Chapter 16.

(Logan)

I'd never felt fear on a mission before. Reservation, nervousness, maybe even a touch of anxiety, but never cold, hard fear. Not until that day in Australia.

I knew the moment the internal phone rang that it had to be an Omega situation, which was confirmed when we got to the office. I sat and listened to everything, forming a basic plan in my mind before we even left the mansion. Any way I looked at it, I didn't lay very good odds on all of us making it through this thing intact. Still, Chuck had put together the best team possible for the job with one minor exception. At least he didn't argue with me too much when I insisted another be added. If I was gonna have to face huge killer robots, I wanted someone there who could put me where I could do the most damage.

Finally, the briefing was over and I spent a few precious moments saying goodbye to Angela. I didn't need to tell her that I was worried about this mission. She's not a mind reader, but she knows me and I wouldn't have said the things I said to her if I felt a hundred percent about this op. But she needed to know that, if nothing else, I would come back to her. I'd do my best to bring everyone back, but she knew as well as I did that shit happens and there's nothing you can do to stop it.

As soon as the jet was underway, I gave the controls to Sam and turned to the cabin to address the troops. "Ok guys, this is the real thing. It ain't gonna be like it is in the Danger Room an' anythin' we've come up against before this is gonna seem like a cakewalk in comparison."

"What's the plan?" Alex asked.

"Well, it's daylight down there, so we'll have to set down somewhere far enough away that they don't detect us right away. I'm hopin' that Buzz can get a look-down for us so we have current intel, but I'm preparin' for the worst."

"And that would be what?"

"That those things are all online an' waitin' to do what it is they're programmed to do. An' there's a lot more o' them than us. So we'll have to do as much damage as we can as fast as we can an' get the hell outta there." I turned to the holographic display and called up the schematic of the Master Mold. "This is our primary objective, the Master Mold. We don't know how many Sentinels this thing can crank out at a time, so gettin' it offline is our main goal. Anythin' else we can destroy in the meantime is a bonus."

"Why aren't we worrying about the Sentinels that are already there?" Jubilee asked.

"Cuz if we can get the Master Mold out of the way, the Sentinels they have are all they have an' they won't be too keen on sendin' them out all at once. We need to get rid of their ability to make more before we can take out what they already have." I pressed a button on the console and zoomed in on the back portion of the schematic. "This looks to be the only way to get in there. Our guess is that this is where the Sentinels roll off the assembly line. We need to get someone in there to hit the main reactor an' get back out as fast as they can." I glanced over at Bobby and Inferno. "Think you guys can handle that?"

"Find me a way through and it's a done deal." Bobby said confidently. Inferno merely nodded in agreement.

"Good." I turned to Chasca. "Now you're gonna be our diversion. We got some charges here that are pretty small, 'bout the size of a deck of cards, but they're enough to blow the heads off those giant Sentinels. They're magnetic, so as long as you can get close enough to one of 'em, it'll stick. Once they attach, they're set to blow in about twenty seconds. That give you enough time to get clear?"

"Should be plenty as long as I don't need to dodge anything." She replied calmly.

"What'll I be doing?" Alex asked.

"You'll be on the ground with the rest of us, backing Echo up an' takin' care of the human guards." I gave him a hard look. "I hope I don't hafta tell you that we ain't givin' 'em the benefit of any doubt here."

"I understand what's at stake here. Not all the Summers' men are complete wusses."

"Hey, your brother might be a dick, but he ain't no wuss. He's probably seen more combat than you have, bub. Hell, Jubilee has seen more combat than you. So don't fuck around out there, got it? Everyone on this jet outranks you, remember that." He looked down at the floor and said nothing. I grunted and turned off the display. "Now, unless Hellcat gives us more current intel, that's the plan. You got any other questions, now's the time to ask 'em." No one said anything and I nodded. "Good. Now do what you gotta do to get yourself ready for this. It ain't gonna be pretty."

I sat back down in the cockpit area and strapped in. Sam glanced over at me with a smirk. "What?" I snapped.

"Oh nothing, nothing at all." He replied and checked his gauges. "You think he'll be all right?" He asked, jerking his head towards Alex.

"Fucked if I know. If I was a gamblin' man, I'd bet he'll go off half-cocked like he did in his early Danger Room sessions."

