Sinister Designs: Chapter 10
Nathaniel hung up the phone and looked around the blood red room with consternation. Why did the emergency lights activate? He strode quickly out into the hallway and to power control room, where three technicians were in a race to shut everything down. One technician noticed that his employer was standing in the doorway.
"The coolant flow has suddenly stopped, sir," he said as he continued his work. "We're shutting it all down before permanent damage."
"ALL of it?" Nathaniel echoed. "From every single source?"
Nathaniel moved to the control panel in question. The technician continued speaking, but kept his eyes on his work.
"Yes, sir. All sources have suddenly run dry. We're going to figure out why once we get things stable."
A glance over the man's shoulder told Nathaniel this wasn't some instrumentation glitch. The rest of the gauges were running much too hot, precisely what he'd expect from a coolant flow interruption. Only twice had they dealt with serious flow interruptions. Once was in the dead of winter, during a brutally cold spell, and the other was from a broken connection. Neither situation disrupted every single coolant flow. The men succeeded in shutting off the alarms in the power room, but the ones in Nathan's head were still ringing. And as things calmed down, and everyone could take the time to look at each other, they became aware that they were all thinking the same thing:
The only thing that could shut off every single source was deliberate sabotage.
"Activate the perimeter guards," Nathaniel ordered. "All of them."
"Are they to take prisoners, sir?" a technician asked.
Nathan thought about that for a moment. Then he said, "No."
--
Iceman laid down in the field of tall grain, panting for breath. God, that was hard. Jesus Christ, that was hard. The bastard had five different coolant pipes running to five different spots. To make matters worse, the damn things had some sort of heater built in to prevent freezing. He had to freeze one, go to another, return to the one, return to the second one, freeze a third before the first one thawed...
"Storm, tell me the power's off," he wheezed. "Tell me I don't have to go running around again."
Storm crouched next to Iceman, concealing herself in the rye. Out there, somewhere in the other fields, she knew the rest of the team waited as well, paired into teams of Colossus and Logan, and Banshee and Nightcrawler. She turned her attention to the gauge in her hand. An IR view revealed that the spot inside the laboratory was a bit warmer than before, but the ground around it was cold as permafrost. And as she watched a bit longer, the warm spot began to drop in temperature for the first time. Iceman had finally succeeded in freezing everything solid.
"Rest easy," she told him. "You've done it."
"So now they're on backup power," Logan said over the communicator. "Think it's enough to open up those holes?"
Ah, yes; those three pesky little pits they discovered during the ground density scan. At first the Xmen thought they might be burial shafts, considering their size and shape. After all, Nathaniel probably had a lot of "failed experiments" to get rid of. But the density inside of the shafts wasn't just lighter than the surroundings: it was zero. These were foxholes, covered by what was likely a metal panel. One pit was in the middle of a field, one was in the packed dirt road that ran between fields, and one was only a few yards from the laboratory building itself, right next to the loading dock.
But there was also one very good thing about those pesky little pits. Each one of them had an access shaft that lead straight under Nathaniel's lab.
"Nathan may be arrogant enough to use one of his own properties for this, but I doubt he's foolish enough to seal off those holes when the main grid goes off-line," she said. Silently, she added, Besides, we need those pits to open.
"Hey, you can't blame a guy for trying."
"Three guesses as to what's in those pits," Nightcrawler added in a worried tone.
At least now they're coming out on our time schedule instead of his, she thought. And they were going to come out any second now. Storm stirred up the wind, setting the rye to swaying and bobbing in waves. The starry night became gray with cloud cover, and the hail started in. It was small hail, the size of peas; not enough to hurt her teammates, but hopefully just enough to play havoc with any motion sensors. Assuming Nathaniel had them active on backup power.
And assuming he has them at all, she thought ruefully. Everything we're doing here is based off of assumptions. Goddess, please don't let those access tunnels seal themselves off before we can get through...
Nightcrawler and Banshee covered their heads with their arms. Maybe the hail wasn't big enough to injure, but it stung something awful.
"Come on you bloody bastard," Banshee grumbled. "Open that damn hatch."
The only way they knew that their assigned hole had opened was by watching a patch of rye "part" in the middle. The sliding action was completely silent. The men held their breath as the head of an amplifier suit rose up from the waving grain, its back toward them.
"One up," Nightcrawler whispered into his mike.
"Mine too," Logan answered, his voice just as soft.
"And the third one's coming up," Storm said quickly. "Go."
