Redemption

Chapter Seventeen

"Where are they?"

Wolverine, Cyclops, Beast, Nightcrawler, and Jean Grey were looking around the dock.

"They must have left," said Kurt.

"That's not like Daken," said Wolverine. "He would have stayed for a fight, I know it. Try to find Rogue, Jean."

Jean closed her eyes and concentrated hard.

"She's nearby," she said, eyes shut tightly. "But she's knocked out. That's all I can get." She said the last part as she opened her eyes.

"Daken probably knocked her out," said Scott. "We have to find them, now!"

"You don't have to look far," said a familiar voice.

The X-men whirled around. There stood Magneto, as purple and metallic as ever. Then they saw who he was holding up. It was Daken, unconscious and bloody.

"No!" yelled Logan.

"Don't worry," Magneto grinned mischievously. "Rogue's perfectly fine. As for your son . . . I don't think he'll survive much longer. See, I got my hands on the Muramasa blade, and I managed to sneak up on your son, so —" Magneto dropped Daken to the ground. "— he's going to die very very soon." 

Logan yelled and began to run forward but Scott stopped him.

"This is what we want," he told him. "Rogue is only knocked out and Daken's going to die. We'll get rid of him forever."

Magneto drew a sword that Logan instantly identified as the Muramasa blade from under his cloak.

"Now it's your turn, Wolverine,"

Logan roared, breaking free from Scott's grip and charged at Magneto.

"Logan, no!"

Magneto laughed.

"We need to get Rogue!" Jean said. "She's probably somewhere behind Magneto in that alley!"

They ran past Logan and Magneto, who were fighting. Magneto was still laughing, he was just dodging Logan's swings, stepping over Daken's body multiple times in the process. The X-men ran into the alley mouth and came face-to-face with Toad, Juggernaut, Sabretooth, and Mystique. They could see Rogue tied up and unconscious behind them.

"Welcome to your doom X-men," said Juggernaut, cracking his knuckles. 

The X-men took the first shoot. Well, Scott did. Soon it was a small battle.

On the Wolverine-Magneto side, Logan had managed to cut Magneto's shoulder but that didn't stop Magneto's laughter. Magneto jumped over Daken's dying body, turned, and brought the Muramasa blade up to meet Logan's claws. There was a crack like thunder and the two mutants were thrown in opposite directions.

Wolverine was the first to get up. He looked at his arms which were broken at the forearms. Magneto was up and charging before they had healed properly. It was Wolverine's time to dodge Magneto's attacks. Magneto snarled, jabbed out his hand, and Logan was stopped and raised into mid-air. The adamantium on his bones was beginning to hurt. Wolverine screamed in pain. Suddenly Toad was rammed into Magneto, instantly releasing Wolverine.

"Thanks, Storm!" Logan called over to Storm whose hands were sizzling.

She nodded and returned to the fight.

Magneto and Toad were up.

"Get back there," ordered Magneto and Toad scampered away.

Magneto turned back to Wolverine. Wolverine took a step back, getting into position in front of Daken's body as if he was protecting it. Magneto's smile turned wickeder. You're right where I want you, he seemed to be saying. 

Logan looked down at his now healed arms and gave a grin back to Magneto. He wasn't going to let Magneto kill him. He was going to kill Magneto and save Rogue.

Burning pain like Logan had never felt before surged through him. He looked down and almost died.

I pulled my claws out of my dad's gut, blood and a few entrails following me. He fell to the ground, hands flying to stop the bleeding. I stood up and grinned.

"You actually fell for it," I said. "That was easy," 

"D-Daken," stuttered Wolverine. "W-why . . .?"

"We came to a mutual agreement," said Magneto. "He would bring the X-men to me as long as he got to finish you off."

He tossed the Muramasa blade to me who caught it and turned it on Logan.

"Bye, Dad," I said. "You had a good run."

I brought the blade on his father's neck. It stopped millimeters from Logan's neck. I was thrown against a wall. Logan rolled over to see Jean Grey, red eyes gleaming.

"Tell your guts to heal faster," she said, eyes fixed on me. "I'll deal with this one."

I got up, Muramasa blade in one hand, and bloody claws sticking out of the other. Jean raised her hands, red magic pulsing around them.

"It's going to take a lot more than sparkles to kill me," I said.

"I'm not using sparkles,"

The Muramasa blade was ripped from my hand. It flew into Jean's fingers and she lunged. I dodged, not letting panic fill my system. I still had one weapon up my sleeve. I turned to her, taking a deep breath. She smelled of leather and hair products and makeup. It would have to do. Jean lunged again but stopped, the only blade that could kill me inches from my neck.

"I don't think you want to do that," I said smoothly, stepping out of the way of the blade. "I don't think you want to kill me. Why do I think that? Because deep down inside you, you like what I stand for."

I took the Muramasa blade out of her hand.

"You liked being the Dark Phoenix, didn't you?" I said. "You liked the power. Join me and you can feel that power again. You don't have to serve under Magneto or the X-men. You can go wherever you want and do whatever you want."

I held out my free hand, claws retracting, "Will you join me?"