Chapter 15

(Angela)

I wasn't surprised when I woke up in the infirmary the next night. I was surprised to find that I had Bosko in my arms and to see Logan waiting there for me…with Evie. As soon as my eyes came into focus, she leapt from her chair and threw herself into my arms, babbling incoherently. I stroked her hair and shushed her, all the while shooting a death glare over her head to my mate. We'd discussed this before, that we weren't going to tell her about the rest of my mutation until she was older, but that had all apparently gone right out the window the day before. Once I had her calmed down and assured that I was just fine, I had Logan take her back up to our suite with the promise that I would be right behind them. As soon as the door closed behind them, I whirled around and smacked Hank square in the chest. "Blue, how in hell could you let her see me like that?" I growled.

"And how did you expect me to keep it from her?" He replied, his eyes narrowed. "She knew you'd come home, knew you'd been hurt and she insisted on seeing you."

"You couldn't have put me in isolation or something? Gods only know what kind of trauma I'm gonna have to deal with now!"

"Angela, I think you're not giving her enough credit. We made a discovery about her mutation while you were…out." He briefly explained his theory about the possibilities of her powers including something he called psychometry and how she had seemed to almost speak to me while she held my hand. "So as you can see, her powers are either growing or else we've been treating them as something they're not."

"Will she be able to control it?" I asked. "Or is she gonna see stuff every time she touches something?"

"It's hard to say at this time, but it does seem that she needs to concentrate on the object or person in order to see anything." He placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. "Logan has already asked the same things and in my opinion, she won't have to wear gloves or avoid touch her whole life."

I let out a sigh of relief. "Well at least there's that. But I'm still pissed off that you let her see me dead. What if this was the time it crapped out on me and I didn't come back?"

"That's a chance you take every time you go out there, but if it hasn't failed on you for this long, there's every reason to believe that it won't, barring removal of major organs that is."

"Well that's comforting," I mumbled, "but I'm still pissed you let Evie see me like that."

"I've suffered your ire before, I'm certain I'll survive this time as well." He chuckled and I couldn't help but smile. "Now get out of here, go to your family and try not to get shot next time ok?"

"Yes sir Dr. McCoy sir." I replied and left the infirmary. I ran into a few people on the way, who all said "glad to have you back" or some variation thereof. Even the now not-so-little Ryan Hiller (he was now almost seventeen years old and topped me by better than a foot) caught up with me to give me a hug. He'd gotten over his crush on me years before, but he still sometimes made his hair mimic mine on occasion, "for old times' sake" he'd say with a grin. Of course, I still saw him as that little seven-year-old boy who drew me pictures and blushed when he saw me in the halls, no matter how tall he got.

I finally made it back to the suite to find Logan reading "Cinderella" to Evie, but she was fighting to stay awake. "Mommy!" She cried and ran into my arms. I held her close to me for long moment and I could feel her body shaking with barely-contained tears. "I was so worried for you!"

"Hey punkin, it's ok. Mommy's really hard to kill." I pulled away and looked at her. "But I didn't want you to see me like that, you know."

She sighed. "I know Mommy. But don't be mad at Daddy for it, cuz I wanted to see you, so it's not his fault."

"Daddy should know better." I replied and took her hand. She was already too big for me to carry around, much as I wanted to, and it was painfully obvious she'd be closer in height to Logan before she was done growing. I tucked her back into bed and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Now it's time for you to get to sleep, young lady. Tomorrow's a school day."

"Yeah, I know." She sighed. "G'night Mommy, g'night Daddy. I love you."

"Night princess," Logan said and kissed her softly. I followed him out of her room and closed the door gently behind me. I took two steps forward and he caught me up in his arms, kissing me passionately. I wrapped myself around him and he carried me over to the bed, then fell back on it with me on top. He broke away and looked at me, running his finger lightly down my face. "Jesus darlin', I missed you." He breathed.

"Logan, I was only away for a day." I replied with a smile, but I knew what he meant. Even if I didn't have the nine lives going for me, I would gladly claw my way through five miles of solid rock to get back to him. "But I can't complain about the welcome back."

