Feral Bonds Chapter 5
Disclaimer: Well, this is gonna be another R chapter. Might just have to make the entire fic an R. Who knows. Anyone have an opinion on that? Before we go on to the chapter. I want to make a quick review response.
Inuyasha001: Yes. Scott doesn't seem to be handling his 'leadership' role too well. There is a reason for this. He's a kid. To be more precise, he's a high-school kid. I saw the 'we can take on the world with a smile' portrayal of the cartoon as kinda...far-fetched. This fic takes place fairly early in the series and he's new at the whole spandex brigade thing. As to him fainting at the end of the last chap, I personally know a cop that fainted watching a knee surgery on tv, so Scott dropping at the sight of a person he could reasonably expect to see at school hanging up with his chest torn open would be an order of magnitude worse. I'm just trying to give the x-men a human face. (Yea yea yea, bad pun) 8P
A stinging slap tore Scott out of his blankness. Running a hand over his head, he stared at the looming form of Logan. "Yea I'm up, what happened?"
Logan scowled and bit out. "I told ya not to look kid. Next time listen to me. Now get out of here. I got some work to do." And he pulled Scott to his feet and shoved him towards the door.
Stumbling out the door, his eyes came to rest on the team. Kitty was slowly rocking back and forth with Rogue and Kurt talking softly to her. Storm was standing still and had turned an empty stare at the door as if she expected something demonic to emerge. He slowly walked over to Jean who was flicking her eyes back and forth between Kitty and Storm.
Quickly figuring out the reason for her distress, he placed his hand on her shoulder to get her attention. "Jean, be thankful you can't read our minds right now." She narrowed her eyes, trying to piece together what would send Kitty into hysterics and get an actual reaction out of the normally unflappable Storm. Shaking her head, she returned to her useless attempts to try to pick up on the teams thoughts.
The entire team jumped as an almost deafening roar erupted from the other room. Storm and Scott ran to the door, trying to see what had sent Logan into a rage. Mentally preparing himself, he stuck his head past the doorframe and was greeted by Logan tearing at the window in a frenzy. He felt Jean brush up against his shoulder and panicking, he slammed his arm back against the doorframe, preventing her from seeing the lab.
Getting an annoyed glare, he shook his head and motioned her back into the hallway. He turned and followed her back over to the rest of the team. Meeting the questioning eyes of Rogue and Kurt, he sighed. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he started explaining. "I know you are curious about what's in there, and that you want to see for yourself. But I don't want you to go in unprepared like Kitty." waving his hand at the calming girl, he continued. "It's not something that you are going to want to see, trust me. I just don't want you to go in unprepared. They weren't just tortu.beating on the guy, they were.." his voice broke a bit. "... experimenting on him." Looking at the uncomprehending looks on their faces, he elaborated. "Surgically experimenting. And it looks like we interrupted them." Realization dawned on them and Rogue squeezed Kitty's shoulders gently. "It looks like Logan is trying to get into the room. When he does, I'm going to need help getting the mutant out of the...harness he's in. If you don't want to go in with us, no one is going to think any less of you. It's not pretty in there."
The other x-men slowly nodded their heads. Scott noticed a small smile appear on Storm's face. Apparently, she approved of their attitude. Kitty took a few deep breaths and stood. "I'm like totally not going back in there." Scott nodded. "It's ok Kitty. You don't have to."
The crashing suddenly stopped and Logan stomped out of the room, a black look on his face and scraping hard chunks of goo off his claws. Stopping, he thrust a finger at Scott and Storm. "You two, come on, we need some firepower." Without waiting, he turned and stalked back inside.
Quick glances were exchanged between the team and everyone but Kitty and Kurt headed inside the observation room. They were met with a vision of chaos. Scraps of wood from demolished desks were strewn across the floor and the window had chunks of glass ripped out and a grey goo was boiling out of the wounds. Logan turned to Scott and Storm. "That's a TacFoam, I can't claw through it. Gonna need you two to blast through."
They nodded and Scott braced his feet and his hand raised his hand to his visor. Next to him, Storm's eyes glazed over and turned milky-white. Everyone's hair started to stand on end as a faint nimbus of energy surrounded her. Scott waited a few seconds before nodding and speaking one word.
"Fire."
His fingers spun the dial on his visor to full power and triggered the shutter. A ruby lance of force erupted out and lashed at the window, slamming into it with the force of a train.
Storm gathered the strands of power around her and thrust her hands at the window, willing a bolt of lightning to erupt from her. The white-hot bolt crashed across the room, searing the glass as it impacted.
