blood was overpowering, he even seemed to taste it in his mouth.
For him each battle, each kill, seemed to blend into one, no faces, no names, no identity, not even his own. There was only the fight.
Yet one event changed the course of the combat.
Kurt, having such luck with his maneuvers on Logan's side, decided to try the same trick on the guards Spyke was battling. Running across the walls and ceiling he jumped down in the thick of the melee, and grabbed as many weapons as he could, whist kicking out with all his other free limbs.
But this time not all the guards were occupied with their other opponent, this time some of them had learned. One guard spun round, away from Spyke, and pointed his gun at the occupied and helpless Kurt.
Before he had chance to pull the trigger, though, a bone spike slammed into the back of his skull, and his head exploded into a gruesome mass.
Yet this cost Spyke much, for a second guard, taking full advantage of the distraction, fired two well placed laser shots at him. Spyke saw these too late, he tried to dodge, but in the narrow confines of the corridor and the press of guards this was almost impossible. Never the less, instead of piercing his heart, the first ray of scarlet light cut into his shoulder viciously, and the second caught him on the hip, sending out a spray of gore. He gave an agonized scream and let out a barrage of bone spikes, striking down numerous guards and, indeed, nearly killing Kurt too.
Luck, of a sort, was with him that day, though, for the fall and weight of their fallen comrades bowled over those solders behind him, buying the rebels some precious time.
And a good thing this was too, for, weakened by the injury, Spyke's legs gave way, and he fell to the ground also, but was caught by Kurt, who desperately tried to drag him to a safer place.
'Down the corridor!' yelled Logan, dispatching the last of the guards in front of him, 'take cover round the corner!'
Kurt's slender body hid athletes muscles and, though by no means a particularly strong mutant, he managed to carry out Logan's orders, moving as quickly as possible, Logan following behind, his gun trained on the recovering guards.
As soon as they rounded the corner Kurt sat Spyke down on the ground, where the boy moaned in pain. Logan stood by the corner, popping his head around it, watching their recuperating adversaries.
'How is he?' he grunted to Kurt.
'I.. I… don't know I… verdammt, Spyke, withdraw those bones, I can't see your injuries well enough!'
Spyke gave out another harsh gasp of agony as he did as Kurt requested, the bone plates slipping smoothly back into his blood coated, coffee skin.
Glancing back at him, Logan couldn't help but wince; both wounds looked very messy.
'How b-b-bad is it?' stuttered Spyke, trying to talk through his pain, striving not to pass out.
'I'm not sure,' muttered Kurt, 'I don't think it's critical, but…'
'He won't be able to run with that,' stated Logan, nodding to the gaping hip wound.
'No kidding!' spat Spyke, biting his lip so hard he drew yet more blood, 'fuck! It… augh… it hurts… fuck… auhh!'
'What do we do?' asked Kurt, looking up at Logan with large, liquid gold eyes.
Deep inside him, Logan felt his heart-strings tug, and a weight of dread appear in his chest. He glanced back down the corridor, back to the press of guards. Their number seemed to have grown, they were shifting restlessly. With a sickening feeling, he knew what they must do, what he must say.
'We gotta leave him,' he said.
'What!' gasped Kurt.
'What!' cried Spyke, 'you must be fucking kidding me! They'll fucking kill me! I won't stand a chance! You can't leave me!'
'We ain't got any choice, you can't move fast enough,' said Logan in curt, factual tones, this must be kept as unemotional as possible, they had to understand.
'This is a sort of siege,' he explained in softer tones, 'a stand off. They hear us move, they get moving, or if they start to come after us, then we get moving. Either way this is going to be a chase, and we'll need all the speed we've got, we can't be weighed down.'
