Notes: An extra long one this time. Lucky you.
Disclaimer: This is not mine. See first chapters for details.
Rating: PG13+
Other: This story is AU. Readers Replies at the bottom.
Chapter 9: The Price of Entry
The rest of the day seemed to pass as a blur. Busy preparations, the evening meal, swift goodbyes to friends, they all passed in one, long moment. Before either Kurt or Logan knew it 11:30 had arrived.
So they stood with the others at the teleport pad, and no words were said between them. Psy and Magneto were also silent, or, if they held conversation, it was though the use of telepathy. The twins were the only people speaking, and they spoke to each other in quiet, fast tones, in a language that Logan did not recognize. He hazarded a guess that they had invented it themselves, a private, twin language. Not for the first time he wondered what their role in this mission was.
Spyke was late when he finally slouched in, when questioned by Magneto he merely muttered something about saying goodbye to Tempest, before taking his place on the Pad, standing as far away from Kurt and Logan as possible.
When he had settled himself, Magneto nodded to the mutant operating the Pad controls. The mutant, a scarred, blond headed man, missing an eye but with huge, white wings upon his back, prodded the appropriate buttons.
For the second time in Logan's life he and the room dissolved into Champaign bubbles.
He was more than a little grateful when life came back into focus, this sort of teleportation was no where near as unpleasant as Kurt's, but it was unsettling, none the less.
Besides him Kurt groaned softly, for a native teleporter using mechanical means was more than a little uncomfortable.
They had materialized in yet another sewer tunnel, though this one looked much newer and cleaner than the last one Logan had visited. The equipment, certainly, was free of all rust and dirt, it sparkled and glowed with the look of new, state of the art technology.
One of the reasons for this was the presence of Forge, who was, even as they arrived, tinkering with a machine Logan did not recognize, though he hazarded a guess that it wasn't part of the Teleportation Pad equipment.
'How goes it?' asked Magneto, stepping of the Pad platform.
'Well, well, well,' muttered Forge, 'all is working, working order. Very well. Not detected either, silent as mouse, horrible mouse, silent, no noise, no one knows. No detection.'
'Good,' said Psy, coming to stand next to his partner, 'make sure it stays that way. If that communications barrier goes down, we'll be up to our necks in reinforcements.'
'Don't worry,' muttered Forge, 'whilst I'm here, it'll work, work, work, and work. Nothing breaks around me. Except me. Heh.'
Psy didn't seem to get any joke in that, he just nodded and joined his partner, who was standing just outside the room's exit.
'Follow me,' he balked, before entering the sewer tunnels, and they obeyed.
For a long while, Logan had no means of measuring the time, they slugged though the slimy sewage passages, following their magnetic leader, who had elected to stay out of the filth through flying.
Kurt was also avoiding a dirtying by crawling on the walls, and occasionally he would rush up ahead, check the tunnel for guards or traps, and then Jaunt back with reports.
They came across no unexpected surprises, however, and soon were standing beneath another manhole cover, which Magneto easily moved. They climbed up the ladder, and found themselves in a large, concrete courtyard, surrounded by barbed wire and electrical fences on three sides. The other side, straight ahead of them, was a dark, imposing concrete building. The New York Breeding Center.
'I'm surprised there ain't any guards out here,' muttered Logan.
'There are,' whispered Kurt, 'or rather were. Let's just say we arranged for them to be in other places tonight.'
Logan might have said something more, when a sudden, familiar feeling overcame him. There was a flash of pain in all his nerves, and suddenly his eyes, nose, ears, even mouth felt like they had been stopped up with cotton wool. He found he couldn't project his claws.
He glanced around to see that all the others, save the Maximoff Twins, bore a similar expression of discomfort, Spyke had even retracted his spines, now he just looked like a boy again.
Logan knew what was up straight away.
'Inhibitors,' he grunted.
'Yes, but don't worry,' whispered Magneto, 'we knew and expected this.'
'The defenses of this place,' began Psy, 'are significant, and have only increased since Kurt's own escape, and the beginning of the Mind-Link project. For a start there is a device which projects an inhibitor field around this entire complex, and the space around it. You can see it, up there, on the roof.'
e HHe pointed to a strange, metal turret, a featureless cylinder of silver, perched on the flat roof of the Breeding Center.
