XCave.NET

“WRAITH”

Colonel John Wraith was nearly pissing in his pants, not because of any bladder problems he had suddenly developed….well if you leave out an intense and bone chilling scare of the *thing* pursuing him.

Running as fast as he could, he tried to put as much distance between himself and Wolverine, cursing the bald-tit Cornelius for taking him out of his safety room. What he didn’t know and what would have infuriated him even further was that the *real* Dr. Cornelius was lying unconscious in his room, completely oblivious to the mayhem occurring around him.

Panting for breath, he pushed himself to the limit, only to have Wolverine roar and inform him about the futility of his actions.

Finally, he was able to find an open and relatively safe place to retreat to….the base Kitchen. It had only two entrances and exits on opposite sides of the hall. The only other way was through the emergency exit, which he was sure that Wolverine knew nothing about.

------

“Uhn,” a weak moan drew everyone’s attention.

“Kurt, Kurt,” Ororo was instantly at his side.

“Ja,” came the weak answer as the teleporting and freakishly agile mutant known as Nightcrawler finally came out of his drug and pain induced sleep.

“Thank the goddess, you are awake my friend,” Ororo gave into the urge to hug him, all the while taking care to avoid any of his still healing wounds.

“Whoo-hoo,” even Jubilee jumped at the soft cry that emerged from the normally shy Kitty’s mouth.

“I-I mean,” she tried to gather herself. “I mean, he can get us out now.”

“Sorry Kitten,” Ororo shook her head sadly as she rested Kurt against the steel and concrete wall.
“He cannot.”

-----

“Wait,” the *rescuing* x-men stopped at the command from their leader.

“What is it Hank?” Bobby *Iceman* Drake inquired softly, his fingers twitching to let ice fly at the first instance of trouble. “More soldiers?”

“No,” Beast shook his head. “The soldiers are all there,” he pointed to the corridor to their right. “…and there,” the way they came from.

“Then whaht is it?” Rogue subconsciously tried to crack her neck muscles, another sign of whom she was trying to emulate. Although it had been years since the Liberty Island incident, she still had some remnant of Wolverine hanging out in her mind. She was using that part right now, because if Wolverine did something….and did it well, was get in and out of such life and death situations.

The others watched in rapt attention, somewhat relief and somewhat horror as agrin formed on Beast’s face, his fangs eerily glinting under the red emergency lights.

“It’s Ororo.”

-----

Back in the control room,

“Sir,” a sergeant looked up at his *present* supervisor. “The attacking forces have been dealt with on the south side, but they is still fighting taking place the north, and we have lost the west side.”

“Hmm,” the major rubbed his chin while mulling over the news. “What about the mutants? Where are they?

“The prisoners were moving towards the north,” he was informed. “However, they have changed directions and the last we saw of any of them was in the corridor near the kitchen. Either they haven’t moved from there, or they have….just disappeared.”

“They do have a teleporter with them,” the senior officer commented. “Isn’t that on the way to the cold storage for the lab samples?”

“Yes sir,” almost everyone gulped at that bit of news.

“Well gentlemen, that would mean only one thing,” the major turned sideways to face his subordinates. “Colonel Wraith won’t be joining us again….and that makes me the commanding official here, and my first order is….”

“RUN”

------

“SHIT…FUCK,” Wraith cursed loudly as the emergency lights went out, plunging the whole room in pitch-black darkness.

‘I need to get out of here…ALIVE,’ was the only thought running through his mind as he wiped the sweat off his face.

‘It was a mistake coming here,’ came soon after as he felt something bang against the steel door, which he had barricaded with empty chairs and tables.

“I just need to get him down,” he mumbled to himself as he tightened his grip around his lone pistol, which he had upholstered as soon as he heard Wolverine. “He won’t die with these, but if I get the correct hits, these Admantium bullets should give me the time I need to get away.”

Feeling confident at that thought, he started let out a sigh of relief, as he ran three fingers along the three claw marks on his face. ‘That bastard can’t get me. Couldn’t get me then, can’t get me now.”

Grabbing a chair, he plopped himself down, only to jump at the next sound.

-SNIKT-

The sound of metal grinding against metal.

-----

“Ororo!!” Remy exclaimed and shot up from his hiding place. “She also be here?”

