Chapter 10

Very stealthily, Cyclops pushed himself and Sabretooth away from the sentinels right when the shooting of the sentinels hit the ground. They went down a little hole to the side of where they were standing. The sentinels believed they have done their duty because they were oblivious to where Cyclops and Sabretooth had gone behind all the smoke and destruction from their shootings.

Cyclops and Sabretooth came shooting out from the tunnel they had leapt into. Sabretooth landed on his back and Cyclops landed on him. Sabretooth let out a loud growl and roughly pushed Cyclops off of him. They both picked themselves off the ground and looked around.

"Let's go find the others. They have to be around here somewhere," Cyclops said in his leadership tone as they started walking straight. That was the only way to walk for behind them was the edge of the underground area of concrete, and next to that was a long way down full of blackness.

Sabretooth walked a few feet ahead of Cyclops as he looked around to be aware of all his surroundings. But then Cyclops felt a cold chill go up his spine. His knees buckled, his palms became sweaty, his eyes red, and goose bumps filled his whole body.

"Scott," Jean said as he was afraid to turn around. "What's wrong Scott?"

"Jean," Scott said with a softer voice than his usual one. "I…I was so afraid that you had left me. You took away my sanity, part of my soul. I didn't know what to do."

"It's ok Scott," Jean said as her footsteps neared him. "I'm here now." Scott turned around to see Jean's beautiful face. Her rosy cheeks lit up the room and her presence was more than enough. Scott reached out to touch her cheek and tuck a strand of hair behind her ear just to make sure she was real.

"Take my hand," Jean said as Scott obeyed. She took his hand in hers and led him forward to what seemed like a……beach. Scott smiled at the smell of the ocean, the breeze of the warm air, the feel of the soft sand, and the sight of the clear blue sky.

They approached the shore as Jean stopped and turned to him. "Oh Scott," Jean said as she put her arms around his chest and laid her cheek on the front of it. "Come with me."

"I'd go anywhere with you," Scott said as he hugged her back, holding her closer than he ever has, to make sure she never leaves.

"Don't ever let go," Jean said as she started moving into the ocean. Scott held onto her as a response to let her know that he would never let go. "Don't let go."

"I won't."

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"We have to help Logan," Storm said as she started moving the rocks that were lying on Logan's body to the side.

"Doesn't he heal or something? He can handle himself," Pyro said smugly as he started walking through the small tunnel that was left through all the rubble.

"John," Storm said with irritation as Pyro turned around in annoyance. "He won't have time to heal if he stays under here. Come on," Storm said sincerely as Pyro turned back around and continued walking, contemplating where he was headed to. Then he realized he had no idea where he was headed to exactly. But before he could make up his mind if he wanted to stay or not he felt a gust of wind fly past him and get stronger over his head.

He jumped back a little when the rocks from above him fell in front of him because of the wind. He turned back to look at Storm who's white eyes were now going back to their normal state. She nodded her head as he approached her and started removing the rocks.

Pyro busied himself with the rocks, for he did not want to converse with his old teacher and house mate. But she didn't hesitate a bit. "John, have you forgotten about everything?"

"I try really hard to," Pyro said coldly. "You know, it's a good thing that I'm here with Magneto. If I wasn't, I'd be at the boring mansion, missing all the action."

"Well Bobby and Rogue are part of the team now," Storm answered with a comeback as she rapidly removed the rocks from Logan's body until she saw a little bit of it.

Pyro just shrugged and began to remove the rocks more rapidly as well. But deep down he felt a pang of regret. Jealousy.

"Logan!" Storm exclaimed as she saw his face, bloody but healing slowly.

"So Bobby gets Rogue and an X-men uniform," Pyro mumbled to himself somewhat angrily as Storm busied herself with removing some rocks that were left.

He helped her unwillingly as he thought about Bobby and Rogue. He had not seen them at the little gathering upstairs. He wondered where they were at the moment.

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"It's your turn," Joe said as he looked at Bobby and Rogue. "Ready to be cured?"

"Stop this!!!" Rogue screamed as they dragged them along by their strong metallic chains. "You're crazy!!!"

"Yeah, maybe I am," Joe said with a smile as he remembered the half an hour of watching the first mutant being tortured. And now he's dying, slowly. "I mean being crazy is not such a bad thing. I'm getting rid of you, the X-men are here with my beautiful creation of the sentinels, and you're mansion is programmed to self-destruct."

"What?!?" Bobby exclaimed with fear for everyone at the mansion and hope of hearing that the X-men are here, although being attacked. Which meant they wouldn't find this place anytime soon.

"Thanks to you two inviting me to your mansion, I managed to pick up a disk with important information on it. Information that allowed me to go into your computer system and program def-con four," Joe said as he clapped his hands together. "Give yourselves a pat on the back for that."

