The Beast's Den

About one hour after sunset they arrived at the mansion. In the dark night it looked spooky and abandoned. Located on a cliff it had a amazing view of the ocean far below where the waves beat against the stone.

There was a tension in the air, something big would go down at this very place this night. The building was the right kind of house to have at such a location. It's roughness, the stones it was built in, the windows, the layout, everything was right except one little detail. The person that had this place as one of his strongholds. It was a place that suited him, but his time had passed.

Chin high Tessa watched the building. Her face was blank, showing no emotion, but she was afraid of what would happen if she didn't defeat Bogan.

The others had but a vague idea of what they was up against. They had only tracked the predator, not faced him. Odds were that the mistakes he had done was made deliberately in order to get Tessa away from Shaw and Hellfire. Still it was just speculations and not facts. What she needed was facts.

~o~

"Tessa and Bishop will search the third floor and the attic. Rogue and Gambit, take the first and second floor. Wolverine and I will take basement." Storm declared. Everyone nodded in agreement. Turning to Tessa she continued. "You will need a codename."

"Sage."

"Then that is it. Thank you Sage for joining us on this, I think that we will need your help to manage this."

"Remember to tell Xavier that. The look on his face would be priceless. Maybe you could take a photo."

Storm raised her eyebrows at Tessa wondering if she was out to get some kind of advantages with the professor.

"Perhaps you could join us instead. Tell him yourself."

"Join the x-men? Be a superhero and save the world time after time and still be hated by the public? Do not think so."

Storm shrugged. "It was just one suggestion." To everyone she said. "Time to move out. If you even just sens something suspicious notify the others directly, no matter how non important it may seem."

~o~

The inside didn't look like it had changed ever since it had been built. There was not one single bit of dust on anything and all the furniture seemed new. They was reflected by the polished floors and there was no sound in there but their steps.

It simply was creepy.

The air was cold, far colder than air should be at any time in Florida. Smoke stemmed from their breath. One would half expect everything to be covered in frost.

"Storm, are you doing this?" whispered Wolverine trying to keep his voice down, but his words echoed in the big hall.

"Certainly not."

"Creepy. Spread out. The faster we are done with this the happier I will be."

"I agree." Storm told him. They walked towards the basement stair that was located a few rooms away. Thankfully Sage had been able to find the blueprints, so they knew the path they were going to take. But knowing one thing on paper and doing it in real life was two different things.

Rogue and Gambit systematically started going through all rooms, not really believing that they would find anything.

Sage and Bishop made their way up the stairs. The higher they came the colder it became. On the third floor they found various sitting rooms as well as the inner circles meeting room, but no signs of life or Bogan.

"We go through all the rooms that were on the blueprint before we start looking for secret passages. If there is any of them it is assured to be one entry here." Sage told Bishop when they stepped in to the meeting room.

When they were climbing the narrow stair to the attic Wolverine's voice crackled over the com-link.

"We've found some nasty stuff down here. You've had any success?"

"Non." Gambit replied from the second floor.

"The meeting room is on the third floor. Good place to start looking for hidden passages." Bishop said into the communicator.

"Bon, w'en we're done 'ere we'll take a look. Ye got t'ings covered down t'ere Wolverine?"

"Sure, Gumbo."

~o~

In the basement Wolverine clicked off the communicator. and looked at Storm. They were in a stone cellar. Shackles hung from the wall and torture devices lay shattered over the bloodstained room.

"Ye okey?

"Yes, I am just a bit shaken up. How can anyone be this cruel?"

"Don' know. Some are that way." He walked up to her putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. Storm's withe hair fell over her down turned face from him. Her dark hand trembled slightly as she brought it up to brush it away.

"I want this monster defeated. Tes... Sage, was right, saying that he is a monster. But there is one thing to know it and one thing to actually see it."

Yeah. And that woman is right about most things even if she may be a little bit creepy." The last remark he said made Storm grin.

"O, how adorable."

The unexpected voice made both spin around. Behind them Oliver Ryland leaned against the stained wall.

Eminently Wolverine's claws emerged with a snikt. Storm started creating thunder clouds inside the room, forgetting what she had instructed the others to do if they found anything.

Seeing them Bogan chuckled.

"You really think that you can harm me?"

"Oh yes, and if we can't, we will at least try." growled Wolverine right before he threw himself at the other man.

"Pathetic." Bogan told him as he stepped out of Wolverine's path.

His momentum was so large that he didn't have time to stop before hi hit the stone wall that Bogan had leaned against. The impact didn't knock him out, after all he had a healing factor and adamantium implants on his skeleton.