"He never was known for his impeccable judgment."

"At least one of 'em has a brain in their head. Never thought I'd see the day where I'd wish it was One-Eye here instead of someone else."

"But then you wouldn't be in charge, you know."

"Fine with me. At least Cyclops wouldn't get himself killed."

Sam just nodded and we made the rest of the flight in silence. A couple hours after we left the mansion, Sam took the jet back down into the regular atmosphere while I radioed back to base. Angela filled us in with new intel that Buzz got from a satellite he was borrowing and I cursed softly. Less than two minutes later, he borrowed another one and got real-time visual on our current location, about three klicks from the staging area. They would be able to see what was happening and feed us the best possible information to complete our mission. Unfortunately, any plans I'd made in the air were useless with the new intel.

I grabbed a small backpack and led the team down the ramp. The sun was brutal and I was already cursing the black leather of the uniforms. They're designed to withstand some pretty severe conditions, but I don't think anyone ever thought we'd be running around the Australian Outback after giant killer robots. I gathered the team in the shadow of the jet to brief them and explain my new plan to them. "Ok, Hellcat says there's a lot more o' those things than we thought, so we're not gonna be able to just get in there an' do our thing. So we'll have to see if we can't take a few of 'em out before we go in."

"And how do you plan to do that?" Alex asked, clearly impatient.

"We're gonna play hide an' seek with 'em." I replied. "Echo this is for you." I handed her the pack. "There's about three dozen of those charges in there and about that many giant Sentinels, so you'll have to make each of those count." She took the pack from me and settled it over her shoulders. It sat neatly between her wings without hindering her movement any, which would be crucial for this phase of the plan. "Now, the rest of us are gonna pair off and hide in these rocks away from the jet. I've got it set to take off and fly itself home if everythin' goes tits up out here."

"Define 'tits up'." Sam said.

"If I think none of us are gettin' out of this alive anyway, it'll go home. We can't have anyone gettin' their hands on it." Everyone nodded and I continued. "Ok, I want Iceman an' Inferno to go to the southwest an' find some cover there. Jubilee, Havok, you'll go due west. Atlas an' I will go to the northwest. I want us all at least half a klick apart. Echo, you fly over there, set as many of those charges as you think you can an' fly back here as fast as you can. When you get close, peel off to one of the teams. Hopefully anythin' that's followin' you will be far enough back that you can get yourself some cover while the team on the ground takes care of 'em."

"What if they are too close?" She asked, her voice shaking.

"Then do your fanciest flyin' and we'll keep 'em off you." She nodded and I took a deep breath. "Ok team, this is it. Iceman, Jubilee, check in with me when you're in position. Let's go!"

We all scattered and Echo took to the air. About three minutes later, Iceman and Jubilee radioed that they were in position and I gave Echo the go ahead to do her thing. We waited for a few tense moments, then an explosion rocked the area and Echo's voice came over the com. "Echo to Wolverine, coming your way!"

"Roger that!" I replied and looked to Sam. "You ready?"

"As I'll ever be." He said grimly and we waited for her. A moment later, she came winging overhead and banked hard to her left, spiraling down behind a rock. I tensed up, waiting for her pursuers and they came into view a heartbeat later.

The only good thing was it wasn't one of the big Sentinels. But three of the smaller ones were hard enough to deal with. As soon as they got within a hundred yards of our position, an electronic voice filled the air. "Mutants detected, powers unknown. Initiating standard safety protocols." We took that as our cue and leapt into action. Atlas picked up a large boulder and threw it effortlessly at the nearest Sentinel, but it dodged at the last moment and the rock only clipped it a little. The same electronic voice boomed out again. "Correcting for mutant power, enhanced strength. Initiating countermeasures."

"Fuck, these things catch on fast!" Atlas shouted as he chucked another boulder. The same Sentinel detected it before it got within ten feet of it and a laser shot out from its eyes and shattered the rock. We ducked back down. "Well, so much for that. Now what?"

"Plan B, my friend." I replied and popped my claws. "Colossus tell you 'bout the Fastball Special?"

Atlas grinned. "He sure did." Without hesitation, he grabbed me by the back of my jacket and flung me towards the robot.