'But why can't we fight them,' said Kurt, 'or maybe I could delay them while-'
'Listen kid,' interrupted Logan, 'we ain't got much time, soon they're going to figure out they've got the edge and they'll come after us. We can't beat them in a fight, not just the two of us. And we need you, you're the one who knows his way round this place. Hell, I'd stay here myself, I'd fight them off, but you're going to need a fighter, without me you won't get far. That ain't arrogance or heartlessness, it's just fact. Spyke's the one that's injured, Spyke's the only one we can do without, we've got to leave him behind, or we'll all die.'
'No!' screamed Spyke, 'you can't! I'll… fuck, you can't!'
'Maybe I could try a Jaunt?' suggested Kurt, ignoring the increasingly hysterical Spyke, 'get us ahead that way?'
'But you said the field here screws with your direction,' returned Logan, 'you could just as well end up half way though a wall. No, kid, this is the only way. The only way.'
He stared hard into Kurt's eyes, and knew he had won the argument, he saw the pain and defeat in them. To be honest, it sickened him to the core.
The elf slowly nodded, and Spyke knew that he was lost.
'NO-NO-NO!' wailed Evan, 'please, for God's sake! Don't leave me! Don't let me die like this!
Logan pulled Kurt to his feet, and pushed him on his way, before starting to follow himself. But he had barely gotten a few steps before he felt a hand grip his ankle, it was Evan. He was desperate, tears streaked his face, clearing the gore that had accumulated there, showing soft, young, brown skin beneath.
'Please,' gasped the boy, 'oh God, please, don't leave me! You can't, I'll do anything! I'm begging you, I can't die like this! I don't want to die! I don't wanna die! Please!'
'Sorry kid,' said Logan softly, and as tenderly as he could, 'we ain't got any choice. Sorry.'
With this he managed to pull himself from Evan's desperate grasp and followed after Kurt, being sure not to look behind him.
Evan's despairing wails followed them, though, alerting the guards to their departure. Kurt actually paused in his flight briefly, and Logan had to grip onto his arm and drag him on.
'Please!' screamed Evan after them, 'Kurt! Wolverine! Please come back! Don't go! PLEASE! OH FUCK PLEASE! I DON'T WANNA DIE! THEY'RE COMING! I DON'T- NO, NO NONONONONO DON'T, OH GOD, NO, DON'T…!
His cries were cut off abruptly by the shrieking din of multiple laser fire.
They continued down the corridor, running like the wind, ignoring all pain, until they came upon the security door.
It was large, forged of solid adamantium, and locked.
'I-I have a device,' stuttered Kurt, 'Forge made it, it should work.'
-Let's hope so- thought Logan, turning with his gun raised, firing at the guards now dashing down the corridor. He received some return fire for his pains, but aiming whilst running is a difficult task, and all their shots went wild.
'Hurry it up elf!' roared Logan, letting off more shots.
'I'm doing my best,' returned Kurt, 'these fingers were hardly meant for lock-picking you know, this- ah, got it!'
There was a swishing sound as the impregnable door opened. Kurt darted through, and Logan followed, letting off a few parting shots as he went. As soon as he was through Kurt pressed the closing mechanism, and the door slid closed, the guard's mere inches away. So close, in fact, that one managed to put his arm round, just as the doors closed, neatly severing the limb, much to the agony and dismay of its owner.
Logan ensured that the door would stay closed by smashing his claws into the electrical system, destroying it utterly.
'Right,' he breathed when the job was done, 'where next elf? Elf? Elf?'
Kurt did not reply, he had fallen to the floor, his back to the door, head in his hands. Tears dripped down his fur, already darkened by a mixture of sweat and blood.
-Blood, sweat and tears- thought Logan grimly, and knelt down besides his friend.
'Elf?' he asked, 'we gotta move on.'
'Spyke,' sobbed Kurt, 'Evan, he… he was a dickhead but… but… the humans…'
'Yeah,' sighed Logan, 'I know.'
'That's three of my friends dead,' continued Kurt, 'and we let them die, Gott, we let them-'
'Had to elf,' said Logan, 'didn't have no choice, if we fail, everyone dies.'
'I know,' choked Kurt, 'but… but… what are we going to tell the others?'
