Disclaimer: I own NOTHING in regards to the X-Men or any characters from any previously published source featured in this story. This is just my way to express my fandom and to kill time at work. (I work a lot…very poor…don't sue…thank you.) :-)
Author's note: I just realized a mistake, everywhere online they list Stryker as General Stryker, but I watched X2 again and the president calls him Colonel Stryker. If I want to stay true to the movie, I'm just going to assume in the eight months in between X2 and the X-Books, he got a promotion. Good for him… :-)
Prologue
The Sentinel entered slowly into the landing bay through a docking door at one end of a large, underground hanger. It was still in its disk-like form, the shape it took in flight, and touched the ground on four shortened appendages. Immediately, the craft was surrounded by soldiers, all heavily armed, on the chance that one of the transported mutant prisoners may have awoken.
From a grated bridge, high above the hanger floor, General William Stryker looked down with undisguised satisfaction. The Sentinel's hull bore signs of the battle, however, the inner mechanics had not been affected, and it had not had any problems returning to the base.
A second team of soldiers were approaching the bottom of the Sentinel and opened a long door that swung down to the ground. They entered the craft in teams of two, bearing the unconscious 'passengers' out on long stretchers. Stryker tapped his gloved fingers against the bridge's guard rail thoughtfully until the three mutants were taken out of the hanger towards the holding cells.
Three, he thought with a measure of relief, Three will be enough for now. This was only our first run with the Sentinel. Three is a success.
The stranger would be pleased. Stryker knew his name but did not like to use it. Simply thinking of him as 'the stranger' was enough for now. The stranger would get what he wanted, living mutant subjects but, none of the three were the mutant Stryker sought.
No matter, he thought, Magneto is on his way here now. I hope he doesn't mind finding a few forgotten ghosts when he arrives.
Stryker grinned broadly and headed down to the hanger. The soldiers were already beginning preparations for the arrival of their guests. Not by securing the base or preparing for attack, but by evacuating the outer sections and moving deeper into the mountain. Most of the troops would leave to join the approaching soldiers coming from Chicago, and only a scattered few would remain.
Stryker did not intend to lose decent, loyal, human Americans to the approaching mutant threat. His primary goal remained the same, and he would use mutants to kill mutants. The living three, who would shortly be secured within, would serve another purpose until the stranger arrived to collect them…bait.
Stryker reached the ground floor as dozens of troops began falling back out of the hanger. He stopped one commander and put a proud hand on his shoulder.
"Get everyone out ASAP," Stryker said, and added, "Then, get the Systems Ops boys in place. Those mutants have been in stasis for some time now…I'm sure they're ready to play…"
"Yes, sir," the commander replied quickly and headed out down a long main hallway.
Stryker flexed his hands with a dull cracking sound, a vicious excitement fluttering in his chest. The lights in the hanger began to go out, one at a time, until the starry night sky shone brightly through the open docking doors.
In the dark beyond, there was one individual left behind. One with senses keen enough to hear the General's fingers pop, and see his white gleaming row of teeth as he smiled. However, it was his scent she recognized most…familiar…hated.
Deathstrike peered across the hanger from her hidden position on the Sentinel. Her eyes were wide, disbelieving at first who she now saw standing across the large room, but her senses never lied. Stryker was alive. It was impossible, Magneto had left him to drown in chains, but there he stood, smiling affectionately towards the craft. For a moment, she thought his eyes had met hers, but then he turned and followed his soldiers down the hall.
The hall door hissed shut, and Deathstrike swung herself down from the Sentinel and landed silently on the floor. She felt cold, ice down to her bones at seeing the dead man alive. She had, months ago, convinced herself that revenge on Stryker and his men had been fulfilled. Now, the nightmare walked again, and she felt angry lost.
Yuriko looked down at her hands and flexed them once. The cracking sound was much louder than from Stryker's knuckles, metallic and unnatural. She held her palms upward and stared into them, years of torture playing before her again. A single tear struck her right hand and puddled in the few smooth life lines.
Deathstrike suddenly clenched her fists and her teeth ground together angrily. She looked up, toward the dark hall and rage shone from her face. Her eyes sparkled like a cat's in the night, predator with a new found prey.
Then, she tilted her head and frowned. Stryker was evacuating his men, leaving this machine and all of their equipment behind. As if they were not expecting anyone to follow, as if they were safe…closing down for the night…
It's a trap, she thought quickly, knowing Stryker's mind as well as her own, He knows we'll follow the Sentinel here…
Deathstrike touched the ear worn communicator and spoke quietly.
"Magneto…Magneto, respond," she said. The only answer she heard was static.
Torn between duty and revenge, Deathstrike stood near the large open door and stared out at the night sky. The clouds were rolling in again, and the temperature was dropping rapidly. The danger lay before them, and behind them.
Despite what Stryker had made her to be, she was still human, still Yuriko. And she wanted that more than revenge. Her teammate had been taken deep into the base by the soldier, and Magneto and the others would arrive soon. Stryker knew both of these things…but did not know she stood in the middle.
In Deathstrike's eyes, the Brotherhood had their enemy surrounded. A vicious smiled spread across her face, revenge and duty were suddenly the same. Yuriko Oyama outstretched one hand and drew her claws across the open door, a sign of her presence for her approaching Brothers. Then, with graceful skill, she moved through the shadows, and into the halls beneath the mountain.