X Men: The Fortunate IC

[gearhead73]

For a long moment Scott just sat there, slumped against the wall, and trying to catch his breath. The only sound other than his hard panting was the random crackle of pieces of brick and mortar falling to the floor below. His hand felt like it was on fire and his entire body ached from the beating. He couls smell smoke, and blood, and something he could only describe as burnt rot as he tried to get his bearings. His eyes were srunched closed, but he could sense that his attackers had either fled, or had died in the fight. Slowly he managed to work his goggles back over his face one-handed and took a look around at the destruction his optic blast had brought on.After a quick look around he struggled to is feet, leaning against the wall for support. He unzipped his jacket and tore at his undershirt, fashioning a bandage to wrap around his bleeding palm.

His mind immediately went to Jean and the team. All of the exits of this room were blocked by rubble, so he limped his way back up the concrete ramp he had decended earlier and out the door into the chilly night air. He hobbled along the outer wall toward the eastern side of the building, his apprehension growing as he came closer to the corner to turn where they would have entered. He found the door they had come through and his heart quickened and panic shot through him as he caught the odors of smoke and death.

"Jean...Logan...Rogue... where are you? Call out!" he said the fear evident in his voice as he crossed the threshold and entered.

 

[NekoMata]

The screech was loud enough to knock Rouge out. The glow faded and she dropped to the ground, instantly loosing consciousness. Her healing factor always slowed down when she passed out. A faint trickle of blood seeped from the corner of her lips. For a moment she lay completely still her eyelids flickering. She uttered a rattling cough, blood dripping from her lips. Her head was splitting and it took her a moment to come back to consciousness. She sat up slowly her hand to her head uttering a sharp hiss. Her ribs were on fire and she could feel them starting to heal. She blinked hazily rubbing the back of her neck as she glanced around.

"Well I feel worse than a crippled cowboy in a bull stampede..."

 

[wombat9966]

Logan watched Rogue come back to her senses and went over and nudged Remy with his boot. he was sure sometimes the Cajun jst luked to fake it so that he could get sympathy from the ladies.

Sniffing the air he turned to the front entrance popping his claws.Someone had just walked in. Slinking into the shadows he kept his nose on high alert then retracted his claws and stepped back out. It was their fearless leader returning. He looked at Rogue and jerked his thumb towards the entrance and mouthed clearly "Scott's coming." Then he pointed to his ears and shook his head. He hoped she got the message.

 

[raiguy]

Gambit remained on his knee after being nudged by Logan. He shook his head before standing and looking at him. He was growing tired of that furry bastard acting like he was showing off for the women. It didn't help that it came natural for him to just charm women. Hell, he didn't even mean to!

Remy stood, seeing what Logan was doing, feeling the kinetic energy around him shift as someone drew near. When he saw that Logan said it was their leader, he relaxed, before turning to Rogue. He knew he couldn't help, but he offered her a hand to help her up. "Come on cheré, otherwise mutt over there is gonna leave us quicker than an alligata eatin bait," he said, unconsciously slipping back to his Cajun roots.

 

[NekoMata]

Rouge groaned, reading Logan's lips. She had noticed the presence as well but she was in no shape to deal with it. Glancing at the Cajun as he spoke to her, she smiled faintly. Using those blasts had all but shredded her gloves, and even though he was wearing his own she decided not to take the risk. She glanced back at Wolverine. His eardrums were still popped, which was unfortunate. Until they healed up there woulld be no use in trying to talk to him. She shook her head gingerly before mouthing her response, a simple 'Okay'. With a soft groan she worked her way to her feet.

"Thanks for offering a hand... But it would be better for you if you didn't touch me... Don't want to take the risk of making skin contact..."

 

[raiguy]

Remy smiled before shrugging. "Nothing I ain't handled before, darlin'. Besides, the healing factor that I have seems to never leave me, no matter what people try, even if they block my other powers," he said with a shrug again.

He turned back to Logan, before making sure he couldn't sense anything else moving. "Everything else seems to be calm, cheré, but my range isn't that good when I'm still trying to get level after a sonic blast....can't fully focus right away," he said, shaking his head in hopes of getting rid of the disturbance.

 

[NekoMata]

"Darlin you have no idea how my powers work then... Touching me is a bad idea no matter who you are..."