'Why don't we just blast it?' asked Logan, pointing his gun.
'Because its casing renders it impervious to all laser blasts.'
'What about smashing it? We still got arms and legs.'
'Also out of the question, and don't try, you wouldn't get close.'
Logan raised a thick eyebrow.
'Do you see those blinking, red lights, set in the eves of the roof? And those hanging by the door?'
Logan strained his eyes, and caught sight of the flashing LED's.
'They are motion detectors,' continued Psy, 'we're just out of their range, but if we get much closer, they'll target us with laser beams. We'd be blasted to pieces before we even got near.'
'Alright,' sighed Logan, 'so we can't get near the door, but why didn't Kurt just port, or bamph or Jaunt or whatever us into the building? He knows the layout, we could have done it back in the sewers, where our powers were working.'
Kurt was shaking his head, 'because the inhibitor field isn't the only barrier surrounding the Breeding Center. It also has an electro-magnetic force field inside it, too. It was originally designed to stop Pad teleportation, but as mine also relies on the magnetic lines of the earth it totally screws my direction. I could Jaunt, but I might well end up half way inside a wall. My teleportation will be no use, even when the inhibitor field goes down.'
'So how the hell are we going to get in there?' raged Logan, throwing his hands in the air.
Magneto smiled, 'that,' he said, turning to the twins, 'is where Yin and Yang come in. The genetic experiments performed on them had the side effect of making them immune to all inhibitor collars and fields. They still have their powers, and they can use them to overcome the obstacles before us. If they are willing to follow the plan I set out for them.'
The twins looked solemn, as usual, but now a new weight seemed to be in both their eyes.
'You ask a lot,' they said in strange unison.
'I know,' murmured Magneto, 'but it is the only way, and it is vitally important. When it is over you can both go back to Asteroid M.'
The twins looked at each other, and a decision seemed to be made. Wanda slowly moved away from Pietro, though their hands remained locked.
'Come back to me,' the white haired boy begged, just as their hands let go, and Wanda nodded, a promise in her eyes.
The girl backed away from her brother, and as she did so she built up speeds. Logan, thinking that she would surly soon be in rage on the motion sensors, made to grab her, but was restrained by Magneto.
'Watch,' he bid, as Wanda suddenly started running.
Then the motion sensors caught her, a laser fired.
Wanda exploded into motion.
From a gentle trot she accelerated into a fast sprint, and from there into super-speed. There was nothing that could be seen of her other than an indistinct black, blur, darting dexterously between laser beams. Soon it was if a giant web of crimson light had been woven across the courtyard, each laser seeking to entrap the fly that was Wanda, but this fly was not to be caught.
As she ran Magneto approached her twin.
'Now,' he murmured, 'you must act whilst she keeps the lasers occupied.'
Pietro nodded, and a look of great concentration crossed his pale features, suddenly a blue glow seemed to come from within him, and around him. The sapphire light grew stronger and stronger, forming eddies and currents in a strange, shifting aura which enveloped Pietro. Such was its power that it lifted him a few meters off the ground, his hair shifted in currents of energy.
When the aura was so bright it almost hurt Logan's eyes to gaze upon it, the boy acted.
The dazzling luminescence surrounding him shifted, changed in its flow, turning into something more structured, more patterned. It coalesced round his arms, focusing, and gathering. Then, with the sound of cracking energy, it was released in a single, azure blue beam, straight towards the device projecting the inhibitor field. It struck with deadly aim, and soon the cursed machine was no more than a seaming puddle of metal and plastic.
The tingling feeling overcame Logan again, his senses unclogged, and he felt his power return.
'I thought that thing was immune to lasers,' he said.
Spyke allowed himself a sneer, 'that weren't no laser,' he said, 'that was a Hex bolt. Pretty neat, huh?'
Before Logan could give lip to any sort of retort, Charles spoke.
'Something's wrong,' the telepath whispered, his eyes fixed on the still glowing Pietro.
