Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men in any way. Nope, sad...isn't it?
Summary: In an attempt to save themselves, the Brotherhood fights back against the Mutant Control agents trying to take them captive. But things look bleak and Todd is the only one that seems to have gotten away....
A/N: Ok, chappy 4, YAY! It is lacking all form of X-Men team influence..they will be drug into the story later... That said, I give you Chapter 4: Disaster
Oh, one final word of warning. Thoughts and P.O.V's are rapidly changing in this chapter. I'm sorry if I loose you, but I tried to make it as easy to read and flowing as possible.
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Chapter 4: Disaster
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No one moved for a long moment, they were all to shocked to do much else than stare at the agents as they continued advancing. The small group only had six black clad men, yet to the young mutants surprise, five held back and just one balding, slightly bulking agent moved forward to take Lance...that is when Pietro snapped out of his trance. Before the nearest agent could blink, he was falling to the ground, pushed by an unseen force. He caught himself, springing back to his feet with surprising grace for a man of his size. Pietro was standing in front of the driver door of the jeep, leaning on it causually.
"Oops."
He snickered sarcastically, before bolting at the man again. The agent hit the ground again, and the back ups opened fire with more darts. Pietro dodged every one of the darts with ease, never missing a beat as he raced around the small group. The agents seemed taken aback as they were slowly lifted from the ground and suspended in the air. One agent, obviously younger and less experienced than the others, panicked and loaded his pistol, firing it down multiple times in one spot. The first two shots met nothing but dirt and rock, but the third shot met flesh. Pietro yelped out in pain as the bullet seered into his calf, and he skidded to a hault on his side, clutching his bleeding leg. The balding agent on the front lines made a move to shoot Pietro again with a dart, but was sent flying through the air by Freddy.
Pietro sat on the ground, his eyes clenched shut and grinding his teeth to keep from crying out again. 'StupidstupidstupidSTUPID!' He shouted at himself in his mind as quickly as he could. 'You'd think I'd learn to zig zag when I'm doing that...straight lines are EVIL!' Though he couldn't feel them, hot tears swelled on the rims of his eyes. The pain was unbelievable...and it was just one little bullet. 'One little bullet my ass.' Pietro scoffed at himself, for it felt more like someone had just set a cherry bomb off in his calf. He was vaugly aware of his sisters encoraging voice, and his own vunerable state. He didn't move at his sisters persistant urgings and attempts to get him up. He didn't want to move at all.
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Getting up from the bushes he had fallen in, Barson rubbed his hairless scalp gently. It had been like getting hit with a ton of bricks to get punched by the largest mutant in the group. He staggered back to his feet, to see that the female mutant had run over to the speed demons side and was trying to help him get up. The big mutant, the one that had hit him, was moving towards the rest of the agents. Barson shouted a gruff warning, but it was too late. The rookie agent, Haris, was too panicky to think straight. What were they teaching the new guys in training? How to ruin a perfect plan? Barson had given them strict orders not to shoot the mutants with bullets, the boss wanted them alive. But that order hadn't stopped Haris from damaging the speed demon and it wasn't about to stop him from shooting at the massive teen either.
Freddy had a fierce snarl pasted on his face. He reached out, picking up on of the agents in his hands and squeezing. The agent screamed out in pain, being crushed to death. Once again, his anger was in control, and Freddy only smirked at the screams. He felt the bullets shot at him from the terror stricken agent hit him, but they did little more than make bruised dents in his skin because the agent was moving rapidly backwards. Had it been at point blank...they might have done quite a bit more damage. He felt things like bee stings in his wrists, and looked down. The dying agent had manuevered his dart gun so that he could fire off three darts into Freddy's wrist. Point blank. Freddy grimaced, feeling the drug begin to spiral into his system, his mind began to blur as did his vision. But he stubbornly shook it off as best he could, finishing what he had started. He squeezed harder, heard and felt bones snap into too many pieces to count, and heard the last breathe the agent would ever exhale slip from his throat. Freddy dropped the dead body, stumbling backwards a little and holding his head in one bloody hand.
To Haris, the monsterous mutant looked like an elephant that had just been darted, staggering around, fighting futily against a powerful drug. But that didn't sooth his panick any. There was still the very awake, if not pained, speed demon and the girl. He found himself wishing that the girl hadn't given herself away, then he would still be nice and safe back in the bushes...not out here looking death in the face.
Freddy stumbled backwards again, hitting the jeep and coming to a hault. He couldn't fight it any longer, the stuff was too powerful. He sank down to his knees, glancing over at the twins with the last of his blurring vision.
