ISSUE #4

" Footfall, point two-seven kilometers south, southwest. Two men. He's here with James proudstar, and..."

Laura was saying as she looked through the scope of a rifle.

" The item is here as Is Risman. There are seven guards concealed around the exterior of the building. The layout is similar to the Washington D.C location, with the entrance to the sub-levels the most heavily guarded. All seven guards will have to be killed to gain entry without triggering alarms. We'll have six minutes before radio silence will be questioned."

Laura explained to the two men.

" Well, hello to you too."

Warpath said to logan.

" There's someone coming towards us. He stinks of blood, but I recognize the smell. So, we cross paths again after all eh kid?"

Logan asked before turning to see the man in behind him.

" His gear was similar to theirs in that it was Black and grey version of his other outfit.

" Logan? Laura?"

Nathan called out.

Laura turned to the man to see the pain on his face.

" Hello Soundwave."

Laura said to the man.

" No, Soundwave is dead. There's only Stryfe left."

Nathan corrected the woman.

" Summers didn't tell me you'd be here. He's going to pay for that when I see him again."

Nathan stated angrily.

" You look good Laura. I..."

Nathan was saying to the girl.

" No Nate, not here, not now."

Laura stated.

" We have a job to do here."

Laura exclaimed

" You're right. I'm sorry. I got careless for a second. It won't happen again."

Stryfe replied.

" Okay look... I don't know what bag of goods Cyclops sold you, but you three need to walk away from this right now. You do this, you're not X-men anymore. You may be on the team standing next to beast and Iceman and angel, but you won't be the same as them. Not after this. Laura, you keep heading down this path, and any shot you had at a human life slips further away. You do this, and you're X-23 again."

Logan explained to the woman.

" And you Jimmy... You've got a purpose in life, and you decide to go back to revenge? It didn't work before and It's not going to work out for you this time. You're a big tough man, I know this. But you do this, and you're something else. You're just a killer."

Logan said to Warpath before finally turning to Nathan.

" And you Nathan..."

Logan was starting to say.

" I'll stop you there Logan. I've killed hundreds in the past six months. I've killed Men and Women. Very bad evil sick and demented Men and Women, yes. But still Men and women none the less. You all might not have set me on this path. But it is the only path you left for me. You left me at the mansion half a year ago, with nowhere to go. No home to return to. No family, or friends that could help me. I've made my choice by coming here Logan just as they have. So do me and favor and save it for someone who fucking cares."

Stryfe explained to the man.

" Fine. Your lives."

logan stated as he pulled his mask on.

" Seven purifiers hiding in the perimeter. Leave them to me."

Stryfe said to the group.

He pulled out a hilt to a blade and walked towards the grass. He snapped his fingers and cut of the sound around him and his targets.

" What's he going to do with a hilt? If he wanted a blade, he could have used one of mine."

Warpath said as he and the others watched Stryfe stalk towards his targets.

Nathan held the hilt of the blade as a wave of energy formed around it giving it a sharp edge. He took the sound blade and jammed it into the man's throat. The man tried to scream, but due to the fact that Nathan had turned his sound off, nothing was heard.

Nathan continued this until he had killed all of the guards in the surrounding area.

" Nice work."

Logan said as he and the others joined Stryfe at the side entrance.

" Let's go."

Nathan snapped his fingers quieting the group and led them into the facility. The group ran through the underground passage and burst into the Purifers headquarters ready to fight.

The group start killing anyone who stood in front of them regardless of who they were.

" X! Behind you!"

Stryfe yelled as he cut the head off of a purifier who went to attack Laura.

" Duck all of you!"

Nathan yelled out to the others.

Nathan took his blade and swung it around in a circle as it extended cutting the still standing purifiers in half.

" Nice. Wait... Risman he's not alone he's got..."

Laura was saying before being cut off.

" Yeah, I smell her too."

Logan stated

" X-Men. Stand down or the mutant dies."

Risman stated as he and more purifiers walked into the room carrying Rahne with him on a leash.