The twin beams of power tore at the window, leaving smoking craters. They kept pouring power at the offending obstruction until with a thunderous crash, the window exploded in it's frame, sending lethal shards careening into both rooms. Jean instantly threw her hands out and willed a telekinetic shield to form between them and the shards. She grunted as her shield absorbed the force of nearly a ton of flying glass. The room quieted and the dust settled.
Evan coughed once. "Man that was intense."
Logan shot him a stare and turned back to the now empty window frame. He put his hand on the frame and was about to vault over it when his ears picked up the keening of a wounded animal. Waving the smoke out of his eyes, he saw the boy thrashing against the harness, bloody chunks of glass embedded all over his body. Gripping the frame harder, he threw his body over and into the lab. His feet came crunching down on the tile floor, skidding a bit before he pulled his legs fully under him. Jogging over to the boy, he noticed the glass being pushed out of his legs, slapping the ground with wet splatters. He saw a large chunk of skin moving up the kids torso. Apparently, a chunk of glass had broken the clamps holding one side of the kids chest open.
A single claw slipped out of his hand as he skidded to a stop in from of the harness. Three swipes later, the other side of the kids chest and his hands were free of their restraints. Not hesitating for an instant, Logan grabbed both flapping slabs of muscle and skin and pushed them back into place. Reaching his bloody hand to a table for a clamp to hold the pieces together, he turned back to see the skin already knitting itself back together. -Even I don't heal that fast.-- Logan thought incredously. Staring for a moment, he heard the sounds of rapid footsteps coming towards him.
Scott and the rest of the team came crunching up. Scott took a quick glance at the now smooth and unmarred chest of the boy. Inwardly sighing with relief that he really didn't see the guys chest spread open before, Scott motioned to Logan. "Get the rest of the restraints off him, we need to get out of here." Logan nodded and turned back to the boy to free him.
Letting another claw slide out of his fist, he started to kneel down to cut off the ankle restraints when he heard a menacing growl above him. Flicking his eyes up, he saw the narrowed eyes of the kid boring down on his hand. Glancing down, he stared at the steel clamp in his hand. A startled cry from Jean brought his head around, trying to see what startled her, he felt the hand of god slam into his temple, knocking him back across the lab, his vision wavering.
Scott gaped as he saw the kid smash a fist into the side of Logan's head. The clang of metal striking metal rang through the lab. He took a step towards Logan when an all too familiar 'snickt' rang out.
Everyone's eyes snapped back to the boy and there was a missed heartbeat when they saw the two metal blades thrusting out of the boys right hand. The hand flashed at his own neck and with a spurt of crimson blood, the collar fell to the ground. Two more swipes and the boy dropped down to the cold grate beneath him.
Logan shook his head and sprang back to his feet, searching for his attacker. His heart skipped a beat when he noticed the 5 blades jutting out of the kids hands. Realizing that the kid saw the clamps in his hand and thought he was one of the doctors, he retracted his claws and dropped his hands to his sides.
The boy dropped to a crouch, warily eying the group of people in front of him. A low growl slipped out of his throat as Jean took a small step towards him and made soothing noises.
Gingerly stepping over a rail, Jean tried to project calm to the distressed mutant. Her green eyes locked with his brown orbs and the world seemed to halt for a moment. She shrieked as the boy bunched his legs and with a roar leaped over her head. Throwing her hands over her head and crouching, the growling mutant blew past her.
Logan's eyes tracked the flight of the kid as he soared over the heads of the kids and into the observation room. He started running after him when a black cloud exploded next to him and Kurt appeared with Kitty in his arms.
Kurt turned to Logan with wide eyes. "What was that? I saw a blur run past us."
Scott started to answer when they heard a faint wail and a gunshot from the down the hall. Turning to the team, he started motioned to the window frame. "We have to catch him before we lose him." With that, the x-men thundered back into the hallway.
Logan took the lead as they ran down the halls. Coming to an intersection, he sniffed the air and paused. Shaking his head, he pointed to the right and took off down the hall with the rest of the x-men following. More gunshots and yelling drifted down the hall as they ran. Logan spotted a rifle laying next to a door, cleanly sliced in half. He also took in the severed hand still clutching the grip. Not slowing, he glanced into the office as he passed it. He dispassionately noted the motionless soldier laying on the floor, blood pumping out of the stump in his arm and the three furrows across his face, exposing a mangled, sightless eye and glistening bone.
Reaching out, he caught the door and slammed it shut, hopefully sparing the kids one more nightmare.
