The Hard Way: Part 13

by Perri Smith

 

 


"Theresa!" They were sure of the direction this time; Siryn would have been running if she hadn't been hauling Delphi again. As it was, they made it to the corner in time to see Cable barrelling along the corridor, followed by what looked like most of X-Force and at least half of the X-Men. Everyone was armed to the teeth.

"How the hell does he haul that thing into airports?" Siryn heard Delphi mutter just before her teammates caught up with her. The Texan got out of the way before she was caught in the mass of humanity.

Siryn accepted welcome backs ranging from Jimmy's bear hug to variations on 'where the hell have you been you idiot?', before Cable rather loudly reminded everyone they were still in the middle of a fire zone.

"How'd ye manage to track us down?" Siryn asked when the noise quieted a little.

Cannonball started to explain. "We talked to the nice folks in Genosha, who gave us the run-around for a while until we got hold of the former chief magistrate --"

"Former Chief Magistrate?" Siryn interrupted.

Cannonball nodded grimly. "Yeah, seems there's some things goin' on in Genosha we don't know about. She wouldn't tell us much, but she did tell us she'd heard about some kinda installation goin' in here -- we're underneath the Appalachians, by the way. Believe it or not, this is supposed t' be a software plant."

"I'm going to have a conversation with Genosha about information that should be shared," Cable said equally grimly. "What's the situation, Siryn?"

"Well, it's a magistrate in charge - her name's Tam. She grabbed me and Wolverine more or less by mistake. She's got some kind o' army here, ready t' go after the X-Men and X-Factor."

"Everyone who helped bring Genosha down," Cable finished. "Great."

"Where's Wolverine?" Cyclops interrupted, coming up from behind Cable.

Siryn gestured over her shoulder. "He's. . ."

The sound of several guns cocking, clicking, humming and otherwise coming into action stopped her in mid-breath; it didn't take a genius to realize who had just appeared. Domino's voice was ice-cold. "Put him down, Deadpool."

"No problem, he weighs a ton." For all his flippant words, Deadpool started to move very slowly and carefully, trying not to get shot before he could lower Wolverine from his shoulder. His free hand hovered suspiciously close to his belt. "How ya doin', Domino?"

"I'll be better in a minute. Wolverine, move it so I can kill him."

"Don't shoot him, we're gonna need them to get us out of here," Wolverine rasped.

"He helped break us out, Domino," Siryn added, leaving Delphi against the wall and stepping in front of the mercenary.

"Listen to the lady, I'm one of the heroes of this piece," was Deadpool's contribution.

"I wouldn't go that far," Delphi murmured, ignoring Deadpool's murderous look. "But you can trust us until we get out of here, that's for sure."

"I wouldn't trust the two of you to. . . "

Cyclops cut off whatever Cable was about to say. "Cable, we don't have time for the ritual insults. Wolverine's in bad shape. What happened to him?" he demanded.

"He ran into the wrong end of a knife," Delphi answered. "They had an inhibitor collar that shut off his healing factor."

Cyclops looked over to where she was still holding up the wall, then did a shocked double-take. Between the lines of pain on her face, the bloody, sweat-soaked hair and the torn, blood-soaked uniform, Delphi looked like a walking casualty, Siryn realized. Deadpool had a similar reaction and ignored Domino long enough to reach his sister, leaving Wolverine to Cyclops. Logan tried to stand by himself, but failed.

Cyclops cursed, drawing raised eyebrows from almost everyone in the room, as Wolverine's weight fell against him. Wolverine echoed the curses in what sounded suspiciously like Japanese before almost gasping, "Come on, Cyke, let's get out o' here."

"What about these two?" Cannonball gestured at Deadpool and Delphi.

Domino opened her mouth to make a suggestion; Cable overruled her, although not without regret, judging from his voice. "We need all the firepower we can get. But keep an eye on them."

"Your trust overwhelms me," Deadpool muttered.

Domino almost shot him. Siryn almost let her. Fortunately for Deadpool, a squad of soldiers took that moment to locate them, and announced their arrival loudly and violently. Survival suddenly became a higher priority than revenge.


Part 14

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