And he spoke truly, the aura surrounding the boy was still there, and had lost all cohesion. Now it was a swirling, shifting cloud of blue energy, without pattern or reason, pure chaos, and instead of decreasing, it was only intensifying.
'Pietro!' called Magneto, 'it's over! Stop using your power!'
'I… I can't!' the boy screamed back, his voice barely audible over the crackle of his energy, 'it's too much!'
'Turn it off!' ordered Magneto again, a hint of desperation and alarm in his voice.
'I can't! I can't control it! It's too much! It hurts! It HURTS!'
Even as he spoke his power, already chaotic, went entirely haywire. Jagged lightning streaks of blue energy, so unlike the keen sapphire lance of before, sped out of his aura, scorching the ground around him, forcing them to leap out of the way, to take cover.
Worse still, for Pietro, those chaotic hex bolts also turned inward. Even though the brightness of the aura, Logan saw them strike his body, burning skin, devastating tissue, destroying him for within as much as they destroyed the world from without.
Pietro's desperate wails cut through the night, and through their hearts
'Help me! Wa-wa, save me! WA-WA! WA-WAAAAAAA…'
With this last scream his tortured voice finally gave out, and barely seconds later the aura disappeared abruptly. There was a dull thump as the burnt, pitted, and lifeless body of Pietro Maximoff fell to the ground.
All was silence.
For a moment no words were spoken, what could be said? Then a soft voice cut the air.
'No.'
Logan looked around to see Wanda, a statue in jet, immobile, her dark eyes caught upon the body of her twin.
In all the chaos his attention had been fixed only on Pietro, he had been unaware of her actions. Whether she had been there a long while, had heard her bothers cries over the screech of laser blasts and the crackle of his hex-energy, or whether she had only just come now, feeling the death of her other half, he would never know.
'Wanda…' said Magneto, reaching out to her, and Logan was startled to see tears in his blue eyes.
But the girl did not reply, her eyes still lingered on her twin. When finally she tore them away, anger, as full a rage as Logan had ever witnessed, twisted her young features.
She began to run again, run back to the building and the lasers.
Once again she was a black blur of speed, but now she was faster than ever before, it seemed, and she was not just concerned with dodging the crimson energy rays, but with destroying their source.
She moved so fast that by the time they saw the first explosion from a destroyed laser cannon and camera, she was working on the second, tearing them to pieces with her bare hands.
Yet this was a self destructive kind of rage, a consuming anger that drove her, they all saw it.
She had almost finished destroying the lasers, when Magneto came fully to his senses and put up a hand, probably building up the power to stop her. It was too late.
As suddenly as she had started, more suddenly perhaps, Wanda stopped running. For a second Logan dared to think Psy had intervened, or maybe Magneto had performed some subtle trick, but it was not so. He could tell that by the way she clutched her chest.
Her power consuming her as Pietro's power had consumed him. It was almost as if they were never meant to wield their respective abilities.
Her eyes bulged, fear filled her face, and she staggered forward a few paces, her stumbling steps kicking up dust. Logan knew with a strange certainty that she was trying to reach her brother, trying to be with him before she died.
Though the journey was not far, she never made it.
Her mouth opened, goldfish like, trying to form words but only a soft croak would come out. Her pupils turned heavenwards, and she fell, her heart exploded, broken, in her chest.
Magneto made to move forward, made to rush to his fallen children, but Psy held him back.
'No Erik,' he said, 'there will be time for grief, time for vengeance later. Now we must follow the plan, or your children's sacrifice will have been for nothing!'
Logan raised an eyebrow at that, his children? It made sense; certainly he and Pietro had possessed more than a passing resemblance.
Magneto seemed torn for a moment, but he nodded, grief still harsh in his eyes.
Before any more words could be spoken, or instructions given, the large doors of the Breeding Center opened and like a swarm of hornets, guards poured out.
No directions or orders were needed, Logan knew his task, knew that this was a kill or be killed situation.
Wolverine went into battle.
His targeting had ever been good, and he bowled ahead, clearing the way with his laser gun, still getting some minor hits for his pains, but also getting close enough to put his cruel claws into use.
