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Chapter 23 : The attack part 2
Behind the counter Bobby keeps low, listening to the battle. Suddenly the noises stop. He slowly peers over the counter and sees the soldier pinned against the refrigerator, both sets of Logan's claws are buried in his chest. The claws retract.
The soldier slumps to the floor, leaving six gashes in the door. Moments later in the hallway, Logan and Bobby run into the hall. At the far end, they spot two soldiers preparing to carry off Jones, a few more troops are between them.
"Stay here !" Logan said while he puts Bobby into an alcove across from the elevator.
Logan silently races down the hallway and stabs a soldier in the shoulder. He spins and slices two more. Logan races towards the end of the hall, raging. Bobby watches Logan, and hears the screams of the kids upstairs.
He darts across the hall and into the elevator. On the same time in the TV room. Two soldiers are in the midst of lifting up Jones. The first soldier drops Jones' legs and fires a dart at Logan. Twhap ! They stick in his shoulder, but it doesn't slow him down, it just pisses him off. The second soldier lifts his gun, ready to fire.
Logan slices it from his hands, he turns and slices off the first soldier's mask, stabs him, and throws him to the ground. The soldier hits the floor, clutching his bleeding face. Logan sneers at the motionless troops sprawled on the ground.
The TV is still changing channels. Dazed, Logan pills the darts from his arm and shakes off the effect. Logan retracts his claws, then bends down and gently picks up Jones. He sees the darts, and yanks them out from Jones' neck.
The boy mumbles...alive but unconscious. Logan looks relieved. He looks back to see that Bobby is gone. Suddenly, more screaming echoes above. Still carrying Jones, he runs upstairs.
Outside the house a helicopter rumbles outside, shining a spotlight into the windows. Screaming children run from their rooms. Bobby exits the elevator and steps out into the chaos of kids running through the hallway. Bobby grabs a panicked, coughing Pyro.
"John, where's Rogue! " Bobby asks
"I don't know " Pyro coughs
"I'm going to find her. "
Bobby takes off, Pyro looks around and decides to follow him, They both run down the hall against a wave of terrified kids. Wide on the mansion---as six helicopters approach. A few land, while other hover above, shining spotlights into the windows.
Colossus runs down the hallway carrying an unconscious Siryn, a dozen kids following him. They stop at a wall and press on it, as if they're looking for something.
"Get back! " Colossus demands
He hands Siryn to another boy and pounds a fist against the wall. A panel opens revealing a secret passage. The kids make their way inside. Logan emerges from the other end of the corridor and hands of Jones to Colossus.
"Take him. " Logan tells Colossus before heading down the hallway, sensing approaching soldiers.
"I can help you! " Colossus yells at him
Logan turns around "Help them."
Logan stops at the end of the corridor, two soldiers are approaching around the corner, the flashlights on their guns lighting their way.
Logan waits against the wall. He spins around the corner, raging. Gunfire and screams fill the air. The flashlights flicker and shake. Silence. A single flashlight rolls across the carpet.
Kitty darts across a hall, barely avoiding two soldiers, and phases through a wall. She emerge from the wall, entering another room. She keeps running and phases through a billiard table, then through a fire place ...crossing the hallway and...into another room, phasing right through a soldier.
He jolts, disoriented, as she phases through him---heading towards the far wall. The soldier spins and aims. Kitty is almost out of the house, just a few more feet... The soldier fires his rifle, a bolt of electricity harmlessly hits the wall, just after Kitty phases through, escaping outside.
Meanwhile upstairs, Rogue runs down the hallway, followed by two younger girls. They reach the end of the corridor and Rogue presses her hand against a section of the wall near a large bay window. A small door slides open. She puts the girls inside the passage.
"Aren't you coming?" One of the girls asks
" I have to find someone first. You know what to do. Just like Storm taught us, okay? " Rogue said
The younger girl pauses, she's frightened about everything. Rogue gently wipes a wisp of hair from her face and the little girl smiles.
