X-Men: The Winds of Change
By Ldynwaitin
Chapter Thirty Seven
Never Easy
Mystique and the others screamed in agony as the lights in the rope moved at a faster pace towards Luther. They were all dying, Luther was sucking the life out of them, to heal himself. Charles saw Peter vainly trying to pull off the ropes.
"Go," he gasped. "Peter, get out…now."
Peter could feel Charles pain. Luther was killing him, killing all of his friends. Someone needed to stop him. Peter's eyes grew dark with anger. The pale color was gone, they were blood red now. He looked up, the other Nob's eyes also changed.
"You are hurting my friend," Peter shouted. Luther blinked his eyes, he talked. In all the years he was in the Facility he never heard a Nob speak one word.
"You are hurting my friends," Peter said again. He pointed to Luther, "Now we hurt you."
Peter grabbed the rope of light attached to Charles. The other Nob's rushed over and grabbed the ropes attached to the others. Gripping it hard, the fluctuations stopped, and then reversed. They flowed back to Luther. He shook his head, "No, you can't do that. It's my power, not yours to use. Sinister gave it to me, you can't have it."
Peter's eyes grew darker, "He gave it to you. We take away."
Where each Nob gripped the rope, it turned blood red. The redness moved up the ropes and into Luther's fingertips. His mouth fell open, he howled as the darkness moved through his body. Once it reached his heart, he coughed, and fell to the ground. He gurgled, and went still. Panting, Peter and the Nob's released the ropes. The ropes broke off from Luther's fingertips, but remained wrapped around the others.
Peter rushed over to Charles. He could see that he was unconscious. Gently he placed his hand on his chest. His dark eyes flashed back to their pale color, he softly whispered, "Breathing, not dead, breathing." He quickly fetched the knife. Using it, he cut away the ropes that bound Charles. He then cut the rest loose. He placed his hand on each one's chest. They were not dead, they were all alive.
Sitting in front of Charles, he stared at him and waited. The other Nob's moved to block the door, keeping guard for any other hybrids that may be in the mansion. In the silence of the room, Peter could hear them all breathing. Somewhere in the distance he heard a scream. He had no idea how far it was, but he knew it was not close by. He sat and patiently waited for Charles to wake up.
Peter had no idea how long he waited when he saw Charles eyes slowly open. Standing up, he brightly smiled as he helped Charles to sit up. Opening his eyes, Charles saw everyone lying on the ground. Looking to the side he could see that Luther was dead. Hearing a moan, he saw Erik stirring on the floor.
"Erik," Charles called out. "Are you all right?"
Erik rolled over on his back. He had never felt so weak in his life. Glancing to the side, he saw Luther's dead body. Closing his eyes in relief, he said, "Thank you, Charles."
"No thanks due," Charles replied. "No really. I had nothing to do with that. I woke up to find him this way." Charles looked at Peter. "Do we have you to thank?"
Peter's pale eyes glowed, "He was hurting you, so we hurt him."
Charles patted Peter on the back, "Thank you, Peter, and all your friends."
Peter actually blushed. "Your welcome."
Sitting up, Erik glanced at his watch. "Well that's just great, we've been unconscious for nearly ten minutes. We only have forty-five minutes left before the bombs go off." Erik quickly stood up, "Get up everyone, we don't have much time.
While the others struggled to wake up, Charles searched for any hybrids that could be close by.
They each sat on the floor. Luther's power weakened them all. Peter walked up to Mystique and handed her the knife. She took it, and smiled at him. "Thank you for saving us."
"Thank you, Mystique," Charles said. "You risked your life trying to save us." A small smile parted her lips, he called her Mystique, not Raven. He was finally accepting that little Raven has grown up.
"Aannd we're inside…again," Banshee said. He tried to laugh, but it came out more like a cough.
"If it's any help, I didn't see Diana on the way up," Mystique said. "But that doesn't mean she's not around."
Magneto glared at Luther's body. "Another hybrid created to suck the life out of mutants. If that is an indication of the world Sinister wanted to create, I'll do everything I can to prevent it from happening."
"To accomplish that, we need to find a way to get to the top," Charles said. "Luther did us a favor, he brought us close to it. We just need to find a way out of here."
Charles tried to get Alessia to take him towards the windows. One of her tracks was struggling to move him. The trip up here banged her up a bit. Peter pushed him towards the windows. As he approached them Charles noticed something strange. Coming to the windows he touched them. That's when he found that the windows were not real but fake. It was a painted wall. The wall was painted with windows looking out at a beautiful English countryside. He banged his fist against the wall. "Damn him, never makes it easy."
Closing his eyes, Charles searched for any minds above them. He went up floor by floor, until he touched one. It was exactly what he needed to find.
"Well, well," Charles said. "Things may be looking up, if you'll excuse the pun."
Magneto rubbed his head. "What do you mean?"
"The rotund-weight adding-hy…, um Humpty. The jumper dropped him off at the top of the mansion. Diana killed the jumper, so Humpty is stuck up there. I may have a way to use him." Charles closed his eyes and entered the mind of the mutant. He now controlled him. He searched around the area. He found the top of the mansion was flat. Covered in snow, searching for the missile's was not going to be easy. Charles faintly heard Erik say, "Less than forty five minutes left, Charles."
