The Vault - REVIEW THIS STORY

Written by NicoPony
Last updated: 08/15/2007 08:57:57 AM

Chapter 18

Gambit and Rogue slid down the cement slab and plunged into darkness. Their fall was brief. They soon met the ground, which gave way with a soft splat. Gambit sat up, mud sucking at his limbs. The air was close and fetid, instantly triggering memories of the swamp in Gambit’s mind.

“Rogue?” he called into the darkness. He could see nothing beyond the sliver of evening light issuing from the fissure high above.

“Ah’m here,” Rogue responded. “Ah---Ah think Ah’m stuck.”

“I’m comin’,” Gambit called, he struggled to his feet, but fell to his hands and knees. The mud was hot, and smelled like sewage.

“Hey, who’s there?” a slow, deep voice echoed out of the darkness.

Gambit searched the mud for something to charge and throw. His fingers found something smooth and cylindrical. From the mud, he produced a small vial, half-full of blood. He quickly dropped it.

“...Fred?” Rogue’s voice called.

Another pause. “Rogue? Is that you?” A huge figure lumbered out of the darkness and into the fall of light. A soft gush of mud pushed aside at his tremendous bulk. It was Blob.

“Well, look,” said another voice. “It’s rainin’ mutants!”

Toad leaped out of the darkness and landed on Blob’s shoulder. The smaller boy was covered in mud. He looked impossibly happy. The two were shortly joined by a third figure.

“Jean!” Gambit cried, relieved.

Jean spotted Gambit in the dim light and sloshed forward as quickly as she could. She looked drawn and pale, her cropped hair hanging in bedraggled clumps along either side of her face. She was streaked with mud and greenish slime. Gambit finally managed to stand, his arms pulling free with a soft sucking noise. He realized that the mud was slowly rising. From the darkness came an unpleasant gurgling noise.

“What was that?” Gambit asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

“Sounded like Blob after his twelfth bean burrito,” Toad said.

“Do you want to end up back in the tube?” Blob asked.

“We’ve got to get out of here,” Jean said, her voice betrayed her panic.

“Somebody get me outta this goop!” Rogue cried from the darkness.

Jean and Gambit waded toward Rogue’s voice. Jean abruptly drew up short, her expression terrified. Gambit continued to plunge ahead.

“Gambit! Stop!”

Gambit turned, his eyes glowing dimly in the darkness. “What is it?”

Jean was looking at something in the water. A strange putty-colored sludge was moving through the mud. Beyond it was Rogue, standing hip-deep in mud.

“What the heck is this stuff?” Rogue said, stupefied. She struggled to wade through it, but she remained steadfastly stuck. The sludge had completely surrounded her by now. Her expression changed suddenly, from mild disgust to panic. Then to pain. She began to scream.

Heedless of Jean’s warning, Gambit threw himself forward. He realized quickly that this was a stupid mistake. He too was mired in the thick glop, but he had managed to reach Rogue. He couldn’t understand why she was screaming, but she clawed at him as she struggled to escape.

“I have you!” Jean cried. The pair found themselves lifted by invisible hands. They cleared the putty-colored sludge. Clumps of it clung to their legs, and then dropped back into the mud in wet splats. Gambit thought he saw something peculiar moving through the sludge, as if it were trying to take shape. Horrified, he watched as a face formed in the muck. Rogue let out a sob and clung to Gambit. Jean used her powers to lower them to the ground beside Blob.

Both Jean and Gambit had to support Rogue from falling over. “Is she okay?” Gambit asked Jean. “What happened to her? What was that stuff?”

Jean shook her head, leaning down to peer into Rogue’s face. “I’m not sure,” she said, her voice ragged. “It’s so hard to hear anything just now. The earth...it’s screaming.” Just then, the strange gurgling noise echoed through the tunnel. It was followed by a dull roar.

“I think something’s comin’ down the tunnel,” Blob said, turning to face the interior of the cavern.

The thick mud began to move, taking with it the strange putty-colored sludge. The roar grew louder.

“What is it?” Jean asked, looking wildly about into the gloom.

“Sounds like a hurricane,” Gambit said. “Or the ocean.”

Jean opened her mouth to reply, but her voice was drown out by the rumbling. Something huge was coming down the tunnel. They had little chance to be truly frightened before a wall of frothing water caromed around the bend in the tunnel. The crest of the torrent crashed upon them, and the young mutants found themselves swept away.

“Krakoa is alive,” Xavier said with forced calm.

Magneto had hold of Xavier’s arm, and the pair hovered a safe distance above the thrashing earth. He was much too late to rescue Rogue and Gambit. The pair had vanished into the earth, swallowed whole. Avalanche was still below, having refused to relinquish his grip on the tree. He seemed to be unwilling to leave the ground, despite its thrashing.

“The island, it’s native inhabitants, the soil, the trees...all of it is part of Krakoa’s body.”

Avalanche looked at the tree he was clinging to. He quickly released it. “Oh, gross!”

“How is that possible?” Magneto said, still staring down into the gaping maw below.

“Another type of mutant,” Xavier replied. “Another mutation. This island is a person. A very abused and angry person.”

Magneto shook his head slowly, uncomprehendingly.

“Charles!” called a voice from above. The two men looked up to see Storm soaring in their direction. She was followed by Nightcrawler, Pyro, and a young woman with purple hair.

“Storm, where are the others?” Xavier asked. “Cyclops, Wolverine---?”

Storm shook her head. “For the moment, we do not know.”