Banshee tensed and ground his teeth, which was Nightcrawler's cue to plug his ears. The suit took a step up, out of the hole. And then Banshee shouted, an unnatural set of pure tones that rattled Nightcrawler's teeth in their sockets. The very air in front of Banshee wavered, the hail pulverized into snowflakes. The suit stumbled as if hit by a physical blow to the back of the head, and Nightcrawler bolted on all fours for an opening into the ground that he couldn't yet see.
Colossus laid flat in the rye, watching the massive suit rise up as if it started from a kneeling position. Was that how they stored those things in the ground? Curled up on their knees, like a man in deepest prayer? Colossus thought about Isidro, and hoped that the pilot of this suit was a willing participant, because he couldn't afford to be gentle. Banshee's sonic scream cut through the hail and wind far to the right, and the suit spun to face the sound. That placed its back squarely at Colossus' mercy.
Logan and Colossus sprang as one entity, each man going for one of the suit's knees. The suit toppled over backwards under the assault, sparks flying from where Logan sliced cleanly through its servos. Colossus used the momentum to his advantage, tossing the huge thing a good twenty feet into the rye field, and clearing the way for Logan to enter the access tunnel.
Logan hoped he'd hit something important, but he couldn't afford to look back at the results of his free shot. No way was Nightcrawler going to be able to do everything by himself in the House of Essex. He dove into the pit, narrowly avoiding a volley of machinegun fire from the unengaged suit behind him. On one side of the six foot pit was a series of metal steps, presumably for the suit's use in leaving the pit unhindered. That wasn't what held Logan's attention. It was the access port he needed... and the damned thing was shut tight. He cursed as he sliced through the door; it wasn't a problem for him, but for Nightcrawler it was insurmountable.
" 'Crawler, is your door locked?" he shouted over the gunfire.
More dissonant screeching echoed in Logan's tender ears, and then Nightcrawler's voice came over the radio. "Not anymore. Ow." After a second, he added, "I never intended to stress test my new eardrums this way."
Logan snapped a glow stick and ran into the access tunnel. It was just big enough for a man to walk through, and though there were glassy spots overhead that seemed to be lights, the entire length was dark Nathaniel's heart.
Guess he didn't spring for any emergency lights down here, Logan thought. Here's hoping nothing else is wired to the backup generator, either...
:
Harold Trask didn't trust the teleporter. In fact, the very idea of teleportation itself was untrustworthy. If you disassembled and reassembled your body, you ran the risk of "improper assembly". If you cut a hole in space and walked to the other side, you could always get lost. Or worse, something could take your place. And he knew that those things, those claw-like demons, were always waiting for someone to make a mistake. Just one false move, and they would come through again. In case there wasn't enough of a reason to want mutants eliminated, a teleporter's power risked far more than its user.
But now there wasn't much of a choice. If he was going to get onto Xavier's grounds, this was the way it had to be. He slowly inhaled and exhaled, programming the coordinates, preparing himself for the possibilities. If it was anywhere else, he'd never dream of using it... but these were mutants. They had to go. They were more dangerous than ten faulty gateways. If he opened up something unstable, at least it would destroy them as well.
It was worth it, he told himself. It was worth it. It was worth it.
He took his last steadying breath, mentally activated the switch, and stepped into the white glare.
The white washed over him as he walked in. Two steps, three steps, and to his incredible relief, he saw a pinprick window open up in front of him, revealing the dark, quiet, deceptively beautiful grounds of the Institute for Gifted Youngsters. He exhaled as he set foot on the grass, the moist earth packing solid under his feet. The white glare behind him faded, and now he was alone, with the school only a minute's walk away. He strode into the bushes, careful not to snap too many branches underfoot. He had to get closer before he let loose. He had to get a lot closer.
Target, active power use. Three o'clock, down angle.
His suit's artificial voice startled him. He looked to the right and down, and saw a hideous little creature, crouched and trembling in the bushes.
:
Rosa clicked her warning frantically on her radio, so frantically that the greenery around her shook. This suit was HUGE! Even the one that came after her in Mexico wasn't as big as this! It had to be three stories tall! She tried to be quiet. She hadn't said a thing. But it suddenly turned to her and aimed its fist, and she dropped the radio and ran into the grove on all fours. Behind her she heard that sound, that gentle, horrible, all too familiar sound of the suit's energy weapon. She smelled timber burning, heard trees come crashing down behind her. Was it shooting down the trees, or just pushing them aside to get to her? She ran faster. Please, God, don't let me die, don't let me die, don't let me die...
Syryn's scream echoed through the school grounds, followed by a whooping siren and searchlights. One flashed over Rosa, and she couldn't see for a second. She knew she was right in front of the pool. She dove in, and was rewarded with icy cold water. She swam down toward the bottom as fast as she could, praying she could get far enough down that the thing couldn't shoot her so easy, or grab her. She glanced back to see a gigantic metal hand bare inches from her ankle...