"Guys...sorry. I-I tried..."
He muttered as he fell forward, passing into an unconcious state. His mind still fought the drug, but it was a loosing battle as well.
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Wanda glared over at Haris and the remaining three agents in front of him. Her eyes were dangerous, her hands began to glow as she powered up with a hex bolt in each hand.
"Think it's fun to pick on mutants, you human freaks? Well, I can play that game. Here...."
She threw a hex bolt at Barson, he had been rushing over to try and get a dart into Pietro. The hex bolt hit him in the chest, but instead of a scream it came out a gargle.
"That how you want to play this game? Cause believe me...I have no problem with it..."
Barson hadn't seen it coming, he thought the girl was focused on the others. But he had been wrong...dead wrong. After the bolt hit him, he couldn't feel anything at all, but he couldn't take in a breathe either. He fell face first into the dirt, his eyes rolling bakc into his head. 'This was pure hell', he thought in a panic. He knew he was dead...but why could he still think? But slowly a cold darkness slipped over his mind, consuming him into the afterlife.
Haris and the other three agents stared over at their dead squad leader, all looking terrified. This time, Haris, was not the one to fire the bullet, it was the second in command, Thymes.
"Goddammit! Don't gawk, shoot!"
Thymes shouted out, firing a round off at Wanda. The girl exploded most bullets with her powers before they reached her, but she missed a few that grazed her sides and her upper arm. She fired another hex bolt at the dwindling team, but they were ready and dove out of the way. They had time now to shoot, while her arms were extended and she was trying to stop the hex bolt and fire off a new one. Thymes fired twice, missing once, catching her on the side of the throat the second. Haris brought the finishing shot, hitting Wanda in the collar bone. There was the sharp sound of metal meeting bone, and bone giving way to metal, then Wanda fell out of veiw in the dust and smoke created by the rapid fire of darts. When all cleared, Thymes stepped forward, looking at Wanda. Darts had mostly hit her clothes and went no further than the fabric, but there were plenty of darts in her arms and neck, so he smiled with satisfaction. Where her collar bone was, small splinters of bone stuck out. The bullet had broken it, possible shattered, though Thymes doubted it highly.
"Sorry...your the only freak around here."
He taunted her before turning to the others. He then looked around, catching a glimpse of Pietro, still sitting and grimacing. His smile shifted to a smirk. The only thing better than seeing mutants experimented on was seeing them in pain. Haris made a move to shoot a dart at Pietro, but Thymes grabbed the gun.
"Let him suffer...he's not going anywhere."
Haris gave him a bewildered look, but didn't have an oppertunity to retaliate.
"Radio for the van...make that two vans..."
Thymes added almost sadly as he looked at the bodies of their fallen comrades.
"Scan the area, make sure we didn't miss any. If you find one, dart it if it gives you trouble. If it doesn't show a sign of mutantion, leave it. We've made enough noise that there will no doubt be neighborhood kids lurking around to see whats going on."
Haris nodded, grabbing the radio off his belt and requesting two of their vans. The others two headed off into the trees. Haris finished giving the van drivers their position, and walked over to were Thymes stood behind Pietro.
"Your all alone, mutie. Feeling scared."
Pietro didn't respond for a long minute. They had lost...how could they loose to mere normals? His thought and bitterness were cut short as he lurcked forward, shoved by the heavy boot Thymes wore.
"Well, let me tell you something mutie...you should be scared. This is gonna be the last you ever see of the outside world. Ain't that a comforting thought?"
Thymes wore a maddened smirk on his face, and Haris hung back for a minute. If Barson were still here, Thymes would have gotten hit in the back of the head by a fist. Barson let the defeated mutants hold some level of dignity when they were captured, he still saw them as humans that needed a cure. But Thymes...Thymes was relentless in disgracing this mutant, and rubbing his defeat in his face.
Pietro just closed his eyes, letting his face rest in the dirt for a minute.
"Fuck off bastard."
He snarled when Thymes pressed down on his back harder with his already heavy boot. The comment only made Thymes more determined to break his spirit. He was playing mind games, a general idea of what a free speed demon might fear most was set firmly in his mind.
"Who can guess how long you'll survive...strapped down to a medical table to have a needle stuck in every vein in your body and then thrown into a small cage of metal bars and shackled all day...no place to run or hide. If you put up too big of a fight...we might just get to cut off your legs... And then you'll die with people watching you and just waiting until they can autopsy your corpse. And maybe you'll be lucky enough to watch your friends die first...then you'll be all alone."
