Unstable
Chapter 6
Regrouping
"So, do you remember the plan?" Two men in black suits conversed in hushed tones in a quiet room down the hall from the congressional hearings.
"Yes, quit worrying about it and hand me the piece." The first suit leaned in and handed the second something, if anyone had been watching all they would have seen was a flash of steel-grey metal.
"Wait outside 'till they leave and then finish them." They left the room.
"I know."
Gabriel dived out of the way of the incoming jaws and landed in the fetid water, he pulled himself above the water line in time to see Logan get trapped in the monsters jaws. He pulled himself up to his feet and spat out what little water had entered his mouth.
Gabriel was finding it hard to focus, he could only see one opponent but he felt there where two. He shrugged off the feeling; unsheathed two of his knifes and jumped onto the back of the monster. Out of no where he was jumped, the pressure on his back forced him down onto the spine of the beast, he squirmed around and grabbed his attackers incoming fist, dropping one of his knifes in the process. He flipped his other knife around so he was holding it with the blade in an underhand position and stabbed at his opponent, who grabbed his wrist and stopped him.
Logan could feel the teeth bite into his skin and scrape against his adamantium laced skeleton. The jaws immediately dropped him into the water. He turned around and popped his claws, he growled out a challenge and jumped at the monster. He landed on the top of its snout and ran down its spine it was there that he saw Gabriel, struggling with another mutant. Logan grabbed the other mutant and threw him off of Gabriel; the beast bucked them all off into the water.
They stood up once again and glanced at each other then at their opponents, they had hung back, waiting for the X-man and S.H.I.E.L.D. agent to make their move.
"Which one do you want?" Gabriel asked, keeping his voice and body language casual even though he was finding it hard to breathe.
"I'll take the ugly one." He answered him; Gabriel looked between the two and looked confused.
"Which one's the ugly one?" Gabriel moved his boot around in the water until it came into contact with his discarded knife Excellent. He played with it until he got it into position over the toe of his boot. "Do you mean the big Lake Placid reject or her pixie companion?" Logan cracked his knuckles and growled.
"The big one." He answered then rushed forward. Gabriel hung back and watched his target; the mutant backed away as Logan and the lizard thing closed in on each other and disappeared into the wall. His original plan now redundant, Gabriel left the knife where it was and sidestepped to his left until he was directly in the middle of the sewer. He tensed up as he looked around, a glance in Logan's direction confirmed the Canadian was alive and kickin' but the little bastard was nowhere to be seen.
Someone kicked him in the small of his back, sending him in to the water again for the third time in as many minutes. He got back to his feet again, coughing and spluttering, with a dark look in his eyes; someone was going to get a beating for this.
He turned around and saw nothing behind him, perplexed he turned back and got a fist in his stomach for his troubles. He doubled over, keeping a hold on his opponents fist; His attacker brought his other fist down on Gabriel's back, forcing him to his knees. Gabriel hooked his free hand around one of the mutant's legs and pulled him over and into the water. Without releasing his opponent's hand, Gabriel stood up and grabbed the mutant by his clothes and hauled him to his feet and threw him bodily against the wall, he ran in close and planted his foot into his stomach to stop his recovery and grabbed him again, Gabriel twisted the sewer mutant's arm around his back and unsheathed a knife, pressing it against his throat.
"Hey Fugly!" he called out, the 'gator thing looked up as it batted away Wolverine for the umpteenth time. It growled as it took in the scene and took one claw-laden step forward. "Uh-uh-uh, one more step and the pixie here gets an extra breathing hole." He warned. The monster seemed to understand and powered down, it shrank and regained a human form, a female human form. "Well I'll be." Gabriel mused. "Wolverine, would you do the honours?" Logan backhanded the mutant hard across her head, knocking her out. Gabriel jabbed his thumb into the cleft at the base of his captive's skull, a pressure point that would knock him out quickly and painlessly, and propped his unconscious form against the wall to stop him drowning, Logan placed the woman beside him. Logan and Gabriel carried on walking down the sewer, this time they were walking slowly, watching out for any more ambushes.
"So should we change the plan and follow their scents?" Gabriel asked Logan, motioning to the two unconscious bodies
"That's probably the best bet." Logan answered and sniffed. "We go left." Without a word further Gabriel headed left.
