Disclaimer: I own nothing but me, but oh God would I kill to own Shawn
Ashmore, would I ever . . .
Distribution: Sure just tell me where it's going.
Rating: PG 15
Thanks to all my reviewers, you make the sun shine. Keeping the updates as frequent as is possible. They've not been bad since there was a thing with the site last week, no one could update their stories. Very annoying. Just when I had a chapter ready.
* * *
Cyclops and Wolverine slid the door open between them. It went silently and the team slipped through the door and down the stairs. It was pitch black outside but there was light from outside. Their best chance was stealth. If they could get in and start the search before they were discovered they just might be able to get away.
They all crept forwards towards the stairs that they knew from the schematics led underground. Storm reached down to pull the cover up. As she leant forward, there was a loud clanging from behind them. Rogue jumped in shock and turned round with the others to see that the door they had just come through was shut tight.
They were plunged into darkness for about ten seconds until, suddenly, lights came on. Rogue looked around her. They were surrounded. Pyro was there, as were Magneto and Mystique. There were others.
Rogue looked them all over. There were five women and three men. Two of the women looked ordinary except that they were identical twins. One of them was albino, white skin, hair, and red eyes, almost glowing. One was seven feet tall, at least Rogue thought she was until she realised that the girl was about average height, she was just floating a foot and a half off the floor. The final female was covered with silver scales; there was electricity crackling between her fingers.
Of the men, one was green with black horns almost crowning his head. He didn't have fingers so much as claws, not like Wolverine's, they were actually claws. The second was normal looking. The third had arms and legs that were unnaturally spindly and long.
Rogue swallowed hard. This was so not good.
Magneto stepped forwards, Mystique and Pyro on either side, "How kind of you to drop in."
Cyclops glared, "You know why we're here. We can't let you carry on with this."
Magneto smiled, "Oh? And what makes you think that you're going to stop us?"
"We will."
Magneto's smile faded, "Stop them."
The mutants surged forward. The X-men took a step backward and closed ranks. Storm yelled to Nightcrawler, "Go! Search everywhere you can!"
He turned to her as he kicked the albino female away from them, "That brings us down to five."
"Go! You have to! Find those damn files." He hesitated then vanished. Storm screamed above the sounds, "Rogue! We need you. Everyone surround her. Rogue quick as you can try to start taking their powers."
Everyone closed ranks and Rogue closed her eyes trying to focus.
Wolverine was handling the twin girls; they seemed normal, until he actually fought them. They anticipated each other's every move. They were ready to follow through on each attack. They were telepathic. The albino joined in the fight soon and it turned into three against one. Wolverine wasn't too worried despite the ass kicking he was getting after all; he had a habit of getting back up.
That was at least until something powerful and hot shot out of her eyes, "Oh great, another Cyclops. just what I need."
* * *
Storm focussed on Magneto, her eyes turned white. She called inside to the lightning she had been able to conjure ever since she had been a girl. She checked on Cyclops who was holding his own against the green male and female covered in silver scales, with her he was just tying to physically keep her away, she was trying to electrocute him.
Storm called upwards and watched as it readied. Magneto was moving to Iceman who was in the middle of dealing with the somewhat spindly mutant, who as it turned out had arms and legs that extended and retracted. Pyro was standing there, smiling. Storm mentally screamed and the electrically current struck the older man, he fell to the floor. Pyro was flung back wards. He looked down at Magneto, "NO!"
He whirled around to look at the X-men. Storm was ready to take him on but she felt Mystique deliver a sharp snap kick to the back to her head. She whirled.
Iceman's opponent was joined against him by the regular looking one who it turned out was a problem. He was telekinetic. Objects kept flying towards him, and he kept freezing them so that they dropped.
In the centre of the circle Rogue focussed, what had been happening around her had only taken a matter of seconds. And she was still trying to draw the strength from inside of her. She heard Wolverine yell out in pain and her eyes snapped open in panic. She saw that he had been hit by something red and glowing. Anger welled up inside of her as the three women pummelled his body. Rogue took a deep breath and reached out towards them. She felt her eyes grow warm as the albino girl crumpled. Wolverine looked over his shoulder and smiled quickly. He got back on his feet and took on the twins. He knocked one of them across the room the other sister stopped briefly to look where the other one had gone. Wolverine took his chance. They kept coming back, but he kept putting them down. He was doing better.
Storm was fighting Mystique and the girl who could fly. After a second look at Magneto, Mystique moved backward leaving the fight to the other. She took off down the hall. Storm knew where she was going; she was going after Nightcrawler.
Iceman was doing surprisingly well. Anything that came towards him froze and he finally managed to put the spindly one down. The guy extended his arm so that it was almost next to his head. He froze all the way up to the elbow and Iceman punched the hand so it shattered. He wasn't a problem after he slumped away bleeding and whimpering.
