Chapter 12 Morality is for Fairy Tales.....Dragons and the Tallest Tower....
The half hour drive to the middle of nowhere doesn't relieve the frustration, the aggravation, the everything, the nothing, Marie under my skin. I should just do what she wanted me to do -- leave her alone. She doesn't want anything to do with me anymore. She didn't want anything to do with her life at the mansion, and I should have let go of my promise the minute she took my belt and ran out on me. Still, it's getting harder and harder to keep driving away, knowing what she'll encounter on her current path, the pain, the regret, not to mention what could happen if she's captured -- if they take her alive.
She relieved me from my promise, didn't she? When she said she didn't care, then I shouldn't have cared either. If I'm going to let go, then I will be the monster, the feral animal, no purpose, a life with no meaning. I can't allow myself to be like that again. I won't. I have no memory of my past, but I know I could live long enough to create a new one, with her, with all of them. That's what I tell myself as I turn the car around and go back for her.
I leave the car in an alley, not far from the bank, through a dark side street, closed on three sides, no lights to speak of. It was a perfect place to keep the car, and to drag her, without drawing much attention. Her anticipation to leave, her desperation, it all pointed to them taking the bank tonight. As I round the corner back to the coffee house, flashes of red and blue blare against the brick and glass. Sirens blow through my ears. I hear breaking glass in the distance. A well of emptiness pulls at my gut. I am too late. Police cars and armored trucks cover the intersection. I can smell gunmetal and sweat from the uniformed bodies I can see. I doubled their number in my head, accounting for everyone else I could imagine inside.
I grab the phone to call the professor. It's going to get bloody, but no matter what happens, no one's body is going to the government in a body bag.
"Logan, what is your status?"
"The team, now. You have my position?"
"Yes."
"Tell them to stay outside the city until they hear from me."
"Do you have Rogue?"
"I will!"
The team is on it's way. While the cops are dealing with Mystique, I'll grab Rogue. All bases covered, right? Then why is that pit of dread still in my stomach?
I walk away from the center of the attack, crossing the street to the side of the bank, trying to play an innocent bystander, no eye contact, focus directly on the ground. I slip into a doorway of abandoned store front, a plan to getting in my only obstacle. I use the escape stairs to hop the rooftop. Using the parapet as cover, avoiding the barricade, a slide down a drain pipe, slipping though the uncovered side door.
Their insurgence has already started. Hearing shot after shot, I can't tell the caliber of the shots as they echo off the glass and marble. The front door is covered. The side alley door isn't, the two guards from that having already joined the fight. It seems to easy to walk right in and I fear I'm walking into the trap set for Rogue and Mystique. I follow the sounds, vicious as they are. A pile of bodies lays before me. Some are still alive. No blood, no burn of gun fire surrounding them. She had to have touched them. They'll be OK, if they ever wake up.
As I continue, their trail begins to turn deadly, faces unrecognizable, limbs bent beyond repair. Rogue lost control, but she wasn't alone, either. The evidence of their ruthlessness lays in heaps on the floor, blood streams out of pools trickling down the white marble stairs. Flashes from the police car lights highlight even more splattered against the high walls. The first shot through the front glass doors draws me into the main lobby. My first scan of the room catches Mystique climbing the walls going through the large hole that was a window, her escape unnoticed.
All eyes are on Rogue, she still has a gun in her hand, shaking, too unsteady to shoot. She turns with fluidity, her body swaying, then one last pop, through her side. Blood splatters against the shattered tempered glass. Her silhouette slumps to the floor, as I let the animal out of its cage.
I slowly let the claws out, the sound of metal echoing through the lobby, a rumble in my chest came with the heat of a fight. The scent of her blood is everywhere, amplifying the need to protect her. No one even flinches in the bank. They're dead or out cold, but a new group of cops lays waiting behind cruisers out front. Movement near the broken window means they're going to start crawling in. Hunched in the shadows, I make it to the front door and slide my arm around Marie. My boots against the broken glass littering the floor gives away my position to the cops just a few feet away from me. I hear them arm their weapons. I can see the beams of their sites searching for anything not in a uniform. They're going to rush fast, all I have to be is faster.