"There still coming." Caliban informed Callisto, Who went to find Eve, she found her talking quietly with Berzerker.
"Eve." Callisto called, Eve turned around at the sound of her name being called and caught the look in Callisto's eye. She excused her self from Ray and walked over to Callisto. "We've got two people coming this way, they've already taken care of Façade and Scaleface, let's go." They left quickly; heading down the same tunnel Scaleface had minutes earlier.
I don't know about you Wolverine but I'm really beginning to hate this place." Gabe remarked.
"Gabe, shut up. How in the hell are we supposed to sneak around this place if you keep talking?"
"I don't know if it escaped your notice but we were ambushed, that means the enemy knows we are here, why sneak around? It's only going to waste time and energy." Gabriel stopped at a T-junction and looked questioningly at Logan, who pointed right. Gabriel took point, which was why he was first to get electrocuted, he was out in seconds, before Logan could react he was hit by a burst of electricity and was blasted back a few feet and hit the water hard, he slowly got up again and was hit with another bolt of lightning, he collapsed into the water and didn't get up again
The two suits didn't dare go anywhere near the hearing room, there was too much press, the danger of their faces getting plastered over every T.V. in the world would be just too high. Instead they prowled the halls, wasting time until they would proceed with the job. The second suit was talking quietly when he accidentally bumped into a woman in a dark blue suit.
"Oh, I'm sorry, ma'am." He apologised and grabbed her shoulder to steady her.
"No, I apologise, I should have been watching where I was going." She got herself balanced again and carried on walking. The two suits carried on their way. The woman smiled and pulled out her cell phone. "I've put the tracker on one of them." She informed the unknown person on the other end the second they picked up the phone. She had secretly attached the small bug to the underside of the suspects arm when he grabbed her.
"Okay, keep track of them, if they go ahead with the job you know what to do." She did know what to do, the weight of the gun she had been given for that end was a heavy reminder on her hip.
"Yes sir."
The first thing Gabriel felt on waking up was pain, his head was pounding and he couldn't tell whether it was from the blast that knocked him out or a psychic invasion of his mind. He did a mental checklist of his head and body and, finding nothing wrong, he concluded it was from the electricity bolt that had knocked him out. He then opened his eyes and checked his surroundings.
He could see that he was still in the sewers; the bricks had a stained green look about them and the smell was still around but less prominent. Gabriel lifted his head slowly and looked around the room properly; there were several beds and a person at the other end of the room working at a sink, he couldn't see Logan or anyone else in the room.
He got off the bed quietly and padded lightly across the room towards the figure, feeling around his various pouches for a knife, finding none. He slowed down as he got close to the person, waiting for the perfect moment to launch an attack.
Logan had woken up an hour earlier and had spent the last fifty minutes being filled in on the new mutant's exploits since almost being captured by the army two days ago, the last ten had been spent clearing up the Morlocks misidentification.
"We don't know what went wrong Logan." Ray Crisp began "Caliban's infallible, he knows where every mutant alive is."
"He found us in minutes." Tabitha added. Logan didn't say anything for a moment, he just wanted to get out of the sewers; the smell was driving him crazy.
"We'll head up to the surface again once Gabriel has woken up, we need to link back up with the X-men." A couple of the younger mutants looked absently over towards the medical area of the Morlock compound where the British agent had been left to recover.
"Who is he?" Tabitha asked Logan. "I didn't recognise him when they pulled him through."
"He's none of your concern Boom-Boom." A panicked cry cut off Tabitha's rebuttal, it came from the medical area, shortly followed by an old mutant being propelled by Gabriel who had him by the throat. The Morlocks surrounded him quickly, Gabriel pulled the mutant up and wrapped one arm tighter around his neck and placed the other on the base of his hostage's skull.
"One move and I snap the old timer's neck like a twig." The Morlocks took a step back. "That's better, now, I'm looking for several young mutants, they haven't been down here long so they probably still smell faintly of soap, I'm sure you've heard of it in passing. I'm also looking for a bad tempered Canadian, carries a set of steak knifes in each hand, you can't miss him." Logan pushed his way through the crowd and into Gabriel's vision, the next moment was tense as Gabe quickly realised his mistake. "…Ah" he said quietly and released the old mutant slowly and carefully. He looked around at the Morlocks and there stony faces. "I don't suppose you'll accept my sincerest apologies?" he tried with a warm smile, it didn't do much good.