An explosion of sparkles hit the giant suit in the face, startling it before its hand closed around Rosa. Jubilee put everything she had into her attack, but though she could burn through bulletproof vests, she wasn't even scorching the paint job on this thing. It moved for her instead, and it was moving fast. Much faster than something that big should be allowed to move.
"Jesus Fucking H. Christ!" Jubilee shouted into her radio as she ran into what few trees were left. "This thing's as tall as the school!"
Dammit, this suit was designed to take on all of the Xmen at once! Why was Harold having so much trouble with runts like this? He picked up one of the fallen oak trees and swung it at Jubilee. The girl fell under the assault, hurled dozens of feet away where she did not stir. Good. Finally. His first kill. But just to make sure... He moved over to her and placed his foot over her body...
And was promptly thrown aside by a blow to his right. He rolled to his feet. Well, it seemed that one of the adults was still on the grounds. He'd recognize Cyclops anywhere.
Cyclops kept up the assault as Rhane ran in and dragged Jubilee off the lawn. Good Lord. Good Lord! These things just kept getting bigger and bigger! And the kids shouldn't even be out here! There were three students in close vicinity, and God knew how many more were lurking nearby. What they hell were they thinking?
"Rogue, get the kids out of here!" he shouted.
"Not if it includes me, you're not!" Katherine shouted back.
Katherine? She must have followed him out when the alarm went off. "Kitty, where are you?"
He wanted to look around to see where Kitty and Rogue were, but he literally couldn't take his eyes off the monstrous suit, for fear he'd lose his firing angle. He ran along the tree line, firing every step of the way.
Don't worry about their location, Xavier's voice rang in his head. I will coordinate them.
Professor, get the rest of the kids inside! This is going to be a slaughter!
The suit ripped up an architectural boulder and hurled it like a common stone. By traitorous reflex, Cyclops flung himself back on the ground and watched as the huge rock sailed over him, barely an inch from his nose. It hit the ground with a sickening combination of dull thud and splintering crack. There wouldn't be a tree left on this side of the institute before long.
Another boulder was heading straight for his face. He pulverized it into fine sand as he scrambled to his feet. And then something else came; it looked like a tree trunk. It was all he could do to keep himself from being flattened by the incoming debris. Between missiles, he saw Katherine running in on the suit from behind. If she could pull this off, their problems were over. If she could just hit something vital...
She ran into the robot's leg and bounced off. The impact was enough to temporarily stun her, and enough to garner the attention of the robot as well. It didn't take a chance at being pushed off balance this time; it just swung down after her with its fist. By that time Kitty had sunk into the earth. The impact left a divot the depth of an irrigation ditch, but there was nothing of Kitty to be found.
:
John stood on one of the balconies of the institute. He knelt by the railing, doing what he could to disguise his silhouette like Rogue said to do. He was just close enough to be able to feel the electricity in the gigantic suit. He could feel the circuitry and switches, but that seemed to be all he could do. He could have a computer shut down and smoking by this point; here there just wasn't anything familiar to grab. He kept trying, shutting off power here and rerouting it there. This thing must be one huge redundancy--
JOHNATHAN PORTSMITH! GET OUT OF THERE RIGHT NOW!
The Professor's voice hit like a sledgehammer, shouting loudly enough to deafen.
I'm not on the lawn! I'm in one of the rooms!
YOU ARE A TARGET OUTSIDE ON THE BALCONY! GET INSIDE THE WALLS THIS INSTANT!
Suddenly he knew he had to leave. It was way too dangerous there. One stray bullet and he was history. He bolted inside and had reached the hallway before he realized that the impulse might not be his own.
Professor, that's not fair!
Young man, if I have to push you to keep you alive, I will do so! I have lost entirely too many students, and I'm not losing any more of you! Do you understand me?
But if I can screw up any of that thing's circuits--!
Then do it from inside the school's walls! Feel for the electricity! Don't use your eyes!
...
He'd never even considered that...
:
Nightcrawler galloped headlong through the pitch black tunnel. What started as a level run grew into a good 10 downhill grade halfway through. Twice he ran by what looked like security cameras, dark and motionless. Spaced at disturbingly regular intervals were narrow strips of different colored metal, which he was sure had to be separate plates retracted into the ceiling.
Thank God those dividers didn't automatically come down when the power went off, he thought. He must have thought the combination of the suit and the first door would keep anyone out.
