This is my first fanfiction story, I hope you like it, please review!
Chapter 1
Alarms blared throughout the base. Personnel of all ranks were running down the hallways, securing the data and test subjects. The intruder had cut the power, causing the dim, yellow emergency lights to come on because of the backup generator.
"General, we need to get you off of this base." A security officer said. "Follow me, we have a helicopter waiting."
"No, I'm staying here." General Stryker growled. "No one will force me out of my own base. I can't leave everything I've worked for."
Stryker's security manager came running down the hallway. "Uh, general, the intruder has already killed eleven of my men. She is highly dangerous and could be armed." He said worriedly.
"Is she a mutant?" Stryker asked.
"We believe so."
General Stryker paused. "Get all of the security we have left guarding our mutant test subjects. We cannot lose them. Get everyone inside the main lab, and lock the door. The only way to get past that is with a retina scan, unless you can punch through reinforced steel."
"Yes, sir."
"Also, call our reserve forces from the other bases. Tell them we're under attack, and to get here as soon as possible." Stryker ordered.
The hallway was dark, and the light above the soldiers was flickering, casting long, quivering shadows up the walls. They crept forward, guns raised. There were seven of them, sent out by Stryker to find the mysterious intruder and kill her.
"Sir….is it true that she has already killed fifteen men?" James, the newest of the seven, whispered.
"Yes." The leader answered gravely. "No more talking, you'll give away our position."
They stopped at the end of the hallway, ready to creep around the corner. The flickering light that was barely illuminating the expansive hallway suddenly went dark. The men whirled around, tightening their grips on their guns. Somewhere in the dark abyss of the hallway, they heard glass shattering. Visibly tensing, they ventured into the darkness.
She silently crept down the hallway under the cover of darkness. She saw the group of soldiers at the end of the hall, fingers tensed on their guns' triggers, spooked after they heard her punching through the supposedly-unbreakable bulletproof glass. She smirked. Their fear and apprehension was radiating from their minds as they unknowingly crept towards her. Though they couldn't see her, she could see them clear as day because of her night vision, one of her myriad of mutant powers.
As soon as they were about ten feet from her, her entire body became engulfed in white hot-flame. It wasn't burning her, it was radiating from her skin. Tendrils of fire spread down the now – illuminated hallway, surrounding the soldiers in a ring of fire. They got their first glimpse of the intruder.
She was tall, just a few inches short of six feet, and extremely beautiful. Long, silky, slightly wavy black hair cascaded down her shoulders, framing her defined, slightly angular face. Her eyes were cat-like green, surrounded by charcoal-black eyeliner, and had an almost hypnotizing aura to them. She was model thin, but with muscle visible all over, especially her well defined abdomen. She was dressed in a simple, black, spaghetti strapped top that ended about three inches above her pierced belly button. Her legs were covered in black jeans with tears in the thighs, and knee-high, black stiletto boots.
The soldiers stared. She was the intruder? After only a second of hesitation, they opened fire. Victoria just stood there, bullets bouncing harmlessly off of her skin.
Then, she narrowed her eyes, and the fire that had been surrounding the soldiers now engulfed them, turning them almost instantly to a pile of ash.
The flamed receded back into Victoria's body as she walked forward. Every room, every hallway, seemed to hold an eerie familiarity to her. I can't believe they rebuilt it, exactly the way it was, only underground. She thought as she slowly walked down the now-deserted hallways, remembering.
"Doctor, I have managed to get some idea of what Subject 1's powers will be." The brunette, female technician said. "It appears that they will have something to do with enhanced abilities, like strength and speed."
"Will those be her only powers?" Dr. Cory inquired.
"Possibly, or she may naturally develop more."
"Those will be useful powers, but I do think that she should have more. Subject 1 is developed enough to awaken her mutant abilities. Get her and bring her to the lab. Tell Dr. Hart to prep the recombinator."
The technician looked worried. "Dr., it's not my place, but…she's only seven years of age….and the process will be incredibly painful. I'm not sure we should do this yet." The technician had always felt sorry for Subject 1, the way she was treated and all of the cruel experiments and military training they put her through.
Dr. Cory glared at her. "Don't question me. Tell the guards to get her and bring her to the lab, now."
She bowed her head and walked off.
The whole time, the seven year old Victoria had been listening, her ear pressed to the side of her pure white cell. There was nothing in it, except for a toilet. She backed up against the wall. She was still healing from her last trip to the "training room," where she was forced to either kill her "sparring partner" or be beaten senseless. The first time she had killed was in that room, three years ago. It had gotten easier as the time went by, but she still remembered the gut-wrenching guilt that had consumed her, making every minute even more miserable than it already was. She slowly slid down the wall, holding her throbbing head in her hands.
The door burst open, and three guards roughly grabbed her, pulling her to her feet and dragging her to the lab. She didn't resist much, having learned that fighting them was futile after seven years of it.