I leaned down and kissed him again, his hands wandering up my back and he slid my tank top over my head. In a flash, he flipped me over and stripped off his own shirt before lowering himself to kiss me again. His hands and mouth wandered over my flesh, leaving gooseflesh in their wake, my own hands tracing arcane patterns over his skin. He reached over and switched off the bedside lamp, leaving the room bathed in moonlight. It was only about a quarter full, but it reflected off the snow outside and everything was bathed in an unearthly glow. We gently finished undressing each other and made love slowly, almost reverently, taking our time to enjoy being together again. I came with a gasp, my eyes locked with his as he whispered my name over and over, finally reaching his own climax a moment later. He pressed his forehead to mine and kissed me, his muscles twitching from the exertion. I reached up and smoothed his hair back, smiling up at him. No words were necessary.

A few minutes later, he separated from me and I sighed in regret, hating the feeling of no longer being joined. I rolled over and lay my head on his chest, my fingers toying with his chest hair. "I should be very angry with you right now, you know." I said.

"Yeah, I know," he replied, "but I hope I managed to change your mind."

"Yeah, you did," I sighed, "but you still shouldn't have let her see me like that."

"Darlin', she's our daughter. She woulda figured out a way to get down there anyway."

"Probably. Still, I didn't want to tell her about it unless she inherited any of our powers too."

"Well it's too late now. She knows an' I'm sure she'll be all right with it. 'Sides, if she sees anythin' like that happenin' to you from now on, she'll know it ain't permanent."

"I suppose." I leaned up and kissed him, my hands wandering down his body. When I broke away, he looked at me with a raised eyebrow and I smiled. "Ready for round two?"

"Mm, really? Ya tryin' to kill me?"

"Nope. Just want to remember how it feels to be alive."

"Well, far be it for me to say no to that."

Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep that night.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

North Dakota. Nebraska. British Columbia. On and on, we hit ten bases in ten weeks and no Director. We narrowed our search, making a guess that the helicopter that had transported Carol Danvers to her meeting with the Director had circled for hours before setting back down and hit four more bases in the following four weeks. No Director. I was frustrated beyond reason and Logan was no better. By the time we were done, it was mid-April and we had squat to show for it. I looked over the map we'd been using to mark our targets and growled. "It's like he's some kind of damn ghost." I said and looked up at Rogue. "Are you sure about the time it took to get there?"

"Yes, Angela, I'm positive." She replied, frowning at the map. "I don't see how she could've gotten the timin' wrong."

"Well we're sure as hell missin' somethin'." Logan said as he sat back in his chair. "Just wish I knew what the fuck it was."

"Mon ami, could it be that she did not meet wit' him at a military base?" Remy asked and Logan's head snapped up. "From what Marie's seen in the memories, she couldn't see any of the surroundin' area."

"What, you think they took her somewhere else? His own house?"

"Why not? If dis man is as powerful as you say, it make sense that he have his own place to hide."

"And if that's the case, he could be anywhere in this entire area." Marie indicated a massive portion of the States and Southwest Canada. "Except for large cities, she woulda seen the lights."

"Fuck me running." I spat and Remy chuckled. "That's too much, it'd be like looking for a certain needle in a pile of needles."

"So what, we give up?" Logan asked.

"No, never. We just have to hope that we can catch him at one of the bases."

"Danvers didn't seem to think he ever went to any of the actual Weapon X sites." Rogue said, rubbing her temple. "At least, he never visited Death Valley that she knew of."

"So it's possible he had, but she didn't know about it." I chewed on my thumbclaw and peered at the map for a moment, then shoved away from the table. "Shit this is pointless!"

"Darlin', calm down." Logan said, crossing over to me. "We just hafta…"

"No, I will not calm down! What's our body count right now, huh? A thousand? Five thousand? It doesn't matter, not one of them is the one we want!"

"Angela, we're doin' all we can." He whispered, wrapping his arms around me. "We'll get him, you know we will."

"Well then we need to do better. We all know that until that guy's bleeding out at my feet, our daughter and everyone in this house is at risk. I won't have it, Logan, I won't."

"So what do you want to do?" Marie asked.

"I don't know. We've got them off balance right now, they don't know where we'll be hitting and a week isn't enough time for them to implement any real defenses. Maybe if we back off for a little while, at least until school's over, maybe we can come up with something else."

