Dismal Angel 2010 - Episode 14
Chapter 4: Flooded
Monet pulled on the heavy oxygen tank of the scuba gear she'd found in the equipment closet. She'd landed the blackbird on a small nearby island that was uninhabited, it would be safe enough for it to remain for now. She'd covered the jet as much as she could with some foliage to disguise it in case anyone should stumble upon it accidentally or otherwise. Better safe than sorry, she decided.
She took off to flight, the heavy oxygen tank did nothing to weigh her down, and she fully appreciated her superhuman strength at that particular moment. As she was approaching the island in flight, she decided this might be a good time to go under water to investigate a little further. She pulled her goggles on and placed the breathing equipment mouthpiece into her mouth, braced herself and took off down into the water with a loud splash.
The water was surprisingly clearer than she'd thought it would be. The earth under the island was warped slightly, and there was a cave down further into the water that she located with no problem. She decided to explore and went downwards, slipping silently into the large cavernous opening. The cave ran deep, deeper than she could fully comprehend the distance it went. She reached to the side of her goggles and turned on the underwater flashlight. Light streamed through the water in a perfect beam.
Hmmm, she thought as she swam on down the tunnel, the walls began to grow narrower around her, but this didn't bother her in the slightest. This cave is incredibly deep, she thought to herself as she continued. She tried to judge the distance by what she'd seen from the island above.
She touched the ceiling of the cave, looking up at it carefully. By my calculations I must be somewhere right under those buildings by now. That means their force field definitely isn't working under water – if it was a sphere I would have hit by now, surely.
Her thick black hair floated all around her, she frowned and pushed it back, looking up at the ceiling. If I'm going to get anywhere, I'm going to have to punch my way through this rock, she tapped it with her knuckle. It didn't seem like it would be too difficult, she'd punched holes through rock before, after all.
She braced herself, pulled back a fist and hit the rock hard and fast as she could. The water did slow down her movement, but it did not stop her from putting a crack in the rock with her extreme strength. She tried again. Several tries began to cause the cracks to grow and grow.
Monet prayed the rock wouldn't cave in around her as it began to seem to give way. It began to crumble a way. Chunks as big as her head were falling out of the cracked rock, she moved away a little and watched it fall, heard the heavy rock land with a thud against the rock floor below.
I'm going to be here all night, she thought dully. I hope the X-Men appreciate this!
Kitty Pryde was sent to her cell for the night, after the laundry work was done. Rogue was lying across the floor as if she'd been thrown there. She felt panic overwhelm her as she saw her friend there, and she rushed through the open door, hearing it shut loudly behind her with an intense echo that seemed to shake the whole building.
She dropped to her knees beside Rogue, "Oh my god I've been frantic all day wondering what happened to you. I've been so worried…" she said softly, she moved Rogue's hair away from her face. One half of Rogue's face was so swollen her friend seemed barely recognisable. The swift kick had been enough to damage the whole side of her face so that her eye was blackened and swollen shut, her eyebrow sticky with congealed blood, her cheek puffy and bruised black.
Rogue's other eye opened and she looked at her, she could barely speak, only let out a groan, "s-s-sorry…" her eye tearing up.
Kitty pulled Rogue up slowly to hug her, "I won't let them do this again, Rogue…I should have tried to stop them…I should have…done something…I stood back and watch it happen…"
"S' ok," Rogue groaned as she was moved. "I…should've listened when y' tried t' stop me…"
Kitty felt the building shake again, "did you feel that?" she asked softly.
Rogue tried to respond with a light shake of her head.
"The building shook," Kitty said, "maybe it's an earthquake or…a volcano, or something," she said, "I'm gonna pull you up to the bunk, hold onto me as much as you can.
"Hurts so much," Rogue recoiled slightly.
"I know, but you'll be more comfortable on the…metal…mattressless bunk…" Kitty gazed at the bunk nearby, "yeah, just stay on the ground…" she shrugged, letting her friend down gently.
Rogue sucked in her breath in pain, "any s-s-sign of Remy…?" she asked in a tiny voice as she tried to move to sit up.
