Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I making any money from, the X-Men
characters. Thanks also to my good friend Corrinth for the use of the
character Ilehana Xavier.
A/N: All reviews most definitely welcome! I have to decide if I should do a sequel or not!
Scene Fifteen
For a second, both mutant girls lay still, breathing heavily. On the jet, the other X-Men listened carefully. Then came the sound of a grate being pulled shut, and everyone from Kurt to Logan breathed a sigh of relief.
"We are in. Vixen, the cameras." Blaze's voice was heavy with the adrenaline. Wolverine could tell she was enjoying this. Sort of.
"Done, Blaze. And good luck." Ilehana signed off for the time being.
"You ready?" Blaze asked Rogue, and the younger girl nodded. Rogue didn't feel particularly ready, but it wasn't going to get any easier if they just sat here. "Good."
Blaze lead the way though the exterior wall of the building, crawling on hands and knees with heads ducked to avoid the low roof. She was, for the first time, glad of the uniform. It allowed her much more freedom of movement than she'd had during her last visit to these tubules. Keeping her concentration was proving to be difficult though, her head was pounding like someone was knocking, trying to get in. And every room they passed on the first floor had a vent in it, a window into the world in which Rem had been transported. Gritting her teeth Blaze kept up the pace. One step at a time. Secure your exits. Get control first. The look for what you came for. Without knowing it, Blaze started to recite the familiar thieves' mantras that Gambit had taught her so long ago...
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"How long are we going to have to wait?" Sal was asking questions again, whilst toying uneasily with his precious revolver.
"How long is a piece of string?" Jacobi replied, trying to keep his voice neutral.
"Blaze will be in the building now, securin' the exits, waitin' for her back-up." Remy shut his unusual eyes tightly; his head was throbbing like there was no tomorrow. "If she can, she will be in the computers. She'll wanna know what personnel you've got here."
"Then why aren't we picking her up?" Sal asked incredulously.
"Because we don't need to, my dear friend." Jacobi's words were through gritted teeth. "She is here after our Remy. If we go for her now, she will alert the X-Men and they will leave. If we wait, all of them will come to us."
On the edge of Gambit's hearing, he could almost make out a girl saying something about door locks. There was the click of an adaptor being put into a computer port. He looked around at the others in the room, but no one else seemed to be hearing anything unusual. The conversation carried on without him, leaving him wondering how he could hear such quiet sounds over Crush's bellowed threats at Sal van Hyre.
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"The door's locked." Slight panic was detectable in Rogue's voice. Blaze smiled at her reassuringly then turned back to put the grill back in place.
"It's okay. It's supposed to be locked. All the locks in this side of the building are computer controlled via this mainframe." Blaze slotted her palmtop adaptor into the computer terminal, before freezing. "Can you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Rogue's whisper took on a more urgent tone. The blank look on her face confused Blaze all the more.
"Never mind, I just thought I heard a man shouting, that's all." She turned back to load up the security systems on her small computer. "Maybe this earpiece is picking up TV signals or something."
"Not possible." Scott's voice over the radio. "Are you in yet Blaze?"
"Am now." Blaze grimaced as she looked at the computer screen, "Wish Jacobi would upgrade this ancient system."
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Beep beep! Beep beep! Beep beep!
The tamper alarm went off in Jacobi's office again. It came as a welcome relief to Sal van Hyre who was flinching away from the giant Crush as Electra came to stand behind her fellow mutant. Everybody froze.
"That's your little minx, Gambit." Electra smiled sweetly at the man.
"How could you tell?" Remy quipped back unsmiling.
"Even the alarm was calling out 'Remy Remy!'"
"That's not funny Electra." Jacobi stepped in front of the woman, stopping Gambit from getting any closer to hitting her. "And Remy, do remember who your new friends are."
"This is ridiculous," Mystique's many voices chimed in. "You people can't even talk to each other without resorting to violence. How do you expect to beat the X-Men if you can't work together?"
"That's what we pay those men out there for, Mystique." Sal obviously had had enough of anybody who claimed mutant brotherhood. "We tell them what to do, we don't fight ourselves!"