Pyro felt anger swell up inside of him as he dragged Magneto round the corner and out of danger. The older man was alive. His mind went back to the battle. No! NO! NO! He returned, facing Cyclops. He clicked his lighter and took a handful of fire. He screamed in anger and threw it at Cyclops. His hand fell away from his visor and he collapsed.
Rogue was knocked off her feet by the heat. Dazed she fought to stand again.
Iceman almost had the other. Any second . . .before he could administer the last shot his attention was caught by the woman with electricity crackling coming towards him. He turned and froze her up to the neck. That was all the time his attention needed to be diverted. The green mutant, with black horns and claws moved quickly, Iceman felt them slice into his stomach and he fell to the floor with a moan.
Rogue pushed herself to her feet just as Iceman fell. She saw his eyes go blank as she looked into them and her mouth widened in horror, "NO! God NO! Bobby?!"
Within a second, she knew he wasn't going to answer, her attention flicked to the green mutant who had sliced him, the telekinetic he had been fighting and the female covered in silver scales. Anger flared in her eyes. She had never felt the kind of fury, panic and pain that coursed through her body.
She didn't care about any possible consequences, all she knew was that her lover was lying on the ground bleeding, and it was because these . . .murderers were taking the law and every mutants safety in their own hands. Her mind screamed in pain as she looked at him again. Then she really screamed, she lifted her hand and within five seconds, the three of them were screaming too.
Pyro looked around and saw what Rogue was doing. Three of them at one? Was that even possible? He lifted a hand and threw fire at her. He knew that she would have to stop when it licked her skin. Wouldn't she? No. She carried on pulling the power out of them, even as her skin was scorched. Instead of stopping her, the other hand went up and Pyro felt the familiar cold and pulling. Nor was he the only one. The twins Wolverine was fighting and the girl who could fly, they all crashed to their knees and faces in agony.
* * *
Mystique found Nightcrawler. He had the files in his hands and was running out of one of the rooms. He also had four disks and the hard drive of the computer. "Give them to me, now."
Nightcrawler was afraid, he didn't care, he had promised Storm; he shook his head.
"I'm warning you, give them to me." Mystique knew that she couldn't let him take those files, they needed them if they were going to complete the list, they needed them and they would have them . . .at any cost. Her throat tightened as she thought of Magneto. She hadn't wanted to leave him, but she had known what he would say. He would tell her to get the files.
Nightcrawler clenched his jaw and was about to disappear when she flung a long knife at him. It embedded itself in his stomach and she came towards him, her eyes were glinting as she reached down to pick up the files. Nightcrawler curled his body around them and held on.
Mystique snarled and, and tried to pry his arms away from them. He clenched his teeth and vanished beneath her fingers.
He appeared down the hall. He was getting back to his friends.
* * *
Rogue watched as the mutants drifted into unconsciousness. She was hovering in the air, her eyes were glowing red, and things were floating around her. She was angry. She had to make sure they didn't hurt them again. She pulled harder, she didn't see one of them stop breathing. She felt something like a snap inside of her stomach. Wolverine moved over to her, "Rogue."
She hesitated and looked over to him, "I . . ."
"Let go. Come on. Let go."
Rogue felt the snap inside of her stomach again; maybe she was hurting herself doing this. Rogue lowered her hands and dropped to the ground.
Storm and Cyclops were staring at her in shock, "How did you do that?"
Storm moved forward and took her arm, "Are you alright?"
Rogue shuddered, "Yes." She pulled away and slipped her hand in her pocket grabbing the disk she usually wore on her back. She held it in place as it attached and then she rushed over to Iceman. "Bobby? Are you okay?"
He was awake and he looked up at her, "Hey."
"Hey."
He tried to speak again but just as he did, Nightcrawler appeared quite literally out of thin air. He handed the files to Storm and smiled, "I found them."
Storm smiled at him and was about to speak when his face went blank and he crumpled to the floor next to Iceman, "Kurt? Kurt, what happened? What happened to you? Are you all right?"
Nightcrawler moved his hand off the wound in his abdomen. "It was Mystique."
Storm gasped and tears slipped down her cheeks, "You'll be okay, you will, you'll be okay."
Nightcrawler smiled slightly, "It's all right. I am not afraid. Do not cry."
Storm touched his face gently and leaned forward to gently kissed him for a second.
* * *
Rogue clutched Iceman's hand, "Please. Please be okay."
He smiled up at her, "Don't worry. You did good. Really good."
She cried, and reached out to stroke his face, "Not good enough."
With surprising strength he gripped her arms, "Don't you ever think that. You are good enough, you're amazing."
"I love you."
"I love you too."
Rogue leaned forward and leant gently on him, crying into his chest. He held onto her arms for a second, and then his arms went limp.
