As always thanks to everyone who took the time tor eview, sorry about the delay in the update but my life's been hectic recently, what with exams and revision and whatnot
Disclaimer: I don't own the X-men, or HYDRA, but I do own all my OCs
Chapter nine: The Serpent and the X
The forest looked no less vast in night as it did in the daytime. The massive redwoods and pine trees stood like silent sentinels, coloured purest black in the night, they completely blocked out all light from the full moon to the forest floor below.
The X-jet blasted through the air above the dark forest, the serene night calm shattered as the metal behemoth shot overhead. Logan rose out of the pilots seat for Beast to take over and moved to the back of the plane to try something he'd never done before, a pep talk. Gripping an overhead rail for support he looked around the plane at the motley crew he and Hellblade had hand picked for this mission. Kurt was strapped in alongside his sister Rogue, Cyclops sat with his arms crossed, unused to going on a mission and not being in charge, Archangel flexed his wings, uneasy about being stuck inside a plane, even one as safe as the X-jet.
Along with the seasoned veterans was Doug, who'd chosen to use his new codename of Cypher, Medium, her Wildcard squad mate Illustrati, Fathom and rounding the team off, the cause of all the X-men's recent woes, the vampiric assassin himself, Hellblade, carefully inspecting his scimitars to make sure they hadn't been damaged when in the X-men's possession.
Everyone maintained the same strong silence, they all knew it wasn't a danger room session, or another brawl with the Brotherhood, HYDRA were the real deal. They fought dirty, took no prisoners and played for keeps, they wouldn't care if the X-men were defenceless or they couldn't handle their powers, they'd take them out the first chance they got, permanently. Tongues had a tendency to seize up at such times; regardless of how brave anymore might be feeling. Wolverine cleared his throat to get everyone's attention before speaking
"O.K, I've never tried this before so bear with me here. I'm not gonna lie to you, there's a chance you might get hurt, end up in the infirmary for a month, or not even make it to the infirmary when you get back from this mission. You all knew what you were getting into when you signed up for this so I expect you all to do your part, no matter what" Wolverine hoped he didn't sound too serious and in his first ever pep talk and from the looks on the younger students faces he knew it wasn't going well. Hellblade looked right at Logan and nodded slightly, Logan nodded back and the vampire undid his harness while Wolverine sat down and strapped himself into his, knowing his old ally could do a better job of encouraging the students to put their lives on the to save someone most of them didn't even like that much than he ever could. Hellblade straightened his cloak, cleared his throat and started his pep talk
"I know you all agreed to take part in this mission but given what would happen if you'd refused it wasn't something you could really say no to. You might be wondering why you? Why did Wolverine and myself pick you and not your friends, mentors and teammates? It's simple; you all have skills we'll need if this plan's going to work, whether it's hacking their computers (he looked at Cypher), recon (he looked at Kurt), firepower (he looked at Fathom) and just the feeling that you'll prove yourselves to be true X-men, the kind people like Magneto, Mystique and I have nightmares about going up against (he looked at Medium and Illustrati). Despite this, I'll give you a final chance to back out, you're children who aren't sure of themselves, going into a fight you might not live to see end of and against people who wouldn't think twice of killing you in cold blood, anyone in your place would be scared out of their mind, I know I'd be. That said, I won't hold it against you if you turn this mission down, X-23 wouldn't, Wolverine won't and neither will the Professor, your mentors or your team mates, so if anyone wants to back out now, raise your hand" no-one did. Satisfied the vampire pressed a button on a nearby console and a 3-D image appeared in the space in the middle of the plane. It showed a slice of a mountainside dotted with trees, a glacier and even a waterfall, HYDRAs Canadian base.
"We'll reach the target in two minutes. The jet isn't going to land or even go near the ground. It'll stay in a dead stop a hundred feet above this point (he pointed to a spot just to the left of the water fall, on the glacier) for twenty seconds, any longer and we run the risk of being fired upon by the bases defence systems" he told them
"Don't you mean being spotted by the defence systems?" Kurt asked
"No, I don't. They'll know we're there, there's a chance they know we're here now. As for how you get out of the jet, Archangel can take a couple of you, Nightcrawler can take a few more and Logan and myself can make our own way down. After that, we head down the glacier slope to the base" Hellblade replied as the jet closed in on the base.
