Chapter 7

Thursday, September 19th

5:42 P. M.

It had been almost too easy to take over once Frieda had entered. Shaw had had his scientists design a special amplifying device for her mutant-negating powers. Turned up full blast, she had been able to negate the powers of every mutant in the building. Yes, there were other, more mundane security measures to disable -- trick floors and the like -- but they had more than enough Hellfire Club members to do that. After a little while of strain on Frieda, all the occupants were in custody.

Now they were all in the furthest left, highest hallway. Frieda had turned her box down to fully black out mutant powers in the hallway itself and to cripple them for another couple of yards around. The children were packed into the rooms along the hall, many crying and yelling. Tied and lined up along the hall itself were some rather pissed-off X-Men, and a group of non-mutants who had inexplicably been in the building.

Shaw glided in and smiled snakily at them. "Well. Is this all of you?"

"Yes," Scott snapped, frustrated to the extreme. Wolverine, to his left, actually growled at the businessman.

"I'm afraid you're lying, Mr. Summers. Where is Hank McCoy, better known as the Beast?"

"He's gone."

"With Professor X," Jean blurted, not exactly thinking clearly.

Shaw stared at them a moment. Then he rounded on Selene, eyes fiery. "Don't give me that look," she spat. "I didn't know either. Those spells don't give the clearest views."

Shaw cracked his knuckles, annoyed but keeping cool. "Well, then. I guess we're going to have to wait." He walked up to the family of non-mutants. "What were you doing here?"

Clara held up her head, eyes cold. "My husband died of Legacy. I wanted to make sure my children were safe. Does that meet with your approval?"

"Don't get flippant with me, woman, or the children will suffer." He looked back at the X-Men. "So there are no other mutants."

"None," Ororo stated flatly.

Shaw allowed himself a smile. "I would recommend getting another security system. You're not very well organized, aren't you?" Ororo said nothing. Shaw turned his back.

And missed the ghost of a smile that played around Ororo's lips.

5:47 P.M.

Anyone looking at the grounds, like a couple of Hellfire members were now doing, would find much to interest them in turns of scenery. The yard was kept in pristine condition, as well as the private bit of woodland Xavier kept on his property. Well-manicured bushes lined the pond, the pool, the basketball court. There were a few odd bushes out, ones that had grown wild, but they were few and far between.

One of these messier bushes had grown between two trees. A Hellfire member gave it a passing glance, then went around the back. The bush followed, then froze again as a new person appeared. "Yo, Shanya? Was that bush always there?"

"Oh, hell, Bill, you worry too much. Come on around, we're supposed to check for more traps before going inside."

"I hate traps," Bill muttered, following Shanya. "I wanna kick some X-Men butt."

The bush shivered, then moved again, sneaking closer to the school. Suddenly there was a thud and a loud "Oof!"

Luckily, by that point Bill and Shanya had moved on. The bush vanished, to be replaced by Doc, J. C., and a fallen Marty. "You gotta be careful, Marty, you almost pulled me down," J. C. said.

"Sorry, but I tripped on something. You nearly gave us away by opening your eyes at that X-Men comment." Marty winced a little as he got back up. "I didn't expect the ground to be that hard. I mean, I fell on a bunch of moss."

Doc lifted an eyebrow. "Really." He felt the surface on which Marty had fallen. It was unusually hard, even with the covering of moss and leaves. He stripped some of it away to reveal a thick wooden slab.

J. C. cocked her head. "Now what's that doing here?"

Doc smiled. "I'd be willing to bet it's a trap door. Our job of penetrating our enemy's defenses and entering the school just got easier." He used a bit of electricity to burn off a little more moss, then lifted it. Sure enough, underneath was a tunnel. "Yes!"

Marty couldn't help but grin smugly at J. C.. She stuck her tongue out at him and dropped inside. Marty followed, then Doc.

As the trap door closed above them, the tunnel became pitch black. Marty blinked and felt the wall. "You think they got any lights down here?"

