Chapter Eight

The Blackbird landed just inside the border of Colorado. Dreamer had given them all the location Rogue had given him before they left.

Aura looked around the deserted meadow, hands on her hips. "So where is this place?" she asked. Jean smiled tolerantly. "It's nearby, Aura. Underground, actually. Dreamer's directions were very precise. We're almost there."

They walked for five minutes before coming up to what looked like a watershed. Aura was fidgeting with the collar of her uniform, playing with the zip. When they reached the "watershed" she spoke up.

"I think we should spilt up. Make it easier to find them," she said with an apologetic glance at Scott. He nodded. "Good idea. Groups of no less than two. Logan and Chantelle, Jean, Storm and Jubilee, me and Aura. That okay?"

They all nodded, knowing why they'd been paired up that way. Strengths bolstering weaknesses to make them a more formidable team.

The door was locked with an electronic keypad. Aura glanced at Scott for permission before stepping forward and kneeling down in front of it. She studied it for a few seconds, then held her hand a few centimeters away from the keys. A flickering white light like electricity crackled from her fingers and danced over the keys. Aura closed her eyes and the indicator went green. There was a click and the door slid open.

Aura stood up and grinned. "We're in."

They entered the watershed, which was actually an elevator. There were three levels of the base, each one deep underground. Scott said, "each team take one level. Logan, you and Chantelle get the first one. Jean, Storm and Jubilee, take second. Aura and I will take third."

The doors slid open on level 1 and Logan and Chantelle exited the lift. They clicked on their communicators and began to walk down the dim corridor, sticking to the shadows.

"Logan!" Chantelle hissed. "Should I turn invisible?"

"Better not. I won't be able to see you," Logan replied, sniffing the air for a trace of the four captives. Chantelle nodded assent and they kept moving, Logan ready to slide his claws out in a microsecond.

Jean, Storm and Jubilee got off on the second level. Jean scanned for any presence with her telepathy, but she couldn't feel anyone close by. Storm and Jubilee watched her back as they went deeper into the base, scanning for their friends.

Scott and Aura descended to the third level. Aura shivered slightly when the door hissed open and the mildly colder air raised goosebumps on her skin. Scott asked, "are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Let's get this done."

"We should try to find the central computer. There'd be security cameras and monitors there. We need to knock those out, and we might be able to find the others from there."

Aura nodded. "Okay. Lead the way fearless leader."

Scott half-turned to look at her. "Have you been talking to Logan?"

"Yep."

Scott shook his head as they continued to walk.

@ @ @

Sabrina's walkie-talkie buzzed. She picked it up and hissed, "what?"

"Security has been breached, Sabrina. What are your orders?"

Sabrina felt a shiver of joy at those words. This was her command. Damien had put her in charge of this mission, trusted her to make sure it went off without a hitch. And now Draconia was asking for her orders.

"Leave a guard at both rooms, Draconia. Preferably Rachel and Kylie. Then take Dusk and Lukas and go to Level 1. The wolf-man and the invisible girl are there. Send Jennie, Rebecca and Prowler to deal with the telepath, the weather goddess and the firecracker. I'll join Discordia on Level 3 to deal with Cyclops and Aura."

"Will do. Over and out."

Sabrina walked over to the wall communicator and keyed up Discordia's quarters. The metallic girl answered almost immediately.

"Yes, Sabrina?"

"Are you ready?"

"Of course. I'll meet you on Level 3 and we can have some fun," Discordia said, smirking. Sabrina broke the connection.

She turned to her closet. The outfit she was wearing wasn't really practical for combat, so she grabbed a new outfit and changed. She was about to leave the room when her communicator buzzed again. This time it was Damien.

"You heading off, Sabrina?"

"Yep. Discordia's gonna meet me on Level 3."

"You really want to take on Cyclops and Aura?"

"My lasers work better than his optic blasts, Damien, and we did have this place fitted so no mutant power can destroy it. Besides, I have the fun part of this mission. I'll be fine."

"All right. Just be careful."

"Always am. See ya later."

@ @ @

Solitaire and Dreamer were watching TV in the infirmary when Raptor stirred. She sat up slowly, rubbing her temples.

"Damn, Dreamer, you couldn't have yelled a little less loudly when you were in my dream?" she asked teasingly. Dreamer jumped up and hugged her. "It's 'bout tahme ya woke up," he chided. "Even Remy don' sleep in as long as y'all did."