Unfortunately, the kid seemed to have other ideas. Still sprinting down the halls, he caught a glimpse of a naked leg flash down another hall. Speeding in that direction, he saw bullets impact the wall and tear into the cinderblocks, the sounds of gunfire came to an abrupt halt and there was a pregnant silence. A screech of mortal pain shredded the moment and the next thing anyone heard could only be described as..wet.
Following the now smeared bloody footprints, the x-men pursued the teen. Mentally blocking out the sight of the scattered, mangled corpses littering their path, they reached the outer doors. They saw the gore spattered teen loping towards the cover of the trees. With whatever was blocking her telepathy inside now gone, Jean reached out to knock the rampaging boy out. With her eyes closed in concentration, she missed the muzzle of a m16 poke out from the inside of humvee and point at the boy. She felt her mind slipping past the boiling rage pouring off the teen and had barely gotten a foothold when searing pain ripped through her accompanied by the roar of a machine gun.
The team watched in horror as the bullets stitched a path across the kids back, blasting bloody chunks out of his torso and slamming him into the door of another humvee. The kids body left a crimson smear as he rebounded off the vehicle and dropped to the ground, wetly skidding on the packed dirt and coming to a stop in a heap of limp limbs.
Scott barked out to Storm to take care of the 4x4 and quickened his pace to the now fallen kid. Positive he was going to find a corpse when he got there, he was relieved when he saw the body start to twitch.
A cry tore out of Evan and Scott's mouths when they saw the camouflaged soldier step out from behind a truck and level a handgun at the boy. Time seemed to slow as a sadistic grin oozed across the soldiers face before he squeezed the trigger. The boy's body jerked and danced on the ground as the soldier emptied the clip into the kids stomach.
The team ground to a halt at the blood spattered soldier. Not believing that a person could find such gleeful delight in the murder of a kid. Logan roared and sprinted at the soldier who was now quickly reloading his gun. Scott reached up to his visor and sent a ruby beam smashing into the gun and sending it off into the trees. The soldier grabbed his hand and sneered at the mutants. "Fuck you, you freaks, you're gonna fuc." and a choking sound brushed past his lips. Looking down, he brought his hand to his abs, feeling his shirt tenting around 3 sharp points. Feeling the wet stain spreading on his shirt, he glanced back at the x-men with a look of supreme disbelief. He twitched once then looked back at his front. The three points behind his shirt visibly jerked up and came to rest just below his right collarbone. Still silently staring, the soldier shivered once more before his entire body jerked off the ground and the blood spattered and bullet riddled form of the boy was revealed, his left fist jammed aginst the back of the soldier. Snarling once, his right hand came swooping across in an arc, claws biting into the side of the soldier right above the belt. Barely slowing, the razor sharp claws exploded out of the soldiers body with a spray of arterial blood that slapped audibly against the humvee.
The boy ripped the claws out of the soldiers torso and tossed it away from the twitching legs before springing into the woods.
Logan skidded to a stop next to the quivering soldier. With wide eyes, the soldier looked at Logan. "My legs are cold. I need my pants." Before shivering once more. Taking a quick look behind him at the rest of the x- men, he angled his body to block his hands. Leaning close to the soldier's ear, he whispered. "It's ok, they are coming with your pants kid." Before reaching up with his right hand and sending a single claw mercifully into the soldier's brain, silencing him forever.
Unfortunately, his attempt to hide this failed as Scott saw the claw retract from the soldier's temple. Inwardly cringing, Scott stopped the running x-men. "Enough with the soft gloves. This guy needs to be stopped and stopped right now. Fan out and search the forest." Glancing back at the hesitant faces, he added. "I know, but we can't help him until we stop him. We can't let him loose when he obviously has no problem killing." Pointing to the trees, "Go. And call on the communicator when you spot him."
The X-men broke off from each other and vanished into the woods. Scott started to run his own direction when Logan grabbed a handful of his uniform and roughly spun him around. In a dangerously low voice, "You just sent a bunch of kids into a forest after a killer. What the hell are you thinking Summers?" Realization dawned on Scott's face and he yanked out the communicator. Talking rapidly, he recalled the team.
Both their heads whipped around when they heard a high pitched scream of terror. They both looked at each other before they both spoke at once. "Kitty." Logan bounded off into the trees.
In the forest
Kitty ducked under a low hanging branch. She took a quick look around the forest. Not seeing anything out of what she assumed to be the ordinary, she sat down and put her hands on her face. -God, I'm in the middle of like nowhere chasing after a teenage Freddy Krueger. I totally should have stayed at home with mom and dad.- She heard her communicator beep and she flipped it open. Hearing Scott's recall order, she blew a breath of relief and stood. She decided to take the shortcut back to the field and just phase through the trees.