With one easy lift, I have Marie slung over my back, but the shots are getting closer. I feel a few hit my back. I know one more hits Marie. I make it out of the lobby, back to the stairwell to the vault. I can hear them coming in, assessing the lobby, not knowing if they are hunting for me. I duck into an empty office, laying Marie on the floor behind the desk. I can still hear the heavy thug of boots carrying the weight of trained, armed officers off in the distance. I know I haven't much time.
I grab her face. She's still breathing, but there isn't any pull, just like Liberty Island. It seems useless. I only have a few more seconds before I have to run. I need to help heal her. I lift her shirt to see two holes oozing out blood. Remembering the third wound in her back, I place my hand on her stomach. My fingers started to twinge. I force myself to let go, but I know it wasn't enough. I grab both her cheeks, my own face so close to hers I almost fall into her, but there is no more. That's all I can give her at that moment. It's going to have to be enough.
No one is coming down the hall, but I can detect at least three out the side door. I hear the heavy footsteps of even more coming from the lobby. Gunning for the side door means I can split the team. Most are still surveying the aftermath, which leaves fewer to get through running out. I have to carry her through the side door and past the barricade; it was the only way.
I round the corner with her over my shoulder, which means I can only use one hand to defend both of us. Two masked guards come first. They shoot; I deflect. My claws cut through their Kevlar . I can't let them call for back up. They are the first of many useless deaths tonight. I make it outside, more uniformed cops coming my way. I drop Marie against the wall. I need both hands to make it out of here.
"Stay with me kid." She slumps over awkwardly. Her eyelids flutter and I realize she is conscious. "Kid?"
The rattle of metal and magazines turns my attention back to the crew coming at us. I flex my claws, eyeing the gun barrel at point blank range. I'm still able to slice into his chest, pulling him down in the process. Blood sticks to my fingers, whose blood-- his or my own--I don't really care. The burn of gun fire, adrenalin and hate filled the enclosed area. Blows to my shoulders only propelled me further. Clenched teeth and anger-filled eyes greet me. There is no fear in any of them as the animal dices through them. They are trained to kill or be killed. These are fighters, sent here for this very thing, not mace totting rent-a-cops.
"Who you working for?" I growl at one unlucky enough to be caught my grasp. My sweat pooling off my hands onto his throat, his fierceness defies any logical need to save himself. I slap him hard; it's rude to not speak when spoken to. "I said, who THE FUCK do you work for?" Forcing his body against the wall, my fist hovers over his head. He knows what will come to him; he saw his fellow comrades fall before him.
"Last chance." Blood makes his lips red like cherries, the corner of his eyes creases as he smiles. His secret is one he will keep.
"Fuck you," he answers, knowing he will be added to the heaps of unmarked bodies, his blood joining his comrades' in the gutter and the alley glistening dark red. My body hums to the core. Vengefully disobeying, my claws shoot out on their own and my eyes watch his life fade. The threat neutralized, the animal pulls back, pleased with itself.
I hear a gasp. I smell fear, shock, and it's coming from Marie. She's got a front row seat to see what I become, all berserk rage and uncontrolled energy, ending all before me, but for what? For her? Is this what she really wants?
"Get up kid." We needed to keep moving. No one noticed my little rampage. They were all still concentrating on the inside. "Get up!"
"I don't think I can."
"Get up." Still panting, I finally look towards her. She's struggling to get to her feet. She's in no shape to make it on her own. "You have a car?"
"Yes." I can see her concentrating, biting her lip, her balance faltering. And then, "...no" which comes out more as a whisper.