"None…" Kitty located some of the left over fabric from what had once been the nightgown she'd been wearing the night they'd been brought to Genosha. She ripped off a piece to make a small cloth, and she ran it under the faucet of the small sink. "I don't even know if Remy is here or not, all I see are these damn hostile clones everywhere…"
Rogue swallowed, the taste of blood was still in her mouth, "he's here…I…feel 'im…I jus'…know he's here."
Kitty knelt by her and placed the cloth gently over Rogue's eyebrow to wipe the blood away, "this must be so awful for you, you've been so numb to physical pain all these years, must feel like you're dying…" she bit her lip, she felt like crying for her friend to see the pain she must have been in. Again, that strange shake came, slight, yet noticeable. "There it is again…" Kitty whispered.
"I felt it…" Rogue whispered.
"Yeah…its just…very slight…but…its there…must be an earthquake?" she asked.
Rogue winced, "if its an earthquake and this place comes down, we'll all die…"
Monet kept pounding at the rock ceiling with all her might, pushing into it as much as she could, summoning up all the strength she could muster to try and break through it, she'd taken massive chunks out of it now, a large hole as deep as six feet she'd managed to make through constant pounding. And then she saw cement. She'd finally found her way through to one of the buildings.
If her mouth had not been encasing her breathing equipment, she surely would have smiled wide. She flew backwards, and upon the floor, crouching down as much as she could.
This might be it, she told herself in thought. Direct hit could get me right inside. She focused all her strength into her fists as she threw them out in front of her and took off soaring upwards through the water, she felt it rush around her as she headed up towards the ceiling.
Her fists hit the concrete – then steel. "Steel reinforced!?! She demanded. The steel looked flimsy, she'd been able to split steel with her powers before, she'd broken a steel cannonball in half before with a simple swat.
She braced herself once more and went downwards, crouching much as she could, and took off once again, determined this would be the final hit. She came crashing through it and found air above, she hit the ceiling of the room above unexpectedly with her shoulder, denting the steel ceiling. The water came flooding in with her, pinning her to the ceiling within seconds.
Damn you, Monet, when you have a brilliant idea next time remember there are consequences to every action, she thought at herself angrily, she noted an closed doorway underwater, she appeared to be in some kind of basement area of the GMCF. She swam over to the door and grabbed onto the handle, pulling with all her might. The water pushing against it did not help things, even with her incredible strength. She finally managed to open it. She – along with the water – spilled out into the hallway, she bodysurfed along a corridor that ended in a stairway. The corridor was flooding just as quickly. She pulled herself up, and yanking out her breathing apparatus, and throwing the goggles off, she took off up the stairway.
Kitty looked around the room, "earthquake stopped…" she said to Rogue after a few moments, everything had fallen silent.
Rogue drew her breath, "that's a good thing…" she tried to sit up slowly.
"Careful…you might have broken ribs," Kitty helped her slowly, "god I'd give anything to know what's going on out there right now…" she said, she helped Rogue lean against one of the bunks, then got up onto the other bunk and peered out of the small rectangular window, "everything seems fine out there," she admitted.
"There was one big shake…" Rogue uttered, "I felt it…seemed like it was coming from below."
Kitty nodded, "I noticed that too…" she climbed down.
The door swung open, "out, now!" a clone yelled at them. The first thing they both noticed about the Remy LeBeau clone was that he was soaked from head to foot, his long hair was plastered to his face, his eyelashes spiky, his skin shimmering and pale.
"What's going on?!" Kitty demanded, she bent down to try and help Rogue up.
"The research centre is flooding from the subbasements. We need you to get down there and stop it NOW."
"What can WE do?!" Kitty demanded. "Rogue's injured!"
"You're the X-Men, you'll figure out what to do!" the clone growled. "Leave her here if she's too much of a weakling to do anything, we haven't got time to fuck around," he uttered. Kitty noticed the number on his uniform was 10. She knew better than to mess with this one.
"I'll be back as soon as I can," Kitty whispered, she squeezed Rogue's shoulder, then followed the clone out of the cell.
Kitty turned to see Logan, Bobby and Scott being led down the hall by a few other wet-looking clones, "what do you expect us to do?" she asked Number 10.
"Stop it from getting to subbasement 2!" Clone number 10 uttered.
Kitty glanced to the others, they looked as worried as she did.