Doc felt the wall too. "Yes, but I don't want to alert them to our presence down here." He activated his power and created a crackling ball of current to light their way. "Will this do?" he asked, his face spooky in the dim illumination.

"Yeah." They started walking. "So what's our plan of attack?"

"Shock and Awe," Doc chuckled. "Get whoever's captured the X-Men out of the way by scaring them out of their wits. Then we free the X-Men and let them do some fighting."

"That sounds awfully dangerous."

"I know. The key to the plan is speed. We can't waste time fighting enemies who are all too willing to fight back. Get in, get out, move on."

Suddenly, the stench of brimstone hit them full force. "Nightcrawler!"

"Guten tag," Kurt said, barely visible in the dim light. "I'm glad I'm not the only one who escaped."

"Kurt, what happened?" Marty asked urgently.

"Sebastian Shaw. He took us completely by surprise. We fought back, but there were too many of them."

"Hellfire Club members," J. C. nodded. "Why didn't you use your powers? Dr. Grey could have knocked half of them out without even trying."

"We couldn't. Shaw brought the Black Hole."

"Oh, fck," J.C. muttered.

"Who's the Black Hole?" Doc asked.

"Her name's Frieda Stamos. Her mutant power negates the powers of other mutants. She's worked with both Shaw and Magneto in the past."

"And they caught all of the other X-Men?" Kurt nodded. "Why didn't they get you? You wouldn't be able to teleport."

"I was able to escape into an air duct for a little while. Thanks to the darkness. . . ." Kurt indicated his faded form.

"What about Jennifer and Clara and Jules and Verne?" Marty whispered.

Kurt nodded sadly. "Ja. They got them as well. But they put up a good fight, from what I heard in the ducts. I think Clara was kicking one of them."

Doc managed a smile. "That's my girl." He became very serious again. "Kurt, we want to help. Can you get us into the school unnoticed?"

"I think so. I can teleport again, so we won't have to risk running into anyone at the other end of this. What do you want to do?"

"Isn't it obvious? Shaw wants our work on the Legacy Virus. We have to stop him from getting it, as well as free the X-Men. Hank told me what he's like. I don't want our work -- or my wife -- in his hands."

Kurt understood perfectly. "I'm worried too. Of what he might do to Storm especially," he added, blushing faintly.

"We won't let anything happen to her, 'Crawler," J. C. promised. "Or any of our other friends either." She held out her arms. "Beam me up, Scotty."

Meanwhile, in the corridor

Scott made a decision. As long as he was in this unenviable position, he would use it for his benefit. "Hey, Frieda."

Frieda gave him a funny look. "Yeah?"

"Could you take off my glasses?"

"What? What on earth for?"

"I've been wondering what color my eyes are for the longest time. Now that my powers are gone, I've got the chance to find out." Frieda regarded him suspiciously. "You've got me tied with some sort of super-string and my mutant powers are negated. What can I do to you?"

Frieda considered that a minute. Then she shrugged and pulled them off. "Eh. They're blue."

Scott blinked a few times. Without the red filter, everything looked very strange. He glanced at Jean, who smiled at him. "They are blue. Very pale blue."

Wolverine took a look too. "They look kinda sissy to me."

"Just wait until I get my powers back, wise-ass."

the First Floor elevator

5:51 P.M.

Marty and Kurt appeared with a final bamf. Kurt looked very worn by now. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "Ever since I got out of range of Frieda's power, I've been teleporting a lot."

"We'll rest here for a minute then. Since we're on the subject, how far do her powers extend?"

"I don't know. At first, I couldn't teleport no matter where I was. Then I found a place on the third floor where I could, with difficulty. As more time passed, I could go around almost normally."

"Well, whatever her range is, she's sure to be with the X-Men. Which makes our rescue mission all the more difficult. We might have to lure her out of there before we make our move."