A few members of the FoH dragged Rogue and Bobby to strap them down on to the iron table. But before they could do so, Rogue leaned her head forward close enough to put her forehead against the man with the patch's head. Their skin touched as she let out a shriek and he fell to the ground. She rolled to the floor and grabbed a key from the man's pocket. She unlocked Bobby's cuffs as he punched the man holding him in the nose.

He was reaching forward to unlock Rogue's cuffs but three members of the FoH reached for her. Bobby let out his hand to release ice towards the men's legs. They froze in their place as Bobby ran to Rogue and grabbed her gloved hand. They raced towards the way out as Joe let out water from one of the little tubs of water. It rushed over them as they were washed with the water and back to Joe.

Joe squeezed the water around them both tightly and lifted his hands to allow the water to enter their mouths. Bobby and Rogue choked on the liquid entering their system rapidly and cutting off their oxygen.

Then Joe dropped his hand as the water dropped with it. "Your torment is not going to be that short," he said eerily with a smile as he signaled for his men to tie them up again and strap them onto the tables.

His men obeyed as they strapped them down, hard. Joe looked at the machines and then at his men. "Every mutant in the world, one step at a time," Joe said evilly. "Let the process begin."

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"That was amazing," Jason said referring to the way Phoenix crushed the sentinels to bits and pieces.

"I know. That's what I'm best at," Phoenix said with the desirability of destruction.

"We are going to give the X-men what they deserve," Jason said cruelly as he turned to Phoenix. "Isn't that right, Darling?"

"Yes, of course," Phoenix said in a low eerie voice. "They are the enemy. They turned your father against you and they want to kill me and take me away from you."

"They are evil," Jason said.

"Yes. They must be stopped," Phoenix said as she looked outside the car window at the crushed building. They had flown to Washington D.C. after they knew about the little party the vice president was having and knew the X-men were going to be there. "Starting with their leader."

"Don't worry my dear. I might have already taken care of that," Jason said. "But if not, I'm sure you will."

"No doubt."

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Logan popped the rocks and rubble off of him as he stood up tall. Storm backed away a little at the sudden jump of Logan from under the debris.

"Are you ok?" Logan asked after his leap. Storm nodded and smiled. Logan felt a little weary but knew that feeling would go away in no time as soon as his wounds healed.

He cracked his neck to the side. He waited for his wounds to heal and then looked to Storm to see if everything was alright. While he was doing that he could not help notice Pyro looking at him in shock at the way he was concerned about Storm's health.

"Look kid," Logan said gruffly as he turned to him to give him an intimidating look. "I don't give a damn on who's side you're on, your coming with us." Pyro agreed immediately as they started walking. Logan let Ororo and John walk in front of him as he smelled around for any familiar scents.

When that was to no avail he took a moment to replay what he had heard Pyro say about Bobby and Rogue. Sometimes, he hated the fact that he had keen hearing abilities. He could hear pure jealousy in Pyro's voice. The whole situation seemed too familiar.

After Jean's supposed death, he had watched Scott loose his control in the jet. He had watched him being depressed and look as if he was empty. He had seen love like he had never seen before. Something he was not able to give Jean because it was simply not there, and something that he tried to take away from Scott by trying to pursue Jean. But he finally came to realize he was not that guy that held so much love for one woman. He was ready to move on. He would always care for Jean, but he could accept that she would never be his.

When Scott had gone crazy and then into shock, Logan wondered why. But when they saw Jean at the island and he had a hunch of why that had happened. She was a part of his soul and Logan was not about to change that. Anyway, there were plenty of other fish in the sea.

He had decided that it was time to move on and everything would be ok. But he knew Pyro had chosen something else. Logan knew that Pyro had not thought about how many people he was hurting.

And he feared Jean would not know the people she might end up hurting.

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Phoenix looked out of the window with boredom and then turned to Jason with anxious eyes. "Is it time yet?" Phoenix asked with annoyance. She knew he was her fiancé and she should not disobey him but sometimes she felt as if she was just too powerful for her to be told to do something. Nonetheless she was still doing it.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Don't ask why Sweetie, please. I'm just waiting for the right moment," Jason said as they moved into another silence. Phoenix sighed as she pulled down the sun visor. She noticed that it had a mirror and she decided to pull it down. Phoenix failed to notice Jason not moving an inch and not blinking an eye. She failed to notice that he was concentrating on nothing particular and seemed to be in his own little world.

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"Come further into the water Scott," Jean said with laughter. "Come on. I promise I won't bite."

Scott let a small smile escape his lips as he neared her in the water. The water was so warm against his muscular chest that was visible through his dress shirt. He held on to her hand as he ran his fingers through her soft red hair.

Suddenly, Scott felt the water turn ice cold against his ankles. But that did not stop him from moving forward, deeper into the water. Scott looked down at the water that now touched his knees. The water was turning black. "Jean, the water," Scott said as he looked into her blue eye and then at her green one. "It's turning black."

"That's even better," Jean said as she wrapped her arms around his neck and jolted her head back into the water, pulling him down with her.