X-23 eyelids fluttered open and she saw a cold steel wall, a very familiar cold steel wall. Her gaze flicked upwards to the ceiling and sure enough, the familiar skull with octopus tentacles was there, the symbol of the organization she'd spent her life either a prisoner of, or a fugitive from, HYDRA.
The door behind her slid open with a soft hiss and X-23 turned around to see Lady HYDRA walk in, flanked by her favourite henchmen, Omega Red and Gauntlet. With a primal cry she pushed herself to her feet and lunged at the trio, claws extended, intent on cutting all three of them down where they stood. She didn't get more than two steps before pain racked her body and she fell to the floor
"Bad girl, you should show more respect for your elders" Gauntlet chided as Lady Hydra held up a small remote control in her hand
"What…what did you do to me?" X-23 asked, even when she'd been growing up, HYDRA had never used anything like whatever had just caused her so much pain
"I thought you'd recognise it, it's your favourite toy after all," Lady Hydra said, pressing a button on the remote control. The beeping sound her ears picked up made X-23 realise exactly what HYDRA had done to her. Looking down she saw on her favourite gothic outfit, was a small electronic device attacked to her left arm, just above her elbow. Undeterred X-23 extended one of her hand claws and started cutting into the flesh around the tiny electric bomb. Lady Hydra smiled coldly as she saw her weapon try to take the device out
"I wouldn't mess with that if I were you, it's set to…"
"Explode yeah I already know that. And I don't care. I'd rather die than work for you and HYDRA again" X-23 interrupted, still cutting into her arm. Lady Hydra sighed
"I was afraid you'd say that, now we have to take matters into our own hands," she said, pressing the shock button again and once more X-23 dropped to the floor unable to continue removing the bomb. The door behind them opened again and a small, dirty, scrawny man with wild hair and a long trench coat appeared in the room, barely visible behind the hulking figure of Omega Red who he'd immediately hidden behind like a cowering mouse
"This is our latest hired help. Mastermind here will go into your subconscious, erase your recent memories and with them any traces of rebellion, in their place he'll make new ones, and you'll be back to your old, emotionless self, won't that be nice?" Lady Hydra said mockingly. With a cry of desperation X-23 pushed herself to her feet, ignoring the shock from the bomb and lunging at Omega Red. The Russian grabbed her by her neck with one hand
"Careful child, we wouldn't want our friend here getting hurt now would we?" he sneered, he threw her backwards, she crashed into the far wall head first and slid down it, leaving a small smear of blood where her head had hit.
"I assume you will be able to perform the procedure even if she's comatose?" Lady Hydra asked Mastermind
"Oh certainly, it will even make it easier" he replied, going over and moving X-23 away from the wall, handling her with surprising care
"I also assume you will keep your end of the deal and not let any maternal feelings for the weapon impede your work" Lady Hydra added sternly, sometimes with all the previously useful allies she'd made betray HYDRA, she wondered if the girl was worth the effort she'd put in to getting her back
"Of course not, she just reminds me of my own daughter, that is all. You just make sure you pay my fee" Mastermind replied, displeased that they'd accuse him of such a thing. He placed his hands on the sides of her head and started sifting through her assorted memories. Suddenly a shrill alarm sounded and a red light set high in the room started flashing brightly
"What's going on?" he demanded
"Nothing that concerns you, continue with your work" Lady Hydra commanded as she marched from the cell, Gauntlet following her with Omega Red taking up a guard position just outside
The X-jet hovered above the mountain and HYDRAs base. It had barely been visible before, it's light grey stone walls and dull steel buildings just lighter shades of black in the blackness of the mountain but as soon as the alarms had sounded lights began to flash on all over it, lighting up like a huge Christmas tree in the darkness of the Canadian wilderness.