“It would seem so,” Beast gave him a nod as he tried to detect the others. “And there is at least one more person with her.”

“Another?” This time Rogue spoke. “Who? Logan?”

“There is his scent….too,” Beast ended in a confused manner. The scent of Logan was mixed with that of Ororo…..too close from jut being in each other’s proximity. Shaking that thought away, he lifted his head to confirm the odor. “Yes. Its him.”

“Who?”

“Kurt, Nightcrawler,” he answered evenly as he started moving in that direction.

“They’re close.”

------

Cold sweat broke out on Wraith's forehead, which he wiped away with a shaky hand.

He knew that sound well….the sound of indestructible metal claws being released from their organic sheaths.

‘How did he get in?’ Wraith wondered for a moment as his eyes moved up to the roof. ‘The air vents.’

‘Where is he?’ Wraith pushed himself against a wall, trying to find a corner to find a corner to try to reduce as many approach points as possible.

What he didn’t realize, was that, by doing this he was effectively closing himself off and reducing possible *escape* routes, and that by doing this, he had made himself into a prey….a prey that the Wolverine was hunting.


“Wraith,” the room echoed with the low growl, causing the colonel’s mouth to go dry, his hands shaking as he lifted the gun to a ready position and fired off a blind shot, which the darkness promptly swallowed.

“Nice shot fuck-nut,” the growl changed to a menacing laugh. “Now my turn.”

*SWOOSH* the barest of sounds disturbed the deadly silence….and the very next instant.

“AAAAAAaaaaaa….”

----

“What was that?” the approaching x-men stopped in their tracks.

“It came from thaht side,” Rogue pointed towards the direction in which they were progressing. “It ain’t Logan.”
“How can you be so sure?” Bobby piped up, only to receive a snort from his red-black eyed teammate.
“Rogue know everyt’ing about Wolverine,” his voice was cold and unfeeling.
“Just lahke ya know everthin’ about Ororo,” Rogue growled back. “Ain’t it Gumbo?”

“SHUT UP, both of you,” Beast’s voice carried a forcefulness that shocked everyone around him. “We are here to rescue our teammates, not to conduct an impromptu lovers’ quarrel. Kindly refrain from such childish behaviors.”

Both Gambit and Rogue turned away from each other, their faces twisted in deep scowls.

“Is that UNDERSTOOD?” Beast growled for confirmation.

“’es,” Remy grunted.

“Yah,” Rogue sighed.

“Now that we have reached a consensus,” the blue furred giant stepped forward. “Let us continue on our mission.”

----

“AAAAAAaaaaaa….” Wraith screamed as the front half of his nose fell onto the ground, along with gun.

“You like to hear people scream, dontcha,” Wolverine’s growl cut through the pain-induced tears. “Well, lets see ya get some practice.”

Another swoosh and Wraith let out another blood curdling yell as he lost his left ear, the bloody piece of flesh and cartilage going the same way as its nasal counterpart.

Clutching his bleeding nose and ear, Wraith fell onto the ground, crouching over the fallen weapon.

“What happened Wraith?” a hard kick in the guts caused him to fly two feet in the air, his gun closely clutched at his chest. “I thought you enjoyed pain….or is it that you just enjoy inflicting it?”

“Oh, before I forget,” Wraith felt himself being yanked up by his collar, his face coming in line with Wolverine’s. “I promised to make you a matching carving on your other side too. Let me complete it.”

With that he proceeded to coolly run his claws on Wraith’s unmarked side, gouging deep cuts….right to the bone.

------

“Ororo,” the escapees jerked at the familiar voice. “Ororo….Kurt….”

“Henry?” Ororo Monroe rose from Nightcrawler’s side. She had finally managed to calm down her injured teammate and strip Jubilee off the inhibitor collar. Now only Kurt, Stacy and she were left with the device around their necks.

“HEY BEASTIE,” Jubilee cried out, her voice bouncing off the walls. “HERE.”

Within seconds, the blue visage of Henry McCoy peeked at the far end of the corridor, instantly followed by the rest of his body; four jubilant x-men following close behind him.

“Peter,” Kitty’s eyes lit up at the glowing metallic body of the Russian Colossus. “PETER,” she ran towards him and leapt into his muscular arms, instantly feeling safe in their embrace.
“Katya,” Colossus lifted her to his face, and planted a chaste kiss on her lips, which she deepened instantly, her arms tightly wound around his neck.