'We'll tell them he died a warrior,' said Logan.
Kurt looked up at him, tears still rimming his saffron eyes, 'is that a lie?' he asked, his voice hoarse with repressed sobs, but hopeful.
'No,' said Logan, 'not in a way that matters, any how. But we've got to move, I don't want to depend on those goons not having some side passage or other trick. We've got to finish this, now more than ever. For your kid, if nothing else…'
At this Kurt nodded grimly, and a new light, determination perhaps? Appeared in his eyes.
'Yes,' he grunted, 'yes, that is the next stop. Follow me, we'll go to the birthing chambers and maturation tanks. There both my daughter and the X-man should be, unless he's matured enough that they've moved him.'
Reader's Replies: NOTE: This presumes you've already read the chapter above, if you haven't, don't read your reply!
Ricter: Well, you were kinda right… though it's not his demise which is gonna be the ultimate one… but more on that later. Glad to see you liked the trick I did with the Maximoff twins. Glad to see everyone liked that.
Krazy Xanadu: I know I've written a good chapter when someone feels sorry for Magneto! I love the guy, myself, but can't find many other people who like him… still, I'm glad you found the chapter yummy, hope this one lives up to it.
Kiki5: Expertly planned? I'm glad you think so, I do plan my longer, more fractured stories, it most certainly helps. Don't worry, there'll be more cameo's yet! Yes, it is a harsh world… but I don't think you'll be able to guess the end! (Or I hope not, anyway.) If you want to voice your guess, post it in your next review or send me a private E-mail. Thanks for the compliment about the action scenes, BTW, it's one of the things I'm least certain about in my stories. I really appreciate the praise!
Scrawler: A new reviewer! Oooh, and it's on someone else's favorite list? GO ME! :does happy dance:. Seriously, I'm touched, as always, and glad that Kurt's character has come back to form. He's actually one of the hardest characters to write, because there are so many fics about him already, so it's pretty hard to write anything new, or gain your own, separate Kurt. I guess my Kurt is sorta a cross between LeDiz's Kurt and (of course) InterNutters. If any of you haven't read either of these authors, DO SO! You won't be disappointed, I guarantee it.
Trunksblue: Another new reviewer! Thanks for the praise on my Logan writing. He's not one of my favorite characters, in truth, but he's as much fun to write as any.
Gyuumajo: I'll give sympathy any time you want it! Yep, I switched their powers! It happened too them whilst they were being experimented on. I just sorta liked the idea… both of them, Pietro especially, has some very specific physical adaptations (e.g. friction resistant skin, exta powerful legs, e.c.t. So, undoubtedly, they could not survive having their powers swapped, their minds and bodies weren't adapted for it. Hence the meltdown. It was fun to do, and I wanted to start showing just how grim this story was, glad to see it worked!
HS: ANOTHER new reviewer. Yeah, I guess there is a plot hole there, but you've gotta forgive me that, I can't just have him smashing everything, can I? Besides, he might have his claws available to him but without his healing factor the lasers would have destroyed him before he got close to the base, right? Thanks for the praise, though.
Darkarc: It's raining reviewers! Thank you! How could I kill the twins? Because I'm EVIL! Bwahahah! Did you like this chapter too?
Sailor X1: Oooh, so glad YOU reviewed, 'cos your stories rock! After I've posted this, in fact, I'm gonna go to Turning Point to look for new chapters. Glad you like this, even though it's AU, how did I come up with this stuff? I guess I'm just angsty and twisted! I'm also glad that the humor came through, I think it often adds a nice… sprinkling to a dark fic, a bit of contrast. Also happy Spyke and Logan's speech worked out well, do you think this chapter resolved it? And no, I'm not a genius, just very, very strange…
Phew, that was a LOT of reviews! Thanks to everyone for all the wonderful reviews! I love you all! PLEASE keep them up!
NEXT: Kurt and Logan enter the maturation chambers in search of the X-man… and a certain other child…