"Which is easier said than done," Marty agreed.

Suddenly, the group heard a voice outside their little chamber. "Hey, do you hear voices?"

"That sounds like that Bill guy earlier," J. C. whispered, rolling her eyes.

"From where? Inside your head?"

"Ha ha. From in there, butt-head."

Marty and Doc stared at each other. Butt-head? Could it possibly be?

"Oh, Jesus, nobody can be in there. We've got the place sealed off until Beast comes back."

"I still hear voices," Bill Butt-head complained.

"So go see a shrink when this is all over. Shaw needs us now."

"Shaw, Shaw, everything is about Shaw. What's there for Tannen, huh?"

"Oh, perfect," Marty groaned as softly as possible. "Another Tannen."

Doc, however, was smiling. "I know. The perfect target on which to start our campaign." He placed one hand against the elevator wall and closed his eyes.

Outside the elevator

This was not the glamour assignment Bill Tannen had hoped for.

When he had married that rich broad from Hong Kong and gotten into the Hellfire Club, he had imagined a life of hedonistic pleasure punctuated by moments of extreme excitement and danger -- a James Bond-like existence. The hedonistic pleasure part was working out great. It was the moments of excitement he was having problems with.

He sighed. The truth of the matter was, being a Hellfire Club member meant doing all the grunt work for Sebastian Shaw. Stuff like this takeover only came around once in a lifetime. And even then, he was stuck with inspecting the mansion for traps, as opposed to beating up a few mutants.

His teammate smirked at him. He couldn't see the smirk because of her mask, but he could tell it was there. Just his luck to be pared with somebody else with ties to Hill Valley. Shayna Needles was an asshole on par with his father Biff. He couldn't believe Shaw had decided to put them together. If he hadn't been so terrified of Selene --

"Still hearing voices, honey?"

Bill glared at her. "Listen, you, if we get in trouble because--"

All the lights in the hall abruptly went out. Bill and Shayna snapped to attention, semiautomatics at the ready. Finally, something exciting was happening! "All right, who's there?" Shayna yelled in her most fearsome voice. "State your name and mutational status."

No one replied, but there came from behind them a soft crackling. Bill turned to see little flickers of electricity moving along the cracks of the elevator doors. "Shayna. Check it out."

Shayna turned. She frowned underneath her mask. "Maybe it's just an electrical fault."

"Or maybe the elevator's about to explode," Bill said, backing up a few steps. A shudder of excitement went through him. An exploding elevator wasn't as good as punching out a mutant, but it would be pretty damn exciting all the same.

Then, with no warning, the doors of the elevator were flung open. Bill's jaw dropped as he saw the figure inside, surrounded by crackling electricity. What the hell?! It -- it's DR. BROWN!

Shayna recognized him too. "Holy shit, how did you get here?!"

Dr. Brown just glared at them, his eyes brightly aglow with millions of volts of current. He extended his hands and gathered the current around them into bright sparkling balls. Then it shot out of his open palms, hitting them square in the chest. Bill experienced a momentary blackout as both his heart and brain were shocked by the blast. He stumbled backwards, and saw Shayna do the same.

Dr. Brown advanced on them. The elevator went dark, and the light above him suddenly lit. Shayna tried to lift her gun, but another bolt of mini-lightning prevented her from touching it. "Get out," he growled in the most menacing voice they had ever heard.

Bill was only too glad to. To hell with Shaw and his Hellfire Club! He scrambled to his feet and ran for his life. After one last, weak attempt to shoot Dr. Brown, Shayna followed, screaming.

Doc felt very satisfied. Not only had he provided a perfect example of what they should do when faced with Shaw's goons, it had given him some personal pleasure to get his own back against a Tannen and a Needles. "Come on, guys," he said, looking back.

To his surprise, the others were pressed back against the elevator wall, gaping at him. "Doc, you're good," Marty said, eyes wide. "You freaked me out."