They laid her on a horizontal table, clipping metal restraints on her wrists, ankles and throat, and putting pulse monitors on her chest. Dr. Cory pressed some buttons on a machine directly above Victoria, and it hummed to life. All the doctors put on protective glasses and stepped back several feet.
Pricks of fear trickled down Victoria's spine, and even though she had been the subject of many other experiments, that happened every time.
A technician pressed a button, and a stream of blue, ultraviolet looking light shined down from the machine, enveloping Victoria.
She let out a bloodcurdling scream. She knew pain; the doctors never bothered to use sedatives on her during any experiments, but she had never felt any pain this intense. Every nerve ending felt like it was on fire. Every muscle and bone felt like it was exploding into a million pieces. She struggled against her bonds until they were cutting into her skin, causing blood to stream from her wrists, ankles and neck as the base structure of her DNA was being changed. After what felt like forever, the machine stopped, and Victoria fell limp on the table, unconscious.
Victoria was shocked at the level of precision the base was built to mimic the one she had been held in for the first sixteen years of her life. She wanted, needed to find Stryker. He was the reason her life had been turned into one continuous nightmare, the person who stole everything from her.
She closed her eyes, mentally scanning the complex for Stryker's mind. Every individual mind had its own "imprint," so to speak, and Victoria knew Stryker's well. Her eyes snapped open – she found him, locked in the main lab, with some doctors, some security, and other mutants.
Victoria's eyes flashed with anger. After she escaped, she set out to completely destroy Weapon X, the organization run by Stryker that kidnapped mutants, turning them into weapons for the government. She had devoted every minute of the two years since she escaped the program trying to destroy it. Revenge, and the desire to make sure that no other mutant suffered like she did, was the reasons why she had destroyed every other Weapon X base. She thought that the organization was finished, and Stryker was dead, but apparently he wasn't. She was determined to stop him, once and for all.
As she made her way down the dimly lit hallway toward the main lab, she saw that there were twelve guards guarding the door.
She smiled. Would have been more, but this is all he's got left.
She stepped into view, and they began shooting at her, the bullets not having any effect. Victoria charged forward, tearing the soldiers to pieces with her hands. The steel, reinforced door did nothing to stop her. She grabbed the handle, snapping it open as easily as if it was made of plastic.
Stryker and the other doctors, along with some more security, were standing along the back wall of the lab, shell-shocked. Some mutants she had never seen before were in metal cells along the side wall of the lab, with some kind of energy pulsing through the bars. One was an older man, who was completely bald. In the next cell, there was a blue, furry, ape like man and a slightly younger looking red haired woman. The next cell was occupied by an African American teenage boy and a blonde man with large, white, angelic wings. They were all wearing power inhibitor collars.
Stryker stared, fear churning in his stomach.
"You…..you're supposed to be dead….."
A sleek, black jet tore through the night air, invisible to radar and eyes as well, under the cover of darkness. Inside, there were seven mutants, on a mission to rescue their friends and fellow team members that had been kidnapped when Stryker invaded the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters.
Piloting the jet was Wolverine, a tall, muscular man in need to a shave. His copilot was Storm, a beautiful African American woman with pure white hair. Sitting in the two seats behind the pilot's and copilot's, was Cyclops, a young man with brown hair and a visor with a red strip covering his eyes. Next to him, was Rogue, a goth-looking teenage girl that had a white strip of hair framing her face. Behind them was Nightcrawler, a completely blue demon looking boy, with elf like ears and a tail with a spade on the end; and Shadowcat, a seemingly normal looking brunette teenage girl. The next row of seats was occupied by Iceman, a blonde boy, the youngest and newest member of the team.
"So, like when we get there, what are we going to do?" Shadowcat asked Scott.
He glanced back at her. "We should try to enter the Alkali Lake base quietly, without being noticed. We can land the jet outside the base, and Nightcrawler can teleport us behind the fence. After that, we should see if we can disable the alarm system and find a map of the building to see where the lab is, that's probably where they'll be."
Logan let out an amused laugh. "I don't think we're gonna be able to get in there quietly, Cyke. It's a military base. They ain't just gonna let us stroll in. Be ready for a fight."
Scott looked forward, a determined look on his face. "I'll do whatever it takes to get them back. I should have been ready back at the mansion. If I would've just put up more fight -"
Rogue cut him off. "It ain't ya fault. Ya did everythin ya could. Wer gonna get them back." She said comfortingly.
Scott hung his head and whispered, "I hope so."
Victoria stared back at Stryker, not a trace of the fear she used to have of him when she was younger. It was replaced by deep, burning anger, the emotion that had driven her quest for revenge against those who ruined her life. She had devoted so much time to it that her efforts made her obsessed, bordering on crazy.
"Sorry to disappoint." Victoria said harshly. She powered up, but before she could do anything, the power flashed back on and the sound of chopper blades in the distance grew louder with every second.