The robot's voice filled the air. "Correcting for mutant power, flight. Initiating countermeasures." Good, it didn't know I couldn't fly, but since I was airborne it assumed I could. When I got within ten feet, a net sprang out from one of its arms, but I merely shredded it with my claws. A split second later, I was on top of it and hacking away with my claws with a primal scream. In a matter of seconds, its head fell away from its body and I leapt off of it and onto the back of the next one. I heard the robotic voice again. "Correcting for mutant power, enhanced natural weaponry. Initiating countermeasures." I didn't know what that meant, since there was no way they could change their own construction to something that could withstand adamantium. I plunged my claws into the back of the robot's neck and shredded the metal like it was paper. A few seconds later, it too was decapitated and I leapt from the body to the ground and spun to face the last one.

It wasn't very big, about eight feet tall, but it issued forth a final message that made my hair stand on end. "Countermeasures unsuccessful. Initiate termination protocols." It turned its head and the laser shot forth again. I barely managed to dodge out of the way and the sand where I'd been standing was instantly fused into glass. I swore under my breath and charged. It continued to shoot at me and I had to bob and weave my way towards it. I'd almost gotten there when it pointed one of its arms at me and about half a dozen missiles shot out of its forearm. I tucked and rolled, just barely avoiding them but one of them exploded about three feet away from me and I felt burning metal and other shrapnel embed itself in my flesh. I heard Atlas shout my name behind me as Echo came winging overhead to distract it. The ploy worked. "Mutant detected, flight, other powers unknown. Initiating countermeasures." I heard a puff as it fired a net towards her even as I sensed that Atlas was somewhere nearby. I looked up just as he picked up the remains of one of the Sentinels I'd already disabled and swung it towards the functioning robot's head. It came apart from its body and flew out of sight.

Sam was at my side in an instant. "Wolverine! Are you all right?" He sounded frantic. "Logan!"

"Chill out bub, I'm all right." I said, rolling over. I could feel the skin on my forehead and left cheek healing over and his eyes widened as he watched it. "Guess that won't work again, eh?"

"Probably not." I grabbed his hand and he hauled me to my feet.

"Thanks pal." I looked around, but I didn't see Echo, so I tapped my earpiece. "Omega leader to Echo, come in."

"Echo here, Omega leader. Already going in for another pass."

"Good. Lead 'em somewhere else, I need a break."

"Roger that."

We repeated this process over the next half an hour or so, managing to take out about half of the giant Sentinels, but barely made a dent in the small ones. Echo told us there were at least a thousand of them over there and we'd only managed to take out about seventy of them. I didn't like those odds one bit.

"Ok team, regroup at the jet." I said over the com. "We need to brainstorm."

Five minutes later, we were back on the jet and Sam was taking us up. Everyone was the worse for the wear, except me. Inferno and Iceman both had cuts on their faces, Havok was dressing a nasty burn on his left arm and Jubilee was putting a pressure bandage on a deep laceration to her right calf. Echo had gotten grazed on her right wing by a laser and was favoring her right ankle from the bad landing that came of that. Atlas had a cut that started over his left eye and went almost all the way to the back of his head. Had it not been for my healing factor, I'd have been dead half a dozen times over. We were outclassed and I was out of ideas. I turned the rest of the team. "Ok, there's way too many of them to get through. We need more firepower and we just don't have it. I'll take any suggestions you might have right now."

"How many of those little charges do you have left?" Echo asked.

"Not enough, why?"

"I was thinking, what if I flew overhead and dropped them randomly among the small ones? They're pretty close together, I might be able to take out several with one charge."

"Right now, I'm thinking a nuke from orbit is the only way to be sure." Havok replied.

I whipped my head around to face him. "What'd you say?"

"Ah, nothing, just talking out of my ass."

"No, really. I think you might be on to somethin'." I closed my eyes in concentration. Havok's power was similar to his brother's, except that he could also use it as an omnidirectional shockwave. Unlike Scott, he could build it up and release anything from a negligible wave to a devastating blast that could level just about anything. The trick would be getting him into the middle of that staging area. The solution came to me all at once. "Iceman, how fast can you move on those ice slides o' yours?"

"I don't know, we've never really tested that." He replied. "Why?"

I smirked. "I got an idea."