Rogue sat up and looked me in the eye. "I have an idea." We all turned to her. "I know you don't really wanna involve me anymore, but take me with you the next time y'all go out. I still have all those new powers an' since it's so hard to hurt me now, ya won't even have to let me borrow any of yours unless somethin' drastic happens."

"No, absolutely not, Marie. If we get caught…"

She crossed her arms and walked over to me. "Let me put it to you this way, Angela. You're takin' me with you next time you go out. I ain't givin' you a vote." She raised her chin stubbornly as I glared up at her. It's so hard to exert authority when the people you're arguing with are six inches taller than you. "You know I'm right. You still need me an' what I can do, what I can find out that people haven't told."

"Wait darlin', she's got a point." Logan added. "The only reason we kept her outta it before was for her own safety. Now she's got all these new powers an' the doc thinks they're here to stay. Now she can get close enough to touch 'em all, take a quick look around an' see if they know anythin'."

"I'm not going to win this one, am I?" I spat. "Fine, whatever, you can come along. But you," I spun around to face Gambit, "you are not coming." He opened his mouth to protest but I cut him off. "No arguments! I can't risk that you'll be recognized as an X-Man. Rogue's distinctive enough as it is."

"But Remy want to help you, petit chat," he protested. "He know what dis all mean to you."

"I get that, but you're still not coming. I don't want Marie coming, but she's got too much of me and Logan running around in that head of hers to take no for an answer. You're not coming because they might need you while we're gone."

"An' dey migh' need you too, mon ami, but still you go." He stared me down with his strange red eyes. "You an' Logan, you mean the world to Rogue, she do anyting to help you out. Rogue, she mean the world to Remy an' Remy do anyting to help her." He shrugged. "You the only family she got an' if Remy can help keep it dat way, den dat what Remy do."

I turned away from him, muttering under my breath. "Damned silver-tongued devil." Remy gave me a half-smile and even Logan was chuckling. "I really do hate you, you know that right?"

"Ah, mon ami, the line between love an' 'ate be a t'in one." He took my hand and kissed it. "Remy don' take it personal."

I yanked my hand away and slapped him playfully upside his head. "Don't push it, Cajun. Just because I'm not actively trying to kill you anymore doesn't mean anything."

"As you say, petit chat." He said with a wink.

I sighed and turned back to the map. "All right, there's a base here off the coast of Washington state that looks promising…"

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kyro set the jet down in the shallows on the far side of the island from where the base was. Except for the part where it was salt water instead of fresh, the place looked enough like the base at Hudson Bay to give me, Logan and Kyro goose bumps. Rogue shuddered as well, remembering that mission almost ten years ago now. I looked at the young woman next to me and it was hard to see the teenager she'd been when I first met her. She'd grown up so fast and I felt a pang of remorse at the thought that it could be my own little girl sitting next to me in twenty years. Time goes by so quickly, even when you have so much of it like Logan, Kyro and I do.

Kyro opened a hatch on the side of the plane and a gangplank slid out, forming a bridge to the shore of the island. Rogue decided to show off her new powers and simply flew over, then waited for the rest of us with feigned impatience. Against my wishes, Remy also came across with us, though I would have felt better leaving him in the jet for safekeeping. But he wasn't about to be persuaded from the side of his love and deep down, I couldn't blame him. Keeping him there would have been like asking me to stay behind. Kyro secured the jet and with a voice command over his com, it sank about eight feet beneath the surface, blending with the black water and becoming almost invisible. We all made our way quietly to the nearest stand of pine trees for a last-minute conference.

"Ok, everyone got their coms on?" Logan asked and we all nodded. "Remember, code names only from here on out." He looked at each of us, but I knew it was more for the benefit of Rogue and Gambit than Kyro and me. After all, we'd been doing this for years and had the whole thing down to more or less a science. "Gambit, Rogue, I want the two of you to hang back if we encounter anyone. Do not attack anyone unless they take the first shot at you, understood?"

"But Log…Wolverine, how much help are we gonna be if we don't get into it?" Marie pointed out.

