Gateway adjusted his headset and frowned as he looked at the blueprints of the building. His specialty was the opening of doors, safes, anything that was an entrance or held something he could usually get into. His computer alerted him to a code protected door. "Angel, door coming up. Psylocke, do you see it yet?"
She turned around, they were over the wall now, more woods on the other side. She didn't see a door, and frowned as Ororo repacked her grappling gun. "No. Be more specific." Bishop tapped a few keys and transposed the map of the building with the tracking grid. The entrance was actually behind them, in the wall they climbed over.
"Behind you." He said into his headset. Psylocke smiled as the faint outline became clear.
"Roger."
"It's Bishop." Storm groaned at the bad joke as she stepped forward to look at the lock. It was a combination lock, simple, but she had a feeling it wasn't what it seemed.
"Gateway, what do you make of this lock?" She asked, resisting the urge to touch it until she had more information.
"It's connected to the matrix, so don't touch it. You have to have the password." He typed quickly, brow furrowed as he coaxed the code from his computer.
"You know, I liked that movie." Shard said as she scanned for weapons. Iceman smiled and nodded, slipping on some music onto the ear that was unoccupied. The faint strains of Filter wafted through the air and Angel rolled his eyes.
"Still haven't gotten a new CD?"
"Mad because your wife picks out all of your music?" They both laughed and waited.
"Got it." Gateway clapped and laughed. "RG24, then simultaneously press the M and 5 key. It should open." Storm did it and it swung open slowly. Wolverine covered them as they went in, his gun trained on what seemed to be the quiet woods behind them, but he wasn't taking any chances.
"You getting this Cable?" Polaris asked, brow furrowed in thought as she peered at her screen.
"Those blips?"
"Yep."
"As clear as day. Any idea what they are? I have a feeling they're surveillance. Double check." She nodded although he was over 200 miles away and started tapping furiously, smiling as she achieved her results.
"Cameras. A lot of them. They also check ID. Every other one has a retinal scan." She winced.
"Hey, watch out for the motion sensors. I just picked them up." Cannonball said, turning down his music as he became more serious. "Two laser beams between each camera. It might be tricky to bring them down without alerting the main computer. I wonder who they have manned."
"I have a feeling it's Kitty…" Silver Samurai said as he noticed someone logged into the computer network of the building. "I guess it's my turn to do something."
"What, you'll distract? Perhaps Cable and I can get the positions of the motion sensors while Polaris gets rid of the electronic eyes." Shard frowned as she glanced at her brother's computer, and entered in the location of the three people who were holding position right inside the large door.
Cannonball raised an eyebrow and grabbed the mouthpiece of his headset. "Hey guys, close the door. We had about thirty seconds until a silent alarm would have woken up everyone." The warning light that was blinking in a window that popped up closed itself, the threat no longer there.
"Is it safe to go on?" Wolverine asked, anxious to move on. Standing in one place with no exits made him nervous.
"Yes. Shard, will you marry me?" Cable joked as they shut down all of the motion detectors, convincing the master computer they were still operational.
"You'll have to ask my brother." She laughed, planting a loop algorithm. It ensured that no one would break through the shield as they walked through. "Polaris, how goes the cameras?"
"Gone." She pressed enter and they shut down, freezing on two seconds of film, all empty hallways, going into the files and erasing all hints of their arrival. Kitty raised a chestnut eyebrow at her screen and ran a diagnostic on the system. Everything looked fine except one blatant intruder.
^And you are?^
^ShadowCat, it's been ages.^
^Who are you?^
^We never met, but I've heard about you. You're the one who thinks she's better than she actually is. Am I correct?^
^Go to hell.^ Her temper started to rage, and she stared at the screen, waiting for the next thing the stupid little shit would say. Damn wanna be hackers.
^No thank you. I like it here actually. So what are you doing?^
^Do you know I'll have your exact position in about three seconds, and I'll send someone to kill you? Leave.^ She bluffed, bringing up a subroutine to trace his satellite trail. It would take more than three seconds, but she would kill him.