Rouge smiled wryly, adjusting her jacket and brushing of a bit of the dust that had collected on it. She sighed, glancing towards the only entrance into the room. Scott should be in here soon enough, all she could hope for was that he wasn't trailing any nasty remaining Ninja along with him. But her senses weren't giving her that prickling feeling again so she wasn't too worried about it. If it came down to another fight she wasn't certain how helpful she would be at the moment. Though she was pretty damn tough in the skin when she did manage to get injured she didn't heal as fast as Logan or their new friend. Reaching in her jacket pocket she pulled out her usual full hand gloves. Pulling them on she sighed softly.

 

[gearhead73]

Scott stopped and leaned against the wall for a moment trying to get his bearings in the darkness. In his haste to check on the others he had forgotten to retrieve his flashlight and bring it with him. He tried to steady his breathing and concentrate, focusing all of his attention on the pitch black area in front him looking for any kind of a sign where they were. He was barely able to make out a voice, and then another, one female and the other male.

"Jean? Logan? Rogue? Where are you?" Scott shouted, straining his ears as he stepped forward along the wall. "Can you guys hear me? Is everyone ok?"

 

[feistyphoenix]

Jean was in and out of consciousness as Hob held her tightly to his side on the glider. She was aware of the chilled wind whipping against her face and long red hair. She tried to move but couldn't, her head swam as she tried to right herself.

Jean's physical body was too weak to keep the Phoenix at bay, and the internal injuries she sustained in the explosion did not allow the Phoenix to use her body as it would have liked. Phoenix reached out to the one person she felt most strongly for.

Logan, help me. Help...please...I can't...

The excruciating pain made it impossible to stay conscious for long and she slumped forward in the chains.

 

[wombat9966]

Logan's head snapped up. He had heard Jeans psychic cry for help but it had not been quite her voice. The Phoenix then, but he didn't care, he had been able to get a reading from it and knew an approximate direction to head. It was not much but it was a start. Maybe they could catch up to the glider and find it on radar. After all the Blackbird was capable of Hypersonic speeds and should catch up easily unless he was not traveling far. Now they just had to wait for Scott to show up.

His ears were starting to ring. A good sign. They must be close to fully repaired. Another few minutes and he would be able to hear again and a few minutes after that and he would be back to normal.

 

[NekoMata]

"Do me a favor will you darlin... Call out to Scott and let him know we're here... He sound's more antsy than fish out of water... And Logan can't hear so he's bout as useful as two left shoes..."

Rouge glanced at Gambit before uttering a soft slow exhale. The pain in her ribs were getting worse, as the bones popped and shifted a bit. She made her way slowly to the wall, her legs barely wanting to carry her, and she could feel the bones in her left one grinding against each other. So it was a broken leg as well then. That was the bad thing about being tough as iron but without the added benefit of a speedy healing factor. When her bones did break they hurt like hell healing because there was little that could be done normally to reset them. Her head was swimming and she leaned her back against the was, sliding down it until she was firmly planted on her butt. Closing her eyes she let out a slow pained hiss.

 

[raiguy]

Gambit smiled at Rogue before nodding. He turned to make his way to the door, before looking out. He could sense Scott, but he couldn't figure out exactly where he was in the dark. "Boyo, come on down here and get with the team already. We are trying to figure out what to do next, so it'd be a good idea for you to be present," he called out, before moving back to stand next to Rogue.

He could see that she was in pain, so quickly moved to support her, noticing she was favoring her left one. He wasn't sure he could transfer his healing ability to her if she had the type of power he thought she did, but he wanted to help if he could. He just stood there with an arm around her waist, supporting her while giving her time to let herself heal up.

 

[gearhead73]

Scott could hear a male voice call to him that he didn't recognize. He could only assume that it had come from the mutant that had been the focus of their rescue mission. That made a mixture of fear and panic shoot through him, and he began to walk briskly along the wall toward its source. Obviously the op had been successful, but at what cost? Where were the others? Were they too injured to respond? Were they still alive?