Logan, Gabriel and the new mutants were ushered back to the manhole cover within ten minutes, the Morlocks wanted rid of them fast.
Gabriel kept watch while Logan helped the kids out of the manhole; he turned around when Callisto began to speak.
"Recent news casts say that the army have scaled back their patrols by half." Gabriel activated his CB and waited for its encryption software to handshake with the NORAD ComNet. "This is the best time to get out of the city so do so."
"Any news from Congress?" Gabriel asked her; still hearing only clicks and hisses. Callisto gave him a long look. "That bad huh?"
"Good luck." She offered and then disappeared down into the sewers, leaving Logan, Gabriel and the kids in the quiet alley. Tabitha spoke first.
"So, what now?" Gabriel answered, keeping his eyes on the alley mouth, waiting.
"First things first, we're going to need transport for ten." In the distance he could just about hear the grumble of the APC doing its rounds. "And I have just the thing in mind, you kids stay here and hide, Logan, could you come with me please?" Gabriel walked casually out of the alley and back to his abandoned car; he picked up his coat, shook off the glass and put it on. He checked his pockets and was relieved to find everything in their pockets where left them. "Okay, here's the plan, I stop the APC." Gabriel's earpiece popped as the two-encryption keys connected. "And you attempt to steal it." The APC turned the corner before Logan or Gabriel could sort out any details.
Agent Barker was sat in his office in front of his computer searching through every file SHIELD had on Gabriel, the Outfit and the X-men. It was an extensive library, most of it was detailed files on each and every mutant and mutate involved in both teams.
"Agent Barker you have a call from Cheyenne on line one, sir." His PA piped through the intercom, Lyle picked up his phone and hit the receive button.
"New York SHIELD office." He answered, then listened to the general on the other end berate him about his operatives using military communications gear without the proper clearance.
"I do apologise, general. If you give me the frequency he is using, I'll reprimand him myself." The frequency turned up on his computer screen then was sent back through SHIELD's own access within the NORAD ComNet and connected with the operative's radio. A few words from the operative was all Lyle needed to know who it was, he fished out the number Fury had given him to call once Gabriel had reconnected with him and began to dial.
"So much for that plan." Logan muttered and Gabriel nodded his agreement, mind racing for a new strategy. Logan caught the look on Gabriel's face. "Strategies never survive first contact with the enemy Gabriel." He said quietly.
"I know that!" Gabriel snapped and took his eyes off of the approaching threat and down the alley; if he looked carefully he could see a couple of the kids. A small argument started up inside his head; do his duty to the kids or his boss. He sighed.
"We're gonna have to rush them." He heard Logan say, Gabriel sighed again; Fury was going to have his head mounted in his office once this day's work was done.
"Just say the word." Gabriel said, wishing he had his tazer on him, it was the only non-lethal weapon in his possession, but since he didn't he'd just have to nurse the bruises he was surely going to get. Both of them watched the APC gather speed and head straight for them, neither Logan nor Gabriel moved. The military vehicle got within ten feet of them and skidded to a halt, veering off to the left, the top hatch opened up and a grunt manned, what looked to Gabriel like, an M60 machine gun, and pointed it in their general direction, the rear hatch dropped down and seven infantrymen ran out, filed into a line and raised their rifles, Gabriel had only seen weapons like the ones pointed at him once before, in Area 51.
Out of the back of the APC a lone figure marched down and took position by the rest of the grunts, his uniform placed him in the officer class, possibly a lieutenant. Behind him the ramp closed shut.
"Stay where you are you freaks." He barked. Gabriel leaned a little closer to Wolverine.
"I think he's talking to you." He said out of the side of his mouth. He straightened up and ignored the low growling coming from his left. He slowly lifted his right hand and put it inside his coat, reaching for his ID. The lieutenant mistook it as him reaching for a weapon and un-holstered his pistol in a quick draw and fired.