"I know," Charles grunted. He ran as fast as the rotund body would go. He had to cover a lot of ground. Finding a large pile of rocks, he climbed over them. Sliding down on the other side he spied something in the distance. He saw patches of snow melting. Four patches that was round and large enough to allow a missile to go through. This had to be where they would exit the mountain. Coming to one of the patches, he kneeled down and cleaned off melted snow and slush. He found a circle of metal, split in half. They were the bay doors for the missiles.
Now all they had to do was find a way of blocking the doors, or opening them and stopping the missiles. Maintaining his hold on Humpty, he informed the others what he was doing.
"I've located the bay doors." It was taking a lot out of him to keep his hold on the hybrid. "There are four of them. I'm sure the missiles lie under them. For now they're closed."
"I can get them open," Magneto said.
"Let's hope he didn't make them with the same metal he used for his Facility."
"We won't know that until I get up there," Magneto said.
"First, let me put this hybrid to sleep." He found he was feeling a deep weakness inside. Luther did more damage than he realized. When this was over, he promised his body he would sleep for a year. He just needed to go on for another forty-five minutes. Squeezing his eyes shut, he was about to try to command the hybrid to sleep, when he was knocked to the ground, or Humpty was. Charles struggled to keep his hold on the hybrid as he saw someone familiar approaching. It was Centurion, with Sinister, several Marauders and five copy-Centurions walking towards him.
"Never easy," Charles tiredly sighed.
Through Humpty's eyes, Charles watched Sinister and his mutants approach the hybrid. Centurion was carrying a very large, and very dangerous looking gun. "He's stunned, sir. He won't be any trouble for us."
Sinister looked down at the ground. "Centurion, we need to get out of here, the bay doors are warm enough to melt the snow. The missiles were primed to take off ten minutes before the bombs. You have to get me out of here."
Centurion's eyes began to glow. "I'm sorry sir, but the way there is blocked. Even with the snow mobiles we wouldn't be able to get to the plane in time."
Sinister was practically drooling. "You fool, this is all your fault."
"Mister Sinister, I have another way." Centurion pointed ahead. "My double…"
"Your double is trapped on the other side," Sinister screamed. "Even if he does get to the plane, he can't land it here."
"Sir, let me explain. When you triggered the bombs I already told my copy to get Xavier's plane. I heard him telling his magnetic friend that the plane has a vertical lift. Once my copy commandeers the plane, he can fly it here. It can hover over the mansion and pick us up. He's already on his way there, sir. It should be here in enough time for us to leave before the bombs go off."
"It better be, Centurion," Sinister mumbled. He took a glance at the hybrid. His head tilted to the left. He could see the hybrids eyes were no longer pale, but a brilliant blue, a blue that he instantly recognized. He stepped up to the hybrid, "Hello Charles, I see that you are still alive, that's very good to know."
Charles had no idea how he knew he possessed the hybrid, but while he had the chance, he would take advantage of it. He spoke to Sinister using Humpty.
"I'm not going to allow those rockets to leave this mountain."
Sinister squatted in front of the hybrid. "Oh Charles, I don't know why you have such an affection for humans. I would think you'd be happy that I was about to end their existence. I know Magneto is."
"We are going to stop you."
"What, you and those children? I hardly think…"
"Those children managed to find your Facility and cause enough damage to make you destroy it," Charles angrily returned.
Sinister looked out into the night, "Yes, that was my biggest mistake. I underestimated them, as I did you." Sinister stood up, he pulled out a gun. "Well, that is about to change." He quickly shot the hybrid. Charles pulled out just as the bullet penetrated the brain of the hybrid.
He gasped, and shook his head as he returned his consciousness to his body. "Charles," Erik said, "What happened?"
Charles took in a deep breath. "I'm afraid all the kings' horses can not help Humpty." He pointed up. "Sinister is up there, with Centurion and several of his Marauders. They're waiting for…dear god, I have to warn Beast."
As he made contact he found that Beast was still running to where the plane had landed.
"Beast," Charles said. "You are not alone. Centurion said he has a double on your side, he's been told to bring our plane to the Facility."
"I totally forgot about them," Beast admitted. "Don't worry Professor. I'll be there in ten minutes. Let's hope I made the plane's controls complicated enough to keep them busy until I get there to stop them."
"Be careful Beast. I've seen what Centurion is capable of, his doubles are just as dangerous as he is, good luck."
Looking at Charles, Magneto knew he was speaking to Beast. Seconds later he saw his attention on him now. "You were saying."
"Yes, Sinister is waiting for our plane to arrive to help him escape. Apparently Centurion has a double trapped on the other side of the blocked gap. Did you forget to tell me something?" Charles looked to his X-men.
"Well, we've been busy," Havok sheepishly said. "I totally forgot all about them."
"Yes, and apparently so did Beast. Sinister is going to guard those missile silos until our plane arrives to pick him up. He has them scheduled to take off ten minutes before the bomb's take down the Facility."
"That leaves us less than thirty five minutes," Magneto said.
"Yes, less than forty five minutes to find a way to the top, stop Sinister and fly out of here before the bombs explode."
Magneto winked at Charles, "Charles, give me something difficult." He took a step to the doorway. "Let's go, we've had enough time to rest."
They all slowly stood up. Cyclops felt like a giant bruise. He had to have hit every stair as he was dragged up. Havok and Banshee didn't look any better. He knew they had to feel as bad as he did, but they all had to dig deep. The only way they were going to get out of here alive, was to keep together.