Disclaimer: Several new characters are mine, including the plot. X-Men belongs to Marvel and Fox.
Calandra: Thank you (: I'm happy to see that you're still enjoying my work.
Blix: Yes, Logan has a tendency to be rash and run off all suddenly =/
Omala: Huh? Who? Kill who? You've confused me x.x
Angelica: Hehe, I added the bit about the uniform to enlighten the situation, and make Logan be pissed at Gambit :D Stay tuned the for the next chapter! Woo!
Chapter 29Sharp and swift was Logan's run into the base. His nose kept hold of Roxanne's scent and he quickly followed her, tracing her closely. His eyes remained trained ahead, ears keeping alert. Breaths were heavy and raspy from the pain he was experiencing, it had been slowly fading, but with the excessive movement, it panged through him continuously. Behind him he could hear calls from Scott and Storm ringing through the corridors, he growled slightly, they were drawing attention to themselves. How was one supposed to safely enter when he had people calling out his name, which in this place is probably very dangerous.
Logan continued to run, still a distance from the remaining team, and from Roxanne. His eyes darted around the darkness, where he was heading, he wasn't sure; through the darkness the corridor looked rather unused as old lights hung from the ceiling and water sloshed through his boots on the floor. But then, a noise rung through the building that made his blood freeze in its very veins. A scream, and he recognised the tone. Roxanne!
Aurora continued to run on at a steady pace, her slim paws make little noise in the collected water below. Her wolf-nose was to the floor as she sniffed at the puddles below to follow Logan's scent through the maze-like network of corridors within, obviously left abandoned to mean any unwanted entries got hopelessly lost. She occasionally threw back her large black head, grey wolf eyes peering to the team running behind her before her nose was flung back to the floor and she continued the trail. But the scream then echoed through the tunnel like corridor, the sound hitting the cold dank walls and screeching into all of their ears. The splashing of clumsy human footsteps behind Aurora silenced as they came to a shocked halt. Aurora straightened her head high, ears twisting erect to the sound.
Footsteps came up behind her, albeit ungraceful with the puddles sounding their dismay beneath. Aurora turned an ear to the person behind her questioningly. It was Storm, who lowered down to Aurora's height, "Aurora, do you know who that was? Was it Roxanne?" Aurora replied with a simple head nod before she stiffened and her head snapped back to stare ahead, ears stood high in a panic. Then quickly and sharply, she spun her head to behind Storm, nudging the woman forth in urgency with her muzzle, before Aurora slipped back in front and began to run. Storm instantly got the idea, and followed, the rest of the team looking puzzled as they ran after them.
Logan was just about to start off running once more, but he could still hear the group following behind him. He spun his head round with a slight growl of annoyance. But his glare into the darkness was returned when a pair of glowing eyes bounded on towards him. Logan stood uncertain for a minute, before he recognised the scent of Aurora, and sure enough, behind her were the team. Logan straightened, looking down to Aurora as she watched up at him slowly. Logan snorted somewhat at their arrival, and instantly turned to begin running, but a surprisingly strong grip latched upon his shoulder, "Logan, you can't!" came a feminine voice. Logan glared over his shoulder to see bright blue eyes watching him.
"What, Storm?" he grunted, his eyes narrowing.
Storm kept her hand firmly clasped at his shoulder, "You can't just barge in there, Logan. No matter how much you want to hurry."
"We can't be seen. This is a powerful organisation Logan, they can do things with the Government to make our life's hell," Said Scott who was watching them from Siren's side.
"Well, they can't do much more than they have," sneered Logan.
Storm frowned at him, those warm eyes going shockingly callous for a moment, she then spoke softly with her accented tone, "You mean to say that you do not care for the mutants of this world? That you will put your benefits before others?"
"So you're callin' me selfish? How can I be? I'm tryin' to save Roxanne here, which is more than any of you are doin'!"
"We're trying to save the world from more hatred Logan. They can't know we're here, or at least not get any proof of us being here.." explained Scott sombrely as he stepped forward, "Don't run in there, alright? Just calm down." Logan make a sigh, though a snarl traced it bitterly and he nodded unhappily, eyes glaring their anger at the wall opposite. He had gone still and remained watching the wall and he desperately trying to control that inside anger of his, that always seemed to get him and others into trouble, or at least lead them into it. He didn't notice the gentle touch to his thigh, the large wolf's head protectively nuzzling him before the body of fur was replaced by black leather, and body outline transformed to human curves. Instead, Aurora placed a gentle hand on his back in a comforting notion.
Then, suddenly, the screaming voice shattered through the vast building, echoing off the walls ethereally, "Oh my God! No!" it came, desperation saturated the terrified screams, "No! Get off me! Please, no! NO!!" Logan's head had snapped up, nose sniffing urgently, heat inside drumming frantically against ribs.
"No.." he murmured, breaths heavy and quickly, "No.. they've got her." He turned fully, staring down through the empty corridor ahead, "Roxanne.." he whispered, before all of a sudden, he burst into a sprint, voice no longer soft, but a roaring frenzy of desperation, "ROXANNE!"
"No!" cried Storm, "No, he can't go in!" Storm shook her head angrily, her hands lifting either side of her. The wind within the corridor closed in on her before her body lifted elegantly and then suddenly shot off ahead, the wind pressuring behind her form and driving the weather mutant forward in a horizontal flight. Her silver cape flapped wildly, white hair billowing in a frenzy, but face was kept solemn with determination.
Aurora quickly snapped her head round to see the disappearing Storm, her body lowered down gently to that of the panther, sleek limbs stretching out as she began to a fuelled run after her. Scott made a quiet groan, beginning to run after them again. In a quiet murmur, Gambit spoke up as he followed, "Be nice to 'ave a head start, no?"
Logan ignored the sounds of Storm and Aurora catching up on him, he just followed the scent and sounds of Roxanne. He was indomitable. And he pursued even more strongly when he saw a door at the end of the corridor. He slammed to a halt in front of it, hands running over the metal of it in the darkness. The hinges were smooth from recent use, his fingers slipping along the cool material till his grip was clasped upon the shadowed door handle, and he pulled the door open.
Light - strong and bright. Shocking to his eyes that were so used to looking blindly in miles of pitch-blackness. It was inevitable that the reaction was going to be very painful and un-heroic. But when many brave men would have given groans and mutters of failure, Logan plundered on with squinted eyes, now confronted with more corridors, these just exceptionally bright, like some sort of clinic. He could still hear Storm and Aurora running on behind him, and with a growl, he turned, kicking the door shut and purposely dinting the handle area to make opening a rather difficult process than usual. That'd slow them down he thought with a determined nod at the door before walking on ahead. Logan soon came upon a junction of three other corridors leading off his own. He paused to look down them each, all of them mirroring the other. No change - intense lighting, a strong white colour, and bizarrely sparse of many objects, and people for that matter. But the lack of life was soon ruptured, for just when he heard angry cries from behind the distant door he had purposely ruined, he heard a sinister chuckle and felt a body slam into him with incredible might. And with the lack of energy he had.. he fell..
Thank you for reading! (:
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