"Look, there's no reason for you two to turn into a coupla killers just cuz you're here with us. Technically, this ain't even your fight. You were right, you can get information easier than we can an' with a lot less screamin' on their part. But I don't wanna risk somethin' happenin' to you an' I'm sure Gambit here will agree. So, you stay back until they shoot at ya or we call ya in, got it?"

"Oui, mon ami." Gambit replied. "You the leader of dis ting, we do what you say."

"Good. Hellcat, hit the high road to the north, Totem to the south. Rogue, fly up over the trees but stay close to the canopy so you can dive down if you're spotted. Gambit, with me. If you spot any sentries, take 'em out. Let's move."

I scrambled up the nearest tree, climbing as high as I could and still have the trunk support my weight. Fortunately, the trees grew close enough together that I could leap from tree to tree with little effort, which was always better from my perspective and I know Kyro liked it better this way too. Logan had his enhanced sense of smell to help him along, but I didn't have that and neither did Totem. Like me, his only enhanced senses were hearing and eyesight, though both of those were better than mine in his feral form. So we had to hope we could hear or see the enemy before they heard or saw us. Logan could smell them from a pretty fair distance and although he was just as good in the trees as we were, his hunting ground on the low road suited him much better.

About two klicks from the base, we spotted the first knot of sentries. On a normal mainland base, sentries would never even think about grouping up like this, but it had always been my experience that on smaller, offshore bases they were a little more lax about their jobs, expecting the distance from the mainland to do half the work for them. People like to believe that they're safe when no one can see what they're doing, especially when the nearest authority other than base personnel are thirty miles to the east on the mainland. Thirty miles of ocean isn't that much when compared to all the other water out there, but as a barrier between them and everyone else, they figure that the chances of anyone actually showing up without them knowing it are slim. Of course, they weren't trained to expect people in stealth aircraft that can make water landings showing up in the middle of the night when things are supposed to be quiet anyway. So, there were five of them standing in a little group near the edge of the tree line, smoking cigarettes and trying to one-up each other with tall tales of women or missions they'd been on. Five of them, five of us.

"Hellcat to Wolverine," I whispered into the com, "I take it you smelled our friends a long time ago."

"Roger that Hellcat," he replied, "do you have visual?"

"Affirmative. I see five hostiles, seem pretty relaxed so hitting them won't be a problem. Hell, you could probably do it yourself if I'd let you."

"You're right, but then you'd be cranky an' I ain't in the mood to deal with that."

"Smart man, Wolverine." Rogue piped in. "So what's the plan?"

"Hellcat, Totem, get as close as you can an' wait for my signal. Rogue, take position directly above an' hold. I'm gonna circle 'round an' hit 'em from the east, Gambit holds here to the west. Standard pincer maneuver, just like in the old days. Execute in thirty seconds."

"Copy that Wolverine, holding for your signal." Rogue replied. "What'll the signal be, anyway?"

"I'm thinkin' lots an' lots o' screamin'."

I smiled. "Roger Wolverine."

I made my way carefully down the branches of the spruce I was in, any noise I was making masked by the wind blowing through the trees. I positioned myself as directly above the nearest sentry as I could and tensed, waiting for Logan to make his move. A few seconds later, the sentry furthest from me let out a strangled cry, the points of three gleaming blades protruding from his shoulder. That was enough screaming for me, so I leapt from the bough and landed square on the back of the man I'd chosen just as he was bringing his rifle to bear on the only target he could see: Logan. But suddenly having two hundred pounds of me landing on him made the shot go wild and it hit one of the other sentries, taking off most of his face in a spray of black blood. I grabbed my guy by the back of his neck and pounded his face into the turf until I heard something crack and he was still. I stood up and turned, but the fight was already over. Rogue landed next to the guy that had been shot and kicked him, then turned to me with a pout. "No fair, you took out my guy." She said and I chuckled. "What?"

"Nothing, Rogue." I replied. "Come on, we still have work to do."

I walked over to Logan, but I could hear Remy talking behind me. "Mon cherie, do not be upset wit Hellcat. She did not know that would happen."

"I never get to have any fun with those two around." She complained.

"Rogue, zip it." Logan snapped and the two of them joined us and Kyro in a huddle. "All right, this is where it gets messy. You can still go back to the jet, we won't think less of ya for it."