Pietro's eyes were opened nervously. Shackled...held down...in a cage... cut off his legs...his thoughts buzzed around those main four. His claustriphobic nature made him cringe noticably. Thyme's only gave a heartless snicker as the van pulled up.
"Load 'em in the van."
Pietro put up little struggle, he mostly cursed at them, kicking with his good leg occasionally just to show that he hadn't been broken yet. He wouldn't let them break him...not now or ever.
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Todd stirred from where he was, groaning softly and rubbing his head. He looked around, nearly falling off the branch he was barely resting on. He tried to move, but winced. Slowly, he looked down to see his wrist was at an impossible angle, as was his opposite shoulder, which was dislocated. He groaned again, looking down to see two of the black clad men walk right under him. He shook his head a little. 'What happened?' He found himself asking. He remembered driving to the X-geeks...then Lance passed out and...Mutant Control came. Slowly, Todd got up, climbing up higher into the tree using only one arm. As he did, he felt a pain in his chest, which was a good sign of a broken rib or two. When he finally got high enough, he looked to where he had been before hitting the tree.
There was no sign of Lance's jeep, two black vans were in it's place. His eyes widened in horror when he saw them load Wanda and a struggling Pietro into on of the vans, they had obviously already loaded Fred and Lance in there. He tried to think straight, what to do...what to do...but he drew up a blank. He saw the same two agents pass under the tree he was in, and after a few minutes both got into the front of the vans and drove off. Todd slowly climbed back down the tree, grimacing when stray branches hit his arm. After what seemed an eternity, but was more like half an hour of ginger climbing, he reached the ground and looked around. 'Ok Einstein...what now?' He thought. He couldn't go to a hospital, he didn't have the money; and he could go after the vans because that'd only get him caught. There was only oone place he could go..though he knew better than to think himself even remotely welcome there.
Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters....here he came.
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A/N: So, what'd you think? I hope you guys liked it! I know I made Pietro sound a little wimpy...but when you think about it, for someone who runs alot, anything that happens to their legs is gonna hurt like hell. That's how I saw it anyway...*rambles on* er...oop ^.^' Well, please review! The next chapter is mostly about the X-Men and Todd.
Summary: In an attempt to save themselves, the Brotherhood fights back against the Mutant Control agents trying to take them captive. But things look bleak and Todd is the only one that seems to have gotten away....
A/N: Ok, chappy 4, YAY! It is lacking all form of X-Men team influence..they will be drug into the story later... That said, I give you Chapter 4: Disaster
Oh, one final word of warning. Thoughts and P.O.V's are rapidly changing in this chapter. I'm sorry if I loose you, but I tried to make it as easy to read and flowing as possible.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Chapter 4: Disaster
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No one moved for a long moment, they were all to shocked to do much else than stare at the agents as they continued advancing. The small group only had six black clad men, yet to the young mutants surprise, five held back and just one balding, slightly bulking agent moved forward to take Lance...that is when Pietro snapped out of his trance. Before the nearest agent could blink, he was falling to the ground, pushed by an unseen force. He caught himself, springing back to his feet with surprising grace for a man of his size. Pietro was standing in front of the driver door of the jeep, leaning on it causually.
"Oops."
He snickered sarcastically, before bolting at the man again. The agent hit the ground again, and the back ups opened fire with more darts. Pietro dodged every one of the darts with ease, never missing a beat as he raced around the small group. The agents seemed taken aback as they were slowly lifted from the ground and suspended in the air. One agent, obviously younger and less experienced than the others, panicked and loaded his pistol, firing it down multiple times in one spot. The first two shots met nothing but dirt and rock, but the third shot met flesh. Pietro yelped out in pain as the bullet seered into his calf, and he skidded to a hault on his side, clutching his bleeding leg. The balding agent on the front lines made a move to shoot Pietro again with a dart, but was sent flying through the air by Freddy.
Pietro sat on the ground, his eyes clenched shut and grinding his teeth to keep from crying out again. 'StupidstupidstupidSTUPID!' He shouted at himself in his mind as quickly as he could. 'You'd think I'd learn to zig zag when I'm doing that...straight lines are EVIL!' Though he couldn't feel them, hot tears swelled on the rims of his eyes. The pain was unbelievable...and it was just one little bullet. 'One little bullet my ass.' Pietro scoffed at himself, for it felt more like someone had just set a cherry bomb off in his calf. He was vaugly aware of his sisters encoraging voice, and his own vunerable state. He didn't move at his sisters persistant urgings and attempts to get him up. He didn't want to move at all.
