Chapter
Twenty-Six:
The first volley of
plasma fire streamed past them, slamming into the side of the house with enough
force to tear a hole in the wall, and shake the building so terribly that the
very foundation began to tremble.
Rogue wasted no time in engaging the Sentinels, lowering her head and plowing
into the nearest one with all her might, ramming it square in the chest. It was
the first real test of her strength and invulnerability since escaping Trask's
base, and quite an impressive one at that.
The Sentinel went flying back, a large dent in its chest plate, crashing down
on top of the trees behind it, which were crumbled into splinters under the
sheer force of the fall and the weight of the giant robot.
"Whoa!" she heard Evan cry in surprise, and more than a little bit of
awe. "Man, now that's what I'm talking about! Kick its ass, Rogue!"
"Ya'll gonna help or just stand there gaping like idiots?" Rogue
snapped.
In answer, Colossus slammed his mighty fist into the knee of one of the
Sentinels, bringing its legs out from under it. "Does this qualify as
adequate help?" he asked, and if she hadn't been in a fight for her life,
Rogue would have grinned.
"Finally, I get to bloody burn something!" St. John snickered, and
launched a blast of flames from his hands, the hungry fire rushing up to engulf
the Sentinel Piotr had knocked down. A familiar sound filled the air as Evan
fired a volley of spikes at the fallen Sentinel.
"My word!" Hank's voice came from somewhere behind her, but Rogue
paid him no attention as she shot towards the Sentinels, bringing her arm back
in midair, and slammed her fist into the head of the closest one. The Sentinel
faltered backwards, and Rogue kept on him, pummeling his metal body with her
fists, her tiny hands packing powerhouse punches.
"Victor, Mr. McCoy!" Magneto's voice boomed. "Into the woods!
There are more coming! Try to prevent them from getting this far, if you can! I
will attempt to stop these three!"
Even ya ain't powerful enough t' destroy three at once, Magneto, Rogue
thought with a grunt as she was knocked aside by a powerful Sentinel arm, the
blow knocking the wind out of her and sending her flying back through the air.
She managed to stop herself about twenty yards later, and glanced down at the
fight below. Magneto was standing, arms spread wide, obviously struggling to
try and control the Sentinels with his magnetism. Sabertooth and Hank weren't
with the others, but from her vantage point in the sky, she could see them in
the forest, for the first and only time in their lives, working together as
they battled one of the incoming Sentinels. Colossus was smashing against one
of the Sentinels at the house, with Pyro and Evan trying to keep the third one
at bay.
And, off to the right, four more Sentinels were crashing through the trees,
heading straight for the house, a familiar figure in a brown duster running
just out of their reach, hurling kinetically charged cards over his shoulder.
Remy, she murmured to herself, relieved and worried at the same time. A
crashing sound drew her attention back to the others and she growled, spotting
the Sentinel aiming his plasma cannons at Evan and St. John, who had their
backs turned, focusing their attention on the other Sentinels.
Rogue tucked her head as she dove, her lithe body shooting down through the sky
like a missile, aiming for the back of the Sentinel's shoulder. The Sentinel
was firing, though, and she opened her mouth to cry out in horror as Evan and
St. John turned to stare at their doom.
And then they weren't staring. In fact. they weren't there at all. It took
Rogue a second to comprehend what had just happened, and she rammed her body
into the Sentinel, slamming him into the trees with all her might, before
turning just in time to see Pietro depositing Evan and St. John out of harms
way and darting back into the fray again.
She allowed herself a small smile before turning to find a new target. That
Pietro would risk his own neck to save Evan, of all people, his biggest rival,
only proved that he had taken at least some of what she'd said to heart.
"Bloody hell!" St. John shouted. "More of 'em coming in at ten
o'clock, mates!"
Rogue turned and swung hard at the Sentinel behind her, putting all of her
force into the punch, which drove a hole through his shoulder. She let out a
growl of delight, and began to tear the metal away from the robot's chest.
Ah think Ah'm gettin' the hang o' these powers, Rogue thought with a
grin.
My powers, that is, Carol reminded her curtly. Ball up the metal, you
can throw it at one of the others.
Rogue was startled by the other girl's advice, but given the severity of
their situation, she didn't dwell on it. Instead, she did as Carol had
suggested, ripping open the Sentinel's chest and crunching the metal sheet into
a ball. Turning, she hurled it at the nearest Sentinel, scoring a direct hit to
the back of the head that knocked the robot off balance enough for Evan to get
the perfect aim to put a spike through its forehead, brining it down with a
crash that shook the island itself.
But there was no time to celebrate their little victory, for even more
Sentinels were pouring into the clearing, weapons firing. Rogue's eyes widened
in horror as she saw one level the gun that had captured them months before.
"Someone's gotta blow that gun!" she shouted.