With each question his pae quickened until he turned a corner at the end of the corridor and entered a room to the left. It was still dark, but there were tiny flickers from what seemed to be a rather intense battle shedding tiny wisps of light throughout the space. He saw Rogue sitting against the wall, and the mwn he supposed was Gambit standing next to her. With a turn of his head he saw Logan a short ways away. All had signs of fighting, but seemed to be healing rather quickly. He looked at his hand and cursed to himself, as he was the only one that would need to heal the old fashioned way, with time.

"Is everyone ok?" he asked as he scanned around the room looking for Jean. "Where's Jean?" he said strating to move and look around the room. "Jean! Where are you?"

 

[wombat9966]

Logan smelled Scott walking into the room and turned towards him. He could see his mouth moving and could tell he was yelling out for jean by reading his lips. Hell it wasn't hard to do it was what he would have done in his situation as well. The ringing in his ears was getting worse and he clutched his head as finally he heard a pop and actual sound came flooding back in.

Scott's terrified voice reached him as the panic set in. He could now tell that Jean was not just going to step out of the shadows. "Scott listen to me. This whole thing was a set up. A guy called Hobgoblin has kidnapped Jean and is on his way to Toronto. Phoenix was able to get a message to me but we have to get after them now. You are our best pilot Scott. With the tracking systems in the blackbird and it's speed we can catch up to them easily and get her back."

Logan hoped Scott would concentrate on rescuing Jean first and worry about why it was Phoenix who had sent out the message second and why it was to him and not to Scott.

 

[gearhead73]

Scott stopped listening after the words "...kidnapped Jean..." His jaw tightened and his fists clenched, the pain in his body suddenly vanishing as anger flooded through him. His forst instinct was to lash out, go on a tirade about how he could let it happen, but his rational side took over and he focused all of his attention on finding Jean, and punishing this Hobwhatever that took her. So many things needed to be sorted out. Rogue looked injured, but seemed to be healing. Logan was healing right before his eyes, so he would be back to full strength in no time. The new guy, Gambit, actually seemed to be none the worse for wear, so that left Scott, again, as the weaker link. Still, with Jean gone, Logan was correct. If there was one area in which Scott excelled, it was flying.

"Well, then let's get on with it shall we." Scott said with a last look at Logan before turning toward the way he had came.

There were so many things about tonight, all of tonight, that Scott wanted to "discuss", but all of that would have to wait. The only thing that mattered to him now was finding Jean, and getting her home safely.

 

[NekoMata]

Rouge simply shook her head wondering at what exactly went on in the heads of some of her teammates. It was easy enough to see that Scott was angrier than a pack of wasps who just had a stick poked into their hive. But who exactly was he angry with. Knowing him she highly doubted that the first place he was pointing his anger was at himself. As cold as it may seem Rouge was rational enough to place nearly the entirety of the blame for this mission exactly where it belonged, on the people in charge. For a mission to turn out as this much of a shit storm then it was clear that some lapses in judgement had been made. They had walked into a goddamned ambush for crap's sake. But at the moment it was of no matter, they had a teammate to retrieve. And if Rouge hoped to be of any assistance, well at least not on the verge of passing out every for seconds she'd need to heal up.

She turned her glance briefly at Gambit who had helped her up and was still supporting her so she didn't faint. He had a healing factor, that much was obvious. Logan had a healing factor as well but she couldn't very well risk him being unconscious when they started tracking Jean, his sense would be invaluable. If worst came to worse and she had "slept" Gambit for longer than she had intended she was pretty sure she could put his powers to use as well as her own. Grinning softly she spoke to the Cajun as they made their way back to the ship.

"Hey darlin... How fast does your healing factor work... And more importantly how fast do you regain consciousness...?"

 

[raiguy]

Gambit thought for a moment. "As long as my inherent ability stays, I probably won't lose consciousness, or even really lose my healing factor. Even the gloves that they used didn't suppress that. Go ahead though and use your power to heal yourself. We will see what happens," he said, before extending his hand towards her.

He was willing to help, considering they had rescued him. He had never lost his intrinsic healing factor, no matter what happened, in all of his life. He was also realizing that he was enjoying helping the team, especially Rogue. He would just have to see if everything worked out, or if he was the right fit for the team.

 

[gearhead73]

The walk back to the plane was brutal. Wit every step Scott winced and groaned inwardly. His hand was throbbing, his back and legs ached from the beating he had received. Still, he tried to put all of that as well as his anger aside and focus on getting back into the pilot seat, and heading at break-neck speed to wherever Jean was being held.