^You don't scare me. You know what's worse than a hacker that's lost their mojo? A hacker that went Benedict. You're an anti hacker.^ Kitty seethed at the last comment, and picked up her cell phone. After one ring the head of security picked up.
"What is it Ms. Pryde?"
"I'm positive we have intruders."
"You said that last week."
"But I have proof." She smiled smugly as she received information from the cloaked motion sensor in the west wall hall. "Send men, and don't hesitate to shoot on sight."
*
"Well, we just sit back and wait. They'll need us in about ten minutes. For now it's clear sailing. The system is sleeping like a baby." Silver Samurai said into his headset as he reclined in his chair.
"Well, look what we have here." Angel mused as he tapped on his keyboard.
"What?" Cannonball asked, tweaking a detonator in his hands.
"I think I stumbled onto a numbered account in Zurich." He smiled as he hacked deeper.
"Ooh…money. Whose and where?" Forge asked, keeping an eye on the whole matrix.
"Well, it most definitely belongs to the Society, but it seems to be protected and named as an offshoot of a government account."
"Wait wait wait. So the government is working with the Society?" Storm asked, half surprised, half not. She was able to tune out the pointless conversation with relative ease, but sometimes words caught her attention.
"Oh yeah. Who do you think financed Gulf War?" Cannonball interjected, shaking his head.
"Your government is quite corrupt." Gateway commented. Everyone gave a weak laugh, except him and Silver Samurai, who laughed hard.
*
"Log on "Captain". Then you'll see it for yourself. We have infiltrators." Captain Cain Marko sighed and brought up one of the computers on the base matrix. Clicking on the icon to check the stats of the sensors and cameras he tripped an alarm on the hard drive of Iceman's computer.
"Freeze!" he yelled laughing, pressed delete, alt, and X at the same time. Cable smiled slightly as he heard him. Always sounded like a little kid playing cop.
"What in the hell?" Kitty groaned with exasperation as she pushed Cain out of the way of the computer. "What happened?" He asked her, moving the mouse around.
"You idiot. It's frozen…wait a minute." An involuntary screensaver appeared, the scrolling words, "freeze loser" repeating itself. "Someone's playing with us. People are here. That's Iceman's work."
"Iceman?"
"Don't worry about it. I want men in that west wall hall. Now." She turned to go back to her laptop.
"Whatever. But I still want to check the stats. Let's just turn off the computer and restart. It should be gone." Marko switched off the surge protector and flicked it back on. Nothing happened. He looked back at Kitty in confusion. She had her head in her hands, shaking her head.
"You are such an idiot. You know what, if you don't get men into that hall like I told you, you'll lose more than your life." He became defensive.
"You know what, I outrank you." Marko reminded her.
"And I know more about computers than you'll ever know. Get your men out there or it will be too late. If you want to explain to Xavier how you let this happen, be my guest." He left, and she bit her lip. Her laptop was the only computer left still functioning on the base matrix, isolated from the vulnerabilities of the desktops, connected to the network. She should ask for help, but she worked better alone.
*
"I think we have movement. I rerouted the data gathering program for the motion sensors to my computer, and many people are coming to their position." Cable frowned. "I count eight."
"Well bye bye to them." Polaris shrugged and stretched.
*
"Shh…I hear people." Logan said, holding up his hand. Storm slowed her breathing and listened. Soon a small footfall could be heard echoing against the walls, then joined by many others. A group of people was coming closer. "Ready?" He asked the women, quelling the need to tell Ororo to run.
"Ready." Pyslocke took out her daggers and crouched in a defensive position. Storm had eased into a slightly laid back pose, but upon closer inspection, her whole body was taut with anticipation. The steps became closer, and they could make out conversation.
"I don't know why they interrupted us. We're the most powerful group of people in the world. Who in the hell would be stupid enough to attack us at home?" Someone laughed and Storm's eyes narrowed. They turned the corner and never had a chance.
