Disclaimers on chapter 1

Chapter 7

The wiry body stretched its thin arm out as far as it could in order to flick the switch nestled amongst the forest of wires and circuitry. Within seconds of completing the action lights on the many panels throughout the dark cavern it was in began turning on indicating that the creation his father had built so long ago yet remained incomplete was still operational. Bathed in the light Jason Stryker allowed himself to integrate with the sentient being; his father's dreams were far from completion but completed the will be.

~#~

"You okay?" Wolverine asked Storm who was leaning against the wall to keep herself up whilst she tried to steady her breathing.

"It's...it's this place" Storm began trying to keep her composure in front of the Wolverine. "I don't like being this far underground, it upsets my powers"

Unfortunately Wolverine had been around longer than her so he was able to discern truth from fiction with apparent ease, although her explanation was a definite possibility.

"You're claustrophobic"

Despite his soft tone when saying it, it did not go down well with Storm.

"No I'm not!" She exclaimed before walking on quietly ahead as if to prove him wrong whilst at the same time buy her some time to stop herself from blushing at being found out.

"It's alright Storm. I'm good at keeping secrets" Wolverine called out to her. 'Wonder if the others are having better luck than us?'

"Here it is" came a voice from the end of the corridor the two X-men were traversing. "This should reroute power to the machine"

Coming round the corner Wolverine and Storm entered a room that had two soldiers and what appeared to be a large robotic head around three to four metres tall and at least over two metres wide. The fact that the head was yet to be complete did not seem to register with them as they could not help but wonder how big it was when put together.

Mutant DNA detected.

Capture protocols initiated.

The deep yet deadpan voice of the machine alerted the two soldiers and an electric humming was heard as they activated their weapons whilst Storm took to the air. Wolverine just unsheathed his claws as he prepared himself for a fight; he would ask questions later.

~#~

'Don't leave me again!' Nightcrawler froze when he heard that voice grabbing the attention of Kitty and Colossus.

"Do you hear that?" He asked as he clasped his hands to his ears as if to muffle sounds that only he could hear which was apparently the case judging by the confused looks the two were throwing him as well as Kitty's look of worry. "The whispering, it's getting louder"

"I don't hear anything" Colossus remarked whilst Kitty rushed to Nightcrawler's side.

"STOP IT!" He yelled suddenly causing Kitty to fall backwards in fright.

'You left me to die!'

"No, I...I didn't mean to" Kurt tried to explain as images of what happened the last time he was here flashed before his eyes.

"Kurt, what's wrong?" Kitty asked as she crouched down beside her kneeling boyfriend-to-be trying hard not to cry at what was happening to him.

"It...It's nothing" Kurt spoke after a few moments before standing. "Let's move on"

Kitty remained where she was as the other two started walking off. She was trying desperately not to cry after Nightcrawler just brushed her off as if she was not there. 'He's not that mad at me, is he?'

"Katzchen?" Nightcrawler called out to her from down the corridor. "Are you alright?"

'Like he's one to talk' she thought as she got up and ran over to where the others were. They eventually came upon a locked door that not even Colossus' knocking could open.

"I can't break it!" He uttered clearly surprised that something could survive one of his blows.

"Perhaps it was made of the same stuff that Mr Logan's claws are made of?" Kitty suggested receiving approving nods from the guys.

"Even so, a locked door must have a key somewhere" Nightcrawler mused as he looked about for a computer console.

"It's probably on the inside and whoever's out here radios in to ask them to open up" Kitty observed catching onto the same train of thought Nightcrawler had and mentally jumping up and down when she saw him nod in agreement.

"Then how do we get in?" Colossus asked.

"Maybe I can disable it from inside" Kitty spoke rather quickly before phasing through the door.

"Katzchen, vait!" Nightcrawler called out but it was already too late.

"She doesn't have a com-link on her, da?" Colossus asked a now furious Nightcrawler who was pacing the width of the corridor whilst muttering in German.

[God in heaven that girl is going to be the end of me!] Nightcrawler muttered under his breath. [I thought I specifically told her not to get over confident! Blasted teenage hormones!]

"Kurt?" Colossus asked nervously. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Vait here until the door is open, I'll have you inside in a moment"

With that he teleported off leaving Colossus to wonder if Kitty would ever be able to win the pacifist's heart.

