A/N: Thank you Lucas'sgirl for reviewing the last chapter. And don't worry, some major Kiotr action is coming up in the chapter after this one.
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In a neighborhood like Hell's Kitchen, crime and violence was a nightly occurrence. But, leave it to the X-Men to have to take that one notch above the norm.
"Well, do you have any idea who's shootin' at us, Bossman?" Jubilee said to Beast, as they, Iceman, and Allison Blaire sought cover on the floor of Allison's apartment, after a hail of bullets began to sing through the windows.
"Perhaps, someone wanting to voice his or her displeasure at Ms. Blaire's last album?" Beast joked, as he always did in life-threatening situations, all the while trying to come up with a plan to get them out of their current predicament.
"You're making a joke!" Allison said in disbelief, "We're being shot at, and you're actually able to joke about it!?"
"Just as long as he doesn't start doing impressions, we'll be okay." Jubilee told her, as the group laid under a medium-sized table in Allison's living room.
"Yeah, his 'Jerry Seinfeld' leaves a lot to be desired." Iceman added.
"Unbelievable! All of you are completely insane." Allison responded, as the bullets sailing overhead ceased for the time-being.
Just then, the sound of air imploding inside of the room signaled the arrival of additional individual to Allison's apartment…
Bamf!
"The 'Incredible Nightcrawler', here at your service." Nightcrawler said, as he teleported into the room close to Allison.
"Who the hell are you!" A startled Allison shouted, as she was unprepared for the sudden appearance of Nightcrawler, as well as the sulfur-tinged smoke that accompanied his mutant method of travel.
"Don't worry. Looks to the contrary, he's one of the good guys. Isn't that right 'Crawler?" Jubilee said, trying to calm Allison down.
"This is just too much. First someone turns my apartment into a shooting gallery, then weird people start popping in and out of here, I don't think I can handle…" Allison started to say, before she fainted.
"This always happens when I enter a room, it must be my overwhelmingly handsome looks." Kurt smiled, as he knelt down on the floor.
"More likely, it's the way the room needs some major airing out when you 'port in." Jubilee retorted.
After that statement, the hail of bullets from outside started up once more.
"Mein Gott, what in the world is going on?" Nightcrawler asked, "I heard gunshots while I was waiting in the X-Van outside. So, I teleported to a nearby building, and I could see masked men shooting at you from the apartment complex that is next to us."
"Nightcrawler, get Ms. Blaire to safety. Iceman, Jubilee, and myself will see what we can do about our new 'friends' outside." Beast said to the group. Nightcrawler grabbed Allison and instantly disappeared, while Beast, Jubilee, and Iceman crawled their way over to one of the windows.
Meanwhile, on the rooftop of the building opposite from the apartment complex, stood a small group of about five men with large machine guns in hand.
"When Shaw said that he wanted us to find Allison Blaire, I thought he meant as in finding her and bringing her back." The man called Reese, one of the hired mercenaries that worked for the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club said. He and his comrades, who were all dressed in dark blue uniforms and wore blue hoods with the face area painted white, stopped firing their large armaments for a moment to reload.
"Those were our original orders. That is, until I identified that one of the X-Men, the one called Beast, was inside. The new orders from up above were for us to simply eliminate the whole bunch, before they got the chance to cause us any trouble." Cole, another of the Inner Circle's hit men and also leader of the squad, said in response.
"Well, they're about to get their wish." Another man named Mancusi said, as he pulled out a grenade launcher and prepared to fire it at Allison's apartment.
Just as Mancusi prepared to blow apart Allison's apartment, which was in the middle of the third floor of the complex across from him, he was shocked as the grenade launcher he was holding suddenly disappeared in a puff of black smoke.
"Naughty, naughty. You should learn to play nicer, schwein." Nightcrawler smirked, as he held the launcher in his grasp a few feet away from the gunmen.
"Give that back, freak!" Cole shouted, as he and his men began to fire their weapons at the blue-skinned mutant. But, before the first bullet left their machine guns, Nightcrawler was long gone.
The armed men stopped their barrage of bullets, just in time to be greeted by a bright and hot flash of energy around them.
