Disclaimer: AU to X3! Not making any money from this. Corrinth owns Stifle and Vixen, Blaze is mine, Marvel retain all rights to all other characters, all knowledge of US military comes from watching Stargate SG1!
Above and Beyond: Scene 2The landing was fast. No matter what Logan and Stifle did, the jet would not slow down. The patch of fairly even scrubland that Wolverine had earmarked for a landing site whistled past underneath the belly of the great black beast. Logan swallowed, flicking some switches in the vain hope that it would do some good. The wooded copse closed in on them with tremendous speed. By some total fluke the jet touched the ground just in front of the tree line, slowing its momentum. The machine bounced on the rough terrain, then sliced into the copse like Wolverine's claws through flesh.
Leaves, branches and wildlife were sprayed everywhere. It was a small miracle they didn't hit a tree trunk. After a few moments of being rattled around like some sadistic roller coaster ride, the jet pitched forwards. The leaf litter filled hollow swallowed the nose of the jet easily. The Blackbird lodged there, totally stuck, just as the engines choked and died with no more fumes to run on. Wolverine pursed his lips in relief, and turned to check on his teammates. None of them had their eyes open.
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A strange light came into both Gambit and Blaze's eyes that sent shivers down Stifle's spine. The two X-Men glanced at each other before crossing the street side by side. Dell turned to Wolverine with a question on her lips. Logan shook his head before she could ask it, and followed the others. She would find out soon enough.
It was too early for most people to be about. As yet the X-Men had no idea about the extent of the curfews that were in place across the military-controlled country as America lay in a continuing state of emergency. The motorbike dealership was deserted. Like a scene out of a western, Blaze and Gambit crossed the forecourt with their eyes wandering over everything. The security on site was minimal, and the four BMW super bikes were just begging to be 'borrowed'.
Climbing aboard two of the bikes, Blaze and Gambit said nothing. From an inside pocket of his traditional trench coat Gambit produced the tools of their trade and shared them with his partner in crime. Wolverine joined them, using a claw to get the engine on his bike running. Gambit turned to hotwire the bike to his right, only to find Stifle already in control. Whatever Dell did, she did it fast and was the first to pull away. Gambit couldn't help but gape after her.
"Down boy," Blaze drawled sarcastically, revving the engine on her bike and following the other British mutant. Standing in her seat she pulled a wheelie, showing off.
"Easier said than done," Gambit grumbled appreciatively, before he followed. Logan shook his head, squatted down low over the handlebars and made an enticing cloud of wheel smoke as he launched his own bike after the others.
They barely made it to the other side of town before the sound of powerful bike engines before curfew was due to end brought the National Guard racing to the scene. The four X-Men pulled up their bikes side by side, revving the engines slightly as the troops veered round the corner to cut them off.
"What is going on?" Blaze gasped to no one in particular.
"Bad news," Logan answered vaguely. "You wanna go up against these guys?"
"Not really," Stifle shook her head, "Not in a populated area." She glanced to where curtains were already twitching in flats and houses.
"Dis way!" Gambit exclaimed, twisting his bike around sharply and lifting himself forwards and up. It was almost as if he was egging the bike on with every ounce of muscle and will he possessed. His trench coat billowed out behind him like a flapping cape from some comic-book hero. The others didn't wait for him to check back to see if they were following. They similarly manhandled their bikes and followed the Cajun.
Gambit had quickly realised that the National Guard was made up of foot soldiers, unable to keep up with the bikes, and jeeps that would be forced to keep to the main roads. He led the X-Men down a side street and sharp left into an alley. The alley spat them out, along with white shreds of paper and other trash their passage disturbed, back onto a main highway. The jeeps of the Guard screeched round the corner, their drivers struggling to correct the oversteer on the clumsy 4x4s. Weapons fire followed, making all the X-Men duck in their saddles. Gambit spotted another alley to the left again, not far up the road. He headed for it single-mindedly, hoping the others would follow. They did.
The walls of the alleyway closed in around them, muffling the sound of gunfire and making the bike engines seem a thousand times louder. Gambit reacted instantly to the way ahead being blocked by a wire mesh fence. Standing and riding without hands, he pulled a card out of his pocket and charged it. Glowing with power, the card streaked through the air and blew a substantial hole in the mesh. Gambit drove through without flinching and onwards into another clear road.
At the back of the group, Logan was not to be outdone. He extended his claws and sliced upwards. Adimantium seared through the fire escape overhead, bringing it crashing down behind them. He heard the shouts of dismay from the men pursuing them and allowed himself a small smile, but they weren't out of the woods yet. He steered around the end of the alley to flash past Blaze who had turned her bike and stopped in the middle of the road.
