X-Men Fan Fiction ❯ The Camping Trip ❯ Ch 16 ( Chapter 16 )
See disclaimers in ch 1
Words between ~ ~ are thoughts or mental speak
CH 16
Damn his unpredictable charm power.
He was not about to be gang raped by a bunch of glory seekers in the middle of the woods.
Gambit started struggling fiercely as he was forced on his back to the ground. Frantic hands were everywhere on him, grasping to yank material, clawing him. Boots appeared from all sides to kick him into submission. He started to panic as the soldiers became frenzied in their assault. There were lips and teeth on his neck, hands roughly stroking under his shirt and moving into the waistband of his pants, knees between his legs. With the rain striking his face, Remy could only turn his head and close his eyes as he blindly thrashed about searching for anything to charge. But the lustful emotions overwhelmed him to near paralysis.
With his eyes closed against the assault, he failed to notice the abrupt end to the rain in their vicinity. Suddenly, Remy heard the most beautiful sound and his mouth curled upwards in a big grin.
"Winds, remove these vermin from our presence." Floating above the group was a gorgeous vision in skin tight clothes, flowing white hair, and hypnotic blanching eyes. With a wave of her hand, Storm sent several of the stunned soldiers flying off of him. At the same time, a pulsing red light hit another soldier square in the chest, sending him hurling into the trunk of a nearby tree where he fell to the ground in a slump.
One of the men holding Gambit's arm released it to grab his weapon and shoot the weather goddess. It was just the opening Remy needed as he swung that arm with all his might at the man restraining the other arm, sending the soldier flying onto his back. The scar faced leader was yelling orders to his men, trying to rally them into some form of offence against the new aggression.
"Pardon me." From behind the combatant raising a weapon to Storm, a big blue-furred finger tapped the man on his shoulder. The soldier turned a wide-eyed face towards the monster behind him. "Little boys shouldn't play with guns." Beast casually grabbed the weapon away from the soldier, then bopped the poor boy on the head, sending him to unconsciousness.
Cyclops came running from the tree cover, shooting another blast at the other fighters that had been restraining Gambit. These toy soldiers were really no match for a well trained, fully functioning team of mutant terrorists. The scar faced man was still yelling orders when he realized that all his men were either unconscious or on the way to it. He turned to face the demon-eyed lover of Weapon X and smiled maniacally. "At least I get to take away something precious from the military reject." He raised his gun and fired.
Gambit was already running full force towards the man, and didn't register the shot as he reached the man to punch him hard in the face. "SALAUD!" he screamed as the man went down. "You'll NEVER get Logan. I won't LET you!"
"GAMBIT" Scott yelled as he watched Remy raise his fist to hit the man again. "X-Men don't kill!"
That seemed to take the wind out of the Cajun's sail. He stared down out the old man, his eyes glowing fiercely and breathing coming in short, ragged spurts. Slowly he lowered his arm and spat in the man's face. "You ain't worth it, couillon." With that, he rose off the man and started to walk away. Only a few feet from where they originally fell, Remy saw Scott open his blast shield full throttle to hit the scarred leader behind him. Remy swirled to see the blast hit the man in the face, just as he was about to shoot Remy in the back. The commander of the elite group of soldiers was dead.
Gambit turned a shocked face back to the X-Man leader and Scott shrugged. "Unless we have to in self-defense."
Remy chuckled and fell to his knees. There was a sharp stab of pain in his side that he was just now noticing. He lowered his head and brought his hand up to his side, coming away with blood. The other three members of the X-Men ran to him immediately to determine the extent of his wounds.
"Gambit, where is Wolverine?" Scott demanded.
Gasping and wincing around the pain, Remy stood up. "I take you."
"You're in no condition to.." But Scott's comment fell on deaf ears as Remy walked away from them. Scott sighed in exasperation and the other three fell in line behind the Cajun.
It was with sheer force of will that Gambit was moving under his own steam. Beast figured it must be adrenaline that had the thief moving swiftly despite the continuing blood loss. And blood loss there was. Beast didn't have nearly the keen senses as Wolverine, but more so than the average person. He could smell it as clearly as anything and frowned in worry over Remy's refusal for assistance. He trotted to catch up to the long-legged boy to try and reason with him.