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We set the jet down again about a klick to the south of the staging area and waited for dusk. We spent that time patching each other up and getting something to eat. I also took the liberty of running everyone out of the jet so I could talk to my woman alone. "Omega leader to base."

"Base here. What the fuck do you call what just happened down there?"

"I call it a fuckin' mess, that's what." I replied. "Darlin', I'm sorry if I scared you."

"I just about had a litter of kittens watching that! I don't care how indestructible you think you are, I want you to abort this mission, pick up Jazz and get the hell home!"

"Negative base. We have another plan." I quickly outlined what I'd come up with. Havok was outside at that moment soaking up all the ambient energy that he could. He knew what his maximum capacity was and he was building it up until he could barely stand the pressure. The plan was to have Iceman slide him into the middle of the staging area and get clear. Once he gave the go-ahead, Havok would release a massive shockwave that would hopefully disable or destroy a big chunk of the Sentinels. Since they weren't actually activated, they should be at their most vulnerable. The most we'd have to deal with was three at a time and with five of us working on any that were active, it shouldn't be a problem. In the meantime, Iceman would pick up Inferno and the two of them would enter the Master Mold, get to the reactor core and overload it. By my estimation, we'd only have a few minutes to get clear, so Atlas would come in with the jet, pick us up and get us hell out of there.

"I don't like it, Wolverine." Angela said. "I don't like it one bit. Too much can go wrong."

"Damn it we don't have a choice!" I shouted. "We have to get rid of that thing or else it'll just roll a thousand more Sentinels off the line an' we might as well roll over an' wait for 'em to come!"

She fell silent, but I could hear Buzz in the background. Finally, she sighed and replied. "Buzz says he thinks you can pull it off, but you have to get Havok as close to the center of the staging area as you can. And you'll only have about four minutes to get clear of the Master Mold before it blows. None of this takes the people there into consideration."

"You let me worry about the humans, darlin'. The rest of the team can handle the robots."

"Fine, go ahead. I'm telling Beta team to stand down and get some sleep and activating Delta in their place. Switch to secure frequency Beta for all further communication."

"Roger that." I reached under my jacket and pulled out the dog tag with her picture on it. "I love you, darlin'."

"I love you too. You better come back to me."

"Affirmative. Omega out."

I called Iceman and Inferno back into the jet and we went over the schematic of the reactor core in great detail. There were half a dozen stabilizing units surrounding the main core and at least four of them had to be taken out to overload the it. We also went over possible escape routes for them, but Inferno said he would work on melting his way through the hull while Iceman took out the stabilizers. Overall, it was as good a plan as any and I approved it.

About an hour later, the sun began its descent and all but Atlas made our way to the insertion point. I nodded to Iceman and he motioned to Havok to grab onto his belt. An eye blink later they sped off towards the staging area. Less than a minute after that I heard Iceman over the com. "Iceman to Havok, I'm clear!" Immediately, there was a loud boom and a split second later the remnants of his blast washed over us. That was our cue to move and we ran full out for the staging area.

It was one of those scenes you hope to never see. Havok was standing in the center of a circle of destruction at least five hundred meters in diameter, the only living thing left. We knew his blast would weaken as it spread and there was a chance it would be too weak to affect anything beyond a certain point, but we'd hoped it would be enough of a distraction to the guards that we'd get there before they could intercept him. The good news was there wasn't a Sentinel left completely intact within that area. The bad news was the chopper coming in from the north, chain guns firing at the only target left standing.

"Atlas, now!" I shouted and he grabbed my jacket and hurled me towards the chopper, but I knew I wouldn't make it in time. I looked down just as my claws impacted the side of the helicopter, just in time to see Havok cut down by dozens of rounds. He'd expended every bit of energy he had in that shockwave; he'd had nothing left to defend himself with. With a roar, I pulled myself into the chopper and hacked away at everything I could see. It wasn't until I shoved my claws through the back of the pilot's skull that I came back to myself enough to grab the stick and set it down more or less safely. Once on the ground, I hacked the controls to pieces and rushed down into the fray.

From what I could see, there were only about half a dozen small Sentinels and only one giant one left intact enough to operate. The rest were either destroyed or damaged severely enough that they wouldn't be operational any time soon. I heard a whoop of joy overhead and looked up to see Iceman with Inferno clinging to his belt go speeding overhead. I spared them a quick wish of luck and ran back towards the rest of the team.