“Where’s Rogue?” Nightcrawler asked. “Where’s my sister?”

Xavier opened his mouth, but then closed it, at a loss for words. Nightcrawler’s golden eyes widened in panic. The surrounding trees began to bend under the force of winds from above. The roar of engines deafened them. It seemed at first that another Sentinel had arrived, however, it was the nose of the X-Jet that appeared over the trees. The engine was emitting strained sounds and the jet itself was hovering strangely in the air. The ramp on the jet’s side opened, revealing a pair of young mutants inside.

“Anyone need a lift?” Quicksilver said with a smirk.

“Professor!” Cyclops called. “Is everyone all right? No one is hurt?”

“Who is flying the jet?” Magneto called back.

“That would be me,” a young woman with curly green hair leaned down over the nose of the jet. “I, uhm, master magnetism.”

Magneto stared at the young woman, unable to conceal his surprise.

“We’ve received a transmission from Wolverine,” Cyclops said. “They’re all okay, and they have Wanda and two other escapees with them. I’ve told them to evacuate who they could, and leave.”

“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Quicksilver said.

“No!” Avalanche cried. “We have to find Todd and Freddy! They’re still out here somewhere!”

“This island is not going to allow us to take our time leaving,” Xavier said.

“Everyone, board the jet,” Magneto ordered. “We’ll sweep the island looking for survivors. We won’t leave without a thorough search.”

Water closed down around him, cutting off all sound save that of the rushing current. Gambit was spun about in the torrent, losing track of which way was up. One hand gripped Rogue’s, her weight dragged on his shoulder. The current smashed them against the walls of the tunnel, and Rogue’s hand twisted in his grip. He suddenly found himself holding nothing but her leather glove. He pressed his lips closed against the cry that threatened to escape and rob him of his remaining oxygen. He felt as if he’d been underwater for ages. His lungs were burning. He needed air. For a brief moment, he considered charging the water, disintegrating the hydrogen molecules, leaving nothing but pure oxygen. He wasn’t sure if he had enough control to pull off such a feat. Starved for air, he struggled against the relentless current. He suddenly felt a slight pressure and found he was no longer twirling through the water. Gambit recognized the sensation as Jean’s telekinesis, gripping him lightly as she steered him through the water. He was rising now, he could feel it. He broke the surface with a desperate gasp for air.

He immediately sank again, and he kicked his legs to keep his head above water. Coughing and gasping, he looked about frantically. There was a roar and suddenly Blob erupted from the water, causing a huge wave which cascaded over Gambit’s head. Blob bounced on the waves on his back, like an enormous buoy. Toad was the next to spring from the water. He leapt onto Blob’s huge gut. Jean rose gracefully, the top of her telekinesis bubble breaking the surface. She sank again, slowly, overwhelmed and exhausted. Blob grasped her by the back of her uniform and pulled her against him.

“Thanks, Fred,” she said tiredly.

“Where’s Rogue?” Gambit spun, searching the waves. They were surrounded by ocean. The island was several miles away.

“I couldn’t find her,” Jean said. “Either she’s unconscious or---”

“Rogue!” Gambit called, cutting off the end of Jean’s sentence. “Rogue!”

There was a sudden splash from nearby. Gambit startled, feeling the sudden jolt of panic that left an acrid taste in his mouth. A silvery fin had split the ocean waves nearby.

“Shark!” Toad cried.

Something large and torpedo-shaped shot out of the water and curved in a graceful arc over their heads. It returned to the water with a soft splash. Where the creature had been, a red-and-white head bobbed up. Rogue’s arms flailed in the water as she gasped air. Gambit swam to her. He tried to avoid her thrashing arms, but she dunked him several times in her panic. Then she wrapped her arms and legs around him and they both sank like stones. Blob had paddled over and fished them from the waves.

After he had finished coughing up sea-water, Gambit finally said: “Don’t look now chèrie, but I think you were just saved by a dolphin.” In the waves, a smooth silvery shape surfaced. A bottle-nosed dolphin poked its head up and peered at them with human-like intelligence. It then quickly disappeared with a splash.

Jean stared after it, her jaw set, eyes angry.

Rogue shoved her sodden hair from her eyes. Makeup ran in streaks down her pallid face. “You’re crazy, Cajun,” she said.

“Thanks for the save, yo,” Toad said, slapping Blob in the gut.

“How did you ever find the island?” Jean asked Blob.

“Well, we wouldn’t have made it if Toad hadn’t sent us that homing beacon,” Blob replied.

“Homing beacon?” Toad asked. “I didn’t send no homing beacon.”

“Well, yeah you did. We saw you on Wanda’s computer,” Blob insisted.

“When have you ever seen me use a computer? Ever?”

Blob remained silent, thinking hard. “But then, if you didn’t send it...”

“Are we just gonna bob here in the water until we get turned into shark food, or what?” Rogue said.

“I could try contacting someone on the island, telepathically,” Jean offered.

They all looked back at the island, doubt etched on their faces.

“We could try this,” Blob said, pulling something from the inside pocket of his vest. He raised his arm and fired a flare from the Very pistol in his hand. The flare soared into the deep evening sky, shining glimmering lights down upon the small group below.

They waited in silence, listening to the gentle lapping of ocean waves. In the distance, a low thrum could be heard. The sound soon resolved itself into the sound of rotor blades, chopping through the air. The dark shape of the Velocity appeared overhead, a bright white spotlight fell upon them. They all wearily waved up at the helicopter. Safe, at last.