His adamantium knives tore through skin, muscle, flesh and bone, he ignored the blood spattering him, ignored the cries of pain. It didn't matter, survival, that was what mattered, and all that mattered.
The others set to work as well; he caught brief sight of them, a few snapshots, between his own battles.
Magneto and Psy led the way, the former used the barbed wire fence surrounding the compound, ripping it out of the ground and wrapping it around a group of guards, strangling the life out of them. Or he used his power in subtler, but no less deadly ways. Tearing the iron ear-ring out of one guard's ear, and shooting it through his chest, a personalized bullet.
Psy was just as devastating, but in a far, far different way. He acted by proxy. Any guard that dared to fire upon him, or got to close, screamed, and fell to the ground, clutching their heads, madness appearing in their eyes. Some ran away through telepathically induced fear. Still others were controlled, their minds taken over by Xavier, forced to fight against their fellow solider. One man who had dared to scream abuse at the telepath was caught in his dark gaze. Moments later he was curled up on the ground, screaming of hellfire and demons, begging for his mother, and ripping out, literally ripping out, his own eyes.
The keenest thing Logan would remember about Psy's fight was the look in his eyes. That savage, cold, fire which was kindled in his dark orbs, the cruel smile which twisted his lips, it was more demonic than anything Kurt could ever cook up. Later, when the blood lust had died down Logan would wonder just what monster Weapon X had created.
Spyke, though no where near the equal of his elders, was still a fine fighter. In one hand he held a long, sword like spike, made from his own bones, in the other his gun. Bone spikes were also flung from his back, impaling many a guard. All of these weapons caused carnage beyond count, and his dexterous flips and dodging, plus well timed bone-shields, allowed him to avoid most hits, though rays of energy grazed him a few times.
Kurt, predictably, had yet to use his gun. This, however, was not to say that he didn't play a part in the fight. His flips, jumps, and acrobatic tricks not only allowed him to avoid being hit, but let him attack the human soldiers in his own, unique way. So although not a shot was fired by him, nor was any blood shed, he still downed his fair share on soldiers.
That bloody battle outside the courtyard stretched on for an age for Logan, and it would take more than ten ages to describe it all in the detail it deserves. But in truth the fight, though grueling, gruesome, and brutal, was fairly short, as many such intense fights are.
And besides, whilst Logan fought, whilst Wolverine was consumed in the thrill of battle, his attention and view point was not adequate to describe fully and coherently the over all flow of the conflict.
Rather for him, there was a fight, and then there was not. From fighting ten soldiers at once, from jumping and dodging the lasers of multiple opponents, he found himself without adversary. They had won.
For a moment none of them spoke, each man taking time to regain his breath.
Magneto, eventually, opened his mouth to say something, but before the words came out, another sound cut across the courtyard.
The blaring, harsh wail of an alarm sliced through the air, stinging Logan's keen ears.
Both Psy and Magneto swore harshly.
'What's up?' asked Logan.
'That's the alarm!' spat Magneto, 'and if it's sounding, then they've managed to send out for reinforcements. They've broken the communication's barrier!'
Logan frowned, 'the one Forge set up? How?'
'Perhaps he's been captured, or interrupted?' suggested Kurt.
'Or maybe he's a traitor,' rasped Spyke, 'maybe he was working for the flat-scans all along.'
'Or maybe his gadget just didn't work,' said Psy dismissively, 'it matters not. The point is that it has failed, reinforcements are on the way.'
'And this is a major problem?' asked Logan, still hazy on the details of the plan.
'Yes,' sighed Magneto, 'the original plan was that we destroy the first wave of guards, then force our way in, killing what resistance we met, and without worry that anyone would block our escape. Now, however, with reinforcements on the way we'll face enemies from both sides. And the government will throw all they have at us, every military trick in the book. Hell, if they discover our plans, they might even use nuclear bombs.'
'So what next?' squeaked Kurt, desperation and confusion in his voice, 'is this it? Has the plan failed? Do we turn back?'
