Blake grunted in frustration as she landed hard on the pavement. She had been picked up by Blob and thrown about ten feet down the street from a fight that was taking place. Cyclops had gotten word that Mystique and the Brotherhood were on their way to steal some very important papers from a Senator who lived in New York City.
When the X-Men first arrived on scene Blake caught Pietro's eye, making him meet her with a look she couldn't quite decipher, she just shook her head not noticing Blob come up from behind her and lift her off her feet.
She started to shake off the dust from her uniform when she saw Mystique and Avalanche running toward the Senator's High Rise. She started after them before Cyclops or Storm could even give her an order. Just as she was catching up to them, Avalanche turned and started to shake the ground beneath them. She jumped up tackling him to the ground and fist instantly connecting with his face.
She hadn't knocked him out like she intended but she had at least managed to get the jump on him. Blake quickly stumbled to her feet and ran toward the door of the skyscraper.
When she made it inside, she saw a leg sticking out from behind the desk in the lobby. She gritted her teeth before shaking her head and running to the doors of the stairwell not realizing that Avalanche had caught up with her.
As she ran up the metal steps, she could hear someone coming up behind her. When she turned, she received a hard kick to the abs sending her flying to the ground between the second and third flight. Lance smirked as she leaned up looking at him with a glare.
Before she could stand, he started to shake the walls around them. Her eyes went wide as pieces of the stairs and walls were crumbling and falling.
"What the hell are you doing, you'll get yourself killed!" She shouted trying to stop him by pushing him to the wall.
"I'll be able to lift this off myself with no problems!" He said matter-of-factly before hearing an odd sound coming from overhead.
They both looked up seeing at least four flights of stairs falling directly toward them. Their eyes went wide before Avalanche pushed her back slamming his hands back onto the wall behind him.
"Get down!" He shouted as the walls and floor started shaking once more.
"What are you-" She started before he interrupted.
"Just do it!" He yelled as they started to fall.
He had managed to split the ground below the bottom step so they would continue falling twenty-ish feet before coming to an abrupt stop, walls caving in around them all the way over their heads. They were trapped by feet of fallen concrete and metal.
"Well, what are you waiting for, pick it all up so we can get out of here!" She commanded looking at him with pure rage and irritation.
"Ok, first of all I don't have to take orders from you and second if you X-Dweebs had just left well enough alone we wouldn't be in this mess!" He told her before he turned and punched a piece of concrete behind him, "Besides I couldn't 'pick it up' if I wanted to, I can only make it fall... God how could I be so stupid!" He yelled biting his cheek as he turned and slid down the wall looking at the ground.
"If we're stuck in here too long, you're gonna run out of oxygen!" She started looking up and scowling.
"So will you!" He said bitterly not looking up at her.
She shook her head and crossed her arms. Looking up she opened her mouth to speak again.
"Nope... I'll just choke to death... over and over and over again..." She said softly shaking at the idea of it, "Kitty and Kurt went home for the summer so they aren't here to come find us..." She added looking over at him.
"Blob should be able to dig us out and I'm sure they'll bring Xavier and the fur ball to help..." He told her calmly; she nodded in response before sighing.
"Twenty questions?" She asked before chuckling at the absurdity of the whole situation.
He gave her and odd look before shrugging his shoulders and nodding.
"You go first I guess..." He told her.
She closed her eyes in thought for a moment before she spoke.
"Kay got one... fire when ready!" She told him making him chuckle.
"Are you a person?" He asked looking up to see her nod, "Are you old?" He questioned again.
"No!" She replied.
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Pietro's eyes went wide as he felt the ground shaking and saw the building start to fall. Logan had also stopped and realized what was happening. In microseconds his instincts as a father and his need to help get people to safety were battling it out in his mind. He knew what he needed to do.
"Get everyone back, its gonna fall!" He started pulling random civilians out of the way as pieces of shattering glass, metal, and concrete started to rain down, "Rogue get to the X-Jet and contact the Professor!" He yelled to his former student.
She nodded at him in understanding but before she could start to run Storm grabbed her by the arm and yanked off one of her gloves. She brushed her hand, both of them feeling a slight burn.
"Flying will get you there faster!" She stated, "Now go!" She added as Rogue carefully took flight and headed in the way of the X-Jet.
When Rogue had made it back, the tower had fallen completely, and She could see a chopper landing in the middle of the street. Nick Fury, along with Bruce Banner and Captain America, as well as another S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent who looked oddly like Blake and Sabertooth were exiting and approaching Cyclops, Storm, and Pietro who was left to lead in Mystique's absence.
"We'll deal with you after we get you're people out of there!" Agent Fury told Pietro before turning to question the X-Men, "How many people got out safely?" He asked receiving a slow shake of the head from Cyclops.
"Director Fury, we believe the collapse started in the stairwell... No one to our knowledge made it out alive..." He informed the man, "One of ours as well as two of theirs are stuck inside, at least two were in the stairwell and one was headed for the twenty-eighth floor." He continued receiving a nod in reply.