"No way, Wolverine," Rogue said, "I made it this far, I'm goin' all the way with it."

"Fine." He peered into the gloom towards the base. "Now the base is another klick to east. You can bet it'll have more men an' some kinda perimeter fence. Gambit, I want you to just blast us a hole through the thing, save me a few thousand volts through my bones. Rogue, you're stayin' up an' doin' some recon, find us some cover. Our files don't have detailed plans o' these places, so we hafta figure out where the entrance to the underground portion is."

"What makes you think it's underground anyway?" She asked.

"Darlin', if there's one thing we've learned it's that the worst stuff is always underground. Trust me, it ain't gonna be topside." She nodded and he went on. "Hellcat, Totem, I want you two on the high road as long as possible. Don't go to ground til ya have to."

"Wolverine, we know all of this," Totem said with a smirk, "so why do we do this every time?"

"Caution is the better part of valor, my friend." I said. "The one time we don't go over this will be the one time we fuck it up."

"Exactly." Logan replied. "An' I ain't about to fuck it up, ever. Now, you have your orders, let's move."

"Wait, mon ami," Gambit piped in, "what will you be doing?"

Logan grinned and I chuckled. "Gambit, he's gonna walk right up like he owns the place," I said, "dick swinging and possibly whistling a jaunty tune."

"But what about caution being the better part of valor?"

"Listen Cajun, there's only two ways to go 'bout this." Logan said. "We could try an' sneak in, but that'll take more time. Now if I walk up an' create a diversion, get the guards after me, they'll be too busy to worry 'bout why the fence is blowin' up for no reason. If one o' ya can come give me a hand, great, but I ain't countin' on it. I'll be fine either way, I always make it through."

I winced at the last part of his statement. It's true, he did always make it through; it was what we were created to do. But it didn't mean I liked it and I could tell Rogue was of the same thinking as me. She understood better than anyone that part of what made us so good at what we did was that, deep down, we both always had a bit of a death wish. When it seems like you can't die, it's the one thing that you want more than anything. I got over mine a long time ago, but I don't think Logan let go of his until the first time Rogue absorbed his powers and left him closer to death than he could ever remember being. But that still didn't mean we had to like letting him take all the big risks.

When no one else had any other protests or questions, he nodded once and we all took our respective positions. We checked in with him once we were ready and he gave the order for us to move. It didn't take us long to get to the perimeter and, predictably, the trees had been cleared out about fifty yards from the actual fence, which meant that Totem and I had to drop to the ground in order to be effective. Rogue reported that she was above the base proper and searching for cover and Logan told the rest of us to hold our positions until he got into position himself. I watched as he broke cover and though he didn't whistle the jaunty tune, he did walk right up to the perimeter fence and started moving along it until he encountered the guards. At the first report of gunfire, Gambit broke cover, a glowing card between his fingers and he casually tossed it at the fence, blasting a hole large enough to drive a car through. Totem and I dropped to the ground and while Kyro went with Gambit to find Rogue, I took off down the fence line towards Logan.

I found him engaged in quite the melee with at least half a dozen guards, two already dead on the ground in front of him. The rest were trying to keep their distance, having seen what his claws did to their unfortunate comrades, but they had no way of knowing that they never had a chance. I didn't bother trying to hide my presence, since the noise they were making more than covered any sounds I made. I simply strode up to the nearest one and kicked him in the back of the knees as hard as I could with my claws out, severing tendons in the process and he went down on one knee with a cry of agony. Two of the remaining soldiers brought their guns around and aimed at me, but I dove over the head of the wounded man and their shots went past me harmlessly. I didn't bother getting to my feet right away, I simply kicked out at them and swept them both off their feet. They landed hard, the wind knocked out of them and I pounced on the nearest one, slashing out his throat with a single swipe of my claws, then leapt to my feet as the other started struggling to stand. I kicked him in the chest and felt something crack before he fell back again and I swept his weapon out of his hand and shot him point blank in the forehead. I turned to look for another opponent, tossing the gun aside, but Logan had already finished off two of them and I watched as the head leapt from the body of the remaining guard. He turned when he heard me behind him in a defensive crouch, but relaxed when he saw it was me.