Once again Wolverine turned on Bogan, who avoided being struck by a lightning bolt. Hurricane strong winds blew up and pinned him against the closest wall. Storm were living up to her code name, she truly was a force of nature and not only Ororo Monroe.

Wolverine walked up to Bogan, who struggle to even move in the hard wind. When he reached Bogan, the man looked way to pleased with himself, even though he was stuck to the wall.

"So you think you've got me. Let me tell you this, you are wrong."The words should have been drowned in the howl of the wind, but both Wolverine and Storm could hear him and the cruel voice magnified in the cellar until they couldn't hear anything else. Slowly his eyes turned red and they shone brightly in the cellars dusk.

~o~

"This is hopeless. We ain't never going to find anything in here." Rogue told Gambit. She was seated in one of the chairs around the table, looking miserable. "Ah wanna do something, anything. We should go to Storm and Wolverine. At least they got something, we ain't got nothing."

"Be patient chere. I t'ink we've got somet'ing." Gambit was fingering on a model head with a golden mask. It's facial features was smooth, making it look like a mannequin.

"What ye gonna do, swamp rat? Steel it's mask?"

"Non. Just because tu don't want to know, je ain't gonna tell."

"Come on, don't be such an ass. Tell meh." The last sentence was clearly a order.

"Nop, I'm not telling you. But..."

"What? Stop dancing around it."

"Je can show you." Gambit placed his hand on the forehead of the mask and pushed. The head slid back about three centimeters and the wall beside it slid back, reviling a opening. Rogue jumped to her feet quickly, slightly startled by the unexpected event.

"That's fantastic! Ye found it!"

"Oui. Appears t'at way. Anyt'ing to save a lovely mademoiselle from boredom."

"For your information, Ah was never in need of saving and Ah never will be."

Gambit smiled devilish, his red on black eyes the essence of mischief.

"Bon." He bowed as if he were a gentleman, his hand towards the opening. "Ladies first."

As she passed him she grumbled. "Swamp rat."

Gambit heard her remark and his smirk grew wider.

~o~

The attic was a rater large room that had one big window overlooking the sea far below. The area in front of the window was cleared from debris and on a oriental rug stood two armchairs overlooking the view. On the end table placed between chairs stood a wine glass half full of deep red wine. Beside it lay a necklace, a beautiful creation with a silver chain and a ruby drop.

The closer they got to the window the colder it got. If was from there the cold generated and the air spread over the house like the winds of cold air falling down from glaciers. The window was covered with frost roses and there was frost on everything in the room.

When they got even closer they could tell that the wine had frozen to ice. The chain of the necklace almost disappeared under the frost, but through it's faint cover the ruby's color glittered.

"Well I think we've got something." Bishop told Sage. "I'll contact the others."

He pushed a button on the communicator. "We have found the location from where the cold generates."

The only reply he got was static.

"Do you read?" Still no answer. "Storm? Wolverine? Gambit? Rogue? Anyone? come in."

More static.

"If you read pleas reply." Still there was only the static. Turning to Sage he told her. "I'm not getting any response. Could something be jamming the radio contact?"

Sage reached into one of the pockets of her black trench coat and brought out her shades. Gently she placed them on her nose.

"No. The contact is fully functional and so is all the communicators. If they doesn't reply it is because they are unable to."

"Great. If they have been taken out, we're next."

"I would have to agree with you on that point."

"We have to find them. They need our help."

"If I know Bogan as well as I think I does, some of them might already past the point of help."

"We can't think like that."

"Still it is a fact whether you like it or not." Even if Bishop was a large black man with a quarterback built, the smaller woman was the one who had taken control.

"Do you have a heart or is it made of ice?" Was the only reply he managed to give her.

"I do not let emotions get the better of reason." Sage's voice was as cold as the room they were in.

"We are going to find them even if we have to seek through this entire building or more."

"We could be walking into a trap, but this room could be a trap as well. It doesn't matter when the hunter has found his pray. We shall try to find them. Perhaps some can be saved."

Bishop started walking towards the stair, but before Sage followed she grabbed the necklace from the table. The cold crystal burned against the bare skin of her palm.

____________________________________________________________________

Author's Note: So things are heating up right now, or should I say getting colder? Well, there will be some action coming up, and then this story will be over. Kind of sad that we are so close to the end, although we still have some chapters left.

I would also like to thank Sage1988 for reviewing. Thank you so much.

Please leave your review, so I know if you have liked it this far.