Rogue looked up and stared him, "Bobby?.Bobby? Bobby?!"
There was no response.
Distribution: Sure just tell me where it's going.
Rating: PG 15
Thanks to all my reviewers, you make the sun shine. Keeping the updates as frequent as is possible. They've not been bad since there was a thing with the site last week, no one could update their stories. Very annoying. Just when I had a chapter ready.
* * *
Cyclops and Wolverine slid the door open between them. It went silently and the team slipped through the door and down the stairs. It was pitch black outside but there was light from outside. Their best chance was stealth. If they could get in and start the search before they were discovered they just might be able to get away.
They all crept forwards towards the stairs that they knew from the schematics led underground. Storm reached down to pull the cover up. As she leant forward, there was a loud clanging from behind them. Rogue jumped in shock and turned round with the others to see that the door they had just come through was shut tight.
They were plunged into darkness for about ten seconds until, suddenly, lights came on. Rogue looked around her. They were surrounded. Pyro was there, as were Magneto and Mystique. There were others.
Rogue looked them all over. There were five women and three men. Two of the women looked ordinary except that they were identical twins. One of them was albino, white skin, hair, and red eyes, almost glowing. One was seven feet tall, at least Rogue thought she was until she realised that the girl was about average height, she was just floating a foot and a half off the floor. The final female was covered with silver scales; there was electricity crackling between her fingers.
Of the men, one was green with black horns almost crowning his head. He didn't have fingers so much as claws, not like Wolverine's, they were actually claws. The second was normal looking. The third had arms and legs that were unnaturally spindly and long.
Rogue swallowed hard. This was so not good.
Magneto stepped forwards, Mystique and Pyro on either side, "How kind of you to drop in."
Cyclops glared, "You know why we're here. We can't let you carry on with this."
Magneto smiled, "Oh? And what makes you think that you're going to stop us?"
"We will."
Magneto's smile faded, "Stop them."
The mutants surged forward. The X-men took a step backward and closed ranks. Storm yelled to Nightcrawler, "Go! Search everywhere you can!"
He turned to her as he kicked the albino female away from them, "That brings us down to five."
"Go! You have to! Find those damn files." He hesitated then vanished. Storm screamed above the sounds, "Rogue! We need you. Everyone surround her. Rogue quick as you can try to start taking their powers."
Everyone closed ranks and Rogue closed her eyes trying to focus.
Wolverine was handling the twin girls; they seemed normal, until he actually fought them. They anticipated each other's every move. They were ready to follow through on each attack. They were telepathic. The albino joined in the fight soon and it turned into three against one. Wolverine wasn't too worried despite the ass kicking he was getting after all; he had a habit of getting back up.
That was at least until something powerful and hot shot out of her eyes, "Oh great, another Cyclops. just what I need."
* * *
Storm focussed on Magneto, her eyes turned white. She called inside to the lightning she had been able to conjure ever since she had been a girl. She checked on Cyclops who was holding his own against the green male and female covered in silver scales, with her he was just tying to physically keep her away, she was trying to electrocute him.
Storm called upwards and watched as it readied. Magneto was moving to Iceman who was in the middle of dealing with the somewhat spindly mutant, who as it turned out had arms and legs that extended and retracted. Pyro was standing there, smiling. Storm mentally screamed and the electrically current struck the older man, he fell to the floor. Pyro was flung back wards. He looked down at Magneto, "NO!"
He whirled around to look at the X-men. Storm was ready to take him on but she felt Mystique deliver a sharp snap kick to the back to her head. She whirled.
Iceman's opponent was joined against him by the regular looking one who it turned out was a problem. He was telekinetic. Objects kept flying towards him, and he kept freezing them so that they dropped.
In the centre of the circle Rogue focussed, what had been happening around her had only taken a matter of seconds. And she was still trying to draw the strength from inside of her. She heard Wolverine yell out in pain and her eyes snapped open in panic. She saw that he had been hit by something red and glowing. Anger welled up inside of her as the three women pummelled his body. Rogue took a deep breath and reached out towards them. She felt her eyes grow warm as the albino girl crumpled. Wolverine looked over his shoulder and smiled quickly. He got back on his feet and took on the twins. He knocked one of them across the room the other sister stopped briefly to look where the other one had gone. Wolverine took his chance. They kept coming back, but he kept putting them down. He was doing better.
Storm was fighting Mystique and the girl who could fly. After a second look at Magneto, Mystique moved backward leaving the fight to the other. She took off down the hall. Storm knew where she was going; she was going after Nightcrawler.
Iceman was doing surprisingly well. Anything that came towards him froze and he finally managed to put the spindly one down. The guy extended his arm so that it was almost next to his head. He froze all the way up to the elbow and Iceman punched the hand so it shattered. He wasn't a problem after he slumped away bleeding and whimpering.