'No,' said Magneto sternly, his voice filled with steely determination, 'I will not let my children's sacrifice be in vain. Besides, this is a matter of life and death, Kurt, we must try this mission, no matter how desperate, turning back is not an option.'
'We shall attempt plan B,' said Psy, his voice smooth and calm.
Magneto cast a concerned glance at his friend, 'are you sure?' he asked, 'the odds-'
'Are much higher now we have Wolverine with us,' interrupted Psy, 'he will lead them.'
'Um, what?' said Logan, 'sorry bub, but if you have plans for me, I want to know what they are.'
'It's simple enough,' said Xavier, 'we want you to go with Kurt and Spyke into the Breeding Center and complete the mission, whilst I and Magneto stay out here and combat the reinforcements.'
Logan blinked, it kind of made sense. After all, Psy and Magneto, with their titanic powers would probably be the best to fend off any army attempting to retake the base. As for his own team… well…
He glanced behind him to look at the two boys. Kurt was in slight shock, the death of the twins had obviously affected him, as had the bloody battle. His golden eyes were wide, he wringed his three fingered hands and patches of bloody, other peoples blood, marred his clothing and fur.
If Kurt had been lightly sprayed in gore, Spyke was coated in it. He held himself straight, his gun and weapon by his side, yet even he had not been unaffected by the carnage. Logan smelt to adrenalin on him, and saw… something in the boy's eyes. Something different, something that had not been there when they had fought in the canteen the previous day.
'Are you sure?' he asked, 'I don't rate our chances.'
'Logan,' replied Magneto, putting a hand on his shoulder, 'if you do this we have hope, not much, but still a little. If we do not even attempt this then there is no hope at all.'
'I get your point,' sighed Logan.
'Good. I have only one other instruction, if you reach Cerebro then contact Psy, just think loudly and he'll hear you. Can you do that?'
'Sound easy enough,' Logan shrugged.
'Good,' said Magneto, and turned to look up at the sky, nervously. Logan's sharp hearing caught a sound, the sound of helicopter blades. The reinforcements were on their way.
Somehow Magneto seemed to know this also.
'They're coming,' he hissed, 'you must go, go now. We will hold them off for as long as we can, and if we can't then the last thing we'll do is give you warning of our defeat. Now go! And good luck!'
Logan gave a half smile, as he turned away and began to sprint towards the Breeding Center entrance, jumping over the twisted corpses of the soldiers they had so recently dispatched, Kurt and Spyke hot on his heels.
'Luck,' he grunted, 'is for fools and small children.'
'Which,' he added to himself a few seconds later, as he sped through the open doors and disemboweled the two guards just coming out of the compound, 'would just about qualify us all perfectly.'
Reader's replies!
Arekanderu: Hello! Glad you liked Rouge!
Kiki5: Well done with your guess! And yep, that is an awful lot of exclamation marks, but don't worry, I do the same sometimes!!! As for Kurt's kid, well, she will be making an appearance but more than that I can't (or rather won't) say.
De-Femme-O-Da-Night: I LOVE lengthy reviews, please don't' stop yourself from writing them! Nocturn? Well, if it was her then Wanda would be the mother, but as Wanda's on the Asteroid M too then… I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions. Kill Kurt? Whatever gave you that idea…. Heh heh heh…
S.queen: Aw… you're making me blush! It gives me such a warm feeling to think that this is in someone's favorite's folder. Please keep reviewing, BTW. And beautifully written? Thanks! I try my best… though I think I can do better. I like to think I'm improving with every piece I write.
Guuumajo: I was wondering why you weren't reviewing. Bummer about your computer, you have my sympathy, I live of my computer… can't imagine what I'd do without it. And no internet connection doubly sucks! If you ever manage to catch up with this story, could you post a review at the end? Please? Good luck in getting your computer back, anyway.
Krazy Xanadu: WOW! All those reviews… :sniff: I love you, man! Hope you'll forgive me for not writing a reply for each review but I'd like some space for, you know, the story… (: Hope this chap satisfied you enough in the mean time. Don't forget to review!
And that goes for you all!
NEXT CHAPTER… It's a continuing fight through the corridors of the breeding camp… will all our hero's come through it unscathed?