Two were down by Psylocke's hand alone, daggers sticking out of their foreheads. Wolverine grabbed one and shoved his nose into his brain matter, the body sinking to the ground wetly. Storm surprised one and grabbed his hand, kicking him in the armpit while wrenching his arm. It popped and went limp with a scream, and she let go, spinning around and giving him a swift kick to his temple with the thick heel of her boot. He was dead before he hit the ground.
They made short work of the rest, and carefully stepped over bodies. "Anymore coming?" Wolverine asked, jazzed at the short battle that just took place. He retrieved the bomb he dropped into a corner, planning on getting it back when the men were all down.
"Not so far, but don't even think that will be the last." Polaris said, looking for more cameras.
"Okay people. Storm, do you see a row of four doors to your left?" She turned and frowned.
"No."
"Your other left."
"Now I do."
"What kind of lock? It's not showing up on my computer." He had a sinking feeling as the silence stretched for a couple of seconds more.
"Retinal."
"Damn." Bishop started typing furiously, an idea coming to him. He spliced his network into the matrix, leaving it open for attack for a moment. Kitty saw this and started typing quickly. Slip a little virus in, quickly, time's running out. "Shard, her computer!" He barked, losing time trying to cover his ass and graft his computer onto the matrix.
Shard sighed and started typing. "I never did like Kitty." She smiled softly and delivered a small package. "Logic bombs away…." She hit enter.
"What in the…" Kitty looked on in horror as her data was consumed and taken. "No…oh please no…." She tried to protect the rest, but the base matrix didn't have the capabilities to protect her and itself. It was confused and it locked her out, while someone mangled her data. Kitty sniffed, and groaned. Shard, it could only be Shard. The hard drive was actually melting inside her computer. Running behind the desk in the far corner the computer exploded, sending shards flying through the air. One hit Kitty in the back, stabbing her with such force she was knocked to the floor. Her eyes clouded over and fluttered shut.
*
"I'm in! We've got the entire matrix at our fingertips. Uploading it to Forge's computer." Bishop smiled as he did the necessary commands. Angel laughed as well. "What did you do?"
"I just found 75 billion dollars. Oh what to do what to do." He put it in another numbered account in Grand Cayman Banc, to decide what would be done with it later.
Forge smiled as the data streamed by him. "Gateway, you getting this? Unlock everything."
"Gotcha." With the password and every door at his disposal, a flip of a switch took off any and all alarms, rendering them useless. The door in front of Storm opened on it's own, and they ducked through quickly, running down the hall.
Polaris and Cable disabled the cameras along the way, while Cannonball kept his eyes out for anyone coming.
"Guards! Ten this time." He said, almost jumping up and down with excitement. Wolverine met one with his hands out, enclosing his fist around his throat as he crushed his larynx. Snapping his neck he moved on to the next. Storm leaped into the air and slammed her foot into someone's chest, stopping his heart on impact.
Psylocke had spread her fan, slicing people in the throat as they came at her. In less than three minutes everyone was dead, and three panting people where left. "How much longer to the inner sanctum?" The inner sanctum was where the bomb was to be planted, where the Society held their meetings.
"You'll reach it soon, but it depends on how many guards you encounter between now and the door." Cable frowned. "Someone pulled up. Bald guy, followed by a blond. All the way on North Gate."
"Sounds like Xavier." Psylocke muttered, and instantly regretted it when she saw Storm's head whip around.
"He's here? Now?"
"Look. We get in and set the bomb, and get out!" Wolverine hissed. But he knew she wasn't listening. The empty, angry look in her eyes told him she wouldn't be satisfied until she caused that man to spill his blood all over the concrete.
"Of course." She said, and they started moving. Turning the corner a lone guard was caught unawares as Psylocke rent the air in front of his neck with her blades, and they were gone as he hit the ground, holding his open throat.