Raptor grinned. "Thanks for coming and getting me, Dreamer. I don't think I would have had the strength to face Damien if you hadn't been there."

She noticed Solitaire and smiled. "Hey. Haven't seen you around. Are you new here?"

"Storm brought me here," Solitaire replied. "I don't know if I'm staying yet. I don't actually know what the whole deal with this place is. There was some emergency and the others left in a jet."

Raptor nodded. "The Blackbird, yeah. Is that where Bobby went? Cause he said he'd be here, but I understand if there's trouble."

"Actually, Bobby went to bring your parents back," Dreamer said. Raptor's eyes widened. "He found them?"

Dreamer nodded. "He called while ya were sleepin', a little after Ah got inta ya dream. They should be here in a couple hours."

Raptor frowned. "So where are the others? Is something wrong?"

Dreamer sighed. "Rogue, Remy, Kurt and Kitty were captured by Damien's people," he replied. Raptor looked alarmed. "They are gonna be okay, right?"

"If th' X-Men have anythin' ta do with it, yeah," Dreamer assured her. "Don' worry, they won' let anythin' happen ta th'others."

"I know, it's just… you guys are the closest I've come to a family since I was sent to live with Richard. I don't want to lose you. Any of you," Raptor said. She grinned suddenly. "You wanna go raid the kitchen? I'm starving!"

"Ah don' know, ya maht still be a l'il weak. Ya have been in a coma f' th' past three months, ya know," Dreamer cautioned. Raptor sighed. "Then will you go get me something to eat? I'm so hungry I could eat a horse."

"I'll go," Solitaire volunteered, standing up. "You want anything in particular?"

"If there's banana-flavoured milk down there I claim it," Raptor replied. "Other than that I'm not picky. But don't bring me any of Logan's pizza."

"F' two reasons," Dreamer said, chuckling, "he gets really pissed if ya eat his pizza, an' he lahkes the weirdest things on pizza."

"Like avocado," Raptor said, shuddering. "When we were on the road he actually tried to get me and Jubes to eat avocado pizza. We had to threaten him with candy highs before he'd stop."

Solitaire grinned. "Okay then. Dreamer, you want anything?"

"Ah'm not really hungry, Solitaire," the blue-haired Southerner replied. Solitaire nodded and headed to the kitchen.

Raptor pulled her hair out of the two braids it was done in and started brushing it. "So what's been happening?" she asked. "I want all the news. I've missed what, three months of gossip? I've got serious catching up to do."

Dreamer laughed. "An' ta think we were worried ya wouldn't be yaself," he teased. Raptor chuckled and kept brushing her hair. She stopped after a few minutes and said, "I'm gonna go shower. And before you say anything, I'll be fine and I don't need any help."

"Interestin' image, Raptor, but Ah'm not interested," Dreamer said, smiling at the innocent look on Raptor's face. She suddenly asked, "are you and Jubes together finally? It took you long enough!"

"Ah told Jubes ya knew 'bout us ever since we started sneakin' out ta th' pool, but she refused to believe me," Dreamer said, chuckling. "Ah think she didn't want ta think she'd been so obvious."

"Everyone knew you two were sweet on each other," Raptor chided. "It's almost as obvious as Kurt and Kitty. Come on, if they could show it in front of everyone why not you two? I mean, you've never hidden much from the others and Jubes is… well, Jubes."

Dreamer laughed, but his expression had darkened. "Ya right 'bout Jubes not hidin' much," he said. "Ah think Ah know more 'bout her than she does."

Solitaire returned just then. He handed Raptor the banana milk and put the rest of the stuff on the bedside table, along with a long-stemmed white rose from the garden. "These were in a vase in the kitchen, and you're supposed to bring flowers to sick people, so I figured why not," he said. Raptor smiled. "Thanks. I always liked white roses better than red ones."

She stretched her arms above her head and said, "I'm gonna go take that shower. If I'm not back in half an hour I jumped out the window and am on my way to Timbucktoo."

@ @ @

Chantelle glanced behind her apprehensively. "Logan?"

"Wait a second."

She looked around again, trying to stop the shiver that seemed determined to crawl up her spine. "Logan."

"Hold on, Chantelle."