"Nice work, Wolverine." I said as I kicked the headless corpse in the ribs. "He didn't seem to be using that anyway."

"Yeah well, I never gave 'em much credit anyway, once I had the time to think 'bout it." He replied with a grin. "C'mon, let's find the others."

"Roger that." We stalked cautiously to where Gambit had blasted the fence away and I waited while Logan acquired their trail. I walked a few feet behind him, my eyes and ears wide open for any sign of trouble, but I didn't sense anything in our immediate area.

After a few minutes, we heard Marie over the com. "Rogue to Wolverine, what's your twenty?"

"'Bout thirty feet from Gambit's door an' movin' to his position." He replied.

"Roger that. Found us a nice empty truck near the bunkers, but there's a lot of activity in one o' the warehouses over here. Should we move in for recon?"

"Negative Rogue. Totem, you go alone an' see what there is to see an' report back if we ain't to your position yet."

"Roger Wolverine." Kyro replied. The com fell silent and we continued towards the rest of the team. We encountered no other resistance, although my sensitive ears did pick up on the sounds of the activity that Rogue reported as we passed a large warehouse near where they were gathered. We found them without a problem, huddled in the back of a troop transport vehicle with a canvas cover.

"Ok team, report." Logan said as soon as we were settled.

"I made it down here without seein' anybody." Rogue said. "I hovered for a bit til I saw Gambit an' Totem, got us under cover an' the rest you know. I haven't seen or heard anyone besides whatever's goin' on in that warehouse."

"No sign of Totem yet?"

"Non, Wolverine." Gambit replied. "But dere has been no unusual sounds or fighting, so Gambit would guess dat our friend is still all right."

"We don't guess in this business, Cajun." Logan poked his head out the back for a second, then looked at each of us in turn. "Ok, here's what we're gonna do. Hellcat, you circle 'round that warehouse to the left with Gambit, me an' Rogue'll go to the right. If you see anythin' that's even a little bit off, report immediately but do not engage unless you have no other choice."

"Yes sir Wolverine sir." I said sarcastically and he glared at me. "What?"

"Hellcat, I know you can handle yourself an' I'm sure Gambit can too. But Totem shoulda been back by now so be ready for anythin'."

"I shouldn't have to point out that I've been doing this a bit longer than you, so don't go thinking I'm getting soft or anything, ok? I know what the hell I'm doing."

"I know darlin'. But he shoulda been back by now, so be extra careful, all right?"

I nodded and he looked back outside. "Ok, let's go."

We hopped out of the truck and went our separate ways. I had to keep looking back to make sure Gambit was still with me, he moved that quietly. I sometimes forgot he used to be a thief, so although moving quietly was something that was second nature to me for most of my life, it was something he'd had to learn how to do or else risk getting caught. We stayed as close to the wall as we could, hugging the shadows for the meager cover they provided. When we reached the corner, I gave him a hand signal to hold his position and peeked around it carefully and swore at what I saw. Three guards had somehow managed to subdue Totem and he was trussed up like a turkey at their feet, unmoving. I strained my ears to make out what they were saying.

"…one of those escaped subjects?" The first guy said.

"Yeah, I think so." Said the second one. "The Director said they'd been hitting bases all over, haven't left anyone alive."

The third one kicked Kyro in the ribs and he didn't even flinch. "Wonder what this guy's doin' here alone?"

"Oh if he's here, the other two can't be far behind." The first one replied, looking around. "If that's the case, they'll do anything to get this one back."

"What I don't get is how only three people have managed to take out so many of us and they're still kicking."

"Foley, don't you listen to anything they tell us around here? These three aren't your normal muties. They're all but unstoppable, especially that Wolverine. At least Hellcat can be killed for a little while, long enough to get her out of the fight and back in a cage where she belongs."

The hair on the back of my neck stood up and I was itching to spring on them and tear their guts out, but I held back long enough to go back along the wall a little way to report on what I'd seen. "Hellcat to Wolverine, come in." I whispered into the com.

"Wolverine here, what is it?"

"They got Totem, looks like he's out like a light. Three guards that I can see, looks like they're waiting for someone, around the front near the main entrance."