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Getting up from the bushes he had fallen in, Barson rubbed his hairless scalp gently. It had been like getting hit with a ton of bricks to get punched by the largest mutant in the group. He staggered back to his feet, to see that the female mutant had run over to the speed demons side and was trying to help him get up. The big mutant, the one that had hit him, was moving towards the rest of the agents. Barson shouted a gruff warning, but it was too late. The rookie agent, Haris, was too panicky to think straight. What were they teaching the new guys in training? How to ruin a perfect plan? Barson had given them strict orders not to shoot the mutants with bullets, the boss wanted them alive. But that order hadn't stopped Haris from damaging the speed demon and it wasn't about to stop him from shooting at the massive teen either.
Freddy had a fierce snarl pasted on his face. He reached out, picking up on of the agents in his hands and squeezing. The agent screamed out in pain, being crushed to death. Once again, his anger was in control, and Freddy only smirked at the screams. He felt the bullets shot at him from the terror stricken agent hit him, but they did little more than make bruised dents in his skin because the agent was moving rapidly backwards. Had it been at point blank...they might have done quite a bit more damage. He felt things like bee stings in his wrists, and looked down. The dying agent had manuevered his dart gun so that he could fire off three darts into Freddy's wrist. Point blank. Freddy grimaced, feeling the drug begin to spiral into his system, his mind began to blur as did his vision. But he stubbornly shook it off as best he could, finishing what he had started. He squeezed harder, heard and felt bones snap into too many pieces to count, and heard the last breathe the agent would ever exhale slip from his throat. Freddy dropped the dead body, stumbling backwards a little and holding his head in one bloody hand.
To Haris, the monsterous mutant looked like an elephant that had just been darted, staggering around, fighting futily against a powerful drug. But that didn't sooth his panick any. There was still the very awake, if not pained, speed demon and the girl. He found himself wishing that the girl hadn't given herself away, then he would still be nice and safe back in the bushes...not out here looking death in the face.
Freddy stumbled backwards again, hitting the jeep and coming to a hault. He couldn't fight it any longer, the stuff was too powerful. He sank down to his knees, glancing over at the twins with the last of his blurring vision.
"Guys...sorry. I-I tried..."
He muttered as he fell forward, passing into an unconcious state. His mind still fought the drug, but it was a loosing battle as well.
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Wanda glared over at Haris and the remaining three agents in front of him. Her eyes were dangerous, her hands began to glow as she powered up with a hex bolt in each hand.
"Think it's fun to pick on mutants, you human freaks? Well, I can play that game. Here...."
She threw a hex bolt at Barson, he had been rushing over to try and get a dart into Pietro. The hex bolt hit him in the chest, but instead of a scream it came out a gargle.
"That how you want to play this game? Cause believe me...I have no problem with it..."
Barson hadn't seen it coming, he thought the girl was focused on the others. But he had been wrong...dead wrong. After the bolt hit him, he couldn't feel anything at all, but he couldn't take in a breathe either. He fell face first into the dirt, his eyes rolling bakc into his head. 'This was pure hell', he thought in a panic. He knew he was dead...but why could he still think? But slowly a cold darkness slipped over his mind, consuming him into the afterlife.
Haris and the other three agents stared over at their dead squad leader, all looking terrified. This time, Haris, was not the one to fire the bullet, it was the second in command, Thymes.
"Goddammit! Don't gawk, shoot!"
Thymes shouted out, firing a round off at Wanda. The girl exploded most bullets with her powers before they reached her, but she missed a few that grazed her sides and her upper arm. She fired another hex bolt at the dwindling team, but they were ready and dove out of the way. They had time now to shoot, while her arms were extended and she was trying to stop the hex bolt and fire off a new one. Thymes fired twice, missing once, catching her on the side of the throat the second. Haris brought the finishing shot, hitting Wanda in the collar bone. There was the sharp sound of metal meeting bone, and bone giving way to metal, then Wanda fell out of veiw in the dust and smoke created by the rapid fire of darts. When all cleared, Thymes stepped forward, looking at Wanda. Darts had mostly hit her clothes and went no further than the fabric, but there were plenty of darts in her arms and neck, so he smiled with satisfaction. Where her collar bone was, small splinters of bone stuck out. The bullet had broken it, possible shattered, though Thymes doubted it highly.
"Sorry...your the only freak around here."