"Okay." The girl nods and ducks inside. Rogue shuts the door. She turns and runs back down to the end of the hallway. Through the noise of helicopters and screams, she hears a distant voice
"ROGUE! " Bobby yells
She sees Bobby and Pyro rounding a corner at the far end of the hall. They run to meet her.
"Where Logan?"
"He's fighting the soldiers !"
"This way!" Pyro yells at them
Just as he turns to lead them toward the secret passage, a helicopter spotlight fills the bay window at the end of the hall, briefly silhouetting two soldiers swinging in front of it, attaching small grenades to the edges. Bobby pulls Rogue back around the corner to safety, just before the window explodes, sending glass and wood everywhere.
The soldiers swing through the debris and land.
Colossus and twelve other kids run through a tunnel, looking back to see if they're being followed. Finally, they reach the end of the tunnel and enter the forest. The kids flee into the forest disappearing from the school. Running to safety.
Bobby, Rogue, and Pyro reach the bottom of the stairs and something catches Rogue's eye: the bodies of two soldiers laying on the floor. She gasps just as four more soldiers burst through the front door, guns raised. They're trapped.
The guns are aimed right at them. Suddenly, a primal scream echoes from above. They look up just as Logan leaps off the balcony, claws bared and arms spread wide. He stabs his claws through the soldiers of two troops, pinning them to the floor, before the other two can even fire, Logan jams his claws into their legs, and flips them onto their backs.
"Let's go. " Logan nods
A helicopter spotlight shines through the front door. They hear the sound of more troops approaching. They turn and run back inside.
Logan, Rogue, Bobby, and Pyro round a corner. Pyro opens up a secret passage and they head inside. Logan suddenly stops, listening to the approaching soldiers.
"Keep going. " Logan tells them
"Logan... " Rogue looks at him.
He stares at her, the animalistic gleam still in his eye. No arguing. The passage door shuts.
Logan turns around and extends his claws. Suddenly, through the smoke, a dozen green lasers focus on Logan's head and body. A dozen soldiers surround Logan in a semi-circle. Logan's raging
"YOU WANNA SHOOT ME! SHOOT ME! " Logan yells to the soldiers
Logan pushes forward, about to cut into them when...
"Don't shoot him. " A voice demands
A man steps into the hall, emerging through the smoke. The soldiers part to let him pass. Hearing the voice, Logan instinctively freezes.
"...Not yet. " The voice continues
Logan tries to peer through the darkness at the approaching figure.
"Wolverine. How long has it been?" The voice pauses "Fifteen years? And you haven't changed a bit. Me, on the other hand... "
William Stryker steps into the light
"...Nature. " Stryker smiles
Logan searches Stryker's aged face, triggering a vague memory. Involuntarily, Logan's claws slowly retract...
In the meantime in the secret hallway. Rogue stops as they start to head down the passage.
"Wait. You've got to do something. They're going to kill him." Rogue said. Pyro is backing away.
"He can handle himself. Let's go. " Pyro reasons
"Bobby, please! " Bobby glances at both of them, torn, afraid.
Stryker moves closer to Logan
"I must admit, this is the last place I thought I'd ever see you, Wolverine. I didn't realize Xavier was taking in animals. Even animals as...unique as you. " Stryker chuckles
Logan looks at him hard
"Who are you? " Logan asks
"Don't you remember?" Stryker asks back
Logan, eyes wide-searching for recognition... Suddenly, the space between Logan and Stryker starts to fade, as if a thin wall of white fog is forming in the room. Logan slowly fades from view, obscured by mist.
Stryker steps forward, reaches up, and puts a hand on the wall of thick ice that now separates him from Logan. Rogue and Bobby emerge from the passage, Bobby has his frost-covered hand on the wall. Logan jolts.
"Logan, come on. " Rogue pleads to Logan
"Go, I'll be fine." Logan said
"But we won't. " Rogue argued
On the other side of the ice wall. Stryker sneers, steps back from the ice wall. He quickly grabs a grenade from one of the men belt, and jams it into the ice. The soldiers step back and avert their eyes. The wall explodes. The ice collapses. The mist clears. But Wolverine is gone. Stryker grins, amused.
End of chapterI hope you all like the story
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