Chapter 4 The Rescue Party

Disclaimer: It all belongs to Marvel, except for my original characters, of course. But if Marvel wants to use them, they can. Feel free to post this, or any other Glaivester fic, anywhere, but please notify me so I can brag about it.

Saturday morning.

Slab, Juggernaut, and Mystique were all seated in Professor X's office.

"Now, listen," said Xavier. "You may be wondering why I trust all of you. The answer is that I trust Slab because I have read his mind, I trust Cain because without his helmet I have read his mind, and I trust Mystique because I have read her mind while I was removing Apocalypse's connection from it. I have chosen you to mount a rescue mission for Kurt because we need two really strong people in case we need to bust heads, and someone stealthy, namely, you Mystique. I also think we need someone whose powers allow them to use longer-range attacks, so I am calling in Gambit."

Gambit walked in the door. "Bon jour, mes amis!" Smiling, he walked over to a chair and sat down.

"Now, Logan has contacted me and told me that the Skull is somewhere in Switzerland. You are to go there, to Geneva, in the Blackbird, aka the X-Jet, and to meet them. Now, they will be meeting other people who can help them to find the Red Skull's hideout, and so they probably don't want you hanging around too much, but contact them and make certain that they let you help them when they actually plan their attack."

The Professor put his hand on his head and sighed. "I am also under the impression that Logan and Magneto may try to lose you as soon as you have done your job. They may deliberately try to make certain that you aren't there when they actually find the Red Skull."

"Why?"

"Because I want him brought back alive. They want to kill him."

Mystique frowned. Xavier was unable to read her mind, but he had a feeling that she would not be averse to going along with Magneto's plan. Slab did not care. Juggernaut seemed a little worried. He didn't want to give in to hate and violence again, killing or destroying randomly, but he wasn't certain that killing the Skull would be such a bad thing. Gambit seemed to have some slight sort of block, but the Professor did seem to be able to make out that he wasn't certain what to do when it came down to it. He kept shuffling his cards and grinning as if to challenge the Professor to scan him.

"Mystique, what do we know of the Red Skull's allies?"

"There are four you will have to deal with: Valkyrie, a seven-foot-tall German Amazon who can heal faster than Wolverine and who is immune to poison and, I believe, to mind control. Exchange, who can change two people's consciousnesses for, I believe he said, up to one hour. He has brown hair and black eyes... like Remy's only no red irises. There is Upload, who can make a copy of someone else's mind in his own and hold it for up to fifteen minutes. He is an African, about six-foot three. Finally, there is Captain Axis. He is nearly invulnerable and very strong. Like Captain America only more so. He also has an adamantium shield."

"Anyone else?"

"I would assume so, but he wouldn't say. I know he has an ally in China... a Xian Chung... Pocket, he called him. A mutant with the power to open holes in subspace and to put things in them for storage."

"Interesting," commented the Professor.

"What is de plan, mon ami?" asked Remy.

"You will decide that when you get there."

Meanwhile, in China, the Red Skull was contacting Xian Chung. "Have you discovered anything yet?"

"Just this panel. I don't know the combination to open it."

~But you do.~ spoke a voice in Upload's head. The fifteen minutes that he had had a copy of Mystique's mind gave Apocalypse the needed window to get inside as he had done with Mystique.

Upload walked over to the Red Skull. "I remember the code. Mystique knew it."

"Excellent."

Upload told Xian Chung of the code. Xian pushed all the proper buttons and slowly they began to glow.

Suddenly inside the Mexican pyramid, the Eye began to glow as well. Sauron yelled and jumped out. "What's happening?"

Sinister glared at Apocalypse. "What have you done, you old fool?"

Apocalypse shrugged. "I have done nothing. Someone else must have activated one of the other pyramids."

"Who is your cat's paw?" roared Sinister. The Eye glowed really brightly and then disappeared.

"The knowledge of how to activate the alien technology in the pyramids was recorded on ancient scrolls. No doubt some government has seen fit to try, now that they saw the orb around this pyramid."

"You will die for this."

"No, I won't. You still need me, Sinister. You are smarter than I am, but I and only I can use this alien technology. It has been attuned to my unique physiology. Without it, your ability to enhance mutants will be reduced to using those silly crystals. Besides, I cannot use this pyramid in any way. I am trapped outside of it as is everyone else. So it cannot help me."