"Copy that. Do a little more recon, see what's goin' on if ya can."

"Roger that." I swallowed hard. "Wolverine, I think they were ready for us."

"Why you say that?"

"Stuff they said. I'll see what else I can learn. Hellcat out."

I eased back along the wall and peeked around the corner. No one else had joined them yet, so I hoped I could learn a bit more before this was over. Totem was still not moving, but I didn't know if it was a healing coma or if they'd done something to him. I got my answer a few seconds later.

"Larson, you still got darts left?" Foley asked.

"Yep, about fifteen I think, why?" The one called Larson answered.

"Well, it took six to bring this son of a bitch down and Wolverine's a lot tougher, so it'll be up to you to plug him as many times as you can."

"What about Hellcat?" The third, still unnamed guard asked.

"Shit, we'll just shoot her full of holes and wait til she comes back. Colonel Maxwell said she'll always come back so long as we don't remove anything vital."

"Ya know, they had a picture of her at the briefing the other day." Third guy whistled. "She's one hot little number, for a mutie. Think they'll let us at her?"

"You try that Mason and it'll be the last thing you do." Larson snapped. "Remember, her and Wolverine are considered extremely dangerous." He peered into the warehouse, then turned back to the others. "I heard she gutted a guy once and strung him up with his own intestines back when she was still with the program."

"Oh, fuck that. No way she did that." Actually, I had done that, but that's another story for another time. I smiled, but kept listening. "For one thing, she's kinda little. Can't see how she'd be strong enough to do that."

"Muties like her are stronger than most, not like super strong or anything, but way more than enough to do that. And don't forget that they told us her and Wolverine are together now and he's a really evil son of a bitch. More animal than anything, he'll tear you apart if you smell like her even a little bit."

"Yeah, whatever." Mason said. "Don't see why they want them back so bad if they're so fucking dangerous."

"Cuz if they can get them all back under control, nothing can stop them. The four they've got now are like cheap copies compared to those two. You want someone really dead? You sent those two and there wouldn't be an identifiable corpse for a mile."

I slipped back around the corner and tapped my com. "Hellcat to Wolverine, come in."

"Wolverine here, you still in position?"

"Affirmative. Watch out, they have some kind of darts that worked just fine on Totem, so you can bet if they use enough of them on us, we're done for."

"Shit. Ok, here's what we'll do. I'm goin' high road this time, up the side o' this warehouse an' me an' Rogue'll come at 'em from above. Keep a lookout an' as soon as you see me drop, you two run in an' do what you can."

"Copy that. Hellcat out." I took a deep breath and looked at Remy. "You ready for this?"

"As I'll ever be, mon ami. Gambit follow your lead all de way." I nodded and peered back around the corner. About half a minute later, I saw Logan drop down behind them and I rushed around the corner. The one called Mason whirled around, his weapon already barking and I hit the ground in a roll, but a bullet still caught me in my upper arm. I grunted at the impact, but before I could react, Rogue swooped down and grabbed him, taking him up with her and he cried out in surprise. She took him about fifty feet up before simply dropping him and he hit the ground with a meaty thud.

I turned to find another opponent just in time to see Larson shoot Logan with his dart gun I don't know how many times. I leapt on Larson's back and wrapped my hands around his throat, my claws dug deep into the flesh. He gagged and dropped his weapon, his hands coming up in a futile attempt to pry my fingers away. "Too bad I don't have time to string you up with your own guts, huh Larson?" I snarled as I ripped his throat out and he fell to his knees making a gurgling sound as he drowned in his own blood. I whipped around again in time to watch as Logan buried both sets of his claws in Foley's chest, then kick the corpse to the ground. I caught motion out of the corner of my eye and turned to the warehouse door, only to see about a dozen more soldiers armed with both regular and dart guns rushing towards us. I took on a defensive posture, but ducked when I heard Gambit shout "hit de ground!" A heartbeat later I heard a series of explosions as he tossed about half a dozen charged playing cards into the opening and when the smoke cleared, there were twelve more bodies on the deck.

Rogue was already crouched next to Kyro, removing his restraints but he was still not moving. "Rogue, take him and get the hell back to the jet!" Logan shouted.