" Rahne?!"

Stryfe called out.

" She dies, you follow her one second later Risman."

Logan said to the man.

" He's lying he doesn't want to kill her."

Laura stated.

" X! No!"

Stryfe yelled as Laura lunged at Risman and his guard.

" I don't bluff Mutant!"

Risman said as he fired into Rahne's leg.

" You really shouldn't have done that Risman. Now, you're going to die a very painful death. Prrrrrrrrrr!"

Stryfe whistled a loud and excruciating noise. Distracting Risman for a second. He grabbed the injured Rahne and tossed her towards Logan and the others before Laura pulled a trigger, causing the building to explode.

" Argh X! What the hell?!"

Stryfe yelled as he got to his feet.

" Wait? Where did Rahne and Risman go?!"

Stryfe yelled.

" Risman took off with her and Laura chased after.

" Damn it, Is Warpath alive?"

Stryfe asked.

" Yeah, he'll make it. Go after X!"

Logan ordered.

Nathan turned around and sprinted towards the sound of gunfire, running well faster than one hundred mile an hour. Arriving just in time to see Risman leaving in a heli with Rahne.

" X what happened?"

Nathan asked.

" I failed."

Laura simply stated

" I'm going to kill summers."

Logan stated

" Get in LINE!"

Nathan yelled as he slammed his fist against the air, a massive wave of destruction bursting oud and destroying the fields.

The ride to their safe house was a quiet one as Nathan simply couldn't believe what Laura had done. He had Risman he could have killed him right there but Laura, what she did. It didn't matter to him that Risman got away. What hurt him the most was her clear coldness towards the safety of her teammates. The blatant disregard for his and Warpaths life. She didn't know he could deal with explosions that size. She got lucky that he survived. If he hadn't have gotten stronger over these six long months that blast could have killed him. These thoughts raced through his mind repeatedly until he finally blew.

" WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?! Did you forget to mention that you wired the whole place to blow? You and Logan can survive being shot, stabbed, and blown up. I didn't become resistant to those things until after I woke up at the mansion, there's no way you could have known I'd be able to survive that. Warpath can't do what we can."

Nathan explained as he yelled into Laura's face.

" You all survived."

Laura simply stated.

" That's it? You survived. That's all I get? That's how little you care about me? What happened to the woman who gutted Deathstrike because you thought she hurt me? What happened to the woman who sat by my side as I laid injured and potentially dying on the X-jet? What happened to the woman who fought by my side and protected me? The Laura I knew would never have thrown the lives of her friends away like that. What happened to the woman I loved?"

Nathan explained to the woman, who looked at him with not a care in the world.

" Maybe this is who I am. Maybe this is the person I am. Maybe I never cared about you at all. Maybe I never loved you did you think that was possible?"

Laura asked

" Laura, I'm a walking lie detector. I know you don't believe that."

Nathan replied.

" It's simple Nathan. My mission was to kill Risman, not save you or Rahne. Just kill Risman."

Laura explained.

" What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Nathan asked the girl

" She means exactly what she said. Her mission was to eliminate Matthew Risman, not perform a search and rescue."

As soon as those words left Scott's mouth Nathan turned around and punched him in the face.

" What the fuck did you just say you prick."

Nathan asked as he punched him in the face again.

" You better fight back summers or else!"

Nathan declared as he grabbed the man.

" That's enough!"

Warren said from the sky as he looked at Nathan beating on Scott.

" Warren! Pretty sneaky coming from downwind."

Logan stated.

" When my home is used for clandestine meetings yeah. I can do sneaky."

Warren explained.

" Ugh! You can have your talk."

Nathan said as he threw scott to the ground.

" Logan, come get me when we move out, I can't be around those two."

Nathan declared before storming into the house and away from the others.

' What happened to you Laura, what happened to you.'

Nathan wondered as a single tear fell down his face.

Laura watched as the man she had once come to love stormed away from her.

' I'm sorry Nathan. I'm sorry.'

Was all Laura thought as the man vanished from sight.