~#~

As the dust settled from the robotic head exploding, the two X-men started to look around for clues to help them know what they were up against. Whilst Storm hacked away on a nearby computer Wolverine started looking over the remains of their opponents. Rolling one over he caught sight of their coat of arms on one of the soldiers shoulder.

"HYDRA" He muttered before turning to Storm. "Ever heard of them?"

"No" Storm replied the name not ringing any bells in her head. "What about 'The Sentinel Program' ring any bells for you?"

Logan shook his head as he approached the monitor she was at which currently showed schematics for the giant head they just destroyed by overloading its energy input along with detailed notes about the for mentioned project. "Stryker was into a lot of dangerous stuff, could be anything. We should keep going"

The two left via a giant hole in the wall created by the explosion and came upon what appeared to be an abandoned laboratory. One that was very familiar to Wolverine.

"Logan, what is this place?" Storm asked feeling a bit nauseous after seeing a man sized tank in the middle of the room with an array of different needles connected to hoses that were attached to a vat of bubbling metal like ooze.

"Stryker's very own incarnation of hell" Wolverine explained a slight hardness to his voice as he looked at a wall full of X-ray photos of where the boiling hot adamantium metal was to be injected into his skeletal structure before it solidified instantly. "I was his main attraction"

Storm almost shivered visibly when she understood what he was talking about. It took all her will power not to fly up when he unsheathed one of his claws. "These are my souvenirs"

He then slowly walked towards the tank not believing what he saw. 'Not even she could survive that'

She was Lady Deathstrike. She was or rather still is a woman all too similar to Wolverine. She had a healing factor, metal claws and skeletal structure same as him and she was currently above him severing a live wire that fell into the tank of water that Wolverine currently had his claw in allowing the electricity to surge through his metal bones and effectively render him unconscious.

~#~

Kitty carefully phased out of the wall she was currently in and hid in the shadows of the wall opposite the control console she was looking for.

'All that time shadowing Kurt paid off' she mused as she watched the one guard walking towards her position. She waited as patiently as she could for the guard to come within her reach.

Just before the guard came within inches of her position Kitty suddenly felt an arm grab her round the waist whilst another clamped itself over her mouth before disappearing in a cloud of blue smoke. Neither of the two guards walking round in opposite directions were any the wiser to what happened.

"Are you actually using that head of yours vhen you plan your moves?!" Nightcrawler whispered furiously in Kitty's ear as the two dangled from an overhead light by Nightcrawler's feet and tail the only thing preventing Kitty from falling was his grip around her waist. "How many times must I tell you not to get over confident before the mission is through?!"

Even if his hand was not covering her mouth Kitty could not speak for fear of screaming at where she was just now. Noticing how quiet she was Nightcrawler teleported them back to the shadows she was in before being snagged.

"Vait until they pass von another" Nightcrawler advised. "I'll let you choose vhich von you go for, I'll take the straggler"

Kitty nodded before forcing herself to calm down; despite Kurt's harsh words he had prevented her from alerting the guards to her presence and the others so his anger was justified. The moment the guards' backs were to one another she pounced. Neither guard knew what hit them and all too soon Kitty was hacking the control panel allowing Colossus to enter the room Nightcrawler and herself were in.

"Uh Nightcrawler?" Kitty asked hesitantly catching his attention. "The computer shows that the chamber where we get the parts are blocked by some sort of shield"

"Can it be deactivated from here?" Nightcrawler asked as he looked over Kitty's shoulder at the monitor.

"Only the shields for that shield generators" Kitty replied suppressing the shiver she got when he unintentionally breathed down the back of her neck. "Hopefully if you destroy them then we'll have a clear break for the Cerebro chamber"

Kurt nodded before handing the girl his com-link. "You guide, ve break"

"Don't you mean 'I seek, you destroy'?" Kitty asked smiling slightly.

"Mine's sounds less barbaric" Nightcrawler replied smiling himself before teleporting to Colossus' position.

Kitty allowed herself a small chuckle before focusing on the task at hand; she had already gotten two strikes today, a third would send her out of the team shattering her heart in the process.

~#~

R&R

& 'til next time

Watch this space & peace out.