Author's Note: I'm not too good at action scenes, so bear with me.

Chapter 6

As night falls, the teams slip into their places. At just past midnight, the medlab lights are turned off, with only emergency light running faintly in the background.

Closing her eyes, Shadowcat slowly deepens her breathing to show the illusion of sleep. Trying hard not to fidget, Shadowcat listens to the room around her.

Kitty?

Jerking at the sound of her voice, Shadowcat laughs silently at herself when she realizes it's only Jean Grey talking to her via telepathy.

Yeah, Jean?

Team members have left to show the appearance of you being alone.

Okay.

Also, Storm is moving inside the building. She will be joining Wolverine.

Nodding her head, Shadowcat glances once about to room to see if Storm has arrived. Realizing that she shouldn't be moving around on the bed, Shadowcat again closes her eyes and pretends to sleep.

……………………….

Waiting in the shadows, Wolverine patiently watches Shadowcat. Hearing a noise from behind, Wolverine pops out his claws and turns to face the enemy. Catching the scent of the person approaching, Wolverine retracts his claws.

"Storm," says Wolverine.

Slipping up next to her friend, Storm nods her head before glancing out into the room. Locking eyes on the bed, Storm only glances once more at her friend before returning her gaze to the room and Kitty.

"I had to come," whispers Storm. "Kitty is aware of my presence. Jean told her."

Nodding his head, Wolverine gives away no other motion or sound to show his acknowledgement of Storm's words.

As the team waits, hours pass. It is close to dawn before motion is noticed by Wolverine. Watching the shadows closely, Wolverine watches as Sabertooth enters the room and moves toward Shadowcat's bed. Getting ready to spring, he feels Storm stiffen next to him. Assuming that she has also noticed Sabertooth, Wolverine breathes deeply, forcing himself to not move until the right moment.

Sniffing the air around him, Sabertooth glances once around the room before drawing next to the bed in which his victim lay. Raising a claw, he places it over her mouth, while with the other hand, drags her from the bed. Wasting no time, Shadowcat phasing out of Sabertooth's hold and slips away from the killer.

"Wolverine! Storm!" shouts Shadowcat.

Jumping from the shadows, Wolverine pops out his claws and lunges for Sabertooth. Dodging to the side, Sabertooth fades into a pocket of darkness.

"Come and find me, runt," taunts Sabertooth.

Growling, Wolverine sniffs the air. Sensing motion to the right, Wolverine dives at the person. Scoring a hit, he listens as Sabertooth swears before falling to silence once again.

"Close, runt, but not close enough," says Sabertooth.

Sensing motion behind him, Wolverine whips around, only to have claws rake him across his stomach.

"One for one," says Sabertooth. "But I tire of this game, since I didn't come here for that."

Hearing the sound of shuffling feet, Wolverine jerks around. In the faint light, Wolverine notices Shadowcat glancing around the room. Watching as a large shadow grows behind her, he rushes in that direction to stop Sabertooth from attacking.

"Creed!"

……………………

Trying to see through the shadows, Kitty can only listen to the fight between Wolverine and Sabertooth. Shifting on the balls of her feet, Shadowcat glances in one direction as she listens to Sabertooth taunting Wolverine.

"Creed!" shouts Wolverine.

Sensing motion behind her, Shadowcat begins to turn. But before she can finish her turn, white hot pain laces her back. Crying out, Shadowcat falls to the floor.

"Game over, girlie," says Sabertooth, raising his claws into the air.

Raising her eyes, Shadowcat can only watch as the claws begin to descend. Hearing a growl from the shadows, Shadowcat notices a smaller shadow come barreling through the air. Tackling Sabertooth, Wolverine pushes him to the ground. Raising his hands, Sabertooth shoves the smaller man off of him. Getting back to his feet, he notices as Wolverine also gets to his feet, standing between him and Shadowcat.

"Smell the fresh blood, runt? The air will stink if it when I'm done," growls Sabertooth.

Growling deep in his chest, Wolverine waits to see what Sabertooth's next move will be.

…………………

Watching the stalemate between the two mutants, Storm allows her eyes to be drawn away from the two fighters to the young woman lying on the floor.

Please, Goddess, let me not be too late.

Drawing on her power over weather, Storm raises her hands and sends lightning shooting through the air to strike Sabertooth in the chest. Moving forward, Storm continues to send out bolts of lightning toward the mutant killer.

Driving him to his knees, Sabertooth raises his face to Storm. Locking eyes with the weather mutant, Sabertooth growls low in his chest. Taking a deep breath, Sabertooth lungs to his feet. Trying to get away, Sabertooth heads for the door.

Watching as the killer tries to get away, Storm hits him with an even stronger bolt of lightning. Falling to the floor, Sabertooth slams to the ground.

Glancing once at Sabertooth, Storm slips her communicator out.

"We have him," she says, before turning her attention to the fallen woman.

"Did we get him?" asks Shadowcat, slowly coming to her feet.

Realizing that he was lead into a trap, Sabertooth gathers his legs under him and leaps to his feet. Rushing past Wolverine, who was coming over to shackle him, Sabertooth pushes Storm away before leaping onto Shadowcat.

"You set me up," growls Sabertooth, grabbing Shadowcat's head and slamming it off of the floor.

…………………..

Shadowcat watched as Sabertooth leaped to his feet. Too tired to do more than watch, Shadowcat can't move out of harms way. Feeling him slam into her, Shadowcat can do nothing as Sabertooth grabs her head and slams it off the of floor.

For a moment, her world is only darkness. As her eyes come back into focus, Shadowcat's eyes fix on death in the form of Sabertooth's claws descending toward her heart.

"Help," whispers Shadowcat.

And help does come, in the form of a red blast shooting from the doorway. Turning her head, Shadowcat watches as Cyclops enters the medlab, following by the rest of the X-Men and Excaliber.

"It's over," says Cyclops, coming to kneel next to Shadowcat. "Rest."

Nodding her head, Shadowcat closes her eyes and drifts off.