Fear: Chapter 5-Taking Action
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"Professor?" Jamie asked timidly from where he sat on the floor of the Cerebro room.
Charles glanced at the boy calmly, sensing his concern by the look the young boy gave him. "It's alright, we should be perfectly safe here." he folded his hands over his lap, then thought, 'I hope.'
Hank edged close to the door that they had to force open to get inside, then pressed his ear against it and tried to listen as Amara did the same. "Hm..I don't hear anything. Maybe our assailants haven't discovered the mansion's sub-levels." he pondered out loud.
"Somehow, I doubt it." Amara muttered quietly, pulling away from the door to sit beside Jamie.
*****
Logan was still in the narrow hallway with Craven, pinning the man to the floor with his knee in his back and arm held behind him. Grimacing as he was reminded of the pain in his shoulder as some blood dripped onto the assailant's back, Logan suddenly went very still when he heard a soft clicking noise from the window at the end of the hall. It was the same noise he'd heard when everyone was in the library...right before the window exploded.
His mind finally forcing him to move, Logan dove away from Craven as the window exploded. He used the smoke from the explosion as a cover to escape, and clumsily raced down the hall and turned a corner. Logan wanted more than anything to kill those creeps, but he needed time to gather himself and he'd have to plan some point of action. He didn't have his healing factor to depend on this time, so he couldn't run headlong into this situation.
"Over here!" Craven coughed angrily from the smoke, already knowing it was Stick who had blown the window. After all, he was their explosives man. Pulling himself from the floor, he raised a hand to his bleeding shoulder.
Casually walking down the hall, his black clothes a little dusty from the explosions, Stick glared down at Trigger's body that was slumped against the wall, one hand missing. A pool of blood surrounded his stump where a hand would normally be, and his face remained frozen in agony, drawn of blood. Kicking at the corpse disrespectfully, Stick muttered, "I knew Trigger would end up like this." he shook his head. "Damn bastard bled to death."
Craven partially grinned sadistically with a grunt. "Let's go."
Spitting down at Trigger's body, Stick nodded before he and Craven parted ways to track down the remaining mutants.
*****
Tears dried upon her pale face, Rogue stumbled down the dark metallic hallways until she reached the danger room. She began pounding on the door tirelessly, not caring if there was anyone to hear her pleas or not. "Anyone in there?! Please! Let me in! HELLO?!"
Suddenly the door was pried open from the inside, and Storm stood there with Ray, Sam, Kitty, and Kurt behind her. "Rogue!" she exclaimed, quickly grabbing the girl's arm and pulling her inside the room.
Once inside, Sam and Kurt forced the heavy metal door closed, then turned back to the rest of the group as they all made a circle around the flashlight and sat down.
Kitty noticed Rogue's blood-stained pajamas immediately, her brows furrowed in concern for her friend. "Are you okay?"
Nodding, Rogue sniffled a bit, suddenly realizing she'd dropped her make-shift weapon when she took off. Her face turned stiff suddenly and she bowed her head, trying to force back the tears she felt coming back. "...Scott an' Bobby are dead." she whispered to the group, wishing she didn't have to be all alone to bring them the sorrowful news.
"Goddess." Ororo gasped, a hand to her mouth as tears sprung from her eyes. She was trying to be strong for the students, but this situation was pretty grim altogether and she found it getting to be more difficult to compose herself and shield her emotions.
"No..." Kitty whispered quietly as she began crying into Kurt's shoulder who was sitting in the circle beside her.
Not knowing what else to do, and shocked from the news himself, Kurt gently pulled Kitty into a hug and patted her back.
Sam and Ray just sat quietly after passing a sorrowful glance at one another, staring into nothing and not knowing what to say if anything.
Rogue swallowed the lump in her throat. "We found Scott in the kitchen when we were attacked...We got away that time..then in the hall...we were attacked again. He got Bobby..." she explained, wiping her tears again. "Then another guy came, the one with the gun...an' Logan killed 'im."
Storm didn't need to ask who "he" was, since it was obvious Rogue was speaking about the attackers. A thought came to her then, and she realized someone was still missing from Rogue's original group. "Where is Logan?" she asked quietly, hoping the answer wasn't as bad as the whereabouts of Scott and Bobby.
Looking up sadly, eyes glazed with worry, Rogue answered, "I dunno. He - he made me leave, after attackin' the guy in the hallway." shaking her head she finished, "He wasn't in great shape Storm, he got stabbed in the shoulder twice, an' he was slowin' down."
Biting her lower lip and trying to think of what she should do, Storm finally stood from the circle and looked to Ray and Sam. "Could you boys help me get the door open please?" she asked quietly, but sternly.
"Storm, what are you doing?" Kurt asked nervously, jumping to his feet.
"You can't go out there!" Kitty added, furiously wiping at her tears once she stopped crying.
"I've got to go out there." she told them. "We know the Professor and his group are safe, they've locked themselves in the Cerebro room. We came here so we're not all in one place if something should happen. But we still have teammates missing. Jean and Logan are out there and I'm not giving up on them."
Berserker tossed Storm the flashlight. "Take this, you'll need it more than we will." he nodded to her and motioned for Sam to help get the door open.
"I'm going with you Storm." Nightcrawler said as sternly as he could manage, not taking 'no' for an answer. "I can conceal myself in the dark, I can help."
"Alright." nodding, Ororo glanced at Kitty and the two other boys. "You stay here, don't open the door for anyone unless you are absolutely sure who it is."
"Okay." Kitty said a little sadly, almost afraid they weren't coming back.
Kurt waved a three-fingered hand, then half-smiled before he and Storm disappeared and they closed the danger room doors.
*****
Moving down the dark empty halls as quietly as he could manage, Logan slipped inside a door, finding himself in his own room. He nodded, thankful that he made it to the right room. Everything just looked too similar in the dark and he couldn't use his nose to see if it was the right one or not. Logan only knew it was his room by the three shallow slashes on the inside of the door that he remembered making just the other night after one of his violent nightmares.
He walked beside the bed where his night table was, then slowly opened the drawer and reached his hand in, pulling out his cigar lighter. Grinning with a sigh, Logan shoved the lighter in his pocket, then took off his heavy boots and socks to allow him better traction and stealth. Crouching low beside the bed in case anyone should come in the room, Logan unsheathed a single claw and tore a strip from his t-shirt. He gritted his teeth and wrapped the torn piece of cloth around his shoulder wound as tight as he could manage.
Giving himself a minute to gather his strength, Logan rose from the floor and snuck out of his room after making sure no one was coming. Keeping close to the walls, he passed a few doors before heading into another room. He noticed the pictures and style of the room, and realized it had to have been Kitty's or Jean's. Walking toward a shelf, Logan found a few bottles of perfume. He shoved one in his pocket, and satisfied with his find, left the room carefully.
*****
Note: I know what yer thinkin'...Logan hasn't gone nuts on us, stealing women's perfume. *snickers* You'll find out why...unless you already know. x_0 heh...Are you picking my brain again?! Or is my muse givin' away all my secrets! Hmm? *glares suspiciously at muse*
Logan-muse: *looks back innocently* What?! I didn't do nothin'! I swear!