Running full tilt through the underbrush and trees, she caught a glimpse of red before loosing her concentration and smacking into a trunk. Shaking her head, she peeked around the tree. What she saw disturbed her. The boy was on his hands and knees next to a pine tree, blood dripping off his face and chest. She heard the sound of metal hitting rock and caught a glimpse of the bullets being forced out of the kids body. Not even breathing, she continued to watch as the boys arms started shaking violently before he crashed face first into the ground and was still.
Realizing that the boy was still breathing, however slowly, she pulled her communicator out to let Scott know she found him. The communicator snapped open with a click and she was about to activate it, she saw a flash of movement and she had barely raised her head to get a better look when four hundred pounds of flesh and metal slammed into her, knocking her off her feet and sending her skidding through the underbrush. Too startled from the ferocity of the attack and too winded from the impact to phase, she saw the silver blade slip out of the boys hands and his fist haul back to deliver the killing blow. Seeing her short life flash before her eyes, she did the only thing she could, scream.
Her piercing scream ripped through the forest, sending birds rocketing to the sky. He eyes locked on the flashing metal as it tore through the air that separated them. Her mind shut down in anticipation of the searing pain soon to come. The claws descended twords her neck and came to a sudden halt 6 inches away. Her mind still on idle, she didn't notice and the boy leaned down and started sniffing at her neck. The claws suddenly snapped back into his hands and she felt the enormous weight shift off her. Taking a shallow breath, she started to sit up when she felt hand grasp the stomach of her uniform and effortlessly rip it open, exposing her stomach. She gasped when she saw the boy drop his face to her stomach and inhale deeply. Misplaced indignation burst out of her and her arm tensed to slap the boy. She stopped when with a hot breath blew across her exposed skin and the boy collapsed to the ground, unmoving. Not believing what just happened, she flopped back to the ground to regain her senses when the bushes to her right exploded and a snarling Wolverine flew at her. Flinching back, she saw Logan's fingers curl into the boys hair and yank him to his feet. Claws ripped out of Logan's left fist and flashed down and across the boys stomach. shifting his grip to the boys shoulder, he pivoted his hips and sent the boy sailing across the small clearing, the boy's body pin wheeling off into the brush after his head smacked into a tree.
Watching to see if his opponent got back up, Logan stepped back to Kitty to see if she was still alive and if she was going to stay that way. Satisfied the boy wasn't getting back up, he turned to the gaping hole in Kitty's uniform. Blinking, he saw the undamaged skin flex as she sucked air. Looking up into her shocked face, he couldn't see or smell any of her blood. Placing his hand on her shoulder, he tried to get her attention. "Half-pint, you ok?" Getting no response, he hauled her to her feet and checked her for injuries. He was in the middle of this when the rest of the team came crashing into the clearing.
Scott quickly took in Logan supporting Kitty's limp form and the unmoving body of the boy across the clearing. His eyes narrowed when he saw the bloody gash in Kitty's uniform. His mind clouded over with rage. The very mutant they came here to save had turned on them and killed Kitty. With a snarl, he spun his visor towards the boy's body and sent a full power optic blast slam into the boy, sending the body skipping off into a tree. A hand came crashing down on his arm and tore his hand away from his visor. Spinning to yell at whoever stopped him, he saw Storm's eyes boring into his and her head shaking slightly. "No Scott, that's enough." She pointed over to Kitty and Logan.
Kitty started to shake. Jean threw her arms around her and tried to comfort her. Kitty's eyes closed and she curled her hands into fists before tearing herself out of Jean's grasp and clutching her torn uniform closed. "HE LIKE TOTALLY SNIFFED ME!!!" Everyone blinked once and a collective breath was released as it was plain that Kitty was unharmed. Kitty continued her tirade. "WHO THE HELL SNIFFS PEOPLE!" Taking a quick glance around, she stomped her foot into the dirt. "That's like it. I'm done." And she stalked off towards the Blackbird.
The rest of the team started followed her. Logan reached out and grabbed Scott's arm. "Chuck is going to want the kid. Give me a hand." Scott scowled and glanced at the limp body. "Just leave him here Logan. He's nothing but an animal, I don't want him anywhere near me, much less at the institute." Logan growled and bit out. "Fine, get on the plane. I'll be a minute." Scott sent one last scathing glare at the boy and walked off.
Logan walked over to the kid. Staring for a moment at the kids hands, he reached down and tossed the body over his shoulder.