As soon as the jet was steady the hatch opened and the X-men's assault on HYDRA began. Warren grabbed Fathom and Cyclops, relishing the cool night air blasting across his wings as he flew them down to the glacier. Nightcrawler placed a hand each on Rogue and Cypher before disappearing in a puff of smoke and brimstone, rep-appearing a hundred feet below. Medium turned into her ethereal form and floated down while Illustrati, who'd been drawing since before the plane had stopped, climbed aboard a flying carpet which soared effortlessly down to join the others, leaving just the two mission commanders behind
"Just curious, but how're you planning on getting down there?" Hellblade asked Wolverine
"Jumping, and you aint got no other option either," he said, running past the vampire to the open hatch
"Your memory's not back yet is it?" he asked Wolverine as Weapon X sailed by. He followed Wolverine to the hatch and jumped out after him, both freefalling side by side. Hellblade waved and proved the Professor and Beast right. He was a shape shifter. Suddenly Wolverine felt something shoot past him and saw a massive black shape descending towards the ground right before he went past it and got re-acquainted with the earth. Staggering to his feet he saw the black shape land o the ground in-between his crash site and where the X-men were grouped. It was a huge black bat, the same size as a human with obsidian eyes and gleaming white fangs, the bats features started to shift and change until Hellblade was standing in its place
"You always were stubborn" he told Wolverine
"You could've given me ride" he growled in reply
"You never asked" Hellblade replied, resulting in snickers and laughs form the other students
"Well what're you all waiting for? We've gotta get going or HYDRA's gonna come down on us like a ton of bricks" Wolverine snapped, prompting the mutants to take off running with Archangel flying overhead
"So, can you shape shift into anything else?" Nightcrawler asked Hellblade as they moved further down the sloping glacier
"As a matter of fact, yes" Hellblade replied, seemingly vanishing from sight. Nightcrawler looked down to see a large wolf with obsidian fur running alongside him towards the base
A few minutes later they reached the perimeter fence. The black wolf stopped and turned back into Hellblade
"Nightcrawler, you'll need to teleport us past it since…" he said before being interrupted
"It's just chain link aint it? Let's just climb it" Rogue said, reaching a hand out to grab hold of the fence. When her gloved hand touched it she let out a cry of pain and flew backwards
"…it's electrified" Hellblade finished. Archangel produced a syringe and started to stick it into his arm
"Wait, I'll heal her, save your blood for later" Hellblade told him, resting a hand on Rogues forehead. Her burned hands quickly healed and she sat up
"Thanks" she said, sporting a pair of fangs
"Next time wait for me to finish before you go off and do something, if you try that when we're in HYDRAs base it could be the last thing you ever do" he snapped in response. When he saw Rogues face his expression softened
"I'm sorry, one person has already lost their life thanks to my mistakes and I don 't want it to happen again. And Wolverine will probably gut me if any of you come to harm so please try and be careful" he said, holding out a hand
"You got a deal" she replied, taking his hand and letting him haul her to her feet
"Think you can get us all past in one jump elf?" Wolverine asked Nightcrawler
"Maybe, but I've never tried to teleport so many people at once before, I'll give it a shot" Nightcrawler replied. Wolverine shepherded everyone in as close together as possible and they all disappeared in a big puff of smoke and brimstone
They re-appeared on the other side of the fence, right next to the buildings of the base. Nightcrawler let out a moan and slumped to the ground, landing face up in the shallow snow on the cold, hard ground.
"Kurt" Rogue cried, kneeling down next to her brother, Wolverine knelt down as well and took a long look at him
"Relax Rogue, he's not hurt, he's just exhausted, looks like the elf's out for the count" Wolverine reassured her
"Archangel, can you fly him back to the pick up point?" Hellblade asked him
"No problem, but I could just heal him and we'd be able to stick around and help out" he replied
"No, your blood only works on physical wounds, he's mentally exhausted, besides with your wings you'd be a little cramped inside the base anyway so get going, we'll be fine" the vampire responded. Archangel, pulled a few vials of red liquid from a pocket of his uniform and handed them to the vampire, as soon as he saw them he knew exactly what they were, blood.
"I took this out when we were on the way here, one vial should heal a fatal injury, there's only three so make them count" Archangel told them
"We will, now get going before HYDRA realises we're here" Wolverine told him, Archangel nodded, picked up Nightcrawler and took off, disappearing into the night, towards the rendezvous point in the forest
"O.K, Cypher, this is where you come in, use your power to talk to the security system and make it let us in" Hellblade told Doug, who, having no idea how to make pleasant conversation with a frosty security interface on the outside of a heavily guarded building in the middle of the wilderness just leaned in close to it and listened.
