18. The Wolf and Wolverine
The sun rose in the horizon and announced a new days coming as Jubilee sat down on the nearby doorstep and cast a tired glance back at the other x-men.
"Can we go back now?"
She yawned.
"I so tired that I could sleep anywhere… even here at this doorstep."
She curled up on the doorstep and closed her eyes. Jean walked over to her and tried to get her up and stand again, but the young x-man had already felt asleep. Jean then instead sent Cyclops a worried look.
"She has right. We have been looking constantly for the last 24 hours after clues, which can helps us find Gambit, without finding any. I think we have to face the fact that he didn't want us to find him."
All the others eyes laid at Cyclops as he quickly thought the whole situation through, and then he nodded in agreement.
"Okay, let us go back to the Blackbird."
As he looked out over the other x-men he realized how tried they all was. After the mysteriously phone call to the school, which they had trace back to France, had they gone to Paris in an attempt to track down Gambit's movement in the city before the plane crash, but it was without any luck. Only Rogue didn't seemed to be tried and he eyes flashed as she realized that they were going to stop.
"No, we have to find Gambit. He…"
She wanted to say more, but turned away to hide the tears. Wolverine walked over to her and laid a supporting hand at her shoulder.
"It's okay, Rogue. We aren't going to give up on him, but we need some sleep."
As she looked up at him with the tears in her eyes he cursed Gambit from bringing her in that situation.
"We are not alone."
They all looked surprised over at Storm and followed her glance. In the other end of the street was a teenage boy hiding behind some garbage cans. As he realized they had discovered him he began to run away and quickly the x-men began to follow him.
After a breathless chase through the city the boy made a mistake and ran into a narrow alleyway, which ended blindly. The x-men made sure that the boy couldn't escape. Wolverine slowly walked closer to the boy as the boy went into defence position.
"Easy now! We are not going to hurt you, but we just want to know why you were following us."
He was almost over at the boy, who flinched away from Wolverine, as all the sudden a big black dog jumped down from the nearby roof and landed between Wolverine and the boy. The dog quickly turned around to face Wolverine, who realized it was a wolf, and bare its teeth as it growled deeply.
Wolverine jumped back as the wolf lunged out at him and he unleashed his claws. Quickly he returned the attack and felt how one of his claws cut through the wolf's fur and into the body. Instead of the expected outburst from a wounded animal, then they heard a woman's cry of pain.
The wolf crouched down on the asphalt as a thin red line found it's way over the asphalt to a drain. The boy quickly ran over to the wolf and took it into his arms as suddenly the wolf began to change. The muzzle became shorter and the ears began to shrink in, then the fur disappeared and revealed a woman's body underneath. A red mark on her white shirt showed the spot where Wolverine's claw had hit her.
The woman, who seemed stronger in this form, stood up with the help from the boy and looked over at the x-men. She quickly pushed to boy behind her and went into defence position again. Her long black hair hided her face, so they couldn't read her mood. Slowly Wolverine began to walk closer to her.
"Look lady, we don't want to hurt anybody. We just want to know why that boy was following us."
He pointed with his claws towards the boy, but quickly the woman stepped protective in front of the boy again.
"Because I told him to do it, so can we go now?"
"Why?"
The woman growled deeply, but then the boy took her arm.
"Please Talia, you are injured!"
Talia laid a reassuring hand on the boy's shoulder and stared back at Wolverine.
"Why have you been going around and asking question about a certain Remy LeBeau?"
"We need to find him."
She began to laugh.
"He is dead. He died in a plane crash some days ago. You must have heard about it. It was all over the news."
"He survived the plane crash, but went back here to France and disappeared."
Talia quickly turned around, so her hair went back her shoulders and revealed her face, which would have been perfect, if it hadn't been for the big scar, which cut through the left side of her face.
"What! Is Gambit alive? Where is he?"
Wolverine was surprised to see the changes in Talia after he had mention that Gambit was alive. Her eyes were full of anxiety and happiness in the same time. For a while he stopped seeing the scar and only saw the woman behind it.
Rogue, who had been standing in the background, also saw the changes and came forward.
"You know him?"
Talia met Rogue's eyes. For a while Talia thought about running away, but then she realized who was standing in front of her.
"Your name is Rogue, isn't it?"
Rogue nodded in surprised as Talia continued.
"Then your all must be The X-men. Gambit has told me about you, but I never thought I was going to meet you."
Rogue walked closer to her.
"Who know Gambit?"
Talia nodded, but suddenly she began to look nervously around. Quickly she turned towards the boy.
"Ryan, use your power to lure them away from us."
The boy hesitated, so she quickly continued.