Sinister growled. "You better pray that I believe you."

"It doesn't matter whether you do or not. Unless you have decided that the risk I am lying and the risk that I can escape your control if I am lying is greater than the benefits I can give you."

Sinister blasted Apocalypse with the yellow bolts that flew from his fingers. Apocalypse was knocked back into the wall, but left mostly unharmed. "You'd better pray that the calculation keeps working in your favor." Sinister turned away, and then looked back. "Or else I will be much harsher next time." He walked out the door. "Stay in this room, Apocalypse, and don't come out until I tell you. Or I will activate the virus... at least enough of it to cause major damage!"

Surely enough, a second dome had appeared in the Shansi province of China. Apocalypse felt a mild surge of energy, but it managed to evade Sinister's detectors. Then, very quickly, as soon as all of the tech in the pyramid had been activated, the Eye returned.

The one function of the Eye that was accessible to all was the transportation function. However, Apocalypse dare not use it, for if he did, Sinister would activate the virus. No shielding could protect him form the activation, because it was on a dead-man's switch. That is, if Sinister did not give Apocalypse a special medicine every six hours, the disease would begin to strike, even without Sinister actively activating it.

But Apocalypse knew something that Sinister did not. If all three pyramids were activated, the Eye would be at the next level of power and would be able to cure him when he touched it. Then he could travel to the other two pyramids and connect all of the wires and activate all of the motherboards in order to get the pyramids to full power to begin his plan. Most importantly, each pyramid would need to be charged up by the Eye, a process that would take at least three weeks. He had already booted up this pyramid mostly, and in a few more days, it would be ready and Sinister could not stop it. If he had the third dome erected by then, he could use the Eye to transport away and there would be nothing Sinister could do.

~Upload,~ called Apocalypse. ~Tell Pocket of the weapon found in the third corridor past the statue of Anubis...~

Surely enough, there was a weapon there. A staff of some sort. It reminded Xian Chung of the weapons used in that American TV show, Stargate SG-1. But its effects were apparently different. Xian Chung felt a connection to it, and realized that he could mentally control it. By focusing on another object in the room, he found that he could make that object move. A telekinetic weapon, he thought. Hmm... He put the weapon up his sleeve.

Yes, thought Apocalypse to himself, this weapon would whet the Red Skull's interest. He would give the man just enough to keep him interested in the pyramids, so that he could use him to activate the third one. But he would not give him anything that would enable him to get too powerful just yet. Apocalypse believed in releasing some level of control and on causing some chaos, but even he did not think it wise to give in to chaos completely. He needed control for long enough to mutate the world before he could let go.

Later that afternoon, Mystique, Slab, and Cain were all headed into the Blackbird (aka the X-Jet). Remy had been getting some things and was going to be the last one to board.

"Where is he?" complained Mystique. He is late!"

"There he is!" Slab pointed to the door of the hangar, where Remy was just entering. Tabitha was apparently following him.

"Au revoir, chere!" he said as he waved good-bye.

"Good-bye!" called Tabitha. Then she walked over to another part of the hangar.

"Well, so what were you doing with Boom-Boom?" asked Mystique.

"She jes' wanted some tips on de t'rowing of explosives, belle. Y'know, our pow'rs are pretty sim'lar if y' t'ink about it. Only I can't make the explosives out of t'in air." Gambit sat down next to Juggernaut in the back, letting Mystique and Kris [A/N Slab] fly the plane.

In the back of the plane, Kitty's head and Tabby's head both popped out of the floor. They phased upwards and finally both were entirely in the plane.

"Thanks for phasing me in here," said Tabitha.

"Like, no biggie! I mean, the men need us, even if they don't know it!"

"Yeah, isn't Remy dreamy?"

"Well," admitted Kitty, "yeah, but he's not really my type. I like guys who are sturdy and muscular. Like Cain."

"Oooo... Well, let's just hope they like cats."

"Huh?"

"We're the cats, you know, you're Kitty-Cat and I am Tabby-Cat."

"Oh, like totally!"

The Blackbird started off, and Kitty barely had time to strap herself and Tabby to a heavy crate so that they wouldn't be thrown around.

Kurt was about to be rescued. Or else they would die trying.