Blaine, Rogue, Gambit, Nightcrawler, and Wolverine had set up the old warehouse as a sort of makeshift base. They got rid of Toad and Mystique's bodies before there was a smell so it would be tolerable. They got Blaine's stuff out of a big blue van he had down the street. They started to plan what they were going to do.
Wolverine started off. "We need to come up with a way to track down all the Brotherhood mutants."
"This would be so much easier if we had the Professor helpin' us," Rogue said. "He could just use Cerebro and we'd know where all the Brotherhood mutants were."
Blaine was curious. "Cerebro? What's that?"
Gambit explained it. "Cerebro's somethin' th' Professor uses t' track down mutants. It… what's th' word? Amplify! It amplifies 'is telepathy t' let 'im find out where mutants are."
Blaine's lightbulb came on. "I've got a plan, guys. I know this guy… actually four, but that's a long story… his name is Tripp, and he's a telepath. I'm a telepath, too. Mine's not really that strong, which is why I'll need his help. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to find him, break into the mansion, and him and me can use our collective powers to use Cerebro. We'll need you guys to help us in case we run into trouble, and to lead us to Cerebro."
Nightcrawler asked, "So where do we find this Tripp?"
An hour later, at midnight, they found themselves at Blackfield Asylum.
Wolverine looked almost afraid. "This place is real?"
Blaine looked up at the huge black stone walls. "Too real."
They walked inside to the front desk. A guard rolled up on a wheelie-chair. "Sorry, no visitors past 4:00."
Blaine stepped toward the desk a little more. "I'm here to see a friend of mine. He's in Solitary B-14."
The guard stood up. "No visitors past 4:00, and no visitors for solitaries." The guard's hand crept toward his nightstick. The same hand ended up being broken by Gambit's staff. The guard was immediately met with another whack right to the skull, knocking him unconscious. The group moved toward the stairwell and went down to the second basement level.
Rogue was curious. "So, why is he in an asylum?"
Blaine kept his eyes pointed straight ahead as he answered. "He has multiple personalities. Except it's not a disorder. He's actually quite sane. His mind got connected to the minds of three other people and as he switches between the four, he changes form. The dominant mind being Tripp, since he was the owner of the original body."
The five got to the second basement level and Blaine looked for Solitary B-14. The basements were where they kept all the solitaries. There were three basements, each full of solitaries.
As Blaine, Gambit, Rogue, Wolverine, and Nightcrawler walked through the eerily light basement corridor, they heard banging on the doors; they heard screams coming from different rooms. They heard cries for help, and they heard threats being shouted through the doors.
As they finally came across Solitary B-14, they discovered that it was the only completely silent room. Blaine pulled everyone away from the door with his hands. "Stand back." He stepped up and kicked the door down.
As the five of them stepped inside, Blaine, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Rogue, and Gambit saw a figure huddled in the corner. It was dark in the room, and there was no switch. Blaine squinted his eyes at the figure. He saw two tiny red lights. The lights were attached to a silhouette of a head.
Blaine walked a little closer. "Hey, Kid Stealth, it's me. Let me talk to Tripp."
The figure in the corner stood up. He had a robotic right arm, two glowing red eyes, and what looked to be robotic raptor legs. "I'm not sure I want to. I kind of like being in control."
Blaine had a hint of irritation in his voice as he said, "Don't worry, you'll get to have some fun later if you let me talk to Tripp."
The man that Blaine had referred to as "Kid Stealth" started to transform. He became a kid who looked to be about 15, the same age as Blaine. He had brown, wavy hair, and a t-shirt and jeans. The people at the asylum needed to get better straight-coats. The one he had been issued was on the floor in shreds.
The teen smiled. "Blaine! What's up, man? I knew you'd get me out of here!"
Blaine smiled back. "Hey, Tripp. Hey, listen. I need some help from you."
Tripp looked serious. "Anything, man."
"Do you know who the Brotherhood of Mutants are?"
"Yeah. They're some kind of evil mutants who want to kill everybody else."
"Yeah, well Gambit, Rogue, Nightcrawler, Wolverine and I are gonna kill them. We need your help with finding them. See, Professor Xavier, the leader of the X-Men, has this thing called Cerebro. It amplifies his telepathic abilities to enable him to find other mutants. We're all gonna break into the mansion, get to Cerebro, and you and me are gonna use it. I'm not telepathically strong enough, so I need you to add your power to mine."
"If I help you find them, can I help you kill them?"
"Sure thing, man. Now come on, before the guards get here."
All six started to run, but as soon as they got halfway up the stairwell, there were the guards.
Blaine looked over at Tripp. "Hey, Tripp? Let Kid Stealth loose. I promised him if he let me talk to you, I'd let him have some fun."
Tripp smiled and began to change. Back came the vicious-looking, raptor-legged, metal-armed, golden-eyed killer. "True to your word, I see."
Blaine looked at him and gave a mischievous smirk. "Let's have some fun."
Everyone launched into the fight. There was already a pre-understood "no killing" rule. Too bad. Stealth thought. He enjoyed killing just a little too much.
Gambit jumped right in the middle of the fray, whacking left and right with his staff. Every now and then, he'd charge up a card and throw it up a level, sending guards over the rails. There were a lot of guards.
Rogue took off her gloves and proceeded to suck the energy out of every guard that came close, bringing them close to death. Anyone who came close either got a bone-crunching punch to the face, or the grip of near-death.
Nightcrawler was having fun, teleporting all around, kicking the crap out of all the guards. One moment, he would be throwing a guard over a rail, the next, he was landing on top of another.