"Fuck." I see more lights pull into area, illuminating our escape route. I pull her off the ground, my body radiating heat against her cold skin. She closes her eyes. I feel her blood running down my arm. I huddle down at the edge of the alley, watching more cops pour out of armored vehicles. Luckily, they're looking at the front of the building.
The clicking sound of shoes behind me. A beam of light coming from the open door. I'm going to have to run. I wait until the last door of the cars in front of me slams shut, then duck and run away from the center of it all. I hear a whistle from behind me. Someone caught sight of us in the street lights. The blockade holds them back, buying me a precious few seconds before anyone can take off our way. I make it to the car, lay her in the seat and drive away just as the herd of cruisers comes screaming after us.
I grab the phone off the dash to call the team. A full brigade makes getting to the Blackbird that much harder.
"Storm, where are you?"
"Logan, we are 10 miles out. Where can you meet us?"
"I've got company. Find something, away from the city. We're going to have to do this fast."
"Understood, I've got you on our scans. There is a clearing to the north. I can land there."
"Can you give me some cover?"
"I'll see what I can do."
The S.W.A.T. team is still behind us, tight to our tail. I turn my headlights off, relying on the infrared navigation and my own senses. The road hugs to the side of the hill, pines high on the low side, bare rock on the other, making driving in darkness more complicated then I'm really used to.
With Marie in the seat next to me, I keep one ear on her breathing. There's very little pattern. She needs to get to the med bay fast. She's lost a lot of blood. The gunshot wounds are around her spleen, and one through her chest. I couldn't heal her enough to make them stop completely. I need to drive, to get to the Blackbird. Storm will land near the clearing. I have to meet her there. I can hear the chopper above my head, but it's fading into the distance. Just concentrate on driving. I smell blood, fresh blood, she must be oozing out again. I want to touch her again, but I have to drive to get us out of here.
"Logan?" It's a dry whisper,
"Don't move," I have to force her down. She's getting cold. "Haven't been able to heal you properly yet. Right now I need to drive." I need to get to Storm. Hank should be at the mansion right now. I need to get her home. Home…
"I wanted..." wet breathing, gurgles, "...I didn't-" Delirium, no focus, but she breathing. I need to drive.
"Save it, kid." I look her way. Her face is white, ghost like, blue almost with only the moon lighting us. "Now's just not the time, okay?" Breathe, we're almost there.
"Are they...?"
"Yes." Behind us, I'm still ahead by half a mile at most. I need to keep the upper hand.
"Where's..." She's coughing up blood again. The bullet must have nicked an artery. "Where is-?"
"The blue wench?" That fucking bitch got her into this,
"I didn't... don't worry."
Yeah, that's right I won't worry, "I don't know. She took off not long after I got there." I'll split her navel to nose next time.
Fear started rolling off of her. She was scared. I looked over at her, her eyes were closed. I got a hint of salt. She must be crying, trying to hide it.
"Dammit!" I felt the car fishtail, and lost control of the back end. I felt the door crumple when it hit the guard rail. I heard the sound of glass shattering, then nothing.
***
Pain everywhere. Sounds overlapping, yet very distant. The wetness of fog cooling the inside of my chest. Was it Ro? Not sure if they made it. I know it's bad. I'm so cold. I need to stay awake. It's our only way out. The roof crumples further, yet I strangely don't care.
"Marie?" I don't hear her breathing. She was hurt already. Oh,God! This is all my fault. "Marie, you need to get out, please, get out...."
The smell of burning, the unmistakable squeal of metal twisting, feeling weightless.
"OH, MY GOD..... Colossus, Gambit, take him to the Blackbird. Kitty, stay with Rogue until Colossus can get her out...."
"Storm, I'm going to need everything out of the Blackbird just to stablizer her....."
Mist against raw skin, joints dangling out of place, her life fading from mine......
Words blurring into the background, no will to move, every ounce of energy trying to find her though the smoke, the haze for cover, but I could only find fear......
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