His head was swirling with a whirlwind of emotions. Anger, pain, guilt, and host of others as flashes of the fights and arguments plagued his mind. He couldn't help but feel resposible for the way things had gone. He had let his personal hatred of Logan, and his jealousy of the relationship that the Phoenix and and him shared cloud his judgement. He replayed the events of the last twenty four hours over and over in his head finding a number of instances where he could have handled things differently. Maybe if had taken the time to stay focused on he mission instead of bickering with Logan, Jean would still be there with them, scolding him for being such an asshole.

On the other hand, there would be plenty of time for apologies and soul searching later. Scott knew that although he may not be the most popular member of the team, the other members would rally with him to make sure that Jean was rescued, and that was enough. Later, when everything was settled, Scott thought he should have a talk with the Professor about reevaluating his role as team leader.

 

[wombat9966]

Logan followed Scott towards the jet saying nothing. Now was not the time to be telling him how wrong he had been on this mission. Besides he was probably doing that himself. He still had the faint sense of the way Jean/Phoenix had gone but it was getting fainter by the minute. He was chaffing at the delay but knew Scott had taken a pounding and he was the only one here that didn't have a nifty little healing factor to patch themselves up after a fight.

Finally they made it to the Blackbird and he practically ran up the loading bay ramp and jumped into the copilots chair and started running the pre flight checklist. He wanted everything ready when Scott finally strapped himself into the pilots chair so they could take off. He hoped Rogue and Gambit weren't far behind either as he wanted this bird off the ground ASAP. He started up the engines and as the whirled into life he completed his checklist. As soon as everyone was on board they were good to go.

 

[DeathsKnight]

There was no particular strain on Hobgoblin, the woman, though dead weight, still weighed close to nothing. The wind was cold, but his suit, the serum and the fever of the insane was enough to keep him warm. What was more, a promise hung in the air, a promise that the death of the hated one would come to his grasp if he does fulfill the wishes of the master. With the woman he held as his captive, he knew that he had not fulfill their wishes, he had gone above and beyond them, he was bringing them something stronger and much more powerful than the clawed mutant.

By the time the plane was taking off and it's air-to-air radar started to scan the surrounding area, Hobgoblin was on his way to the ground. Most likely the only thing they would get would be the last position that he was in radar range. As they descended a wind was picking up, from the bite it was clear that a storm was building, that meant that they would have to hasten their departure. The hanger doors was open and already more Hand ninjas was waiting for him, they looked at the figure that was bound by chains,

"Just slip the restrainers on her, believe me, she is worth much more than the clawed one."

The ninjas did as he commanded, there was no question asked, for the undead ninja did not have much of a reason to speak. Once the glove-like restraints was slipped over Jean's hands, Hobgoblin knelt in front of her and started to slap her cheeks gently,

"Wakey wakey...wakey wakey..."

It took some time, but the eyes did start to flutter open and he giggled his glee,

"Fair warning fiery one, those gloves which is now resting over your hands? Yes those. If you try to break free, any power you use will be converted and sent directly into your body via an electrical current. Of course this was meant for the clawed one, but the gloves picks up any power, even if it comes from your mind and they will suck it up like a tasty slurpee and give it back in a form you will not like."

He tilted his head, the leering grin seemed plastered onto his mask,

"You understand?"

 

[feistyphoenix]

The strange voices faded in and out, she could tell they were no longer airborne now. She tried to rouse herself but it didn't work. Jean was too weak. She felt light tapping on her cheeks, then harder. Someone was hitting her. Her breathing quickened, she was angry.

Finally, her emerald gem eyes opened, blinking hard at the bright overhead lights of the hangar. She instinctively recoiled at the sight of him so close to her face. They ninjas restrained her, she absorbed what he was telling her and not one to take his word she pushed lightly on his mind.

The current rippled through her weakened physical body and a painful cry ripped from her throat.

"Fuck you," she growled low as her head hung forward. The chains wrapped around her were cutting into her curvaceous form as she slumped forward against the hands of the ninjas propping her upright.

Her body relaxed, knowing she was caught. She couldn't reach out to anyone, the pain would surely damage Jean's body, and she needed Jean to stay awake. She needed to plan, something...anything.