A small dart magically sprouted from Gabriel's left side, he and Logan looked at the offending projectile for a second, it took that long for Gabriel to let go of the billfold and grab the dart. He pulled it out of his coat, feeling the SHIELD ID drop onto his boot, and threw it at the grunt on the machine gun; it imbedded in the GI's neck and knocked him out in seconds. The next few seconds passed slowly as everything kicked off, Logan charged forward and leapt at the nearest soldier who, along with his squad, had flicked the safety's off of their rifles and fired a salvo at their targets which missed them, Gabriel ducked the shots, straightened up and kicked his ID up into his waiting hand. He pulled the metal SHIELD badge out of its moorings and threw it at the lieutenant; the edge bit into his hand and knocked his aim. Gabriel rushed forward and punched the Lt in the gut then spinning back round; he planted his elbow into the nearest grunts face, smashing his nose and forcing him to the floor.
Logan used his weight and the momentum of his leap to push over the first infantryman, grabbed the nearest two and pulling them down with him. He jumped up and over the last three and turned on them quickly, popping his claws and cutting through all three rifle barrels at once. The grunts dropped the remains of their weapons and backed away, the soldiers on the ground hauled themselves to their feet, dropping their rifles n the ground and raising their arms above their head. Gabriel, seeing that the fight was over, climbed over the Lieutenant and up the side of the APC. He pulled the gunner out of the top hatch and let him fall on top of the groaning officer. He poked his head in and looked around the cramped troop bay, it was a spartan area with two thin padded benches running up either side of the bay, he twisted around in the hatch and peered into the crew pit, he could just about see someone moving around in the drivers seat. He hauled himself back up and caught Logan's attention. Logan pushed the last of the soldiers into the corner made by the stolen Escort and a parked sedan.
"We've got one more inside, do you want me to politely ask him if we can borrow his APC or do you want to do it?" Logan broke the last of the dart-rifles before answering the agent.
"You go talk to him, I'll call the kids over." Gabriel dropped down into the troop bay of the APC and poked his head through into the crew pit. The driver hadn't noticed him, he was busy listening to the NORAD ComNet, Gabriel recognised some of the barrage of acronyms and call signs but was confused with the usage.
Gabriel considered talking to the pilot, to get him to cooperate and give up the APC without violence but he had once heard that tank pilots were just as possessive as fighter pilots, if so, this guy wouldn't go down without a fight.
Gabriel grabbed the pilot by the shoulder and threw him into the troop bay ad stood over him, he grabbed the pilots sidearm and wrenched it from its holster and pointed it at his captive. Gabriel quickly patted the pilot down; satisfied that the pilot had nothing dangerous on him he shot the pilot with his own tranq-gun. Gabriel left the pilot by the door and entered the crew pit, for the class of vehicle it was pretty roomy; there was ample space for two people; pilot and Communications/Command chairs on the left hand and right hand, respectively, on either side of the aisle that led back into the rear. Gabriel leaned over the Com chair and flicked the switch marked 'OPEN/CLOSE REAR RAMP' then eased himself into the pilot chair. He looked down at the two joysticks and frowned, the set up was vaguely similar to the Challenger II tank he had been given hasty driving lessons in but with one big difference; the Challenger was a caterpillar tracked vehicle so each joystick controlled the speed of a separate track while this APC was 8 wheeled and the one 'stick controlled speed and the other was cornering, coupled with the bank of switches and buttons that did various things Gabriel ached to try and the two foot pedals that Gabriel guessed controlled the brakes.
Gabriel heard footfalls on the steel meshing of the troop bay; he leaned over into the central aisle and shouted back into the rear.
"Toss the guy out then get belted in." He scanned the rows of buttons and switches till he found the start button, he pressed it and the APC thundered into life. Several problems reared their head immediately, first, there was no way Gabriel could see where he was driving, there was no window.
"Who said you were driving?" Logan asked him as he entered the crew pit
"Me." Gabriel flipped a couple of switches. "Besides, I couldn't see where I was going anyway, there's no windscreen." Logan, who had taken the Com chair, picked up the helmet that was resting on the communication panel and looked inside.
