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Sam
"Rachel, you got a lock on her?" Her mind was warm tendrils reaching into mine.
"Best I can, Sam. Ship must be moving fast, the increasing distance combined with whatever's hindering my telepathy is making it hard to hold onto her."
"Then we best move." We each knew what we had to do. Me, Rachel, Wolverine, and Gambit were the muscle. Our jobs were to locate the craft holding Rogue and crack it open like a tin of sardines. Hank and Lila would stay hidden in case we needed backup. I had wanted to keep Lila far away from whatever went down, but, much as I hated to admit, it made sense to keep her close. As soon as we had everybody within a few feet of each other, she could teleport us the hell out of this place. Hank would keep a good eye on her.
"There's more…" Rachel's telepathic voice was a shimmering worry, and I wondered if she was pushing herself too hard. She had flown the whole lot of us the equivalent distance of the continental United States in less than two days, but I guess they didn't classify her as an Omega for nothin'. She was a big part of our plan, and we had decided to split our forces on approach. She, Gambit, Hank, and Lila were travelling courtesy of Rachel's telekinesis along the river, hugging the bluffs and using the rocky outcroppings to mask them. Plan was for them to get close, but not too close, then deposit Lila and Hank safely at the top of a nearby bluff. Rachel would pinpoint the craft's location and signal me and Logan, coming from high in the air. The two of us were currently blasting high enough to touch the clouds, a few minutes behind, but in telepathic contact with Rachel's group. Logan had been none too happy about me using my powers, nothing real subtle about them, but I was fast and could inflict a lot of damage just like my namesake and we were flying high enough to not be easily seen by the naked eye. I'd swoop down and drop him right on the ship, figured his healing factor would protect him from a bad dive if he missed his mark even from our altitude. If our groups struck simultaneously, Gambit and Rachel crippling the ship while Logan and I hit it from the air, we would tear them apart.
"What is it?" Logan asked gruffly. He was tenser than I had seen him, and for Wolverine that was saying a lot. If you looked up hair-trigger in the dictionary, you'd see his picture. This wasn't his normal battle ready posture, he was different, almost desperate. Nine months, day in day out with only one person, you probably made damn sure you looked out for that other person. Anna being held by those bastards must have been tearing him up.
"No, you misunderstood. I mean there's more…more brinys. I can't get ahold of their minds, they're too slippery, but I can sense them. The ship carrying Rogue just ran into a whole lot more of them. A base maybe, or another ship?" Logan swore enough for the both of us. We hadn't been fast enough, and now it was sure gonna hit the fan.
"Are we ready?" I asked, Logan too angry to speak or string a coherent thought together. I still had nightmares of the first time I ever saw that man cut loose in a berserker rage, and I felt a moment of pity for Anna's captors. Those briny-bastards didn't know what was coming for them.
"Hank and Lila are safe, and Gambit's getting into position now. Remy, what can you see?" With the pressure of an ice cream headache, an image of the mouth of the river flickered across my mind's eye. Strange sensation, seeing things through someone else's eyes. You still saw what your own eyes were seeing, but the telepathically imposed image presented itself like a daydream.
"There's a dozen ships, at least what I can see above the water, and what looks like towers built into the rocks at the mouth of the river. We're dealing with the possibility of heavy numbers here."
"Numbers don't matter." Logan's words sliced across Rachel's link just like his razor sharp claws. "I'm going after her. If you can't handle it, Cajun, go keep Cheney and the Beast company."
"Don't you worry 'bout me, mon ami. Let's worry 'bout that beautiful Rogue. But, might I suggest a Plan B?"
"Little late for that, bub."
"Non. We can't all be aimed at the ship that's holding her. The rest of those vessels, they'll waste us. 'Stead of us all gunning for that yellow submarine, Samuel needs to be a distraction. He drops you, roars through overhead all Cannonball style, draws their attention and fire while you gut the target. Me and Rachel watch your backs while we take out marks ourselves, assist where we can."
"Sounds good to me, Logan." I said, the mouth of the river shifting into view of my eyes instead of my mind as we approached.
"All right. Show us the ship, Red."
Logan
I kept my body straight and rigid on the way down, but the high dive into the icy water was like being slapped by a Mack truck. I surfaced in time to see Guthrie's distraction get underway. He blasted at full steam, tore back and forth across the mouth of the river, zig-zagging through the alien crafts. He kicked up a pretty impressive ruckus. Brinys poured out of the towers that clung like barnacles to the rocky bluffs at the river's exit into the ocean beyond. Blaster bolts started firing from canons the size of school buses, tracking the boy, their shots strafing the sky, but he was fast. His speed lifted rushes of water that shook the boats on each pass. I prayed he'd stay faster than those shots, hoping his invulnerability would protect him if he didn't.
"There." Rachel's mind touch propelled me towards the craft that held Anna, its yellow and orange stripes burned into my memory. "We had better hurry, something's wrong. Rogue's in trouble." My guts churned. Couldn't think about her now. Had to focus. We would get to her in enough time, or we wouldn't. I swam as fast as I could. There were a smattering of similar ships, different colors and sizes, bobbing around me. Kinetic-fueled magenta bombs rained down on their hulls. Rachel roared into view, claws of telekinetic energy capsizing any craft she could get ahold of. That salty smell, more than just the ocean, filled my nostrils. Troops dropped into the water, and I could see more snaking up along the bluff. I relayed the thought to Rachel, hoped she would warn Beast and Gambit. I reached my flaming yellow and orange target, and slashed at the hull with my claws. I barely dented the surface. Fuck this planet! I slashed and slashed. My claws were nearly goddamned unbreakable, but I hadn't been able to wreck that damn furry thing that ate my guts or that briny-bastard's staff, and now this? What the fuck? I let the fury take me and hacked wildly at different points along the hull, searching in vain for any weakness.
