There they were, Magento and his little sidekick Pyro, standing in front of a pick up truck that was practically invisible in the dark, Wolverine had managed to scout round in a circle and come out far behind them. Movement drew Wolverine's attention, Storm was concealing herself in the sky not to far off, she was trying to get the girl without revealing themselves. Wolverine had no doubt Magneto knew she was there, and as for himself, well the old man scarcely missed a trick.

Sarah suddenly realised she had been holding her breath and slowly let it out, relaxing in the seat a little. Magneto and Pyro had been standing perfectly still for a good few minutes now and nothing had happened. She had thought about running, it was becoming more and more appealing with every second that passed. She knew the forest pretty well, Magneto and Pyro probably didn't, then again, it was a probably. It was dark, it would be easy to slip away, and Magneto wouldn't be able to stick any metal barriers in her way in a forest, Pyro similarly couldn't do much without setting the whole place on fire. Bad spot to pick really, keeping her eyes focused on Magneto and Pyro she reached for the bags on the floor.

'Sorry jewelry, you'll have to stay in case old Mr. Magnet gets you.' It hurt her to leave these things behind, some of the pieces had belonged to family, and others were just very beautiful and had been bought when Sarah had been much younger. Suddenly the thunder began again and the forest ceiling clouded over.

A shout went out, and a ball of flame flew into the air.

On Storm's first bolt, Logan had begun to run, coming at the van from behind. His legs pounded in rhythm with his heart, he had no idea what he was going to do, if Magneto so much as flicked his wrist he was done for, and the chances of Storm managing to distract him were slim to none. He needed a miracle to survive this, but that perhaps, he told himself, was why he was running.

Magneto tore a side panel from the truck and flung it at Storm, who swiftly dodged it and another blast from Pyro. Another piece of metal found its way to Magneto from the truck; time seemed to slow down as Pyro watched a bolt of lightning miraculously strike the metal and send Magneto flying to the ground. Pyro immediately sent an onslaught of flames into the trees, Magneto's warning echoing in his mind, 'If anything happens, the place goes up in smoke and we get out, do not fight them yourself.'

Knowing full well that Storm wasn't alone, Pyro was sticking to his mentor's advice, she was one thing but Wolverine. Well that was something he didn't want to get into.

Seeing Magneto fall Sarah jumped from the truck and sprinted away into the darkness. She felt her legs quickly tiring, but fear kept her running regardless of her body. Branches lashed out, cutting through Sarah's shirt and flesh, stinging at her legs, tearing at her face.

Putting her hands up to her face Sarah crashed through a knot of branches, straight into Wolverine. Pain smashed through her as a gasp escaped from her mouth.

Pyro spun round; the woman had run from the truck. Storm hit the ground running as Pyro took off for the forest; Pyro felt his feet lift from the ground as he was pulled skyward. Thrashing in the air he sent flame behind him, forcing Storm to release him from the tornado as she defended herself from the fireball. In the forest Wolverine had risen immediately and looked to the crumpled woman lying at his feet. Crouching down he lifted her top half, she was still breathing. Running into him head on must have hurt like hell, not to mention the claws- shit, had he hurt her? He smelt it before he saw it, the blood trickling from a gash in her side. Cursing himself he put pressure on the wound, it wasn't to deep, but it would probably scar badly. Another smell suddenly pushed in on him, the whole forest was going up in flames! Acrid smoke filled his nostrils, quickly he grabbed the woman and ran into the clearing where Magneto's truck was.

Pyro ground to a halt when he saw Wolverine. The instantaneous bravado that had convinced him he could attack him and win vanished when he saw the dirt covered face before him, Sarah's body draped over his arms. His hesitation cost him, as Storm quickly hit him from behind with a branch, knocking him to the ground.

'Can you not do something about these trees storm?' Wolverine yelled over the flames, 'They'll start collapsing if we're here too long.' Rushing over to the truck he bundled the woman inside the cab and swung himself into the drivers seat as the rain once more began to hammer down.

'Storm!'

She was gone.

'Shit, she'll have gone back to the Professor. Looks like it's just me and you for now.'

The truck roared as Wolverine started the engine, glancing in the back of the truck he spotted a gleaming motorbike. The chain of memories flooded through his head again; casting them aside he jammed his foot on the accelerator and took off.

Kicking herself for being so stupid as to pay Wolverine back for abandoning her Storm had slowly made her way back to the Professor, reassured a little when she heard the truck behind her roar into life. She sat down, gasping for breath as the Professor questioned her. 'Sarah's ok, Logan has her. Magneto and Pyro were waiting for us; they're both knocked out in the forest. The flames shouldn't get to them before they wake up.'

'Indeed they shouldn't.', came a cool voice.

Magneto and Pyro were suddenly in the back of the van with them. 'Good evening Charles.'

The Professor inclined his head slightly at his old friend, 'Eric.'