"Gambit, you're wounded. Please let me.."
"NON!" Remy didn't even turn to look at McCoy as he spat out his answer in a half-curse.
"But, you are doing yourself no good by…"
Remy waved a hand violently through the air towards the doctor to shut him up. "Logan first." He didn't say anything else. He couldn't spare the energy and effort. Remy just kept on walking, his vision tunneling to the path in front of him. To stop now would be the end of his burst of will-power.
As they approached the cave, and the trio realized the Cajun was headed for the opening on the rise above them, McCoy took off ahead of them knowing that he had to get to Logan fast if had any hope of saving a stubborn auburn-haired mutant thief. Gambit had made it quite clear that he wouldn't let them do anything for him until Logan was seen to.
It was with surprise that Logan heard the footsteps of several individuals approaching the outside of the cave entrance. He unsheathed his claws, prepared to fight whatever was coming through that doorway. He was unprepared for the entrance of a blue-furred cross between a lion and a gorilla as Beast hopped towards him.
Retracting his claws, Logan called out to the doctor. "Blue! Damn it's good to see you. Where's Remy?"
"Ah, our stubborn young Acadian is a few steps behind. I hear you are in need of assistance my dear friend." McCoy knelt down and started examining his feral team mate. He asked Logan to tell him everything he was feeling, and not feeling, trying to determine the extent of any injuries. Gambit, Cyclops, and Storm walked into the cavern a short time later.
"What happened Remy?" Immediately, Logan sensed something wrong with the boy. He was sweating profusely and there was the overwhelming scent of blood.
"Not'ing dat we couldn't handle, Logan. De soldiers won't be troublin' you no more." Remy's breathing was raspy at best, clearly an effort on his part to draw in oxygen to his battered body.
"Beast, get him to the Blackbird. We'll be right behind you." Scott ordered, understanding the need to get both men to the medlab as quickly as possible.
Without a second thought, McCoy picked up Logan in his arms, ignoring the irritated snort from the older feral at being treated like a child, and hurried out of the cave. Logan craned his neck to catch glimpses of his lover, his brow drawn in worry. Gambit just smiled at him as he watched the older men pass. After they were out of the cave, Scott turned to Remy and suggested they leave as well.
"I need to…" Remy glanced around the cave looking at all the evidence of their stay, his eyes glazing over with a lost look. He wanted to clean up everything, remove any signs that they had been here just in case, for Logan's own protection and safety.
"I need….I…." Remy's eyes rolled back in his head and he started to fall forward. He would have hit the ground had it not been for the quick reflexes of the team leader. Scott lunged forward and grabbed the boy under the arms, his hands splayed flat against Gambit's back. The Cajun's head lolled sideways on Scott's shoulder as he succumbed to unconsciousness. The stress on his body, and the blood loss from wounds, had finally taken their toll on the boy.
Scott pulled his hands away from Remy's back to view the blood on them from what had seeped through the thief's coat. He grimaced as he shifted his focus to Storm. "We have to get out of here now!" That said, he quickly brought an arm under Remy's knees and hoisted the boy up, moving swiftly to the cave entrance. He took only a moment to glance back at Ororo.
"Get him to Beast, Cyclops. I will take care of this." Storm's eyes turned white as she brought her arms straight out, calling on the winds again to help her destroy all evidence of their stay in the cave. Scott was at the edge of the trees when he heard a roar behind him. He spared a glance back as he watched Storm fly out of the cave, a few articles in her hand, right before a crashing sound and the spewing of dust as the cave entrance was effectively sealed tight by earth and rock. He was momentarily awed by the sheer power of the weather goddess before regaining his senses to the task at hand. Scott moved quickly through the woods, reaching the plane in record time where Beast was waiting. Logan had been wisely sedated as McCoy realized he would need no interruptions and complete focus to tend to the wounded Cajun. Stabilizing the boy was top priority as Storm joined them and they took off towards the mansion at top speed.
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