He taunted her before turning to the others. He then looked around, catching a glimpse of Pietro, still sitting and grimacing. His smile shifted to a smirk. The only thing better than seeing mutants experimented on was seeing them in pain. Haris made a move to shoot a dart at Pietro, but Thymes grabbed the gun.
"Let him suffer...he's not going anywhere."
Haris gave him a bewildered look, but didn't have an oppertunity to retaliate.
"Radio for the van...make that two vans..."
Thymes added almost sadly as he looked at the bodies of their fallen comrades.
"Scan the area, make sure we didn't miss any. If you find one, dart it if it gives you trouble. If it doesn't show a sign of mutantion, leave it. We've made enough noise that there will no doubt be neighborhood kids lurking around to see whats going on."
Haris nodded, grabbing the radio off his belt and requesting two of their vans. The others two headed off into the trees. Haris finished giving the van drivers their position, and walked over to were Thymes stood behind Pietro.
"Your all alone, mutie. Feeling scared."
Pietro didn't respond for a long minute. They had lost...how could they loose to mere normals? His thought and bitterness were cut short as he lurcked forward, shoved by the heavy boot Thymes wore.
"Well, let me tell you something mutie...you should be scared. This is gonna be the last you ever see of the outside world. Ain't that a comforting thought?"
Thymes wore a maddened smirk on his face, and Haris hung back for a minute. If Barson were still here, Thymes would have gotten hit in the back of the head by a fist. Barson let the defeated mutants hold some level of dignity when they were captured, he still saw them as humans that needed a cure. But Thymes...Thymes was relentless in disgracing this mutant, and rubbing his defeat in his face.
Pietro just closed his eyes, letting his face rest in the dirt for a minute.
"Fuck off bastard."
He snarled when Thymes pressed down on his back harder with his already heavy boot. The comment only made Thymes more determined to break his spirit. He was playing mind games, a general idea of what a free speed demon might fear most was set firmly in his mind.
"Who can guess how long you'll survive...strapped down to a medical table to have a needle stuck in every vein in your body and then thrown into a small cage of metal bars and shackled all day...no place to run or hide. If you put up too big of a fight...we might just get to cut off your legs... And then you'll die with people watching you and just waiting until they can autopsy your corpse. And maybe you'll be lucky enough to watch your friends die first...then you'll be all alone."
Pietro's eyes were opened nervously. Shackled...held down...in a cage... cut off his legs...his thoughts buzzed around those main four. His claustriphobic nature made him cringe noticably. Thyme's only gave a heartless snicker as the van pulled up.
"Load 'em in the van."
Pietro put up little struggle, he mostly cursed at them, kicking with his good leg occasionally just to show that he hadn't been broken yet. He wouldn't let them break him...not now or ever.
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Todd stirred from where he was, groaning softly and rubbing his head. He looked around, nearly falling off the branch he was barely resting on. He tried to move, but winced. Slowly, he looked down to see his wrist was at an impossible angle, as was his opposite shoulder, which was dislocated. He groaned again, looking down to see two of the black clad men walk right under him. He shook his head a little. 'What happened?' He found himself asking. He remembered driving to the X-geeks...then Lance passed out and...Mutant Control came. Slowly, Todd got up, climbing up higher into the tree using only one arm. As he did, he felt a pain in his chest, which was a good sign of a broken rib or two. When he finally got high enough, he looked to where he had been before hitting the tree.
There was no sign of Lance's jeep, two black vans were in it's place. His eyes widened in horror when he saw them load Wanda and a struggling Pietro into on of the vans, they had obviously already loaded Fred and Lance in there. He tried to think straight, what to do...what to do...but he drew up a blank. He saw the same two agents pass under the tree he was in, and after a few minutes both got into the front of the vans and drove off. Todd slowly climbed back down the tree, grimacing when stray branches hit his arm. After what seemed an eternity, but was more like half an hour of ginger climbing, he reached the ground and looked around. 'Ok Einstein...what now?' He thought. He couldn't go to a hospital, he didn't have the money; and he could go after the vans because that'd only get him caught. There was only oone place he could go..though he knew better than to think himself even remotely welcome there.
Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters....here he came.
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A/N: So, what'd you think? I hope you guys liked it! I know I made Pietro sound a little wimpy...but when you think about it, for someone who runs alot, anything that happens to their legs is gonna hurt like hell. That's how I saw it anyway...*rambles on* er...oop ^.^' Well, please review! The next chapter is mostly about the X-Men and Todd.