“Where is Logan?”

“Hey knock it off,” Jubilee said with tears in her eyes, as she too hugged all her teammates. As far as she was concerned, they had come back to life, and she was thankful for that. “Let somebody else get lip service from Pete here.”

“How is he?” Henry did a preliminary check of Kurt. “How long has been unconscious?”
“He woke up a few minutes ago,” Ororo informed him as she wiped the tears off her already stained face.

“Hey guys, where is Logan?”

“We need to get him and the rest of you out immediately,” Beast spoke as he hefted the limp form of his indigo colored teammate into his arms. “We don’t have much time.”

“Why?” Ororo inquired about the reason for his sudden haste.

“This place is set for autodestruct,” Bobby answered her question as they started to move towards the exit. “We detected it….”

“WHERE IS LOGAN?” Rogue’s yell shook all of them. “TEHL MEH NOWH.”

*GRRRAARR*

“Don’t worry, yah go, ahead Ah will get him.”

------

In the kitchen,

“Rogue,” Logan’s hand stopped mid-swing as a familiar scent hit him.

In front of him, on the table, lay the mutilated but still breathing live body of what used to be Colonel John Wraith. Wraith had long since stopped crying out in pain….unable to do so as Logan had physically yanked out his tongue and shoved it inside his mouth, effectively gagging him.

“Logan,” a soft voice confirmed what he already knew.

“Wait right there kid,” Logan bellowed as he turned to the task. “Gimmie a minute.”

“Sure sugah,” he almost smiled at the relief in her tone. “Ahm out heah. Yah betta hurry. This place is gonna blow.”

“Gimmie a minute darlin’,” Logan repeated his request as he rested the tips of his claws along one thigh of the Colonel, dug them in about an inch and completely lacerated the muscle, repeating it on the other leg too.

“This is for what you people did to me,” he growled menacingly, his eyes red with rage.

“This is for what ya did to Ororo and the others,” a single claw entered and twisted inside Wraith’s groin.

“And this…,” he poised over the bleeding man’s abdomen. “This is for what ya were gonna do to my kid.”

With that, he plunged the claws inside and dragged them, causing Wraith to open like an envelope, all his innards flowing out onto the smooth metallic surface and on the concrete floor.

“And just in case ya manage to survive this,” he came forward and leaned to his erstwhile tormenter face. “This should do the trick.”

With that he plunged a middle claw into his chest. It sliced through the bone…..

….and cut his heart into two parts.

------

“Hey kid,” Logan growled as he pushed the obstructive furniture aside and opened the kitchen door, quickly shutting it behind him to avoid letting Rogue see the carnage inside.

“Hey sugah,” she leapt up from her seated position and threw her arms around his waist, not even caring about the blood splattered all over it.

For that single instant, it was as if everything was as it used to be when he used to return from one of his past finding trips and she used to rush up to him and hug him to both their hearts’ content.

Sadly, that was not the case this time.

“We need t’ get outta heah,” Rogue said urgently as she started moving in the direction in which the other x-men had gone before them. “Hank said it is gonna start blowing up at any moment.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Lets go,” he gave an understanding nod and gestured for her to lead the way, shaking his head to clear away the bloodlust that had clouded his brain.

----

In his hazed state, Logan almost missed the opening door at the far end of the corridor.

“And where do you think you are going?” a condescending voice called to his back making him stop and turn instantly.

“Cornelius,” he ground out as his claws *snikted* out. “Was wondering where ya were?”

“Logan,” Rogue urged softly. “We gotta….”

“Oh, so this is your latest toy,” Cornelius sneered at the couple. “So, tell me Wolverine, how good is she at playing?”

“Kid,” Logan didn’t even turn face Rogue. “Leave.”

“Logan…” the young woman started towards him, only to have jerk away from her.

The next moment he was off running, his sensitive hearing and eyesight having caught the movement of Cornelius’s right hand as he cocked the gun and started to lift it.

“YAAAHhhhh…” Wolverine’s cry sounded against the walls, only to be drowned under the sound of a semi-automatic machine fun being fired.

“MARIEeeeeee….”