Chantelle finally lost patience. "Logan, will you just listen to me!" she snapped. He turned and blinked at her. She was hovering a few centimeters off the ground, arms crossed and her hair a mixture of cherry-red, orange and yellow.

"Logan, I think I heard something. There's something not right about all this," she said, the red in her hair giving way to orange and yellow. Logan sniffed and growled, "you're right. There's someone nearby."

Chantelle's eyes widened just as a blow sent Logan reeling. He crashed into the wall and watched, stunned for a moment, as the teenager hurtled past him and attacked the three mutants standing in the corridor.

Logan recognised two of them as Dusk and Draconia, two of the mutants they'd fought before. The other was a guy who looked about twenty-five, with close-cropped white-blonde hair and glittering blue eyes. There was nothing really remarkable about him until you noticed the stiletto claws on his fingers, a lot like Logan's adamantium claws, and the spiked tail lashing behind him.

Chantelle sent Draconia flying with strength that the other girl hadn't expected. By that time Logan was on his feet again and taking on Dusk while the other man hung back a little, watching them fight as if gauging their power.

Chantelle suddenly flickered out of view. Logan could track her by her scent but it was hard. He's have to hope that she was smart enough to stay out of the way of his claws.

Meanwhile, back on Level 2, Jean, Storm and Jubilee were embroiled in combat with Jennie, Prowler and Rebecca.

Jean threw Jennie away from Jubilee with a telekinesis blast, but the other mutant was on her feet again in seconds. Prowler rammed Jean against the wall, stunning her and rendering her helpless to aid Storm and Aura.

Jennie didn't so much fight as dance around singing something extremely annoying that made Jean, Storm and Jubilee lose concentration. Which was certainly her aim, and probably her power. Every time she moved they felt a wave of sickness, as if they were standing at the top of a huge cliff and looked down.

Rebecca's power seemed to consist of throwing Storm away from her with weak telekinesis powers and launching sticky cables like spiderwebs at her from her fingertips. Most of them missed, since Storm had dodged them, but a few clung to her arms and legs, hindering her movement. Rebecca and Prowler were careful not to look at Jennie, but they didn't seem affected by her singing.

On Level 3, things were not looking good. Discordia's shapeshifting ability allowed her to move away fluidly when parts of her body were threatened, either by Scott's optic blasts or the knife Scott didn't know Aura had concealed in her boot. Aura had made illusions of herself and Scott in other parts of the hall, but the two mutants they faced didn't appear to be fooled.

Sabrina ducked out of the way of an optic blast and laughed. "Nice blast, Scott. Wanna see mine?"

Red beams shot out of her eyes and lanced towards Cyclops. He dodged aside, but the blast caught his left shoulder, a glancing blow that threw him backwards but didn't do much real harm. The laser beam dissipated against the white tile wall, leaving a black scorch mark. Sabrina grinned. "Optic blasts versus laser blasts. Which do you think would win, Scotty?"

Aura dodged Discordia's bladed hand and sunk her knife into the metal girl's right arm. Discordia screamed and yanked her arm away, leaving a wound that oozed blue-black blood. She hissed and morphed into what looked like a Gorgon from Greek myths — the snake-haired women whose gaze could turn a man, or woman, to stone. Discordia's Gorgon appearance lacked that ability, but it was perfectly capable of combat.

Discordia lunged at Aura and locked hands around her throat. Aura tore at Discordia's hands with her fingernails, even stabbed the knife into the other girl's hands and fingers, but Discordia held on until Aura collapsed from oxygen starvation. The metal girl looked at the limp figure on the ground, throat bruised and face pale, then turned to help Sabrina fight Scott.

Scott had seen Aura go down out of the corner of his eye. He desperately wanted to check on the girl, see if she was still alive, but Sabrina and Discordia kept him engaged in battle. Sabrina finally said, "enough. The others will be coming soon."

Discordia morphed into a perfect copy of Rogue and pulled off her gloves. She reached out to Scott and touched his face with one bare hand. Scott gasped as his energy began to flow out of him and into her. He hadn't thought Discordia could take on another mutants' abilities when she morphed, but this was proof that she could. The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was Rogue's face with a smirk that looked disturbingly out of place.

TBC. In Chapter Nine, Aura and Scott get hurt. The X-Women kick ass. Raptor, Dreamer and Solitaire realise that this mission may not be as straightforward as it seems…