"It's alright! They are Gambit's friends."
The boy stepped away from her as he changed into a hawk and flew away. In the meantime Talia quickly ran over to end of the alleyway, but stopped as she realized they weren't following her.
"Come on! We need to get away from here before they find us!"
Cyclops took a step towards her, but then he stopped.
"Who?"
In the same moment Wolverine also sense the danger and was just about to go into defence mode, when Talia ran back and grabbed his hand. He was just about to protest, but then he saw her eyes. They were big with fear.
"Please, just follow me now and I will tell you everything later, when we are safe."
The look in her eyes made them follow her, so she led them out of the city and over to a waste site, where she walked over to a huge pile of trash. Just as they thought that she had gone completely mad she pressed down on a hidden handle and a doorway appeared.
"I'm sorry about the smell, but it's the best place to hide."
She walked into the doorway and disappeared. For a second the x-men didn't move, but then Cyclops followed her. As he passed the doorway he stepped into a small hallway, which was lit-up by small light bulbs in the ceiling. He quickly walked over to Talia, who stood waiting by a door in the other end of the hallway.
"You promised that you was going to tell us everything."
She nodded and opened the door. The sight, which met Cyclops, he could never have been prepared for. The room was fill with children in all ages. Some of them he could see were clearly mutants, but others only had a hunted looked in their eyes.
"Are they all mutants?"
She shook her head as her eyes wandered out over the children.
"No, many of them are, but some are just here because they don't have another place to stay. Up in the city someone is kidnapping both mutants and normal people. Many of these children have lost their mother, father or both to the kidnappers…"
She looked back at Cyclops.
"… It was those kidnappers, who we were running away from."
o-
He knocked on the door and hesitated as she called him in, but he then shook his head over his own behaviour and opened the door. Talia was sitting on her bed with her back to the door and only a towel around her, because she had just been taking as shower.
"Sorry, I didn't meant to disturb you, but I just thought that you wanted to know that Ryan has come back."
He was just about to close the door again, when she turned around.
"Thanks Wolverine, that really takes a stone away form my heat…"
She stood up and walked over to him. He immediately saw the wound in her shoulder, where his claw had gone through her skin, and he felt guilty.
"… I hate to ask you, but do you mind helping me dress my wound. I have tried to do it myself, but I just can't get it to stay fit."
He nodded and took the bandage that she held out towards him. She turned around and he started bandaging her shoulder.
"I'm sorry that I wounded you."
"That's okay. I always get very weak as a wolf, when I'm tried. I…"
He had finished her bandage, so she turned around to face him. Their eyes met and suddenly she forgot what she was about to say. She leaned towards him and met his lips in a kiss.
In the same moment an alarm began to ring, which made them end the kiss even before it really had started. She quickly ran over to her bathroom and just seconds later she stepped out of it fully dressed. Simultaneously Ryan appeared in the doorway.
"Talia, the alarm went of in the southern hallway."
"Have the cameras picked anything up?"
He shook his head as she quickly walked over to him and together they walked back to the main room, where the others had gather. She stood up on the platform and looked out over the children, who all knew too well what there was on stake.
"Okay, there is nothing to be afraid of, but just as a precaution your are going to go down in the safe house, while Ryan an me check this out."
In totally silence the children began to walk out of the room and over to the hallway to the right. Cyclops walked over to Talia with they other x-men close behind him.
"Talia, you are injured, so please let us do it!"
She was just about to protest, but then she met Wolverine's eyes and nodded.
"Ryan can show you the way, but please be on guard. I don't want your life on my conscience."
She cast a last glance over at Wolverine, before she turned around and followed the children to the safe house. Back in the main room Cyclops turned towards Ryan.
"Okay Ryan, show us the way so we can find out what is happing here."
Ryan nodded and walked over to the hallway to the left as the x-men followed him. After a while Ryan raised his hand to make them stop and whispered to Cyclops, who was just behind him.
"There is only one and he is walking towards us. He is only around fifty yard ahead of us."
Cyclops nodded and quickly he commanded the others x-men to form an ambush in the dark hallway. They all took their places and waited with bated breath for their victim, who slowly was walking closer to them.
The intruder walked right into the ambush and they were getting ready to close the trap around him, when Wolverine held them back.
"Don't do it…"
He took a flashlight from Ryan's belt and shined with it over on the intruder, whose face was lighted up so they all could recognize him.
"… It is Gambit"
Before Wolverine had finished the sentence ran Rogue over to Remy, but she screamed as she discovered that he was covered with blood. Simultaneous Remy lost his consciousness and felt towards Rogue, who caught him.