A damp chill built with every step, and by the time he finally reached the end of the tunnel, he could see his breath hanging in the air. Just his luck; the door at this end was locked shut as well. There was a keypad there, of course, covered with frost, but without power, it wasn't much use. Bobby must have inadvertently frozen this part of the tunnel along with the water pipes. How thick was this door? And how big was the room behind it? Was it occupied? The ground density scan wasn't worth much when it came to things like this.
Now what? Do I wait for Logan? Don't tell me I'm going to have to risk a blind 'port...
As he was considering contacting Logan, the door creaked slowly open. It slowly slid a quarter inch into the wall, and eerie red light peeked through. Nightcrawler flattened himself against the wall farthest from the opening, and heard someone cursing from the other side of the door.
"Come on you bloody bastard," a voice snarled.
Just what Banshee said not a minute ago. The coincidence was ludicrous enough to bring a smile to Nightcrawler's lips. The door jerked a fraction of an inch further.
"What the hell's taking so long?" another voice demanded. "It slid fine last month!"
"Yeah, well, someone put the anchors on this thing."
Both voices were muffled, as if the were wearing some sort of face mask. The chances were they belonged to armed guards with helmets. A few fingers of an armored gauntlet worked their way between the door and the wall, and Nightcrawler had his verification. Nightcrawler took a quick peek through the base of the tiny opening to get his bearings. Three pairs of armored boots, metal floor, enough space behind the last pair of feet and the wall to materialize. He teleported into the room.
The three guards were covered in all encompassing battle armor, which made them look a good foot taller and broader than they probably were. They carried short stocked rifles of some kind, maybe semi-automatic. Logan would have recognized the build instantly, but for Nightcrawler they were just something more to avoid. Miraculously, no one had noticed him yet. They must not have been able to smell his arrival in those enclosed helmets, let alone hear him over their own complaints. He made the most of his opportunity and left through the open doorway. Rescue first, fight later.
"I'm in," he whispered as he stalked out into the hall.
"Shit a brick!" a guard shouted from back in the room.
Suddenly all three were running from the room, and straight into Nightcrawler.
:
Logan yanked his claws free of the last of the guards in the tunnel's end chamber. One of these guys got a warning out, he was sure of it. Their timetable just got slashed again.
"I'm in too," he checked in.
"I noticed!" Nightcrawler snapped.
Logan grabbed a weapon from the fallen guards as he ran out the door. "You need help, C?"
Pause. "No, I've got it." Pause. "I think." Pause. "That armor's hard on my knuckles."
"Takin' you at yer word, bub," Logan said as he ran down the hallway. "I'll call you if I run into anything."
The place stank of antiseptic and that damned industrial strength air freshener crap. So far, the only scent he could pick up was his own. He headed to the southern side of the structure while Nightcrawler headed north.
Chances are that the labs will be somewhere in the middle, he thought. Maybe I should head "inland" instead of skirting the edges like this.
Something happened above him. It was a heavy sound, an impact, and if it could be heard all the way down here it must have been one hell of an impact. Colossus, maybe, breaking his way in? Storm's lightning? One of the 'bots? Logan kept running. It could be have been caused by angry fairies as far as he cared. Until something broke through the ceiling, it wasn't his problem.
So far all he found were doorways, with those doors slid into open position. Quick glances showed the rooms to be empty, or only storage. Then he got to a closed door, innocuously labeled LAB 1.
Now we're talking, he thought. Something important enough to lock in when the lights go down.
Three slices and he cut had another doorway into the thick steel. It fell into the next room with a loud clanging thud. He snarled in irritation; nothing here but equipment. Not even any techs. He hoped Nightcrawler had better luck.
At that point, Nightcrawler's voice whispered, "Gott im himmel."
Logan jogged to the next closed door, labeled LAB 2. "Whadja find, partner?"
"I... uh..." His voice wavered, and Logan heard a strange bird-like squawk come through the mike at the same time. "I don't think I can save this one..."
Great. Leave it to the priest to find the first "experiment." "Either 'port her topside or leave her for later. We don't got the luxury of being helpless."
"Then I'll have to leave her, God help me." Another bird squawk nearly overrode Nightcrawler's voice in the transmission. "I'm sorry. I'll come back for you, I promise."
Logan opened up another empty lab. This was getting monotonous. Maybe he should just run like hell until he got some live scents. The bottom level was only so big. He was sure to run into Nightcrawler sooner or later.
"I have never wanted someone dead so much as I want Herr Essex now," Nightcrawler snarled.
Logan broke into a run, leaving LABS 3-5 behind. "Dibs on his eyeballs."
"Logan, I found the main cell wing! North side of the--"
The communication stopped dead.
Oh shit.
TBC...