"You heard de lady, boys," a Cajun voice drawled, and a trio of
glowing cards flew through the air to smack into the Sentinel's gun arm. Before
Rogue could even turn to smile at Remy, the cards exploded, taking not only the
gun, but the Sentinel's arm with it.
"Nice work, swamp rat!" she called down to him.
Remy grinned up at her as he ran, his duster swinging around him. "T'anks,
p'tite. You ain't doin' so bad yo'self."
"How many are there, man?!" Evan yelled, firing spikes at the
incoming Sentinels as rapidly as he could. Rogue flinched slightly, wondering
if he'd had enough milk during the day to keep it up for much longer.
"Too many, sugar," Rogue replied as she charged towards them.
"Too many." She slammed a fist into the chestplate of the lead
Sentinel, ducking her head as she drove her way deeper into the heart of the
Sentinel, ignoring the shriek of twisting metal and the scream of
short-circuiting wires. She drove the Sentinel back into the trunk of one of
the massive palm trees, with such force that the branches were tone free and
thrown across the beach.
"Stand aside, Rogue," Magneto's voice boomed, and she glanced over
her shoulder to see him hovering in the air behind her, his hand outstretched
towards the Sentinel's raggedy frame. "I shall dispose of this
nuisance."
Rogue moved out of the way and had a moment to admire the raw power that Erik
Magnus Lensherr possessed as the Master of Magnetism set to work on the
Sentinel. Though she could not see his power visibly, she could see what it was
doing. The metal Sentinel began to shriek as invisible hands ripped it apart,
piece by piece, sparks flying through the darkening sky like glowing embers.
The Sentinel then began to collapse into itself, metal crumpling like paper
until the sheer force of Magneto's will.
"I believe," Magneto said calmly. "That the others may be in
need of your assistance, child. With your strength and invulnerability, you may
very well be able to take down more than even myself."
It took Rogue a moment to realize he had just complimented her, and she stared
after him in surprise for a moment as he drifted closer to the Sentinel, his
hand twisted out in front of him in a deadly claw, power swelling around him.
Then she shook herself from her reverie, scowling, she lowered her head and
shot across the sky like a bullet, slamming into the Sentinel's chest with her
fists extended. The impact sent the Sentinel reeling back so hard it fell onto
its back on the ground, sending a spray of sand into the air.
Rogue coughed, closing her eyes against the biting sand as it whipped at her
skin. Invulnerable or not, sand would definitely hurt her eyes. "Maybe
that wasn't the best idea Ah've ever had," she choked out, fanning the
sandy smoke out of her eyes.
At least you took him down, Carol replied shortly.
Ah guess that counts for somethin', Rogue agreed, her coughing finally
starting to subside.
"Rogue!" Pietro's voice shouted. "Look out!"
Rogue turned to find a Sentinel looming directly in front of her, and its fist
was coming down fast at her face.
Aww- Carol cried.
"Hell!" Rogue finished aloud as the giant mechanical hand slammed
into her jaw with enough force to make her head spin and her vision swim, a
flash of white erupting behind her eyes, as she was thrown backwards through
the sky.
"Ma chere, non!" Remy's voice screamed.
And then she hit the trees, and the ringing in her ears was the only thing she
could hear over the horrible crunch as the trees snapped under her, tearing a
path through the forest.
She finally managed to stop about a minute later, slamming back hard into a
massive tree trunk, her flight slowed by all of the trees she had plowed down.
Groaning, she sat up, her head swimming. "God, Ah need an aspirin,"
she muttered.
You and me both, Carol muttered. Lord, I've never been hit that hard
before.
It's all jus' another day at the office when ya become an X-man, Rogue
replied, rubbing her forehead as she turned to inspect the damage she'd done. Oh,
man. That was some ride.
She couldn't see the base. She couldn't see the others. She couldn't even
see the towering Sentinels. All she could see was the barren road of fallen
trees and splintered branches that traced her way off into the distance, the
destruction continuing on farther than she could see.
Damn, was all Carol could say.
"Ya can say that again," Rogue muttered, wincing slightly as she
pushed herself to her feet. She wasn't hurt, of course, being invulnerable
definitely had its benefits, but the little trip the Sentinel had sent her on
had disoriented her a bit.
Shaking off her lightheadedness, she lifted into the air and started back
towards the base, when a huge explosion shook the entire island, as if the
earth itself had trembled under the terrifying eruption. A column of flames
rose into the sky on the horizon, a billowing cloud of smoke descended upon the
air.
"Oh God!" Rogue gasped in horror, her heart stopping and her stomach
lurching in dread. "Remy an' the others!"