Pyro felt anger swell up inside of him as he dragged Magneto round the corner and out of danger. The older man was alive. His mind went back to the battle. No! NO! NO! He returned, facing Cyclops. He clicked his lighter and took a handful of fire. He screamed in anger and threw it at Cyclops. His hand fell away from his visor and he collapsed.
Rogue was knocked off her feet by the heat. Dazed she fought to stand again.
Iceman almost had the other. Any second . . .before he could administer the last shot his attention was caught by the woman with electricity crackling coming towards him. He turned and froze her up to the neck. That was all the time his attention needed to be diverted. The green mutant, with black horns and claws moved quickly, Iceman felt them slice into his stomach and he fell to the floor with a moan.
Rogue pushed herself to her feet just as Iceman fell. She saw his eyes go blank as she looked into them and her mouth widened in horror, "NO! God NO! Bobby?!"
Within a second, she knew he wasn't going to answer, her attention flicked to the green mutant who had sliced him, the telekinetic he had been fighting and the female covered in silver scales. Anger flared in her eyes. She had never felt the kind of fury, panic and pain that coursed through her body.
She didn't care about any possible consequences, all she knew was that her lover was lying on the ground bleeding, and it was because these . . .murderers were taking the law and every mutants safety in their own hands. Her mind screamed in pain as she looked at him again. Then she really screamed, she lifted her hand and within five seconds, the three of them were screaming too.
Pyro looked around and saw what Rogue was doing. Three of them at one? Was that even possible? He lifted a hand and threw fire at her. He knew that she would have to stop when it licked her skin. Wouldn't she? No. She carried on pulling the power out of them, even as her skin was scorched. Instead of stopping her, the other hand went up and Pyro felt the familiar cold and pulling. Nor was he the only one. The twins Wolverine was fighting and the girl who could fly, they all crashed to their knees and faces in agony.
* * *
Mystique found Nightcrawler. He had the files in his hands and was running out of one of the rooms. He also had four disks and the hard drive of the computer. "Give them to me, now."
Nightcrawler was afraid, he didn't care, he had promised Storm; he shook his head.
"I'm warning you, give them to me." Mystique knew that she couldn't let him take those files, they needed them if they were going to complete the list, they needed them and they would have them . . .at any cost. Her throat tightened as she thought of Magneto. She hadn't wanted to leave him, but she had known what he would say. He would tell her to get the files.
Nightcrawler clenched his jaw and was about to disappear when she flung a long knife at him. It embedded itself in his stomach and she came towards him, her eyes were glinting as she reached down to pick up the files. Nightcrawler curled his body around them and held on.
Mystique snarled and, and tried to pry his arms away from them. He clenched his teeth and vanished beneath her fingers.
He appeared down the hall. He was getting back to his friends.
* * *
Rogue watched as the mutants drifted into unconsciousness. She was hovering in the air, her eyes were glowing red, and things were floating around her. She was angry. She had to make sure they didn't hurt them again. She pulled harder, she didn't see one of them stop breathing. She felt something like a snap inside of her stomach. Wolverine moved over to her, "Rogue."
She hesitated and looked over to him, "I . . ."
"Let go. Come on. Let go."
Rogue felt the snap inside of her stomach again; maybe she was hurting herself doing this. Rogue lowered her hands and dropped to the ground.
Storm and Cyclops were staring at her in shock, "How did you do that?"
Storm moved forward and took her arm, "Are you alright?"
Rogue shuddered, "Yes." She pulled away and slipped her hand in her pocket grabbing the disk she usually wore on her back. She held it in place as it attached and then she rushed over to Iceman. "Bobby? Are you okay?"
He was awake and he looked up at her, "Hey."
"Hey."
He tried to speak again but just as he did, Nightcrawler appeared quite literally out of thin air. He handed the files to Storm and smiled, "I found them."
Storm smiled at him and was about to speak when his face went blank and he crumpled to the floor next to Iceman, "Kurt? Kurt, what happened? What happened to you? Are you all right?"
Nightcrawler moved his hand off the wound in his abdomen. "It was Mystique."
Storm gasped and tears slipped down her cheeks, "You'll be okay, you will, you'll be okay."
Nightcrawler smiled slightly, "It's all right. I am not afraid. Do not cry."
Storm touched his face gently and leaned forward to gently kissed him for a second.
* * *
Rogue clutched Iceman's hand, "Please. Please be okay."
He smiled up at her, "Don't worry. You did good. Really good."
She cried, and reached out to stroke his face, "Not good enough."
With surprising strength he gripped her arms, "Don't you ever think that. You are good enough, you're amazing."
"I love you."
"I love you too."
Rogue leaned forward and leant gently on him, crying into his chest. He held onto her arms for a second, and then his arms went limp.
Rogue looked up and stared him, "Bobby?.Bobby? Bobby?!"
There was no response.