--Chuck can deal with this at the school.--
Disclaimer: Well, this is gonna be another R chapter. Might just have to make the entire fic an R. Who knows. Anyone have an opinion on that? Before we go on to the chapter. I want to make a quick review response.
Inuyasha001: Yes. Scott doesn't seem to be handling his 'leadership' role too well. There is a reason for this. He's a kid. To be more precise, he's a high-school kid. I saw the 'we can take on the world with a smile' portrayal of the cartoon as kinda...far-fetched. This fic takes place fairly early in the series and he's new at the whole spandex brigade thing. As to him fainting at the end of the last chap, I personally know a cop that fainted watching a knee surgery on tv, so Scott dropping at the sight of a person he could reasonably expect to see at school hanging up with his chest torn open would be an order of magnitude worse. I'm just trying to give the x-men a human face. (Yea yea yea, bad pun) 8P
A stinging slap tore Scott out of his blankness. Running a hand over his head, he stared at the looming form of Logan. "Yea I'm up, what happened?"
Logan scowled and bit out. "I told ya not to look kid. Next time listen to me. Now get out of here. I got some work to do." And he pulled Scott to his feet and shoved him towards the door.
Stumbling out the door, his eyes came to rest on the team. Kitty was slowly rocking back and forth with Rogue and Kurt talking softly to her. Storm was standing still and had turned an empty stare at the door as if she expected something demonic to emerge. He slowly walked over to Jean who was flicking her eyes back and forth between Kitty and Storm.
Quickly figuring out the reason for her distress, he placed his hand on her shoulder to get her attention. "Jean, be thankful you can't read our minds right now." She narrowed her eyes, trying to piece together what would send Kitty into hysterics and get an actual reaction out of the normally unflappable Storm. Shaking her head, she returned to her useless attempts to try to pick up on the teams thoughts.
The entire team jumped as an almost deafening roar erupted from the other room. Storm and Scott ran to the door, trying to see what had sent Logan into a rage. Mentally preparing himself, he stuck his head past the doorframe and was greeted by Logan tearing at the window in a frenzy. He felt Jean brush up against his shoulder and panicking, he slammed his arm back against the doorframe, preventing her from seeing the lab.
Getting an annoyed glare, he shook his head and motioned her back into the hallway. He turned and followed her back over to the rest of the team. Meeting the questioning eyes of Rogue and Kurt, he sighed. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he started explaining. "I know you are curious about what's in there, and that you want to see for yourself. But I don't want you to go in unprepared like Kitty." waving his hand at the calming girl, he continued. "It's not something that you are going to want to see, trust me. I just don't want you to go in unprepared. They weren't just tortu.beating on the guy, they were.." his voice broke a bit. "... experimenting on him." Looking at the uncomprehending looks on their faces, he elaborated. "Surgically experimenting. And it looks like we interrupted them." Realization dawned on them and Rogue squeezed Kitty's shoulders gently. "It looks like Logan is trying to get into the room. When he does, I'm going to need help getting the mutant out of the...harness he's in. If you don't want to go in with us, no one is going to think any less of you. It's not pretty in there."
The other x-men slowly nodded their heads. Scott noticed a small smile appear on Storm's face. Apparently, she approved of their attitude. Kitty took a few deep breaths and stood. "I'm like totally not going back in there." Scott nodded. "It's ok Kitty. You don't have to."
The crashing suddenly stopped and Logan stomped out of the room, a black look on his face and scraping hard chunks of goo off his claws. Stopping, he thrust a finger at Scott and Storm. "You two, come on, we need some firepower." Without waiting, he turned and stalked back inside.
Quick glances were exchanged between the team and everyone but Kitty and Kurt headed inside the observation room. They were met with a vision of chaos. Scraps of wood from demolished desks were strewn across the floor and the window had chunks of glass ripped out and a grey goo was boiling out of the wounds. Logan turned to Scott and Storm. "That's a TacFoam, I can't claw through it. Gonna need you two to blast through."
They nodded and Scott braced his feet and his hand raised his hand to his visor. Next to him, Storm's eyes glazed over and turned milky-white. Everyone's hair started to stand on end as a faint nimbus of energy surrounded her. Scott waited a few seconds before nodding and speaking one word.
"Fire."
His fingers spun the dial on his visor to full power and triggered the shutter. A ruby lance of force erupted out and lashed at the window, slamming into it with the force of a train.
Storm gathered the strands of power around her and thrust her hands at the window, willing a bolt of lightning to erupt from her. The white-hot bolt crashed across the room, searing the glass as it impacted.