"We need to get them out as quickly as we can, they're running out of air as we speak!" Pietro spoke finally, looking sternly over at the rubble.
"As much as I hate agreeing with him, the kid's right... my daughter is stuck in there and we need to get her out!" Wolverine spoke as he approached them.
"Blake is inside?" The Agent who was standing behind them step forward, "Why did she run in alone, I told you to look out for her and you let her possibly get herself killed!" He snarled at Wolverine clenching his fists.
"Agent Creed don't hit him, that won't get your sister out any faster!" Captain Rogers told him laying a hand on his shoulder, "We probably ought to get digging before we lose anymore daylight." He added getting agreeing responses from all parties involved.
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"Are you a Mutant?" Lance asked as he rested his head on his arms.
He had moved to lie flat on his stomach.
"Yes..." Blake responded, she had her head on the ground with her legs crossed on the rock in front of her.
If you tilted the space by ninety degrees you would think she was sitting with her legs stretched out.
"Are you tall?" He asked.
"Sort of..." She replied.
"Medium height?" He questioned opening one eye to look at her.
"Yeah..." Was her answer.
"Do you have dark hair?" He asked looking as she shook her head in response, "You're Pietro..." He finished getting a heavy sigh from her.
"He's gonna kill you when we get out of here... you know that right?" She asked him, getting a chuckle.
"Yeah, I know!" He told her, "So what do you think is taking them so long up there?" Lance asked as he sat up and coughed a couple of times.
"Couldn't tell you..." Blake replied eyes closed, hands lying clasped together loosely on her stomach.
"It seems like the possibility of dying doesn't scare you at all... what's with you?" He asked coughing a couple more times.
"Within days of my escaping from Weapon X, I was hiding out in an abandoned motel just outside of Montreal… I had decided that life wasn't worth living any longer because of what they had done to me..." Blake began thinking back to that day, "They made me into a monster, and I wasn't willing to live that way!" She stated, vividly remembering screaming, and crying.
The temper tantrum she had thrown when she accepted that she wasn't dreaming, and this was real.
"I… I tried to just end it…but I just kept healing..." She continued gritting her teeth.
"Wow..." Lance responded softly, actually surprised by her confession.
"So, no I'm not scared of death because I know it isn't happening any time soon... and when it does, I know I'll be ready..." She finished looking up at the Ceiling, "are you ready yet?" She asked looking over at him.
"Oh yeah sorry..." He answered sitting up and leaning against the wall once more.
"Are you a person?" She asked making him shake his head in response.
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Darius and the Hulk were all digging at one end of the rubble with Blob and Quicksilver. Storm, Cyclops, Rogue, and Spike were helping the few who did survive the collapse as Captain America helped carry the injured to safety. Only Quicksilver and Blob had noticed the fact that Scarlet Witch, Toad, and Sabertooth had disappeared. However, they kept quiet knowing that they had probably gone off to find Mystique.
Wolverine had stepped away ten minutes ago to smoke a cigar and Death Cat decided it would probably be a good idea to go apologize.
"I'm aware that this isn't your fault you know... she's gonna be fine!" Darius spoke as he stood beside Logan, looking off at nothing in particular.
He only got a grunt in reply.
"Tiny Darius!" they both turned when they heard the Hulk calling for him.
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Lance was coughing hard and turning pale. Blake could tell that he didn't have much time left but she was doing her best not to let him know. She crawled over to sit a little closer, watching him closely to make sure he wasn't in any severe pain. She knew she shouldn't care, but Lance was Pietro's best friend, so it was hard not to.
"You know, just because we got to spend some quality time in a hole, doesn't mean I'm gonna go easy on you next time we fight!" He told her with a chuckle making her laugh loudly.
"Likewise!" She said smiling.
Just as she managed to get her laughter under control, she noticed that she could hear voices.
"We're down here, hurry, it's getting hard to breathe!" She called hearing what sounded like the Hulk calling for her brother.
She jumped to her feet as she heard them getting closer and closer.
Moments later a small hole opened in the ceiling, and someone dropped down inside. Blake smiled and pulled Pietro out of view of the hole.
He beamed, pulling her close and kissing her lips tenderly. When they pulled apart, they looked into each other's eyes for a few moments before Blake broke the connection to guide him over to Lance.
"Alright Brotherhood Scum... Get outta here before I whoop ya!" She told them both with a wink making them both smirk, before being pulled up through the hole and taking off before Fury could stop them.
When Blake was pulled up, she felt herself being pulled into the arms of her brother. She smiled hugging him back, happy to know that he worried for her. When she pulled away, she quickly grabbed Wolverine who patted her back a couple of times before shooing her away.
"Alright alright... It's good to know you're okay Pup, now let's get you back to the Institute!" He told her making her laugh before she looked around.
"Did Mystique get away?" She asked receiving a nod from Storm.
"We believe so, but for now we're all just glad that you are alright!" Storm told her in response.
After a few moments the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents and two Avengers made their way back to S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ while the X-Men return to the Xavier Institute to inform the Professor and Beast of the status of the mission.