"Hey dweebs, anyone tell you that it's totally rude to go shooting up someone's home?" Jubilee said, as she and Beast rode on the back of an ice-slide that was heading towards the mercenaries, courtesy of Iceman himself.
"Blow them outta the sky!" Reese said, as he and the other men started shooting at the X-Men, who were circling right above them on the ice-slide. As some of the bullets began to cut through the ice, Beast decided on a new course of action.
"Jubilee, this is where you and I make our departure." Beast said, as he took hold of Jubilee and the two of them jumped down to the roof of the apartment complex, knocking out one of the gunmen in the process.
Jubilee immediately fired a plasma blast at another gunman and knocked him down. Nightcrawler reappeared on the rooftop and punched the man named Reese in the face, before taking his weapon from him. Last, but not least, Iceman who was still riding around on his slide, created two sharp ice shards and threw them at Cole and Mancusi. The shards hit their machine guns, damaging the weapons and making it impossible to fire them any further.
"This fight's over, let's get out of here." Cole called out to his men, as they exited the rooftop. Some used the fire escape, while others exited through a door that lead to the stairs inside of the building.
As the X-Men watched the gunmen make their departure, they themselves regrouped.
"Is Allison all right?" Hank asked Kurt, as he stood on the rooftop while Kurt crawled on the side of one of the building's walls.
"She is fine. I took her to the X-Van, and then moved it to a more secure location. The beautiful Fraulein is resting inside." Kurt replied.
"Maybe we should think about getting out of here too." Bobby said, "The police are gonna be here any minute."
"Pop-sicle's right. Bein' shot at is not my idea of a good time, and the last thing I need is something ruining my permanent record now." Jubilee also said.
With that, Bobby created another ice-slide that took Jubilee and Hank down to the ground, while Kurt teleported himself from the rooftop.
As they gathered on the ground, the four X-Men prepared to go to the alley where Kurt had parked the X-Van and then make their leave. But, they were surprised when an unexpected observer appeared on the sidewalk not too far away.
"Is everything alright? I thought I heard the sounds of gunshots earlier." A man wearing sunglasses and carrying a walking cane asked them.
"Alright? Does it look like everything's alright?" Jubilee said to him in a perturbed voice, "We just had some goons shooting at us, and you're gonna ask is everything alright?"
"Jube, I think you should lay off." Bobby said to her.
"Really, and why is that?" Jubilee quickly replied.
"It appears that our concerned friend is visually impaired." Hank told her.
"Oh, man." Jubilee said, as she finally calmed down and took a look at the man, "Look, I'm sorry. I was so spooked by everything that was going on, I didn't look to see…"
"Don't worry about it, this is can be a dangerous neighborhood. I suppose I've gotten used to only having to hear the nightly ritual of what goes on in Hell's Kitchen, but sometimes I forget that those that actually have to see it with their own two eyes may not have that same level of comfort." The man replied.
"Well, I better understand now why you haven't run off screaming after seeing me." Kurt said to him.
"Appearances don't mean that much to me. Besides, I'm sure that I've seen things stranger than whatever you may be referring to about yourself." The man replied.
"But I thought you said you were blind?" Jubilee asked the man.
The man didn't say anything, but let a devilish grin be his only response.
"Oh yeah, a joke." Jubilee said to him, with a sense of embarrassment.
"Guess I have a weird sense of humor." He told her.
"Geez, Jube, can you try to be any more insensitive to this guy, than you've already been?" Jubilee thought to herself.
"I believe that we should get going. I know that you said you are familiar with this neighborhood, but are you sure that you're going to be alright out here by yourself, Mr…" Hank said to him.
"Murdock. Matt Murdock." Matt revealed to them, "No, I'll be just fine. This is where I live. This is my home."
"Well, hope we hook up again some day, Mr. Murdock." Jubilee said, as she and the X-Men quickly made their way to the alley, where Kurt had stashed the X-Van.
"I have a funny feeling that we'll be seeing each other again." Matt smiled, as he thought to himself. Then he turned to head towards home.
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Next Chapter: Kitty and Peter have a very tender moment together, right before their world, as well as the rest of the X-Men's, are changed forever…