The X-Men: Darkness Surrounding - Part 9

Author:  AeLonwyne

Disclaimer:  Rogue and the X-Men are the property of Marvel

Wolverine, Phoenix, Shadowcat, and Mystique all crept along in silence. Wolverine wrinkled his nose, the smell of mold was strong down here, and was threatening to make him nauseous. From what he could tell the mold came from years of minor flooding from the Mississippi flooding it's banks, and never quite dried up again.

The lower they got the worse the smell. Pretty soon their booted feet splashed into three-inch deep puddles of stagnant water. Logan was surprised that there was enough room in the air ducts for him to walk upright. Right away they found themselves at the end of the ventilation shaft. Their only choices were back the way they had come, or through the vent in the floor before them.

Logan strained his senses, but all he could hear was the scurry of rats, and the incessant drip of water. Unfortunately all he could smell at the moment was mold. Logan knelt down, and carefully worked the grate free. Slowly and carefully he stuck his head through the opening, then he flipped the rest of his body through, and dropped lightly to the floor.

Distantly he could hear crashing, and fighting, that he could only assume was due to the other X-Men running interference. The other X-Men and Mystique had followed his lead, dropping silently to the packed earth.

"Jean?" Logan whispered. She looked at him questioningly. "Sense anyone?" Jean closed her eyes and was silent a moment.

"Storm and Nightcrawler, are down that hallway." She replied pointing to the left. "Everyone else is three floors up fighting the others."

Logan nodded and hurried down the hall. Shortly, he began to smell Storm, and Nightcrawler. The corridor made a few abrupt turns, and before long they found themselves staring at a metal door with a small glass window.

Wolverine held up a hand, halting everyone behind him. He peered carefully through the glass. Ororo lay prone on the dirt, with what appeared to be plastic coated metal cording around her wrists and ankles. A yellow collar around her neck.

Kurt sat in a corner also bound, wrist and ankle, and sporting his own inhibitor collar. Unlike Ororo, Kurt seemed fully alert. Logan stepped back and popped the claws in his right hand before effortlessly sliding them through the doors locking mechanism.

    * * *

Kurt Wagner sat quietly in the dim light; the point of his tail, trying to wriggle it's way free of the cording that bound it to his leg. For what seemed the millionth time Kurt glanced at his unconscious friend lying a few feet away. It had been several hours since they both had been tossed into this damp room, and Ororo had yet to wake up.

His jailers had left but a few minutes before, when loud noises had started above them. "Ororo? Storm? Can you hear me?" Nightcrawler called out to his friend. Storm moaned softly but remained dead to the world. Nightcrawlers ears prickled at a distant sound. Light footsteps came closer, and he watched the door, listening harder.

SNIKT Could it be? He wondered. Three, foot long claws punctured their way through the metal door of the cell. Metal screeched against metal, as the locking mechanism was rent in two. Kurt found himself wincing at the sound, though brief, and looked expectantly at the door. Unglaublich. Those claws have yet to stop amazing me. He thought to himself.

Presently the door swung open, revealing several of his fellow X-Men, and Mystique. Mystique? What is she doing here? He wondered silently.

"Where's my daughter?! Where's Rogue?" Raven demanded shoving her way into the room.

Kurt looked at her in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Jean spoke up. "Rogue is fine Mystique. We left her with Generation X."

The shapeshifter spun on her. "You left her with a bunch of immature brats?!"

"Mystique! Shut Up!" Logan growled.

"If it would not be too much to ask, could someone untie us?" The disheveled but now conscious Storm interrupted. Shadowcat phased past her comrades and knelt by Storm. Using her innate ability to phase through solid objects, basically by turning herself ghostlike, and even phase objects and people too, Kitty took hold of cords about Ororo's wrists and ankles, rendering them intangible and pulled them away, before tossing them to the floor.

Wolverine stomped over to Nightcrawler, and used a single claw, to cut his bonds as well as the inhibitor collar around his indigo furred neck. Kitty who had a knack for disrupting mechanical and electrical devices, while phased, used her phased hand to scramble the circuitry in the collar around Storms neck.

"Alright your friends are safe, I'm going after Feirdras," Mystique declared, pulling what appeared to be a laser gun from a strap on her left leg. Wolverine looked at her.

"What do you hope to accomplish Raven?" Mystique flipped her red hair away from her yellow eyes. "I plan to destroy Fierdras before they can get their hands on my daughter." Kurt flinched at the ferocity of Mystiques desire to safeguard his sister, Rogue, while showing no concern for his own safety.

"Come on guys, the others are in need of our help." Jean interrupted.

"Lead the way Jeannie." Wolverine replied

    * * *

Bobby skated along the ground, on an ice-slide of his own fashion. Four Fierdras flunkies rushed forward to meet him, only to be pummeled back by a barrage of ice that slammed into them, then gathered quickly around them and seemed to stick and cover them completely of it's own volition, creeping rapidly up towards their necks, where it abruptly stopped.

Good. Bobby thought as he came around, and stopped to take stock. The Beast bounded across the skulls of several other flunkies, knocking half of them senseless. While Colossus flung one from his back, tossing him into three more rushing him from the left. Turning he threw his fist into the face of an oncoming toady with a smack as it connected that made Bobby cringe. He was sure his buddy was pulling his punches, but ow! That was a bit hard even for Piotr, to hit average humans, even if they were the bad guy.

"Hmm I wonder… Aaakk!" Bobby's musings were cut short as a glittering ball of energy slammed into him, driving him into the tree behind. Dazedly Iceman shook his head and stood up. "Gotta stop with the internal monologue, and get moving." He thought to himself, as he skated over to help his comrades in arms.

~Bobby? Are you all right?~ Jeans's telepathic voice queried in his mind.

~Yeah I'm fine. But we could use some help.~ He thought back to her.

~We are heading up. Hang in there.~ Jean replied. Bobby gave Jean the equivalent of a mental nod.

Iceman skated closer to the warehouse and his friends. Taking careful aim he proceeded to pummel their adversaries into senselessness, with amazingly hard, hastily formed hailstones.

"Bobby! Look out!" Hank warned seconds too late, as Iceman took another coruscating ball of magic energy, this time in the head. Bobby went out like a light, hitting the ground hard.

The warehouse door suddenly burst open, and the remaining Fierdras members grabbed their heads screaming, before dropping to the ground unconscious. "Abundant thanks, for the timely assist Jean dear." Hank pronounced lifting Bobby from the ground.

"It seems you three were doing pretty good on your own." Kitty observed.

"Until Bobby got nailed, yes." Piotr agreed glumly.

"Peter, what's wrong?" Storm asked gently. His eyes held a faraway, almost pained look. "Something is not right." He answered. The rest of the X-Men went on the defensive, looking everywhere. Wolverine strained his hyper-keen senses, and Jean psi-scanned the area.

"I don't sense anyone else." Jean told them.

"Not here. Elsewhere," Pitor replied.

"What do you mean?" Colossus just shook his head signaling an end to the conversation.

"Lets go people, we've got places to go and bad guys to stop." Jean said leading the way back to the Blackbird. Only Logan heard Colossus's last statement.

"Lord please let Rogue be safe." He whispered into the night. The last thing he wanted was for Rogue to share the fate of his sister.