"I apologize, but we have to get moving right away. Unless we get to Hank's lab immediately, there's a good chance we won't get there at all. Those two will likely alert others to our presence. Kurt, you take the lead -- your teleportation abilities will keep you out of trouble. J. C., Marty, you stay behind me."

"Can do." Marty tried not to let on how truly nervous he was. Being the only non-mutant in the group, he didn't feel very safe. If he got separated from his friends, that could most likely be the end of him.

J. C. seemed to sense it anyway. "I bet you can take care of yourself. In the meantime, we'll take care of you." Doc and Kurt nodded as well, and Marty was slightly reassured. They started jogging down the corridor.

Second Floor, Shaw's temporary office (Prof. X's study)

6: 08 P. M.

Shaw was absolutely thunderstruck to hear that two of his guards had deserted. "Goddamn it! We haven't been harsh enough on them," he raged. "We must rule by fear! Why did they leave, knowing they were betraying the fundamental principles of the Hellfire Club?"

"They said some sort of electricity man attacked them," said the Hellfire member who had apprehended the feeling guards. He hesitated a moment before adding, "Sounds like another mutant to me, sir."

Shaw and Selene looked at each other. In the thrill of victory, neither of them had bothered to wonder if the X-Men were lying. Shaw roared and pounded the desk. "Search everywhere! I want this mutant caught! DEAD OR ALIVE!"

The Hellfire member raced to obey, not wanting to become a target for Shaw's rage. Selene snarled to herself, then had a thought. "Sebastian, instead of entrusting that mission to those dunderheads, why don't we look for that rogue ourselves? Could be fun."

"I'm too keyed up," Shaw said. "You can go if you wish." He fell into a chair and sulked. Selene slithered out the door.

First Floor

6: 13 P. M.

As they rounded a corner, someone shouted "Hey! I bet that's the electricity guy! And he's got company!"

"Looks like our cover's blown, Doc," Marty commented. "Do we run now?"

"Yes we do." They took off, pursued by a small cadre of Hellfire members. "Stand or be shot!" one yelled.

Kurt did a quick teleport back and kicked the speaker. He flew into a friend, but the others raged forward, determined to get their hands on him. Kurt teleported to the back and did a quick climb up the wall.

J. C. grabbed Doc's hand. "Hang on," she warned him, closing her eyes tight. Just like that, the hallway was transformed to the rainy streets of London. Their pursuers hesitated, baffled.

Unfortunately, so did Kurt. "Was ist?"

Two of the Hellfire members saw their chance and fired. Kurt teleported to the group, and they ran down a side hall and into a room. J. C. opened her eyes, dispelling the illusion. "You okay, Kurt?"

"Ja, sorry," he said.

"We gotta get moving, they'll be after us soon," Marty said anxiously. "Come on."

"You guys go ahead," J. C. said. "I'll stay here and keep these guys off your backs."

Doc stared at her. "Absolutely not. You'll get hurt."

"I can take care of myself. I got you to the mansion, didn't I? I can keep 'em busy. Right now, your Legacy work is what matters."

Doc looked at her. Then, abruptly, he pulled her into an embrace. "Be careful."

"I will." She looked at him. "I love you?"

He gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Come back in one piece."

J. C. nodded, and became all business again. "Go on, before they catch us all here."

Reluctantly, the three left. J. C. crouched in a corner of the room and started concentrating, letting her mind flip through various locales. In the hallways, the Hellfire members ran about in confusion as they were transported from Ancient Egypt to Modern Rome and all sorts of places in between.

Finally, out of sheer luck, one stumbled into the room and saw her. He correctly deduced she was the cause of their problems and pulled out his gun. With an animal yell, he ran for her.

J. C. jumped, her eyes snapping open. For one minute, she was absolutely terrified. Then she realized that it was the gun's butt, and not its barrel, that was facing her. Oh, how amusing, she thought as the Hellfire member swung.

He's going to knock me out.