Rubbing her hands together gleefully, Blaze waited until the jeeps were coming round the corner towards them before she attempted to barricade the way. Fire didn't leap from her hands only to die on the cold asphalt. Rather she had sensed a gas main crossing under the roadway, and was focusing her powers on the fuel. She could feel it pulsing, getting hotter as she held out her hands towards it. Her brown eyes dilated slightly as she lifted her arms. The gas main erupted like an orange and blue volcano fissure in the road. Flames taller than the jeeps blocked the way, and the screeching of breaks on the other side suggested it had halted their passage. Blaze turned her bike and raced to join the others.
They broke out of town into the open countryside, and with no signs of further pursuit they felt they could all breathe a little easier. Still it wasn't over yet, and all of them wanted to put more distance between them and the chaos behind them before they stopped to think about what was going on. Wolverine led them off-road down a track that was little more than compounded dirt. They reached the crest of a hill without incident by snaking up its face single file. When they looked over the brow for the first time, it seemed the whole world was at their feet. The slope was steeper than the incline and the track dissipated into a wide, rough and riveted watercourse, alternatively gravely and muddy. Getting down was going to be interesting.
Wolverine went first, eyes always on where he was putting his tyre next. Stifle gave him a bit of a head start then set off after him. Snaking down the hillside was near impossible with the gradient. Instead the X-Men had to adapt a rushing headlong approach that sent the wind shrieking past their ears. Gambit followed Stifle, again a little way behind to give the brunette room to manoeuvre. Blaze followed him, leaning back in the saddle to compensate for the acute angle.
The bike was heavy, immovable and stubborn. Blaze battled it resolutely, concentring so absolutely on it that the others could have been abducted by aliens and she wouldn't have noticed. A large rock, more of a small boulder if the truth were told, nearly unseated her. Sheets of shifting dirt and gravel moved under the wheels, preventing them from getting a purchase. Her arms and legs ached with the effort. The wound from Juggernaut across her stomach throbbed incessantly.
Suddenly the track disappeared in front of her into a steep gully barely as wide as the bike's tyre. The front wheel went down but the back one snagged and slipped sideways. Off-track the ground was slimy with mud and wet grass. The back wheel had nothing to grip, and without Blaze's weight to help as she was pitched forward by the gully, the rear of the bike twisted and fell. Blaze knew she was falling before she went over. There was nothing she could do to prevent it as the bike crashed down and the earth rose up to meet her. Letting go as soon as she knew she was a goner, she managed to roll clear. Both bike and girl hit the ground with a thwack and started careering down the hill in a slide.
Hearing the tumbling of earth, rocks and machinery behind him, Logan turned. If it hadn't been for his enhanced hearing no one might have noticed that Blaze was down. Gambit and Stifle twisted in their saddles to see what Logan was looking at. The scree created a dirt cloud that was obvious to its origins. It was all the cry for help Remy needed as he manfully whipped his bike round and ploughed back up the hill.
By the time he reached her and stopped the bike, parked it and jumped down, Blaze was sat on the ground looking bemused.
"Chere, you okay?" he asked frantically.
"Fine," Blaze stated, ignoring his offered hand and standing up by herself. She dusted her uniform off briskly, then put a hand to her injured stomach and touched it wincing.
"Don't look fine. You sure…" Gambit pressed, going towards her.
"I said I'm fine," Blaze snapped, dropping her hand from her stomach and looking for her bike. It has skidded a good three or four meters further than she had, and rolled a little. It was looking rather sorry for itself now, facing back uphill and covered in dirt, dents and foliage. Gambit reached the bike as she did, and it took both of them to heave it back upright. Blaze got back on without fear. She'd had, and caused, much bigger crashes than that one. However when she started the engine it didn't respond.
"Attends," Gambit interrupted in French as Blaze went to give it more juice. "Laura wait!" Blaze glowered at him, but Remy was oblivious. He was too busy lifting off body panels with the help if his kinetic powers to examine the contents underneath. Belatedly he stood up and shook his head of unruly red-brown hair. "You done it again Cherie, another write-off to add to your collection. Ain't no way dis gonna start again, at least not wit'out no tools an' a few hours solderin'."
"Why not?" Blaze pouted, climbing down.
"Frame's twisted, transmission's trashed, an' the ABS snapped," Gambit told her frankly.
"Fine, I'll ride with Logan," Blaze retorted back, not meeting Gambit's eyes.
"Who you t'ink you is Chere, Quicksilver? You best get runnin' if you gonna catch Wolverine," Gambit pointed out. Blaze glanced down the hill only to see that Remy was right. After seeing that Blaze was okay, Wolverine's stubborn urgency had pushed him to keep going. He and Stifle were already pressing on ahead. Irate and bristling, Blaze kicked a lump of stone away from her. Gambit ignored her and pushed the trashed bike over sideways and let it crash to the ground. "You gonna toast dis so we can get goin'?" he asked her sensibly. Blaze looked at the fallen bike and clicked her fingers. The machine erupted into lapping orange flames.