"No! You still need me!" She retorted stubbornly.

"Forget it, that part of the plan's aborted. Get him back there, now!"

Rogue scowled, but took Kyro in her arms and shot into the sky. Yeah, those new powers of hers were sure coming in handy. I looked at Logan and he motioned for us to follow him back around the side of the warehouse. We barely managed to duck behind a stack of crates before a dozen more soldiers came around the corner, loaded for bear. We waited until the last one was past us, then broke cover. Remy tossed a card over the heads of the ones closest to us and it impacted square on the back of the leader, blowing him and the two men nearest him to oblivion. The rest hit the ground and Logan and I were on them before they could recover from the blast. I didn't spend too much time with them, simply slashing one throat after another. I heard Remy grunt as a soldier who'd managed to make it to his knees whipped him across the face with the butt of his rifle. Gambit caught the weapon in his hand and charged it up, then released it and as soon as the guy tried to pull the trigger, the weapon exploded in his face, taking off most of the left side. It was over in a few seconds and we rushed back along the warehouse to the bunkers.

Logan paused for a second before heading for the one furthest from the truck we'd hidden in before. He kicked the door down and waved us inside ahead of him before closing the door. It was thankfully empty and we hurried to the back and crouched down behind the bunks there. "Ok, sitrep," he whispered.

"I'm shot." I said simply and he looked at me, clearly alarmed. "It's not bad, in my upper arm here."

He reached over and ripped the sleeve of my micro fiber shirt to inspect the wound. "Gambit, find somethin' we can use for a bandage." He ordered.

"Do we have time for that?" I asked, hissing as he poked at the wound.

"We don't have time not to." He replied simply. I gritted my teeth as he continued to prod at the gunshot, then cursed under his breath. "Darlin', remember our first op together?"

"Yeah, I do." I said and slid out one of my claws. Gambit returned with a towel and what appeared to be a pillowcase, but paled and looked away when he realized I was digging the bullet out of myself. It was deeper than I thought, but after a few minutes of digging, I finally managed to pop it out. Logan busied himself tearing up the towel and the pillowcase and managed to get the wound bandaged enough that I wouldn't end up bleeding all over the place and leaving a trail for the enemy to follow. I sat back for a moment, breathing hard. "Gods, that fucking hurts."

"How long before it heals, mon ami?" Gambit asked looking concerned.

"Couple hours usually." I replied. "Left arm's gonna be pretty useless for anything heavy, but I can still kill people with it."

"Good deal." Logan said and tapped his com. "Wolverine to Rogue, come in."

"Rogue here."

"You make it back ok?"

"Sure did, we're locked inside and back underwater. You want me to come back?"

"Negative, hold tight. Hellcat was right, they're waitin' for us. We'll have to do this the quick an' dirty way."

Rogue sighed. "Copy that. Gonna try to bring me someone to get the info from?"

"We'll do what we can, but I ain't makin' you any promises. Let us know as soon as Totem comes 'round, all right?"

"Roger Wolverine. Rogue out."

Gambit and I looked at him and he sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "So now what do we do?" I asked.

"Either that warehouse is one helluva diversion or else what we want's in there." He said. "We gotta get in there."

"What about from the roof?" Remy asked. "Surely dere be a way to get up dere."

"He's got a point." I added. "If nothing else, there'll be ventilation shafts up there we can use to get inside the upper levels."

Logan nodded. "All right, we'll do it. Ya ready to move?"

"As I'll ever be." I smiled at him and he grabbed me suddenly in a fierce embrace. "Whoa, this isn't in the mission parameters."

"I don't give a fuck. Look at you, gettin' all shot up again."

"I'm not 'all shot up'. It's one little gunshot wound. I've had worse, you know."

"I know. Don't mean I hafta like it." He kissed me and smiled. "Love you tiger."

"Love you too. Now let's get in there and finish this."

AN: I really hate to do this to everyone on what should be a happy/merry/joyous day, but i'll be putting this on hold for a little while...my fiance' just broke up with me and i am not sure how i feel about the rest of this story right now...i will finish posting it sooner or later, but right now i just don't feel up to reviewing and correcting and all that crap...my most sincere apologies...