Beautiful Claws by: Tauriel Rogers

39) Blocked Exit

We'd been playing for a long time when Pyro couldn't take it anymore. He jumped up and put his jacket on. "That's it."

"Where do you think you're going?" Bobby asked him. 

"I'm done with this babysitting crap, I'm going in there," Pyro answered. 

"I'm going to, just deal my cards back into the pile," I piped up. 

"They told us to stay in here," Rogue reminded us. 

"I don't care and I don't care if they kicked me out! I'm going back in there whether they like it or not and I'm not coming back unless Logan is with me. Jean still hadn't found Scott last I heard, Magneto and Mystique are running around doing who knows what, and Storm and Curt have two dozen kids to get out of there. Maybe you guys forgot that dam is going to collaps soon enough and the Professor is still in there somewhere! I'm not just going to sit around waiting for something to happen when there's still so much that needs to be done," I explained myself. 

"Besides, do you always do what you're told?" Pyro asked them. Rogue and Bobby shared a look, knowing that I might not be totally wrong. 

"You realize how stupid this is?" Pyro said, attempting to kill the silence between us. 

"You don't have to remind me," I muttered. 

"Do you think we'll get in trouble?" 

"Why? For wanting to help out and get everyone out safely? I don't think so," I answered cooly. 

"If we come across anyone, I'll be sure to scare them off so next time, they'll think twice before messing with us mutants. In fact, they might not be so lucky as to get a second time," Pyro boasted. 

"Like what you did to those poor cops back in Boston?" I pointed out haughtily. 

"They deserved it," Pyro commented. 

"No they didn't, they were only following orders. How were they supposed to know that we weren't going to hurt them? Bobby's brother felt threatened by our presence, not because we personally were threatening him," I argued. Pyro thought about his for a moment once I put things into perspective. 

"Maybe you're right or maybe your wrong, but I'm not gonna let people get away with trying to hurt me for no reason when I haven't done anything," Pyro protested. I shook my head, frustrated with how he was thinking.

"Suit yourself," I commented moodily. 

"You're just gonna leave me out here?" Pyro complained. 

"Some of us have loved ones in there and might actually have a heart when even for the opposing side," I shouted at him over my shoulder. I started running and Pyro didn't bother to try to catch up, so I let him be. I figured he could take care of himself if that was how he was gonna be. I hadn't gotten very far into the base when I came across some bad guys. I easily blocked their attacks with my ice shield and the few that tried to touch me got burned. I came around one corner that had a bunch of guys with heavy guns that were armed and ready to fire. I formed an ice cover similar to the one I created when Jean attacked me at the school. When the gun fire stopped, I broke the cover apart, sending ice shards everywhere, which seemed to do the job of taking the gunmen out just fine. I was starting to make good progress when all of a sudden, there was an ear splitting noise that hurt my ears so bad to the point that I was kneeling on the floor. I've never felt such pain so strongly before. I started to cry from the pain because what else was I to do? I tried forming little ice barriers in my ears to drown out the noise and even built one around myself, but neither idea seemed to muffle the noise at all. The sound stopped, allowing me to stand back up, but my ears were still ringing and I had a headache. I started walking, but my pounding headache wouldn't let me move too fast at once. I leaned against the wall for support as I gave myself a minute to adjust. The thought of finding Logan forced me to keep going even though the room was spinning in my vision. I hadn't found Logan yet after what felt like forever and I was starting to lose confidence. 

"What if he's not here anymore and found a way out already? What if he's hurt? What if he's trapped and being held captive like the children were? What if Stryker is mind controlling him?" I thought. My search had slowed down dramatically from the negative thoughts running through my head that didn't help the headache go away. Just when I thought my headache might be going away, alarms starting blaring and I felt the dam shift again. 

"The structural integrity must be damaged," I realized. "Then that would mean I don't have much longer to look!" I was getting worried and scared. I broke out into a run, frantically calling out for Logan. I rounded a corner and skidded a little when I attempted to stop myself. I had found the group again so at least I wasn't alone. 

"Anna," Strom smiled, "it's so nice to see you again." 

"We found Scott!" Curt exclaimed, happy to meet another new person from the school.

"I thought you were taken back to the jet where you were supposed to wait for everyone?" Jean asked. 

"I was, but I got bored  and felt helpless. I came back to find Logan," I explained, "Where is he?" I asked when I saw he still wasn't with the group.

"We're still trying to find him," Storm answered. 

"In the meantime, we need to rescue Professor X and I know where to find him," Scott replied. He led us to the room he was being held captive in. "Stand back, I can blast the doors open," he said. 

"NO!" Jean exclaimed, "If you do that, it could kill the Professor, anyone inside of their, and anyone his mind is linked to," she warned him. 

"You can get us in there," Storm suggested, turning to Curt.

"Wait, Strom, who is this guy? How do we know we can trust him?" Scott asked defensively. Storm put up a hand to quiet his concerns. 

"He's a teleporter," she told him. 

"I don't know if I can teleport us in there. I've never seen the inside of the room before!" Curt was freaking out. 

"I have faith in you," Storm said. That seemed to be a good enough explanation for him and I'm assuming it worked when they disappeared because they didn't come back. Jean and I filled Scott in on who Curt was and how he came to be a part of the X-Men. As we were waiting for their return, the dam shifted again, making everyone uncomfortable and I could see the look of fear on everyone's faces when I looked around. 

"Where are you Logan?" I whispered out loud, extremely concerned that nobody had seen him after all the walking around we'd done. A few moments later, Curt and Strom reappeared with Professor X. 

"You're ok!" I exclaimed, rushing to hug the man that gave me a new life. 

"We need to get out of here quickly," Professor X commented. 

"He can't walk," Jean pointed out. 

"Curt and I can steady him. Anna, you'll need to lead the group. Do you know where we are?" Storm put me in charge for the time being. 

"These halls look familiar," I remarked. 

"Go back the way you came in and we should be alright," Professor X reassured me. We quickly made our way to the entrance of the spillway and we could clearly see our way out, but all of a sudden, it closed up. Someone was controlling it and obviously didn't want us to get out. 

"What do we do now?" one of the kids asked.