Notes: Thanx, as always, to Soar, for being my editor; The Good Lord knows I need one! :O) Okay the last part was REALLY confusing, I know that. But trust me, EVENTUALLY it will all make sense! (I hope)
As Bobby and Joseph disappeared down the hall, the rest of the X-Men stood there looking at Cyclops, expecting him to tell them what to do. He knew what they were feeling, what he himself was feeling, but didn't know how to deal with it. The confusion was mind boggling, but he had to cope; as team leader he couldn't give in. They had to just rely on the fact that Wolverine, Iceman and Joseph were- are- their friends, and trust them.
Taking a deep breath he ran after the others and into the heart of a battle they knew nothing about. As expected his friends and team mates followed.
Coming down a large set of spiral stairs they found themselves even more shocked at what they saw. A large hole lay where the main door should have been. But this hole was by no means ordinary.
It was more of a swirling semi-transparent disk that seemed to be radiating energy from every corner. It wasn't the portal, however, that was so strange. Outside on the mansion grounds they could see that along with Joseph, Bobby, and the one called Portal mutants and military alike, were going full force against each other on the lawn.
Still, all this may have been excused- even ignored- had it not been for the sky above the battle. It was a dark crimson colour, and not the kind that was brought on by a brilliant sunset. The entire sky was overflowed with the colour of blood, emanating a glow that was almost beautiful but mostly terrifing to the eye.
Cyclops, who had seemed to ignore the colour of the sky, moved next to Wolverine who was staring intensly at the man in front of the portal. His claws were unleashed and he had a feral look in his eyes.
SabreTooth moved into a crouch but didn't move. He smiled at Wolverine in a taunting sinister grin of garishly white teeth. At the moment he had the upper hand. In front of SabreTooth, mere intches away from his dangerous claws, slumped a red haired man in a long red cape who, though wounded, held his composure with grave determination and admirable courage. His cape was still attached to his neck, was partially draped over a fourth figure. A hispanic woman who appeared to be unconscious and bleeding badly. The small gesture of chivalry seemed almost as much to be a futile attempt to protect her from further harm.
A few metres behind them stood a strong looking man in a suit who appeared as agitated as Wolverine but too afraid to do anything about it.
Slowly, SabreTooth inched towards the two figures in the centre of the foyer. As he did Wolverine started to move cautiously towards him. Both moved slowly so as to get into a better position without forcing the other figure to react.
"STOP!" Yelled a dark figure, who had come down another set of stairs. "SabreTooth, stand down before he kills you." He commanded coming into the light. In his arms he held a small struggling girl who couldn't be any more than four. He had his hand clamped tightly over her mouth to keep her head from flailing as much as to ensure her silence.
The man in front of SabreTooth twitched, ever so slightly, at the sound of the voice and Sabretooth chuckled. "This pup ain't doin' nothin'."
"Where is the child?" He asked in a grating voice.
Now it was Creed's turn to flinch. "He... Got away..." He replied quietly.
"Isn't that...?" Scott wispered to Logan.
"Sinister!" spat Logan. There was an even more feral look in his eyes than before, as his focus was split between the two vile men. Through his peripheral vision he saw the red flash in Scott's visor that told when he was about to blow. Forcing himself to calm down he turned slightly and put a restraining hand on Cyclops's shoulder. The two looked at each other with a gaze akin to friendship and for the first time it appeared as if they were each seeing the other as an equal.
"Wait for it," He whispered knowingly before turning his attention back to the situation before them.
The man in the cape now looked as if he was trying to rise, but not having much luck while the man in the suit started inching back until Logan stepped protectively in front of him and pushed him behind himself with one arm. The other X- Men moved strategically behind Wolverine and Cyclops. Together they were more then enough to take Sinister and Creed but Sinister and Creed had taken hostages and until they were out of the way...
SabreTooth was so content at watching Sinister that he wasn't paying any attention to the returning X-Men who had teleported in between him and the portal. Sinister however did notice and shouted a warning at Creed. Creed reacted by jumping forward at the man in front of him.
