Best Laid Plans
It was never intended to be a simple mission. It wasn't a simple mission, and the outcasts were good at being on high alert and succeeding.
Which still does nothing if your leader has a chip that trips the bases defenses once she crosses a line.
"My, what a pack . . . mutant freaks and Joes."
"Moreau!" Panthera growled.
"Really, Panthera, you could do so much better. Say, be a part of Serpentor's pack." The doctor was separated from them by a wall of bullet and laser resistant glass. "It was why you were created, anyway."
"You experiented on children! You didn't do anything but forcibly mutated them!"
"I won't argue with grunts, but I will tell you you're too late. Within 15 minutes, Serpentor will be reborn." He smirked and pulled out a remote. "However, that's long enough for you to die . . ." He pressed the button.
Nothing happened.
"Let me guess, that was suppose to turn on the chip to hurt me?" Panthera pulled out a clear box with the chip.
"You . . . had it removed . . ." He was frozen.
"Doc and Lifeline were kind enough to operate on me." Her smile was pure ice. "Which means you no longer have any cards to play." Then she threw something at the glass. It exploded, and without waiting for the smoke and glass to clear, she was through. When the others recovered, both Moreau and Panthera were gone.
"Our mission is to stop Serpentor from being reincarnated! That's her fight." Leatherneck stopped Marina and Long Range from following. "I'm calling in back up, base is on full alert, and we're going to need all the help we can get."
"I'll do it." Techno nodded, she made her way to a console and plugged in.
"I'll watch her." Zarana checked her gun.
Leatherneck and the rest headed straight to the main lab. They burst in on a group of scientists and vipers, the machine already working to bring life to the body. Trying to stop it, Long Range brought his gun up- only to be flung against the wall along with everyone else in the room.
"I AM SERPENTOR!" The man there was similar looking and sounding to the first one, though bald and wearing almost old fashioned gold battle armor. A purple cloak completed the outfit. On his forehead was a tattoo of the number thirteen and a cobra coiled around it.
"Here we go again . . ." Wetsuit muttered.
"At least this one is better dressed." Mutt quipped. "Whoa!" everyone was lifted off the ground.
"Oh mighty Serpentor!" One of the scientists quaked.
"This is going to get boring soon." Long Range grumbled.
"Speak, insignificant one!" Long Range tuned the rest out. It was just both of them talking about how "great" serpentor was and whether or not he wanted to rule the world, which Long Range could've cared less about.
"How about a great hole in you?" Long Range shot at him. Then everyone and everything suddenly fell back to earth. Long Range's shot had hit the mark, but Serpentor's skin was invulnerable. The bullet was flattened against his head.
"Think you just ticked him off." An explosion occurred.
"We must retreat before Cobra Commander learns of this!"
"A tactical retreat only." Serpentor glared at the Outcasts. "You will live only so you may tell your comrades that I have returned! The next time, you shall be dealt with!" An invisible forced pressed down on them, and kept them from going after the group.
"Crap."
"Nice try Long Range."
"I hate healing factor, and I hate invulnerable skin." Long Range struggled up. "Now I'm going to have to get creative . . ."
The base was taken rather quickly, all told. The entire base was like an anthill, with hallways and chambers all over.
"Where's Panthera?" Althea noted the absence.
"Your guess is as good as ours." Long range checked one of his handguns. "She chased after a scientist . . . I think it was the one that actually worked on her, and we lost her."
"We're going to need to drill some responsibility into her head, somehow."
"Kinda hard when she can't feel much emotion." Long Range noted the looks.
"Well, let's find wherever she stashed the bod-!" Everyone jumped as a body of a man fell through a window and onto the ground. A second later Panthera landed next to it, Holding something covered in cloth. "-dy, Did you have to mutilate him while you were killing him?" Hawk looked at the bleeding stump of the arm. Panthera glanced at Hawk, then kicked the body.
Moreau choked and coughed.
"I got tired of him shooting me." She walked away. "You can have him."
"Okay, who are you and what did you do with Panthera?" Leatherneck stared at her. Lifeline was already working on stabilizing Moreau.
"Oh, I'm me." That's when a baby's cry sounded. She uncovered the a baby that she had been holding. "Found him in a lab. He was the back up if the Cobra-la version of creating Serpentor failed." The baby had gray skin, big green eyes some whisps of bright red hair and tiny, sharp, teeth poking through the gums. Bree came over and checked on it.
"There's . . . uh . . . no way to tell whether he's a boy or a girl." Bree glanced up.
"I know. There was a dissected body that looked like Xi in the same room. Number 6, I think."Xi had come over to look at the baby.
"Smells like 6." He tilted his head. "Hair and skin like six's too, though not scaly."
"So you stopped killing the guy because you found a baby?" Marina blinked at Panthera.
"No. I stopped because this little guy was alive. There about ten dead ones in the same room." Panthera shrugged. An attempt to pass the little one to Bree resulted in a make-your-ears-bleed shriek. Panthera then found her arms full again and the baby stopped. "And it kept crawling after us." She scowled at it. It just cooed in contentment. "Techno, I want every single experiment that this lab has done. In particular, anything that pertains to this little guy and his siblings. Xi, you and I need to talk." A yelp from Lifeline brought everyone's attention back to Moreau. He spasmed and then went still, Lifeline only briefly touching him.
"He, injected himself with this." He shakily held up a syringe. Lifeline glanced down at the body. Moreau's aim had been poor, and he had almost stabbed Lifeline. Actually, Lifeline wasn't even sure if he had been intending to take his life, or Lifeline's.
"He's definetly dead?" Panthera stepped forward.
"Yeah. He's not coming back."
"Good." She shifted the baby. "I'm not going to lose sleep over it. Can someone take him, please? I still need to finish wiping off my sword."
"So, what are Xi and Panthera discussing?" Those that weren't needed were getting ready to go home, either by helicopter or teleportation.
"Beats me." Long Range shrugged.
"6 . . . your number Six, was this little guy's parent, sure you don't want to take your nephew in?" Panthera looked at him. In answer Xi attempted to take the baby. It promptly shrieked, and settled when Xi withdrew, leaving it in Panthera's arms.
"It's attached to you. I imagine it imprinted on you when you first picked it up." Xi smiled. "I don't have a problem with . . . him being an Outcast."
"Considering how loose our morals are?" She glanced at her team. "They're practically non-existent, lately." That part was muttered under her breath.
"Yes, but this way, if Solitare finds out, he won't complain as much."
"I thought you said Solitare was pro-mutant. We've only got a handful on our team." Panthera stared down at the baby. "I am probably the worst person for you to pick, runt."
"You're not that bad." Xi protested. Then promptly winced.
"You were spying on me weren't you."
"A little . . . Though seeing you curled up on the couch with Terri and Jess cuddling up against you kinda blew the whole 'loose cannon' picture out of the water." Xi gently touched the baby's head.
Panthera growled, then gently shifted the baby. "Even evil people can show emotion, Xi, it doesn't mean anything in the long run."
"Perhaps, but you have to admit, you're not as bloodthirsty now that you have a family, than when you were on your own." She gave a slight nod, and joined up with her team.
Originally, This baby (will be named next chapter) was going to be in the lab where they rescued Xavier. And in the very first draft, this litte guy was older and followed Panthera around and was generally annoying. (Panthera wanted to kill him) But the logistics of the whole thing didn't work.