The twin beams of power tore at the window, leaving smoking craters. They kept pouring power at the offending obstruction until with a thunderous crash, the window exploded in it's frame, sending lethal shards careening into both rooms. Jean instantly threw her hands out and willed a telekinetic shield to form between them and the shards. She grunted as her shield absorbed the force of nearly a ton of flying glass. The room quieted and the dust settled.
Evan coughed once. "Man that was intense."
Logan shot him a stare and turned back to the now empty window frame. He put his hand on the frame and was about to vault over it when his ears picked up the keening of a wounded animal. Waving the smoke out of his eyes, he saw the boy thrashing against the harness, bloody chunks of glass embedded all over his body. Gripping the frame harder, he threw his body over and into the lab. His feet came crunching down on the tile floor, skidding a bit before he pulled his legs fully under him. Jogging over to the boy, he noticed the glass being pushed out of his legs, slapping the ground with wet splatters. He saw a large chunk of skin moving up the kids torso. Apparently, a chunk of glass had broken the clamps holding one side of the kids chest open.
A single claw slipped out of his hand as he skidded to a stop in from of the harness. Three swipes later, the other side of the kids chest and his hands were free of their restraints. Not hesitating for an instant, Logan grabbed both flapping slabs of muscle and skin and pushed them back into place. Reaching his bloody hand to a table for a clamp to hold the pieces together, he turned back to see the skin already knitting itself back together. -Even I don't heal that fast.-- Logan thought incredously. Staring for a moment, he heard the sounds of rapid footsteps coming towards him.
Scott and the rest of the team came crunching up. Scott took a quick glance at the now smooth and unmarred chest of the boy. Inwardly sighing with relief that he really didn't see the guys chest spread open before, Scott motioned to Logan. "Get the rest of the restraints off him, we need to get out of here." Logan nodded and turned back to the boy to free him.
Letting another claw slide out of his fist, he started to kneel down to cut off the ankle restraints when he heard a menacing growl above him. Flicking his eyes up, he saw the narrowed eyes of the kid boring down on his hand. Glancing down, he stared at the steel clamp in his hand. A startled cry from Jean brought his head around, trying to see what startled her, he felt the hand of god slam into his temple, knocking him back across the lab, his vision wavering.
Scott gaped as he saw the kid smash a fist into the side of Logan's head. The clang of metal striking metal rang through the lab. He took a step towards Logan when an all too familiar 'snickt' rang out.
Everyone's eyes snapped back to the boy and there was a missed heartbeat when they saw the two metal blades thrusting out of the boys right hand. The hand flashed at his own neck and with a spurt of crimson blood, the collar fell to the ground. Two more swipes and the boy dropped down to the cold grate beneath him.
Logan shook his head and sprang back to his feet, searching for his attacker. His heart skipped a beat when he noticed the 5 blades jutting out of the kids hands. Realizing that the kid saw the clamps in his hand and thought he was one of the doctors, he retracted his claws and dropped his hands to his sides.
The boy dropped to a crouch, warily eying the group of people in front of him. A low growl slipped out of his throat as Jean took a small step towards him and made soothing noises.
Gingerly stepping over a rail, Jean tried to project calm to the distressed mutant. Her green eyes locked with his brown orbs and the world seemed to halt for a moment. She shrieked as the boy bunched his legs and with a roar leaped over her head. Throwing her hands over her head and crouching, the growling mutant blew past her.
Logan's eyes tracked the flight of the kid as he soared over the heads of the kids and into the observation room. He started running after him when a black cloud exploded next to him and Kurt appeared with Kitty in his arms.
Kurt turned to Logan with wide eyes. "What was that? I saw a blur run past us."
Scott started to answer when they heard a faint wail and a gunshot from the down the hall. Turning to the team, he started motioned to the window frame. "We have to catch him before we lose him." With that, the x-men thundered back into the hallway.
Logan took the lead as they ran down the halls. Coming to an intersection, he sniffed the air and paused. Shaking his head, he pointed to the right and took off down the hall with the rest of the x-men following. More gunshots and yelling drifted down the hall as they ran. Logan spotted a rifle laying next to a door, cleanly sliced in half. He also took in the severed hand still clutching the grip. Not slowing, he glanced into the office as he passed it. He dispassionately noted the motionless soldier laying on the floor, blood pumping out of the stump in his arm and the three furrows across his face, exposing a mangled, sightless eye and glistening bone.
Reaching out, he caught the door and slammed it shut, hopefully sparing the kids one more nightmare.
