Sniff! Sniff! Logan's nostrils fred, pig up the faint st of gunpowder in the air and the subtle rustle of movement high above. As Psylocke struggled to hold onto sciousness, Jean focused, using her waning telepathy to trace the sniper's locations. Her eyes met Logan's, and in an instant, she transferred a rough map of their positions directly into his mind.
"Logan," she mahrough gritted teeth, "they're stationed above. Three snipers, spread out along the mezzanine. You o take them out."
Logan's lips curled into a feral grin. "Just what I needed—a little hunt."
Without another word, he sprinted, ung himself up to a ledge before hurtling over to a rusted staircase. Gunshots cracked in the air, and Logan could feel the bullets rip through his skin, but his healing factor surged immediately, knitting his wounds shut almost as fast as they appeared. Unfazed, he climbed higher, adrenaline and fury driving him forward.
As he he first sniper's position, he caught sight of a shadow moving to reload. Logan leaped forward, nding directly in front of the shooter. The man barely had time to gasp before Logan's cws plunged into his chest, sileng him in a sirike. Logan pulled his cws out and moved on, leaving the body slumped in the dark.
Sh out from behind him—another sniper had caught onto his approach. Logan twisted, feeling a bullet tear through his side before his healing kicked in again, closing the wound. He snarled and unched himself into a sprint, dodgiic shots as he reached the sniper. Without hesitation, Logan sshed downward, disarming the man in a brutal arc before hurling him off the ledge to the ground below.
The third sniper, seeing Logan's ferocious approach, abandoned his position, bolting toward an emerge. But Logan was faster. In a matter of seds, he closed the distance, grabbing the man by the colr and throwing him hard against the wall. The sruggled, raising his on, but Logan's cws sshed through the barrel, rendering it useless.
Logan leaned in, growling, his eyes gleaming with fury. "Big mistake aiming at my team." He smashed his cws into the sniper's chest, instantly killing him.
..
The X-Force had fought with everything they had, but they were losing ground fast. Reinforts swarmed into the warehouse like a wave, the new mutants fnking their sides and cutting off any route of escape. Psylocke k, struggling to keep her bance as her blood-soaked fingers pressed tightly to her shoulder wound. Kitty and Jean stood back-to-back, both visibly exhausted, while Scott, stripped of his visor, ched his eyes shut, trying to keep his energy at bay.
Logan growled low, cws ready, standing protectively between his teammates and the advang mutants. Blood matted his sideburns, his own injuries barely healed before new ones appeared. Yet, he held his ground, a primal force refusing to back down.
"Give up already," sneered Sabretooth from the edge of the melee, his voice dripping with satisfa. "Your little team's barely holding on."
"Shut up a over here," Logan growled. "I ain't through with you."
Sabretooth's grin widened. "Gdly." He sigo his team, who surrouhe weakened X-Force. Logan sshed at a nearby enemy, teeth bared, but their sheer numbers overwhelmed him. Blows nded from all sides, f him down to one knee.
Jean staggered, clutg her head as a fresh wave of psychic suppression crashed over her. Blood trickled down her nose, her vision blurring as she struggled to fight through it. "I… I… I 't hold on…"
"Jean!" Kitty tried to grab her. "Jean, hang in there!"
But she could no loand. She crumpled to her knees, vision swimming as the suppressor draihe st of her strength. Psylocke staggered beside her, barely able to lift her psionic bde.
Amid the chaos, a sudden shift in the air froze the battle. The st of the reinforts halted, stepping aside, as a dark figure ehrough the main warehouse doors. Sebastian Shaw, with his impeccably tailored suit and a sly, fident smile, surveyed the battered X-Force.
"That's enough," Shaw anded, his tone ced with a calm authority. The remaining fighters held back, allowing him to step closer, his gaze cold and calg as he studied each of them.
Shaw stopped a few feet away from the team, his eyes settling on Scott and Jean, taking in their weakeate. "It's truly impressive to see the legendary X-Force fighting with such...tenacity. But unfortunately, it's over." He paused, letting the silence draw out. "I have an offer. One of you will go free, back to your headquarters. All I ask is that you deliver a message to Aron."
Logan ched his fists, blood dripping from his cws as he gred at Shaw. "You think we're just gonna walk away? After what you did?"
Shaw chuckled, unfazed. "Walk away? No, not quite. I expee of you to leave—t Aron to me. I have no i in keeping you all." He looked pointedly at Jean and Kitty. "But I think you'd rather avoid a fight you 't win, given the...dition your team is in."
Psylocke stepped frabbing her bleeding shoulder. "And if we refuse?"
Shaw's smirk grew. "Then I'll have my men tiil you're all...incapacitated. But I'd prefer to avoid unnecessary mess. I'm only ied in Aron, after all." He folded his arms, waiting for an answer.
Jean g her teammates, taking in their battered appearand exhausted expressions. Theuro Logaing his gaze. His eyes softened slightly, and Jeahey were thinking the same thing: 'They 't handle much more. Should I use my Phoenix Force? But what if it goes out of trol again?' Then she remembered what Aron said before they were leaving. He told them to give him a call if they were in trouble. But would it be a wise choice t Aron into this mess? Shaw wants him and if she calls him right now, Shaw might capture him.
However, Jean remembered that night... Their first date night, when Aron showed her his power to trol Phoenix Ford the fact that he took down three omega-level mutants alone, not to mention, dismaryker's operation alone.
'No. He do it. I just know it...' She reached out for her phone in her pocket and pressed the speed dialer. 'With the Professor's help. He should be able to find us in no time.'
Just then, Psylocke stepped forward. "You think we'll sell out our friend just because our lives are in danger?" she growled. "If that's what you think, then you've made a fatal mistake." She threw three psionic daggers at Shaw in the hope of at least one of them hitting him but to her surprise, the daggers were absorbed by him.
Shaw just ughed. "I'm sorry, but you'll o try harder than that." He pointed his fi Psylocke and unleashed a burst of kiiergy at her.
Logan quickly jumped in front of Psylocke, shielding her with his body as Shaw's attack hit. The force sent them both crashing backward into the wall. Logan coughed up blood. "Damn...bastard..." he growled.
"Logan!" Kitty called out. 'Damn it!'
Psylocke crashed hard against the wall. Her head inning as her sciousness faded. 'Why...' she thought to herself as everything around her became hazy. 'I 't die here! Not like this!'
"Enough. I'll give you one more ce. I want that e at any cost. So, please, don't make things difficult for me," Shaw said with a hint of irritation in his tone.
Suddenly, the temperature plummeted, chilling the air almost to a painful degree. A frost crept over the ground, f intricate, glistening patterns across the crete floor. Within moments, a light flurry of snow began to fall ihe warehouse, casting a ghostly haze around them. Outside, snow swirled from a sky that had been clear only moments before, the fkes swirling as though pulled by an unseen force.
"You all are so fucked..." Jean said with a rge grin.
Logan, Kitty, and the others shivered involuntarily, feeling the unmistakable aura of iergy filling the room. Shaw's grin widened, his eyes glinting with an uling fidence as he ched his fists, barely able to ceal his excitement. "So, he decided to show up after all," he said softly, eyes sing the room for any sign of the newer.
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