Suddenly Scott heard a loud growl that sounded like Sabretooth. It was Sabretooth. Scott had somehow fallen off of the edge of the concrete and was headed deeper than underground, into black nothingness. Nothing could save him now, for he was half-way down, unable to clutch something. Unable to see……

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The truth was that Phoenix did not want to notice Jason for she kept her eyes fixed on the mirror. Something different about her reflection caught her eyes. She felt that feeling again. The feeling that she had not felt ever since she found out who she was. She was the Phoenix.

Goose bumps ran up and down her spine as she looked at her reflection closer. Just a little bit closer.

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Just a little bit closer and Scott would hit the ground that he had been falling down to for what seemed like forever. Was it real? It felt real. But Scott could not think, he could not speak, could not scream. He could not hear, smell, or feel. Everything was black but he could not really see either. His body was numb and his mind was frozen.

Just a few feet from the hard ground that he was falling to with full speed. Just a few feet.

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Bobby and Rogue were strapped down to the tables as they started moving. Rogue closed her eyes with fear. She couldn't hear her breath anymore. All she could hear was the noise of the machines that were now turned on and moving quite rapidly.

She made another effort to contact Professor Xavier with her mind but the machines held her back from doing so. The machines were inching closer.

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"Do you……" Storm began as she froze in her place.

"Yeah I hear it 'Ro," Logan said as he walked down the long hall, increasing his speed. He unsheathed his claws and stopped when he came to a vent in the side of the wall. "I think you need to see this."

"What is it?" Storm asked as she ran up to join Logan, Pyro scurrying behind her.

"Listen."

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Scott could not feel it but he knew the space was getting tighter and smaller. The air around him was decreasing and becoming colder than it already was.

His limp hands scraped along the edges of the rock and concrete. Yet Scott could not feel anything.

Only inches away from the hard ground.

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Phoenix jolted back from looking at her reflection instantaneously. She was oblivious to the actions her body was creating. She could not control it.

She shut her eyes tightly for five seconds as she let out her hands and waved them downwards swiftly and slowly and calmly in the air. Suddenly, her eyes popped back open as she turned to Jason, who was staring at her with confusion.

Her eyes were flashing red now as she smiled mischievously. "Let's go."

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Scott's body floated down onto the floor that was inches from him swiftly, slowly, and calmly. His body was numb and his eyes were shut. His senses seemed to not be working at the moment.

Except one.

His body was numb but he could feel fire. Burning fire.

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Rogue let out a loud shriek as she saw the drill coming down to her stomach. It began to go through her shirt. Bobby started screaming her name, unable to do what he wanted to do at this moment. Protect her, save her, love her with all he had to give. But he could not do that because he saw a metal chopper coming down on him.

Rogue felt the tip of the drill touch the skin of her stomach through the hole in her shirt. She was dead. She could feel it. She knew she was dead. Was she in Heaven?

The sound of claws could be heard near her. Wait, Logan was dead too? She quickly opened her shut eyes to see Logan slashing his claws through the machine as lightning was seen flashing from the back. She looked to her left to see John. John! He was kicking the machine that was aiming towards Bobby out of the way.

Rogue smiled at Logan. "Thanks Logan."

"You thought I forgot about you, kid?" Logan said with a slight smile as he held up his claws to release the chains from her wrists.

"What took you so long?" Rogue asked as Logan's claws were coming down upon her chains. But before they could be broken, Logan was kicked across the room by a leg.

"Dear, dear Rogue," Joe said as he reached his hand towards her face but did not touch it. Rogue tried to back away from him but was held back by the chains. "It's not over yet." Joe reached out his hand to press the button on the side of the table Rogue was laying on to keep it moving towards the machines that were ahead. But before he could do so Logan came lunging forward with his unsheathed claws.

Joe managed to drop to the ground and roll away from him in time. But Logan raced towards him as Joe punched him in the face. Logan jolted back and then forward to hit his own face in Joe's. Joe went backwards and towards the glass cases filled with x-rays of hands with built-in metal claws. Glass was crushed all over the place as Logan slashed Joe's arm with his claws. Joe made a full turn away from Logan and clutched his arm with pain.

Logan ran towards Rogue and was ready to crush the chains off her arms, when he felt something along his back. It was the drill full of hot and fresh adamantium. The one he had used to kill Lady Death Strike. Logan froze in his place contemplating all possible things he could do to save himself and Rogue. But it all seemed too late.

Suddenly, ice coated the drill in Joe's hands. Logan turned to Bobby, who was standing behind Joe, and gave him a look of gratitude. Logan freed Rogue as Storm and John fought off the FoH and Bobby aimed a furious punch towards Joe.

But everyone stopped at the sudden noise overhead. The roof of the underground facility was blown off and moved to the side of the building as Jean floated over them, eyes glowing with raging fire.

"Oh shit," Logan said as everyone's eyes widened.

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Author's Note: You better review this chapter!!! I need feedback!!! More to come in the next chapter. Next chapter will be the last chapter……stay in tune to see who lives……and who may not……