Wolverine wished he could use his claws more. He knew that these guards were just doing their jobs, and therefore he wouldn't kill them, but he was just itching to sink his claws into something. He contented himself with beating guards over their heads and occasionally scratching them with a claw or two.
Blaine was hurling guards through the air with his telekinesis and giving others blasts of lightning from his hands with electrokinesis.
Kid Stealth was having the most fun. It had been a while since he really got to let loose. Of course, he couldn't let everything loose (the no killing rule), but it was fun nonetheless. He ran up and across the walls of the stairwell using his robotic velociraptor legs, dealing out powerful blows with his robotic right arm.
Eventually, all the guards were taken care of, and the six could leave the building unimpeded.
As they exited the building, Blaine turned to Kid Stealth. "Hey, Stealth. Let me see Tripp."
"Fine." Kid Stealth mumbled a little, but turned control back over to Tripp.
"Hey, Tripp. You up for the next part?"
"Yeah. We break in, we use Cerebro, and we get out."
"That's right. Now let's try not to wake anybody up. We don't want to have to hurt anybody."
"Which is exactly what we'd have to do if they tried to stop us, which is inevitable if they wake up."
"Exactly. Now let's get back to the warehouse. I've got some stuff to pick up."
Everyone took off as fast as possible, headed in the direction of the warehouse. When they got there, everybody jumped in through the broken window.
Blaine walked over to where he had put all his stuff. He picked up a rope and threw it around his shoulders. He put a small box in his pocket. He picked up four small knives and tucked them into his belt. Then he picked up a pair of black and blue gauntlets with metal plates on the backs of the hands and fastened them on.
Gambit asked, "'Ey, what's all th' junk for? Ya plannin' t' scale a mountain an' fight a band o' ninjas?"
Blaine smiled. "Get your cards and shut up. You'd be surprised how all this stuff can come in handy."
"If ya say so."
Blaine explained what they would all do. "Alright, we're gonna sneak into the mansion and try not to wake anybody up. If they wake up before we get to Cerebro, we'll have to fight our way through. Hopefully, we won't have to do that. All you X-Men will lead us to Cerebro. Once Tripp and I are there, we'll need all you to guard us. Don't let anyone even close. Hopefully they'll still be asleep, so I'm hoping you won't have to deal with that. After we've found out where the Brotherhood mutants are, we'll sneak out… or break out, depending on whether everyone's awake or not, and find the Brotherhood. Any questions? No? Well, let's go then."
Everyone jumped back out the window and started off as fast as they could toward the mansion. Once they got there, Blaine pulled the little box out of his pocket and opened it. It was a lock pick set. He pulled out a pick and unlocked door. He stopped for a few seconds and asked, "Is there a security system?"
Wolverine said, "If you had a bunch of mutants that could tear down a city in less than a day, would you need a security system?"
"I'll take that as a 'no'." And everyone went inside. They crept into the foyer and closed the door. "Alright, guys. Now lead Tripp and me to Cerebro."
The four X-Men went in front and led Tripp and Blaine to a wall. Rogue pushed in a section of the wall that you would never be able to tell could move and part of the wall slid to the side to reveal an elevator. As they were in the elevator, Nightcrawler was acting funny.
Gambit was concerned. "What's th' matter, blue boy?"
"I feel trouble."
As they reached the subbasement, that trouble became apparent. Cyclops, Colossus, Jean, and Storm were waiting at the door.
Cyclops had a weird smile on his face. "I had a feeling you'd be coming here. I don't know what you're here for, but you're not getting it." He was met with a fist in his face. That fist happened to be attached to Blaine's arm. A fight ensued.
Blaine pulled the team into action. "Where do we go?"
Gambit pointed to the right, down the hall. "It's over there, at the end of the hallway!"
Blaine and Tripp ran to the end of the hall, to the door indicated by Gambit. The door wouldn't let them through.
"How do we get in?"
Nightcrawler appeared. "It's accessed by an optical scan. Only registered telepaths can get in. I'll be right back with your access card." Nightcrawler BAMFed away, then came back, with Jean struggling to get out of his grip. Blaine hit her over the head and knocked her out. Nightcrawler held her eye open and held it up to the scan. The door opened.
Blaine and Tripp went in. "Thanks."
Blaine approached the helmet sitting on a control panel. He put the helmet on and Tripp put his hand on Blaine's shoulder to connect the two. They both forced their powers to intertwine and enter the machine. They felt a strange dizzying sensation and could see their targets. They saw their location. Mission accomplished. They left the room to find a huge brawl going on in the hallway.
Blaine looked at Tripp. "I think this would be a good time to let Switchblade out to play."
Tripp looked at Blaine, nodded, and began to transform. His hair went dirty blonde and straightened itself out. His eyes changed. He was suddenly wearing a t-shirt, boots, and a black duster. And he had a club.
"What's up, Switch?"
"Just glad to stretch my legs."
Switchblade ran into the fight. Blaine unslung the rope from his shoulder and, swinging it like a whip or a mace, he charged in. He threw the rope and it wrapped around Cyclops's ankle. Blaine swung it and planted Cyclops's face into the wall. Colossus charged Blaine, who then flipped over his head, flung out the rope and landed. The rope had caught onto Colossus's neck. When Blaine landed, he yanked the rope, having a clothesline effect on Colossus. Then he swung the rope and the end of it whacked Storm in the face with such force, it knocked her unconscious.
Gambit laughed. "Yer right, tha' thing really does come in handy."
The six of them got on the elevator and snuck out of the building.