Ch. 30 – Strike
"Fort Carroll, Maryland. If my history serves me correctly, it was the key to Baltimore Harbor after they discontinued using Fort McHenry as first line of defense. Never really used, and eventually abandoned. Only accessible by water or air; no land connection. This is going to be one tough nut to crack." Said Slash, intellegently.
"Vhy vould the government give Freedom Force a base like dat?"
"It's simple Kurt. Give mutants a base where they can be left and not go into the normal human population all that easily. Takes a lot for them to get off the island unless they can fly or swim well." Slash thought for a second. "We're gonna need some boats, cause I'm in on this one. I know where we can get some…"
Within three hours, they managed to purchase (using Xavier's mass millions) two inflatable rigid bottom zodiacs. Slash had placed an order (after he met Magneto) for a Glock 9mm handgun that was made of plastic and fired non-metallic plastic rounds. True, they were not as effective as the normal metal rounds; they still could deal damage to Magneto, which was Slash's goal. The teams struggled and loaded them up into slings that hung beneath the Blackbird. Slash wished Wolverine hadn't left them like that, because Slash really needed his fighting ability now. But they would have to make do without him.
The Blackbird was a bit more sluggish due to the cargo strapped to the underbelly. Slash planned to drop the Zodiacs in the water next to the Bethlehem Steel Yards, land the plane there as well, and hop in the boats for a short transit to Fort Carroll.
"Ah, Mystique my dear, is everyone set?" Asked Magneto. She looked around at Sabertooth, Pyro, Destiny, Avalanche, Toad and the Blob. She turned back to Magneto.
"We are a go to entrap the X-Men." A grin spread across her face.
"Excellent. Have everyone else get back to watching for the X-Men. Walk with me Mystique." She joined Magneto walking around the paraphet.
"Destiny says that they will come in by boat." Magneto stopped and gazed out at the Francis Scott Key Bridge, and then an incoming freighter.
"I find this wonderful Mystique that you are safe from prosecution and the United States government is funding your entire operation, and soon we will have the X-Men out of the picture and able to do what we want. I'm glad to see that the Freedom Force still has their ties to the old Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and is available in their spare time." Magneto grinned. Destiny approached them.
"They come…"
Slash piloted one of the Zodiacs that held Psylocke, Gambit, Rogue and Shadowcat (X-Recon), while Beast piloted the other with Nightcrawler, Storm, Archangel, Jean Grey, and Iceman (X-Strike) towards Fort Carroll. Slash directed Beast for them to climb over the wall and not tie up at the main boat dock behind the fort. Storm volunteered for an aerial reconnaissance over the walls of the fort. Slash reluctantly let her go because he needed all the information possible on where the members of Freedom Force were. They secured the boats, and watched as Storm came over the wall. All of a sudden, a beam came from inside the fort, and Storm fell from the sky. They heard her body hit the ground with a soft thud, not normal for an adult female. Slash drew his Glock, and radioed them to enter the fort, and proceed with caution. Slash didn't want to lose everyone else as they had with Storm. He wanted Magneto. He left the team behind to enter through the main gates of the fort. He heard the beam fire multiple times and assumed much of the team was neutralized like Storm. So he slowly flew up on top of the parapet and a appalling site greeted him.
The entire team has been zapped unconscious by a gun in the center of the fort. Not only were they unconscious, but they were shrunk down to a smaller size, like the size of a Barbie doll. Slash saw Magneto, but knew he was seriously outgunned. He holstered the pistol, and did something a SEAL is not normally known for…he surrendered.
"Magneto…I give up to you." Magneto cocked an eyebrow and chuckled.
"And do you expect me to give you some parlay? Shoot him." Toad, who was behind the ray gun quickly swiveled it around, and fired at Slash. Slash was counting on the fact that Magneto wouldn't shrink him, so he tried to fly and launch an aerial attack. But Toad was to fast for him. He quickly adjusted the angle and shot down the mutant ex-Navy SEAL. The stun ray felt much like the one the Sentinel shot him with. As Slash was falling to the ground, shrinking, he heard Magneto utter something.
"Foolish mutant. Foolish Xavier. You see Charles? You were the bait and they took it. Now, the world is mine… "