Unfortunately, the kid seemed to have other ideas. Still sprinting down the halls, he caught a glimpse of a naked leg flash down another hall. Speeding in that direction, he saw bullets impact the wall and tear into the cinderblocks, the sounds of gunfire came to an abrupt halt and there was a pregnant silence. A screech of mortal pain shredded the moment and the next thing anyone heard could only be described as..wet.
Following the now smeared bloody footprints, the x-men pursued the teen. Mentally blocking out the sight of the scattered, mangled corpses littering their path, they reached the outer doors. They saw the gore spattered teen loping towards the cover of the trees. With whatever was blocking her telepathy inside now gone, Jean reached out to knock the rampaging boy out. With her eyes closed in concentration, she missed the muzzle of a m16 poke out from the inside of humvee and point at the boy. She felt her mind slipping past the boiling rage pouring off the teen and had barely gotten a foothold when searing pain ripped through her accompanied by the roar of a machine gun.
The team watched in horror as the bullets stitched a path across the kids back, blasting bloody chunks out of his torso and slamming him into the door of another humvee. The kids body left a crimson smear as he rebounded off the vehicle and dropped to the ground, wetly skidding on the packed dirt and coming to a stop in a heap of limp limbs.
Scott barked out to Storm to take care of the 4x4 and quickened his pace to the now fallen kid. Positive he was going to find a corpse when he got there, he was relieved when he saw the body start to twitch.
A cry tore out of Evan and Scott's mouths when they saw the camouflaged soldier step out from behind a truck and level a handgun at the boy. Time seemed to slow as a sadistic grin oozed across the soldiers face before he squeezed the trigger. The boy's body jerked and danced on the ground as the soldier emptied the clip into the kids stomach.
The team ground to a halt at the blood spattered soldier. Not believing that a person could find such gleeful delight in the murder of a kid. Logan roared and sprinted at the soldier who was now quickly reloading his gun. Scott reached up to his visor and sent a ruby beam smashing into the gun and sending it off into the trees. The soldier grabbed his hand and sneered at the mutants. "Fuck you, you freaks, you're gonna fuc." and a choking sound brushed past his lips. Looking down, he brought his hand to his abs, feeling his shirt tenting around 3 sharp points. Feeling the wet stain spreading on his shirt, he glanced back at the x-men with a look of supreme disbelief. He twitched once then looked back at his front. The three points behind his shirt visibly jerked up and came to rest just below his right collarbone. Still silently staring, the soldier shivered once more before his entire body jerked off the ground and the blood spattered and bullet riddled form of the boy was revealed, his left fist jammed aginst the back of the soldier. Snarling once, his right hand came swooping across in an arc, claws biting into the side of the soldier right above the belt. Barely slowing, the razor sharp claws exploded out of the soldiers body with a spray of arterial blood that slapped audibly against the humvee.
The boy ripped the claws out of the soldiers torso and tossed it away from the twitching legs before springing into the woods.
Logan skidded to a stop next to the quivering soldier. With wide eyes, the soldier looked at Logan. "My legs are cold. I need my pants." Before shivering once more. Taking a quick look behind him at the rest of the x- men, he angled his body to block his hands. Leaning close to the soldier's ear, he whispered. "It's ok, they are coming with your pants kid." Before reaching up with his right hand and sending a single claw mercifully into the soldier's brain, silencing him forever.
Unfortunately, his attempt to hide this failed as Scott saw the claw retract from the soldier's temple. Inwardly cringing, Scott stopped the running x-men. "Enough with the soft gloves. This guy needs to be stopped and stopped right now. Fan out and search the forest." Glancing back at the hesitant faces, he added. "I know, but we can't help him until we stop him. We can't let him loose when he obviously has no problem killing." Pointing to the trees, "Go. And call on the communicator when you spot him."
The X-men broke off from each other and vanished into the woods. Scott started to run his own direction when Logan grabbed a handful of his uniform and roughly spun him around. In a dangerously low voice, "You just sent a bunch of kids into a forest after a killer. What the hell are you thinking Summers?" Realization dawned on Scott's face and he yanked out the communicator. Talking rapidly, he recalled the team.
Both their heads whipped around when they heard a high pitched scream of terror. They both looked at each other before they both spoke at once. "Kitty." Logan bounded off into the trees.
In the forest
Kitty ducked under a low hanging branch. She took a quick look around the forest. Not seeing anything out of what she assumed to be the ordinary, she sat down and put her hands on her face. -God, I'm in the middle of like nowhere chasing after a teenage Freddy Krueger. I totally should have stayed at home with mom and dad.- She heard her communicator beep and she flipped it open. Hearing Scott's recall order, she blew a breath of relief and stood. She decided to take the shortcut back to the field and just phase through the trees.