"That's because it's in the helmet." He passed it along to Gabriel who took it and looked in it as well, He could make out the Escort but it, and the rest of the camera view were coloured in a washed out NV grey. He passed the helmet back to Logan and got out of the chair and headed into the back, Logan had already reopened the ramp. Gabriel walked over to the unconscious pilot and pulled the helmet off of him and got back into the APC. He settled once more into the pilots chair and pulled the helmet over his head; the view he got of the outside was in colour but slightly dulled, a small in-view menu told Gabe he also had NV, IR, X-Ray and interior cameras to flick through, as Gabriel scanned the drop down menu he noticed a small pointer moved also cool he thought. He turned to look at Logan and the exterior cam swivelled to follow his eye line really cool he thought.
"This things got some sweet tech in it that's for sure." He remarked, he heard Logan agree, both from next to him and through the Com system. "You ready to leave yet or do you want more time to get used to the systems?" he asked.
"Let's go, I'll pick things up as we go." Gabriel heard the ramp close for one last time and flicked his view to the troop bay camera. "Strap yourselves in kids." He heard Logan say, "This might get interesting."
"What's wrong?" Gabriel asked as he go a comfortable grip on the 'sticks "Don't you trust me?"
"Have you ever driven one of these before?" Logan asked him; it was a little unsettling for both of them the way you couldn't really see who you were talking to.
"Driven one? I've never even seen one of these things before, but it's basically a de-fanged Bradley tank, right? So it shouldn't be that hard." Gabriel pushed the left 'stick forward to start the APC moving forward, everything went well for about three seconds, then the tank kicked up in the air and lurched to the right, Gabriel heard exclaimed cries from the troop bay.
"Smooth Shift" he heard Logan say, smugness thick in his voice, the APCs raised wheels thumped back onto the blacktop "Real smooth." Gabriel had just run over and crushed the stolen Escort. Gabriel and Logan turned around, both of their cameras turning to view the wreckage. One side of the car had been completely crushed by the APC, Gabriel looked around and found that the infantry had run to the opposite side of the road.
"So it's going to take some getting used to." Gabriel pushed the throttle up and the APC continued up the street.
Colonel Nicholas Fury stepped out of his chopper and out onto the tarmac of the Congress' car park and walked through the main entrance without stopping, the marines on guard duty snapped to attention and saluted as he passed. He took out his cell phone and hit the speed dial for the New York office; it rang a couple of times before Lyle picked it up.
"New York SHIELD offices, Agent Barker speaking."
"Has Shift reported back in yet?" Fury asked, he passed several more guards and turned left towards the hearing room.
"He has reconnected to the NORAD ComNet but he hasn't made any attempt to make contact, sir." Fury stopped in the annex of the hearing room and waited for the call to enter.
"Contact him and ask for an update, don't ask what he's been up to and don't accuse him of anything. I want him to think his trip to Washington is still unknown to us."
"Yes, sir." Lyle hung up then accessed his computer, ordering it to connect with NORAD then, once it had, he activated his personal access to the ComNet and pulled up all the frequencies that had been in use by Gabriel and contacted them all at once. "Operative Shift, this is agent Barker, please respond." He said into the microphone attached to his computer.
"Lyle?" Gabriel asked, Lyle could just about hear him over a rumbling sound coming from Gabriel's end of the conversation.
"Yes Shift. I need you to give me a report."
"Not now Barker, I'm busy." The line cut out.
Gabriel shut down his CB and took it off; he yanked at it, not bothering to disconnect anything.
"I swear, that guy's getting annoying." He mused "No doubt I'll be hearing about this from Fury." Logan didn't say anything for a moment; Jean had been in contact with him, filling him in on everything that had happened with the Juggernaught.
"I'm laying in a course for you to follow, Shift. We're meeting up with the X-men there." Gabriel watched as a map of green lines appeared in the top left corner of his HUD and a red line drew itself over them.
"Right I've got it." He chopped back on the throttle, moved the right 'stick left and slammed down on the left foot brake causing the APC to thunder round a left bend. "Any news?" he asked Logan.
"Yeah, they know where Chuck is."
"Alright." Gabe said with a smile on his lips. "Where is he?"
"Stokes County Penitentiary." Gabriel remained quiet, ploughing around the next corner and out of the city.