As he did the faint whirring and clicks of the system grew louder and louder, soon they completely drowned out the hushed voices of the other X-men and more than that, he could understand them. Not translate them into English or even into human words but he understood the computer, he knew what it was 'talking' about. Muttering under his breath, he realised he was making strange sounds similar to the clicks and whirs of the security system, or as close as a human tongue could come to copying them. It asked him who he was, he told it he was a friend and he needed its help, it asked what it could do to help, Doug told it and a few minutes of very weird communication later the doors locks slid back and the door swung open a crack, inside it was almost total darkness, inviting the X-men inwards to explore its hidden depths and the horrors they might contain
"Well done Cypher, I'm impressed" Hellblade told him
"Thanks. I also got X-23…Laura's location. She's being held in the maximum security wing at the far end of the building" he said, feeling very pleased with himself. His power finally had a use at last
"Very well done. If I was a teacher at your school you'd definitely get an A+" Hellblade added, carefully nudging the door open with a scimitar. He listened for a few seconds, the wind outside dying down to a faint murmur as if responding to the vampires wish for silence. He called Logan over
"It looks clear. I can sense a heartbeat at the end of the corridor but it's slow, I think whoever's there, they're asleep. What do you think?" Hellblade asked him. Logan sniffed the air inside the building
"Not sure but I can't smell coffee or doughnuts, I'm pretty sure they're asleep too, but maybe we should check just in case" Wolverine replied, calling Medium over
"Go ghost and check the end of the corridor, if there's anyone there, possess them and bring them back down here" he told her, she nodded, turned ethereal and floated through the partially open door. A few seconds of silence followed then they heard a thud and footsteps coming down the hallway towards them
"You think she made it?" Rogue asked them over Wolverine's shoulder
"I hope so, otherwise, we're in big trouble, better get everyone ready just in case" he told her. She pulled off her glove, Fathom charged up his energy, Cyclops's fingers rested on his visor and Illustrati held his pen at the ready. Out of the darkness a shape emerged, when it got closer they saw it was a HYDRA foot soldier clutching a semi-automatic in his left hand by its strap. He was walking oddly, as if he was sleepwalking or drunk. As soon as the soldier reached the door Wolverine grabbed him, hauled him and slammed him up against the side of the building, three razor sharp adamantium claws pressed to his throat
"Don't, it's me, Medium" the soldier blurted out
"Prove it" Rogue replied
"When my team went through the danger room, Bryce screamed that the Institute was haunted when he first saw me use my powers" the soldier said. Illustrati nodded to show she was telling the truth and Wolverine retracted his claws and let go of the soldier. Medium floated out of him and the soldier regained control of his body, Wolverines claws immediately shot out again but he relaxed when he saw the soldier let out a moan, his eyes rolled upwards and he slumped to the floor
"What did you find out?" Hellblade asked Medium as he stashed the unconscious soldier high up in a tree
"I managed to use this guys access codes to trigger a security alarm at the far end of the base, everyone's going there right now. We've about ten minutes before they find out it's a wild goose chase and their boss sends them back here to check on their prisoner and I managed tot urn off al the security from here to Laura's cell" she told him
"Not bad, definitely A+ material" he replied as Wolverine, abandoning all thoughts of stealth, kicked the door the rest of the way open and the X-men surged forwards into HYDRAs base
"Y'know what you said about giving the kids As if you were a teacher?" Wolverine asked Hellblade
"Yes, what about it?" he replied as they pushed onwards, occasionally destroying one of the cameras as they passed them
"Well, I'm guessing after HYDRA tell everyone how you backstabbed them your mercenary career's gonna be in ruins"
"That would be a fair assumption. I suppose retirement wouldn't be so bad, I've been at this job for over a hundred years, most people only get a few decades" he replied
"Well, Cyclops is gonna take some time off, Jean's still at university, even with Archangel joining we're still gonna be short on staff and the X-kids don't exactly keep a low profile. We'd be happy to take you on, we could use the experience" Wolverine told him