As Creed hit, he felt himself being slightly lifted, and then turned in the air. He landed about a foot away from his target who was standing with only a slight discomfort. Creed stood to look at him. He stared into his eyes, and Creed realised that his painful injuries had obviously been exagerated.
"Surprise," he taunted, a wry smile playing on his lips.
Logan chuckled quietly to himself. He hadn't seen that smile in a while. There were cuts down his face, probably from SabreTooth, and Logan's chuckle quickly turned to a growl at the sight of them.
For the first time the X- Men got a good look at the man in the red cape. "Gambit?!?" A few of them asked in surprise, and his smile disappeared.
SabreTooth was effectively trapped between the proverbial rock and a hard place. On his one side was Wolverine and the others and the other was Gambit and the three men. Bobby dropped down to the side of the unconscious woman and Joseph just looked completely distant. That left only a wounded Gambit and a trifling youth to stand in the way of his freedom.
To Scott it seemed the logical course to take his chances with Gambit and the boy, but Creed had a different idea of logical. Remy's eyes seemed to be glowing thick blood red, and SabreTooth cowered back away from him. With every step he took backwards Gambit steped forwards until the two of them were directly in the centre of the room.
Sinister started moving slyly to the portal and though Wolverine saw him, no move was made in advance of him for fear of endangering the struggling girl even more. Gambit paid no attention to Sinister as he slowly moved past him, but simply stood in a stare down with Creed.
At that moment Sinister took his hand off the little girl's mouth and she screamed bloody murder. Wolverine, anticipating what was about to happen, popped his claws and ran towards the centre of the room Scott hot on his tail.
As soon as the little girl opened her mouth, Gambit's attention snapped and immediately his head whipped around towards the sound.
"Don'vin..." He whispered.
Creed didn't let the opportunity go to waste. He jumped at Gambit with everything he had, digging the sharp claws of one hand into Gambit's stomach, curling them around his lower rib and lifted upward. At the same time he ripped his other claws into Gambits shoulder and pushed down. Gambit made no noise but simply winced at the pain, as Creed pushed him back. The two tumbled to the ground together in what seemed to be slow motion. SabreTooth landed on top and baring his teeth into Gambit's throat.
His body convulsed with the anguish, and his mouth opened in a silent scream. As the little girl watched, her eyes filled with terrified tears. "DADDY!!!" She screamed at the top of her little lungs.
Wolverine lunged at Creed claws first. An angry scream like that of a wild animal escaped his lungs as he tore the two apart, nearly severing creed's head in the process. As the three of them came apart Creed got up clutching his neck and ran to the portal jumping through it without pursuit. Wolverine had gone back to Gambit and was checking him out.
"Daddy...?" Donovan whimpered as Sinister she and the portal vanished.
Everyone crowded around them, Bobby bringing the strange woman next to him. Logan was cradling Gambit in his arms, using his cape to try to stop the bleeding. "Come on Remy... you bastard... Don't you die on us... Don't you DIE on us! Not Now!"
Remy looked as if he was trying to look at him but didn't know quite where to look. "Y'- y' SON ov'a BI'CH!" He slurred. "Lien' son ova... +cough+ How?" He whimpered, "Why?" His eyes were rolling back and it didn't look too good for him.
Joseph's face paled suddenly and he looked around the room as if seeing what was going on for the first time. He caught Portal's eyes and held the stare. He too was very pale. "Go get the others. He needs Hank, maybe Jean too." he stated simply as he walked in the direction of the gaping hole on the side of the White House.
"But sir? What about--"
"If he dies it's not going to matter much now is it?"
"Yes sir," He replied, opening a portal.
Wolverine looked into the battered face of his best friend. For the first time since Jubilee died, a tear fell down his cheek. "Oh God, Remy... I'm sorry..."
TBC...
Crimson.
Soar
Crimson.