"Wait!" Rachel flashed beside me. "Together on three?" I nodded and she took hold of my arm. We struck as one, her power cushioning my arm as we drove it straight through the ship's hull. Even a plastic straw could jam through a telephone pole when a tornado was doing the jamming. I felt a pop, like the break of a wet balloon losing its seal. Salty water gushed out around my hand and blasted me away from the boat.
"Again?" Rachel smiled and pushed me back with her power. I roared a warning, helpless as a blaster bolt clipped her, feeling her pain in my mind through our link before it went silent. Her shield absorbed the brunt of the hit, but she went skipping backwards into the battle frothy water. Brinys riding on suped up jet skis zoomed around the boats, taking pot shots at anything that moved, one of them wrenched Rachel out of the water by her arm. Girl looked to be knocked out. Fuck! I jumped the next one that sped by me, wrapping my arms around its neck in a head lock. My legs flailed behind us. It kept one hand on the controls and elbowed me in the side. I squeezed and got my legs under me, brought my weight to bear and felt a damp crunch. Its neck broken, it went limp in my arms. I grabbed the controls and shoved its body out from under me and into the water. I sped after Rachel and tried to keep thoughts of Anna out of my head.
Rogue
Alarms were going off in the ship. Bert and Ernie swam back and forth frantically, trailing boiling bubbles behind them. The lights flashed when the boat rocked and shook, explosions reverberating along the vessel's outer hull. The X-Men were coming for me you sons of bitches. Logan was coming for me. I looked down at the water tickling the tops of my knees. Here's hoping they weren't too late.
"Rachel!" I screamed with all my mind's might, but got no response. I felt an explosion, like bursting a big old puss filled blister. The glass of my tank cracked and split a jagged smile, the break spider webbing like somebody had slammed it with a sledgehammer. The ship was pressurized, and somebody had ruptured the seal. I braced myself and mule kicked as hard as I could, again and again. Pain laced its way cold up my calf when the glass gave way and sliced my leg something fierce. Salt water charged in after it. I sputtered while the tank kept filling around me. Bert roared and went for his staff, blasted at me in the same motion. Nowhere to hide, I was luckier than I deserved when the ship lurched and his bolt went wide, the heat burning my arm even through the icy water. I took one last breath and kicked out through the hole into the water-filled cabin. Bert fired again, but I rolled in the water and dodged the shot, his claws connecting with my back as I spun. Moving slowly, I kicked for his stomach, caught a piece of him and drove him back. Behind me, Ernie grabbed for my throat. I elbowed him and kicked at Bert's doubled over body, connecting with his head, my shredded leg stitching itself back together as it glided through the water. I was running out of air, choking, but I just smiled. Ernie definitely wasn't smart, he must not have pieced together how I took him out earlier. I pulled on the bare skin of his clawed hands hard enough to make it hurt. His hold slackened, his body floating away in a heavy, sinking slump. Those goddamned gills sprang up on my neck and I gleefully sucked a salty wet breath. Bert punched wildly for me. I caught his fist with my hand, his wide eyes watching the webbing spread between my fingers while I held it tight.
"What…are you?" It wasn't English, but I sure as hell understood it. I held my other hand under his chin and popped two of my bone claws on either side of his face.
"The best there is, sugar." I smiled, but the animal in me screamed to pop the third claw. Instead, I pulled on his consciousness, knocking his ass out, too. Around me the ship was losing pressure and water fast. I snagged one of their breathers, just in case I couldn't revert to human form fast enough once I left the ship, and shoved it down in my bra for safe keeping. I realized I couldn't kill them, no matter what they had planned for me. Just wouldn't be right. I found an escape pod and shoved them in, jettisoned them into the river for safe keeping. Their combined engineering experience scrolled through my mind. The biggest danger to the ship during pressure loss was the possibility of igniting their fuel source, it needed to stay under water or it exploded. A few strokes of the keys at the command console told me all I needed to know. It was too late to stop the cascade, and I frantically swam for my life ahead of an engineering fireball.
"RACHEL!" I screamed inside again. "Fire in the hole!" I jerked open the airlock and threw myself off the side. The explosion shoved my burning ass skyward. The icy water mercifully put out the flames creeping up the hem of my dress, but the force of the fall and explosion pushed me far under the water. I used my borrowed gills and webbed appendages to put a little distance between me and the heat, then surfaced. The current of the river was swift, but, tactical advantage or not, I wanted those briny-bastards out of my head. I pushed their psyches away, able to let them go, though the effort made my heart skip a beat. I felt almost sick at what I saw in the water around me. Sure, the brinys had attacked Logan and I for no real good reason, kidnapped me and nearly killed us both, but my rescue had resulted in absolute carnage. Nearly a dozen boats had capsized or were on fire, flaming wreckage littered the surface of the water, blaster bolts burned towards the rocky bluffs, familiar magenta bombs rained back in response. Remy. I smiled in spite of myself. My former lover, always ready to rescue the damsel in distress.
The waves caused by my explosion threatened to pull me down again, and I swallowed a mouthful of nasty fuel-laced river water. What looked like jet skis crisscrossed the choppy water and headed in my direction. Overhead, a familiar burning light accompanied the roar of an airplane, the noise drowning out every other sound except Sam Guthrie's triumphant
"Whoop!" He grabbed my arm on his pass by and yanked me from the water, enveloping my body in his power's protective field. "Going my way, girl?" I cried out in happiness and coiled my arms and legs tightly around him.
"Oh, Sam Guthrie," I buried my head in his neck and squeezed with all my might. "I could so kiss you right now!" He put an arm around my waist and laughed, barreling us around a blaster bolt aimed at his head. He just laughed.
"I'll take about a five minute rain check!"