She took off towards the fire as fast as she could, her heart hammering in her
chest. Remy was back there. Remy and Pietro and Evan and Hank. Hank was strong
enough to possibly escape the blast, Pietro was fast enough to maybe have
outrun it, but Evan and Remy, for all their prowess in a fight, were just men,
they were no match for such an explosion.
If something had happened to them...
"Rogue! Down here, chere!"
Rogue slammed to a halt and stared down at the burned foliage in disbelief. In
the middle of blackened branches and flaming trees knelt Remy LeBeau, smiling
up at her in relief, though it was obvious he was in a great deal of pain.
"Remy!" she cried, dropping out of the sky to land beside him.
"Are ya alright, sugar?" she asked, touching a hand to the gash
bleeding from his forehead. "What happened t' ya?"
"De Sentinels happened t' me, chere," Remy drawled. "Dere
weapons arsenal blew up de house. De last t'ing Remy hear b'fo de explosion was
de Boss Man shouting fo' us all t' retreat."
"Retreat?" Rogue echoed incredulously. "To where?! We're on an
island in the middle o' the damn ocean!"
"Transport orbs," Remy wheezed, clutching his side. "Magneto
called 'em down t' take us away from here. De others were all ahead o' Remy,
almost t' the orbs, when de blast knocked me clean through de air."
Rogue bit her lip, glancing ahead at the raging fire and the billowing cloud of
smoke. "Do ya think they made it t' the orbs?" she asked.
Remy shrugged, then winced, obviously in pain from the movement. "Dat
would be nice, non? De truth is, I don' know, chere. Magneto and
the speed demon, they were fo' sure, an' I t'ink dat I saw Pietro drag de Spyke
kid wit' him. Mr. McCoy and de Blob were a good bit ahead o' me. Dere's a good
chance dat they all made it okay."
"There's jus' as good a chance they didn't," Rogue retorted, biting
her lip as she glanced from Remy to the flames and back. Remy needed to get out
of her, to get somewhere where he could rest and heal, but the others...they
might need her help.
Or they might be dead, Carol snapped. Save your own skin first,
Rogue. That's what they would do.
No, Rogue protested sharply. Hank an' Evan wouldn't leave me behind if
Ah was in trouble.
Not even if they think that you're dead? Carol demanded.
Rogue didn't answer. She didn't want to imagine Hank and Evan believing her
dead, and she refused to think about it, especially now, when there was a
crisis at hand.
"Look!" Remy gasped out, pointing at the sky. "Look up
dere!" Rogue followed his gaze to see a handful of silver orbs rising into
the sky, glistening in the moonlight. But before she could count them, they
lurched forward with incredible speed and shot out of view.
Please, please have been in there, Rogue thought, her eyes stinging with
tears at the prospect that her friends might not have been.
"Dey be okay, p'tite," Remy promised in a soft voice,
squeezing her hand in his. She turned to see his red on black eyes boring into
hers. "Best be worrying' bout ourselves now, hahn? Yo' friends, dey
get out jus' fine. We got t' be doin' de same, non?"
He was right. Rogue knew it, with every fiber of her being, she knew it. The
others had most likely gotten away, but the Sentinels were still here. They
couldn't stick around, not if they wanted to live. And right then, with the
handsome Cajun thief leaning in her arms, looking up at her with eyes full of
love, their skin touching, she wanted to live very badly.
Wordlessly, she nodded her agreement and stood up. "How are ya
injuries?" she asked. "Can ya fly with me holding ya up by the arms,
or do ya think Ah need t' carry ya?"
Remy flashed her his trademark smile. "Remy don' think he need t' be
carried, but it prob'ly be fo' de best. Dat way I don' weigh you down an' if we
gotta fight later, I be rested better, hahn?"
"Ah think ya right, sugar," Rogue replied, gently scooping him up
into her arms. "Don't worry, Ah promise not t' drop ya this time."
"Dat nice t' know," Remy said as they rose into the air. He glanced
over her shoulder towards the ruined base. "De Sentinels be headin' dis way,
p'tite, better get a move on."
"That was mah intention, swamp rat," Rogue drawled. "Do ya have
any idea which way t' go?"
"No clue," Remy answered with a sad shake of his head.
"Magneto's got other bases, but Remy, he don' know where. But de mainland,
she be dat way. Dat be de best option fo' now, if you ask me. Looks like on our
own fo' now."
"Yeah," Rogue replied softly.
They flew on in silence for a few minutes, leaving the island and the raging
inferno behind them. Rogue couldn't help but worry about the others,
particularly Hank and the boys. She couldn't care less if Sabertooth made it
out alive, in fact, she hoped he didn't, but she was surprised to find that she
was saddened by the thought of Magneto not surviving.
Great, she muttered to herself. Now Ah know Ah've lost it.
As if picking up on her poor mood, Remy turned to face her, flashing a
lopsided grin. "So," he drawled. "What's de in-flight movie
t'night?"