Echo had her sword drawn and was hacking away at soldiers who had been far enough away from ground zero that they were still able to fight. I popped my claws back out and slashed one open from neck to navel with one hand as I sliced open the throat of another man with the other. I looked around frantically, but I couldn't find Jubilee anywhere in the melee. "Where's Jubilee?" I shouted to Echo over the din.

"I don't know!" She called back as she sliced open another opponent. "Last I saw, she was heading towards Havok!"

Fuck! What the hell was she doing that for? I saw how many rounds he'd taken, there was no way he survived that. I snarled and plunged my claws into the chest of a soldier and tossed him aside before turning and heading towards where Havok had fallen. More soldiers came out of nowhere and I belatedly realized I could hear the sound of a troop transport over the sounds of battle. "Echo, get outta here!" I shouted into my com and spared a glance over my shoulder. She pulled her sword out of a soldier and took to the air. I roared a challenge to the five men who turned to point their weapons at her and they spun to face me instead. I grunted as the bullets impacted my body, but they didn't stop me from cutting my way through them. It gave Echo the precious seconds she needed to get away. Once they were taken care of, I resumed my progress towards Jubilee.

I could hear the sounds of fighting before I could see anything. Smoke from the destroyed Sentinels and the ruined chopper obscured my vision and the stink of blood, burnt electronics and cordite masked any other scents in the air. Men still approached from the sides and I cut them down, hardly sparing them a glance as I did so. Finally, I could see flashes of light through the thick smoke, which could only be Jubilee using her plasma bursts to blind or blast her opponents. I slashed through three more enemies and she came into view. She was standing over Havok's body protectively and I couldn't imagine why she was doing so. I caught movement from the corner of my eye and stabbed a soldier who had lifted his weapon to shoot me again. I was pissed enough already, I didn't need another bullet hole to make it worse. "Jubilee, get the hell outta here!" I yelled.

"No! I won't leave him here!" She shouted back even as she shot a plasma burst in the face of her opponent, blowing half of his head clean off.

I raised an eyebrow in surprise. I had no idea she could do that with her power. The moment was short lived, as I felt another bullet hit me in the shoulder, spinning me around. I turned on the guy who shot me and rushed him, slashing his gun to pieces before stabbing him in the face. A heartbeat later, I heard Inferno over the com. "Mission accomplished! Coming out!"

"Lee! We have to go! Now!" I called to her but she was fending off four soldiers. Her plasma bursts were losing strength and it was all she could do to blind them. I rushed over to her to assist. "Jubilee, retreat! I'll take care of 'em!"

Her breath came in harsh gasps. "Wolverine, I'm not leaving him here!" She cried. "Just watch my back!"

We fought back to back for about half a minute. She was reduced to straight up hand-to-hand and I did my best to keep myself between her and any bullets. A few seconds later, we heard Inferno over the com again. "Wolverine, hit the dirt!" I glanced up and then tackled Jubilee to the ground, covering her body with my own. I felt a rush of intense heat and heard the sounds of men dying all around us. I looked up a couple of breaths later and I saw that we were surrounded by smoking corpses, Iceman and Inferno standing atop a short pillar of ice that was already melting in the intense heat. I stood up and helped Jubilee to her feet. "Good timin'." I said and they grinned.

"Atlas to Wolverine, heads up." I heard over the com and we ducked as the jet came in to land about ten yards away. Jubilee gave me a pained look and I sighed and hefted Havok's body over my shoulder, then we took off towards the jet. The ramp came down and Atlas took Havok from me, laying him gently on a gurney that Echo had already set up for him. I stood at the bottom of the ramp and ushered Iceman and Inferno inside. Jubilee smiled up at me as she took a step to go past me, but a shot rang out from behind us and her expression changed to one of shock.

"Wolvie?" She said and collapsed in my arms.

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AN: Sorry about the almost-late update, but computer issues at home kept me offline until right before i came to work tonight...bleah...so, here it is, just barely making my own deadline...i can't be on much longer, so you all know who i want to thank...:) Oh, and reeltreble...you thought the LAST cliffie was bad, how's THIS one:)