"Ask me again after we get Laura back, then I'll give you my answer" Hellblade replied as the cell door came into view. Outside Gauntlet was still standing guard, leaning on the wall with his head resting on his chest, asleep. He'd have stayed that way if Cyclops, lacking the enhanced vision of Wolverine and Hellblade to know Gauntlet was asleep, raised his hand to his visor and let off a shot. The bolt of red energy struck Gauntlet high on his right side, hitting his shoulder. The HYDRA members eyes shot open
"What the…" he blurted out before Wolverine extended his claws and brought them down very hard on the side of his head. Letting out a groan he slumped down to the floor and a shrill, blaring alarm started to go off. Looking down Wolverine saw a control in Gauntlets right hand, which had been pushed by the weight of Gauntlets body pushing down on it. Cursing Wolverine kicked the control away for it to be blasted apart by a red beam
Wat'ds you do that for? We could've found a way to turn the alarm off" Wolverine snarled
"Well it's broken now, so deal with it" Cyclops replied abruptly. Wolverine knew Cyclops still wasn't over what had happened with Alex, and immediately regretted bringing him on the mission, it was meant to be a smash and grab with perfect timing, not somewhere you wanted a loose cannon with serious firepower
"Scott, calm down, this isn't like you" Rogue whispered, trying to calm him down, which failed, completely
"Yeah well too bad, I still need to tell my little brothers foster parents that he practically died on my watch, so excuse me if I'm a little preoccupied" Cyclops shot back. Rouge took a step back, Wolverine could see how hurt her eyes looked
"You're out of order Scott" he said, Scott let out a laugh
"You don't have a clue" he retorted, to which Wolverine extended his claws and Cyclops once again rested his finger precariously on the trigger of his red visor. Suddenly a scimitar blade appeared between the two
"Simmer down both of you, you can fight it out later, after we save Laura" Hellblade told them. Wolverine retracted his claws and Cyclops snorted and turned away
At Hellblade's direction Fathom raised a hand and blasted down the door with a burst of blue energy. The wreckage fell backwards and Wolverine and Hellblade advanced into the room. Their gaze fell on Mastermind, who had his hands placed on X-23s head, even Hellblade, who didn't know who Mastermind was, realised what he must be doing. Hellblade charged over and tore Mastermind off the young clone, hearing him land a few feet away and slid across the floor.
"You O.K kid?" Wolverine asked, trying to help her up only for X-23 to tear her arm from his grip
"Get back, you're just another mind trick he made, you're not real" she cried
"Take it easy kid, we're real" Wolverine told her
"You're lying! I know this is another one of HYDRAs plans to mess with my mind and it's not going to work" she yelled, extending her claws and slashing at Wolverine, opening up two long, thin wounds on his chest
"Laura, it's me. Logan and I came here with the X-men to save you, look, we're not holograms or mind tricks" Hellblade said softly, reaching out and placing his hand against he arm, to show he was solid, and really there. He also heard a lot of feet charging towards their location, he knew they had to get out quick, or they'd have to take on all of HYDRA.
He saw Mastermind approaching Wolverine from behind, and the motionless figure of another Mastermind on the floor a dozen feet away. He opened his mouth to shot a warning but it was too late, the first Mastermind formed his hand into a blade and drove it through Wolverines chest. He pulled it out and Weapon X dropped to the floor, not dead but out of commission
"What trickery is this?" Hellblade demanded, drawing both his scimitars and stepping in-between X-23 and the two Masterminds.
A patch of the wall flickered and disappeared, Omega Red stepped out from his hiding place. Cries, blasts and shots echoed in from the hallway outside the cell, the Mastermind on the floor pushed himself up to a sitting position and the second Mastermind features began to change, adapting a more feminine, bluish tone. Hellblade smelt the same strange scent he'd first sensed all those years ago when he'd been handed over to Weapon X
"Mystique!" he snarled. The shape-shifter gave him a nasty grin
"Hey Hellblade, glad you remember me"
In the next chapter – The Weapon, The Serpent And The Vampire comes to its conclusion with Hellblade forced to choose between getting his revenge or saving the clone he risked everything to protect and it's the clash of the Titans when Omega Red goes head to head with his old enemies Wolverine and X-23
To be concluded, please reivew. All reviews and constructive criticism are happily accepted and greatley appreciated