Stryker smiled. "Looks like backup's here. If you kill me, they'll never stop searching for you. Being a wanted fugitive is difficult, even for you. You will get caught, and everything will go back to how it used to be. If you leave me alive, however, I just might leave you alone."
No! Victoria thought. I'm so close to ending it, to avenging my suffering, the deaths of my family…But she couldn't be recaptured. Even though she knew that Stryker would probably just hunt her down anyway now that he knew she was alive, she still wouldn't risk it-going back to what her life used to be was one of her many recurring nightmares.
She focused her mind, and gave Stryker and his men a mental punch, just enough to knock them unconscious. Victoria then turned her attention to the captured mutants.
"There is a control panel over there, next to the door. If you read Stryker's mind, you can get the codes and open the cell doors." The blue man said.
Victoria smirked. "I have an easier way."
She suddenly flew up into the air, and grabbed hold of the first cell's bars. Grimacing slightly with the pain of electricity coursing through her body, she pulled back on the bars, yanking the whole front of the cell off. Throwing it to the side, she did the same thing with the next two cells.
"We must hurry, Stryker's backup is inside the base." The bald man said. "Do you know how to remove these collars?"
Victoria then simply broke each collar off their necks, freeing them and allowing them to use their powers once more.
"I am still unable to use my telepathy; Stryker gave me some kind of shot." The bald man said, sounding worried.
"It's alright, that's only temporary." Victoria reassured him. "Follow me; I know my way out of here."
They all exited the lab, and finding the hallway clear, followed Victoria down the hall to the right. "There's a hangar this way, we can hijack a helicopter and get the hell out of here." She said. Then she stopped abruptly, tensing visibly.
"Behind us…..Stryker's backup forces are here, get ready for a fight." She whispered. Just then, dozens of soldiers came from both sides of the hallway, cornering the mutants. They fought back – the blue man throwing soldiers around and disarming them, the red haired girl using telekinesis to throw them off balance, and the winged man and African American teenager protecting the bald man. She was doing a lot of damage herself, breaking the soldiers' necks, throwing deadly punches that could take a man's head off.
Then, more soldiers wearing gas masks came in from the left side of the hallway, and threw canisters at the mutants, which started to emit a foul smelling gas. Victoria started to feel woozy, and everyone was swaying on their feet. Victoria was just on the edge of consciousness when she felt a blast of cold wind come streaming from the other side of the hallway, causing the gas to dissipate.
"Auntie O!" the African American boy screamed excitedly, shaking off the dizziness and reentering the fight.
"Professor! Are you alright?" Cyclops said, blasting soldiers aside to reach the bald man.
"Yes, and my telepathy is returning. I can render the soldiers unconscious, but with help." Professor said, looking in Victoria's direction.
She heard his voice in her mind. On the count of three, give the soldiers your strongest mental blast.
Then, Victoria and the Professor concentrated, and all of the soldiers simply fell unconscious.
"C'mon Chuck, we got the jet just outside the fence. Let's get the hell outta here." Wolverine said.
The other mutants followed him, but Victoria stayed behind.
Professor X turned around. "You, too…." He said, trailing off, indicating he wanted her name.
"Victoria." She said. "You want me to come with you?" Disbelieving, she shook her head with surprise. Usually, when people saw what she did, what she was, they wanted to run the other way.
"Yes, without your help, I am doubtful that we would have escaped Stryker. My name is Professor Charles Xavier, and these are my X men. I am headmaster of the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters, and it is my mission to help mutants and give them a place where they can feel safe, to give them a home."
Xavier desperately wanted to help the girl. He could sense deep pain and anger coming from her, and he could tell that she was alone.
His words had touched her. She was only at home with her parents for one year, and then Stryker and his men broke in, killed her parents, and kidnapped her. For seventeen years after that, she never felt truly safe. If the Xavier Institute could offer her that, she would take it.
"Yes. I'll come with you." She said, smiling for the first time in…..forever, it felt like. As quickly as it was there, it was gone, replaced by a flash of anger in her eyes. "There's something I need to do first."
She then ran off down the hallway. She made her way to the main control room, and turned on the base's self-destruct sequence. Five minutes, and Stryker, the man who stole everything from her, would be dead. Weapon X would be finished.
As soon as the x men saw her running back towards them, they started off towards the jet, encountering a little more resistance, but nothing they couldn't handle. When they reached the fence, Victoria just ripped a section of it down and they walked the rest of the way to the jet.
Once they were safely in the air, flying away from the base, they heard a muffled explosion in the background. Turning around to look out the back windows, the saw the base was now just a pile of burning rubble.
Victoria settled back into her seat and closed her eyes. For the first time in her life, she felt free. The program that she had feared so much was gone, along with the man she so deeply hated. But now…what was she supposed to do? All of her time since her escape had been spent finding and destroying various Weapon X bases. She opened her eyes and looked around. The X men had offered her a place to start over, and she had accepted, hoping to finally find a place where she belonged. With that thought in mind, she fell into the first peaceful sleep in years.