"You are a fool if you think that that will be enough against the X-Men." Mystique continued.
"That's enough!" Jacobi yelled before Sal could think of a reply. "We are well prepared and we WILL win today! Now all of you wait like good children and let me THINK!"
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Ilehana, Blaze, you ready to seal off the lockdown corridor?" Cyclops was almost enjoying this mission. He hadn't expected that. The control, the adrenaline, waiting for the call to move in, it was a better rush than the alcohol. He hadn't even thought of Jean for a while.
"I'm ready." Ilehana sat, back to the computer mainframe and facing the doors with her tiny palmtop waiting for her command.
"Me too," Blaze was standing, but also poised to act.
"On my mark." Scott counted down. "Three, two, one!"
"Lockdown compete." Two female voices chimed back across the radio. Next to him, Ororo breathed a sigh of relief. At least now no ordinary people would get hurt.
"What's next?" Bobby asked, leaning on Storm's chair to see the implements and read outs on the jet's control panel.
"Next, we lockout as many of Jacobi's troops as possible." Cyclops commentated.
"Aww, do we have to?" Wolverine commented, and received a grin from Nightcrawler in return.
"Its done Cyclops." Blaze announced. "And the camera's on the roof are frozen so get your backsides in here, we don't have long before somebody spots that all the doors are locked!"
"We're already taking off." Storm informed her friend, just as the jet took a lurch and entered the air.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Rogue paced the tiny room anxiously. She kept hearing people marching past the door, she was certain that any second someone would open the door and find them.
"Relax Rogue, the door is in my control only now, nobody from the outside can open it." Blaze was already inside the camera image bank, scanning for any sign of her old friend.
"How did you know that's what I was thinkin'?"
"Lucky guess?"
Rogue paced the floor for a few more seconds, tugging at the gloves on her fingers. At Blaze's exclamation she stopped and went to lean over her friend's shoulder.
"There! Remy has just left Jacobi's office, alone! Scott where the hell are you!"
The whir of the jet landing on the roof answered the question before Cyclops had time too. On board the plane, Wolverine let his adimantium claws slip out through his knuckles. This was going to be fun...
A/N: All reviews most definitely welcome! I have to decide if I should do a sequel or not!
Scene Fifteen
For a second, both mutant girls lay still, breathing heavily. On the jet, the other X-Men listened carefully. Then came the sound of a grate being pulled shut, and everyone from Kurt to Logan breathed a sigh of relief.
"We are in. Vixen, the cameras." Blaze's voice was heavy with the adrenaline. Wolverine could tell she was enjoying this. Sort of.
"Done, Blaze. And good luck." Ilehana signed off for the time being.
"You ready?" Blaze asked Rogue, and the younger girl nodded. Rogue didn't feel particularly ready, but it wasn't going to get any easier if they just sat here. "Good."
Blaze lead the way though the exterior wall of the building, crawling on hands and knees with heads ducked to avoid the low roof. She was, for the first time, glad of the uniform. It allowed her much more freedom of movement than she'd had during her last visit to these tubules. Keeping her concentration was proving to be difficult though, her head was pounding like someone was knocking, trying to get in. And every room they passed on the first floor had a vent in it, a window into the world in which Rem had been transported. Gritting her teeth Blaze kept up the pace. One step at a time. Secure your exits. Get control first. The look for what you came for. Without knowing it, Blaze started to recite the familiar thieves' mantras that Gambit had taught her so long ago...
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"How long are we going to have to wait?" Sal was asking questions again, whilst toying uneasily with his precious revolver.
"How long is a piece of string?" Jacobi replied, trying to keep his voice neutral.
"Blaze will be in the building now, securin' the exits, waitin' for her back-up." Remy shut his unusual eyes tightly; his head was throbbing like there was no tomorrow. "If she can, she will be in the computers. She'll wanna know what personnel you've got here."
"Then why aren't we picking her up?" Sal asked incredulously.
"Because we don't need to, my dear friend." Jacobi's words were through gritted teeth. "She is here after our Remy. If we go for her now, she will alert the X-Men and they will leave. If we wait, all of them will come to us."