Running full tilt through the underbrush and trees, she caught a glimpse of red before loosing her concentration and smacking into a trunk. Shaking her head, she peeked around the tree. What she saw disturbed her. The boy was on his hands and knees next to a pine tree, blood dripping off his face and chest. She heard the sound of metal hitting rock and caught a glimpse of the bullets being forced out of the kids body. Not even breathing, she continued to watch as the boys arms started shaking violently before he crashed face first into the ground and was still.
Realizing that the boy was still breathing, however slowly, she pulled her communicator out to let Scott know she found him. The communicator snapped open with a click and she was about to activate it, she saw a flash of movement and she had barely raised her head to get a better look when four hundred pounds of flesh and metal slammed into her, knocking her off her feet and sending her skidding through the underbrush. Too startled from the ferocity of the attack and too winded from the impact to phase, she saw the silver blade slip out of the boys hands and his fist haul back to deliver the killing blow. Seeing her short life flash before her eyes, she did the only thing she could, scream.
Her piercing scream ripped through the forest, sending birds rocketing to the sky. He eyes locked on the flashing metal as it tore through the air that separated them. Her mind shut down in anticipation of the searing pain soon to come. The claws descended twords her neck and came to a sudden halt 6 inches away. Her mind still on idle, she didn't notice and the boy leaned down and started sniffing at her neck. The claws suddenly snapped back into his hands and she felt the enormous weight shift off her. Taking a shallow breath, she started to sit up when she felt hand grasp the stomach of her uniform and effortlessly rip it open, exposing her stomach. She gasped when she saw the boy drop his face to her stomach and inhale deeply. Misplaced indignation burst out of her and her arm tensed to slap the boy. She stopped when with a hot breath blew across her exposed skin and the boy collapsed to the ground, unmoving. Not believing what just happened, she flopped back to the ground to regain her senses when the bushes to her right exploded and a snarling Wolverine flew at her. Flinching back, she saw Logan's fingers curl into the boys hair and yank him to his feet. Claws ripped out of Logan's left fist and flashed down and across the boys stomach. shifting his grip to the boys shoulder, he pivoted his hips and sent the boy sailing across the small clearing, the boy's body pin wheeling off into the brush after his head smacked into a tree.
Watching to see if his opponent got back up, Logan stepped back to Kitty to see if she was still alive and if she was going to stay that way. Satisfied the boy wasn't getting back up, he turned to the gaping hole in Kitty's uniform. Blinking, he saw the undamaged skin flex as she sucked air. Looking up into her shocked face, he couldn't see or smell any of her blood. Placing his hand on her shoulder, he tried to get her attention. "Half-pint, you ok?" Getting no response, he hauled her to her feet and checked her for injuries. He was in the middle of this when the rest of the team came crashing into the clearing.
Scott quickly took in Logan supporting Kitty's limp form and the unmoving body of the boy across the clearing. His eyes narrowed when he saw the bloody gash in Kitty's uniform. His mind clouded over with rage. The very mutant they came here to save had turned on them and killed Kitty. With a snarl, he spun his visor towards the boy's body and sent a full power optic blast slam into the boy, sending the body skipping off into a tree. A hand came crashing down on his arm and tore his hand away from his visor. Spinning to yell at whoever stopped him, he saw Storm's eyes boring into his and her head shaking slightly. "No Scott, that's enough." She pointed over to Kitty and Logan.
Kitty started to shake. Jean threw her arms around her and tried to comfort her. Kitty's eyes closed and she curled her hands into fists before tearing herself out of Jean's grasp and clutching her torn uniform closed. "HE LIKE TOTALLY SNIFFED ME!!!" Everyone blinked once and a collective breath was released as it was plain that Kitty was unharmed. Kitty continued her tirade. "WHO THE HELL SNIFFS PEOPLE!" Taking a quick glance around, she stomped her foot into the dirt. "That's like it. I'm done." And she stalked off towards the Blackbird.
The rest of the team started followed her. Logan reached out and grabbed Scott's arm. "Chuck is going to want the kid. Give me a hand." Scott scowled and glanced at the limp body. "Just leave him here Logan. He's nothing but an animal, I don't want him anywhere near me, much less at the institute." Logan growled and bit out. "Fine, get on the plane. I'll be a minute." Scott sent one last scathing glare at the boy and walked off.
Logan walked over to the kid. Staring for a moment at the kids hands, he reached down and tossed the body over his shoulder.
--Chuck can deal with this at the school.--