-----

Outside,

“How is she doing Hank?” Ororo inquired as she held her head tilted waiting for Gambit to unlock the inhibitor collar.

A few feet away her teammates were engaging the Friends of Humanity forces, who had attacked them just as they stepped out of the base, their gunfire wounding Stacy, Kitty and Henry before they could move out of the way.

Kitty fared the best with being able to phase out just after the first bullet hit her. The bullet was a clean shot, in the way that it did not it any major organ or bone and passed through her body. Iceman instantly froze her to stop blood loss. Although a temporary measure, it would have to hold until they were able to get to a safe location.

Beast fared slightly worse with two shoulder hits and another one which glanced off his abdomen, just nicking the skin off.

Stacy had been the worst hit. Although hit just a couple of times, the bullet had punctured a lung. She was fading fast and given the lack of any medical facility, she would be dead soon.

“She’s in pain,” Henry McCoy looked up with pained eyes. “She is in pain and I cannot do a DAMN thing.”

Absorbing her teammate's sudden outburst, Ororo gave his paw like hand a gentle squeeze.

“I am supposed to a doctor….I am supposed to save lives….” Henry hung his head low, unable to see the pain etched on his *patient’s* face. “….Not sit around watching my friends die.”

“Henry….” Ororo started, only to be interrupted by a *click* sound. Her collar has just been unlocked.

“Thank you Remy,” she sent a tight smile towards her ex-thief teammate, who just gave a two-fingered salute and leapt off to help Iceman, Jubilee and Colossus, who were facing off with their attackers.

“Henry, please excuse me,” Ororo rubbed her neck as she grabbed the door handle to let herself up.

“I have some business to attend to,” she repeated Wolverine’s words

-KRRAAAKKKA-BOOM-

-----

Back inside the base,

Logan grabbed Rogue and gently pulled her into his lap, sudden tears washing away the freshly spattered blood on his face.

A few feet away lay the decapitated body of Dr. Cornelius, whom Wolverine had slain with one powerful swipe of his claws.

He would have liked to spend the same amount of time on the scientist as he had on Wraith, but the painful cry from the young woman in his arms, the blood flowing from her chest and neck, staining his hands and the floor.

“Marie,” he growled helplessly. “Kid.”

“Logan,” Rogue whimpered as she coughed up blood. “It hurts Logan…..it hurts.”
“I know kid. Let me get you to Hank. He will save ya,” with that he lifted Rogue and started towards the exit.

“Ah ahlways wanted t’ go t’ Alaska.”
“I know darlin’,” Logan grunted and held her closer to his chest. “An’ ya know what; we will go there one day. You, me, ‘Ro and the kid.”

“Kid?” Rogue questioned as she coughed up more of the crimson fluid.
“Yeah,” Logan replied in an effort to keep her from blacking out. “Ororo and me….we gonna have a baby. We gonna be a family now. So, ya know ya can’t leave me now.”

“Logan….”
“Who will take care of the baby when ‘Ro an’ me will go out,” Logan continued in an effort from breaking down completely.

“Logan….that…”

“Marie…Marie….hey kid…kid….MARIEeeeeee…..”

-----

“Where is Logan?” Ororo looked towards the base. Having regained the use of her powers, she had made quick work of the remaining attackers, even going so far as to blowing up their transport vehicles, destroying all of their remaining ammunition.

That being done, the remaining x-men made their way to their hidden getaway vehicle, with Gambit carrying Kurt and Beast carrying Stacy.

“Ororo.”

“He should be out by now,” Ororo started to move towards the base.

“Ororo,” Henry called again. “Stacy’s dead.”

That stopped her in her tracks, the news of the death of the woman she had come to know and care for in the last few weeks, shocking her and everyone around her into silence.

The silence only lasted for a few seconds as a loud blast shook everything around them. It was followed by another and another; the series of blasts destroying the base and everything…and everyone inside it.

“LOGAN,” Ororo cried out as she found the use of her legs again and lifted off the ground, a strong wind blowing away everything in her path.

------

*GRRAARRR*

A roar answered her cry and caused her to land instantly, her eyes widening in horror at the scene before her.

Standing before her, with two sets of twin *bone* claws, was Rogue and lying at her feet was Wolverine.

The now *dead* Wolverine

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