 

[DeathsKnight]

Hobgob laughed his maniacal laughter,

"You couldn't handle me even if you tried."

He rose to his feet,

"How far is the jet?"

A technician came forward, from the blank stare in his eye it was no question as to where his loyalties lay,

"We should be able to have the jet prepped and ready within the next few minutes. There is a storm coming in, the jet should be able to make it out of here ahead of it."

Hobgoblin nodded,

"Good, we should make it out of here before her Lycra friends shows up."

He walked over to Jean, used the chains to lift her up and thrust his face close to her own,

"Why don't you hang around for those few moments we have to wait?"

With that he lifted her further and hooked the chains to a block and tackle hook, with another mad chortle he walked away, going towards a locker where more bombs had been stashed.

 

[feistyphoenix]

She was caught but it didn't keep her mind from planning the deaths of every single being in the room. She envisioned making them explode from the inside out.

How dare he reduce her to this. Treacherous little insignificant...man. Yes that's right, a man...a man she could destroy. And it would be slow, agonizingly so, the Phoenix would see his last breath leave his body. Stupid little man.

She needed Logan, she wanted to be close to him. That was no man, that was a beast, much like herself an uncontrollable force of nature.

She curled her lip and snarled as he grabbed her and trussed her up like a damn piece of meat.

Phoenix was no man's prey. She was the huntress, always. This role reversal did not please her. She wiggled and writhed, trying to free her hands but it did not work no matter how she twisted her wrists, the chains were just too tight.

 

[wombat9966]

Logan waited until everyone was onboard and strapped in then looked over at Scott. He still looked a little dazed and was staring at the controls like he knew he was supposed to be doing something but he couldn't remember what. Logan could smell the blood on him and even though he was pissed at the guy he was also concerned for him.

"Scott, you alright. Can you fly us out," he asked him.
Scott took five seconds to respond to him and then he looked over at him with a sort of wobbly head. "I'm fine Logan worry about...about yourshelf," he said.
Logan knew he was probably suffering from a mild concussion. He locked out his controls and began to fly the plane himself. He hated doing it but he was qualified. He took off without any problems and had them up to 40,000 feet and zooming towards jean/phoenix's last mayday call at mach 7 before he engaged the auto pilot. He moved back and grabbed the first aid kit before wrapping Scotts head in a bandage and covering it up again with his suit. He then gave him a dose of painkillers and a small dose of adrenalin. He probably wouldn't thank him tomorrow when he had the mother of all headaches but he would be good to go by the time they found Jean and he figured he would rather be in on that.

He checked on Rogue and Gambit but they seemed at a hundred percent. It seemed like everyone had a healing factor these days. "Okay you two here's the situation. Gob's has Jean somewhere and I only got a brief flash from Phoenix and we are heading that way now. Seeing as how they were after me I am assuming they would have something to neutralize a mutants powers but I am hoping they don't realize just how powerful the phoenix is and she can get one more message out when we get close. We might even get lucky and pick them up on radar before they land. Scotts a little out of it but I have given him some things to make him better by the time we land. Assume we will be up against more Hand ninjas and Gob's again. This time though we know what we are up against. The ninjas are cannon fodder, so treat them as such. They are already dead so go for their heads to kill them off or their hearts. Gob's is the main target as well as securing Jean. You see him about to scream block your ears or hit him in the gut. Other than that we won't know more until we find out where they are hiding. Any thoughts from you two. I am wide open for ideas here."

 

[raiguy]

Gambit thought for a minute. "Well boyo, I think I can probably take out all of the ninja if you can buy me time. They will be moving, which means they are in my domain. Poof, they are dust," he said, grinning slightly. He thought about the power neutralization, before adding, "Don't bank on the message. Those gloves of his are able to completely neutralize powers. It's not the strength that they neutralize. It's that they turn those powers back onto the mutant, making it incapable for them to do anything else. It's like the gloves are stun guns, but supercharged and able to negate powers," he said, remembering his own gloves.

He sighed, before turning to Rogue. "You gonna be okay, or would you like to borrow some of my own powers?" he said, flashing her a smile as he stretched, pulling out his bo staff and checking it for any dents or dings. He hoped that this Jean, or Phoenix, or whoever, was able to make it past the gloves, but he doubted that would happen.