On the edge of Gambit's hearing, he could almost make out a girl saying something about door locks. There was the click of an adaptor being put into a computer port. He looked around at the others in the room, but no one else seemed to be hearing anything unusual. The conversation carried on without him, leaving him wondering how he could hear such quiet sounds over Crush's bellowed threats at Sal van Hyre.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"The door's locked." Slight panic was detectable in Rogue's voice. Blaze smiled at her reassuringly then turned back to put the grill back in place.
"It's okay. It's supposed to be locked. All the locks in this side of the building are computer controlled via this mainframe." Blaze slotted her palmtop adaptor into the computer terminal, before freezing. "Can you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Rogue's whisper took on a more urgent tone. The blank look on her face confused Blaze all the more.
"Never mind, I just thought I heard a man shouting, that's all." She turned back to load up the security systems on her small computer. "Maybe this earpiece is picking up TV signals or something."
"Not possible." Scott's voice over the radio. "Are you in yet Blaze?"
"Am now." Blaze grimaced as she looked at the computer screen, "Wish Jacobi would upgrade this ancient system."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Beep beep! Beep beep! Beep beep!
The tamper alarm went off in Jacobi's office again. It came as a welcome relief to Sal van Hyre who was flinching away from the giant Crush as Electra came to stand behind her fellow mutant. Everybody froze.
"That's your little minx, Gambit." Electra smiled sweetly at the man.
"How could you tell?" Remy quipped back unsmiling.
"Even the alarm was calling out 'Remy Remy!'"
"That's not funny Electra." Jacobi stepped in front of the woman, stopping Gambit from getting any closer to hitting her. "And Remy, do remember who your new friends are."
"This is ridiculous," Mystique's many voices chimed in. "You people can't even talk to each other without resorting to violence. How do you expect to beat the X-Men if you can't work together?"
"That's what we pay those men out there for, Mystique." Sal obviously had had enough of anybody who claimed mutant brotherhood. "We tell them what to do, we don't fight ourselves!"
"You are a fool if you think that that will be enough against the X-Men." Mystique continued.
"That's enough!" Jacobi yelled before Sal could think of a reply. "We are well prepared and we WILL win today! Now all of you wait like good children and let me THINK!"
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Ilehana, Blaze, you ready to seal off the lockdown corridor?" Cyclops was almost enjoying this mission. He hadn't expected that. The control, the adrenaline, waiting for the call to move in, it was a better rush than the alcohol. He hadn't even thought of Jean for a while.
"I'm ready." Ilehana sat, back to the computer mainframe and facing the doors with her tiny palmtop waiting for her command.
"Me too," Blaze was standing, but also poised to act.
"On my mark." Scott counted down. "Three, two, one!"
"Lockdown compete." Two female voices chimed back across the radio. Next to him, Ororo breathed a sigh of relief. At least now no ordinary people would get hurt.
"What's next?" Bobby asked, leaning on Storm's chair to see the implements and read outs on the jet's control panel.
"Next, we lockout as many of Jacobi's troops as possible." Cyclops commentated.
"Aww, do we have to?" Wolverine commented, and received a grin from Nightcrawler in return.
"Its done Cyclops." Blaze announced. "And the camera's on the roof are frozen so get your backsides in here, we don't have long before somebody spots that all the doors are locked!"
"We're already taking off." Storm informed her friend, just as the jet took a lurch and entered the air.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Rogue paced the tiny room anxiously. She kept hearing people marching past the door, she was certain that any second someone would open the door and find them.
"Relax Rogue, the door is in my control only now, nobody from the outside can open it." Blaze was already inside the camera image bank, scanning for any sign of her old friend.
"How did you know that's what I was thinkin'?"
"Lucky guess?"
Rogue paced the floor for a few more seconds, tugging at the gloves on her fingers. At Blaze's exclamation she stopped and went to lean over her friend's shoulder.
"There! Remy has just left Jacobi's office, alone! Scott where the hell are you!"
The whir of the jet landing on the roof answered the question before Cyclops had time too. On board the plane, Wolverine let his adimantium claws slip out through his knuckles. This was going to be fun...
