Fight For Freedom Part II

"The first thing we gotta do is get these collars off," Jean thought aloud. "Gambit, do you have any of your lock picking equipment on?"

Remy fished inside one of his boots and pulled out a small metal device. "Gambit thinks he can arrange that. Hold still." He started to work on Jean's collar.

"Careful!" Lisa warned. "One wrong move and those things will blow your head off! Not that it'll do you any good anyway. There's some kind of low level power inhibitor in here."

"Well ain't you Miss Cheerful!" Remy grumbled as he worked.

"Excuse me," Lisa snapped. "I've been surrounded by torture and death for the past six months. It hasn't exactly brightened my outlook on life!"

The collar slipped off Jean and Remy went to work on Roberto's almost immediately. "Easy as pie," He grinned.

"I'm going to try and use my telepathy to find out…" Jean put her hand to her head in order to concentrate.

"Don't!" Lisa cried out but it was too late.

"Ow!" Jean winced and fell down in pain. "I…I can't sense anything! My telepathy…It's gone!"

"Told you," Lisa grumbled. "Why don't people listen to me?"

Remy charged up one of his cards once his collar was off. "Gambit's powers seem to be working just fine." He threw it at the bars of the cage, but it didn't break.

"They're made out of something called Adamantium," Lisa told him.

"Now you tell Remy that!" He groaned as five guards rushed in.

"All right you freaks! I don't know how you got your collars off…"One guard snarled. Suddenly a loud commotion could be heard. "What the…?"

The door opened but nothing was there. "Are these damn things on the fritz again?" A second guard asked. Suddenly he was knocked down.

Before the guards knew what hit them, they were beaten and weaponless. Xi and Solitaire reappeared. "Are we glad to see you!" Roberto said as they were let out of the cell.

"Where's Dorian?" Mrs. Leech asked.

"He's not with you?" Xi asked.

"They took him away," She told him. "To another lab. Said he was going to be part of some project."

"We have to stop them and fast," Jean explained. "If they hook Dorian up to their generators…"

"Kaboom, we know," Roberto groaned.

"We've started a revolt," Xi said. "But it could take time."

"If only I could use my telepathy," Jean sighed. "I could track down his mind somehow."

"But why can't you use your powers?" Roberto asked. "We can use ours."

"I don't know," Jean shrugged.

"Maybe this one does," Solitaire looked at Lisa.

"Hey I don't know anything! Let go!" Lisa yelped as Solitaire grabbed her arm. She pulled away but that was enough for him to read her DNA codes.

"It's her isn't it?" Remy asked.

"Yes. Her powers inhibit telepathy," Solitaire explained.

"You mean she's some kind of anti-telepath?" Roberto asked. "She's the reason Jean couldn't use her powers?"

"Cut down my empathy too," Remy glared at her. "You working with them, girl?"

"Does it look like I'm working for them?" Lisa snapped. "I've been stuck in this hell hole for nearly a year!"

"Then why didn't you tell us what your powers were?" Roberto shouted.

"I dunno," She glared at them. "Maybe because I didn't want to get killed? The last time I told my cellmates what my powers were they tried to kill me in order so they could use their powers again! They were telepaths who weren't exactly fond of me. I was lucky to get out of that in one piece! And the two of them ended up in a lot of pieces!"

"What happened to them?" Roberto asked.

"Hello? I just told you!" She produced a shiv out of her boots. "How do you think I did it?"

"You killed them?" Jean was in shock, not just from her experience.

"I didn't have a choice! It was either them or me!" Lisa held the weapon defensively. "So don't any of you get any funny ideas!"

"Lisa…" Jean began.

"Stay back!" Lisa warned. "I'm warning you!"

"Mutants shouldn't fight other mutants…" Jean said softly. "Not like this."

"Please!" She spat. "I know about you X-Jokers! You fight other mutants all the time just for the fun of it! No wonder the humans don't trust us, and you know something? I don't blame 'em!"

"Lisa…" Jean began.

"I said to stay back!" Lisa snarled. "I won't let you hurt me!"

"Sorry but I have no choice…" Jean sighed. She was able to use her telekinesis to shove her against the wall, knocking her out.

"You should have let me kill her," Solitaire hissed.

"That's why she just knocked her out," Xi explained. "Are they…?"

"No," Jean groaned. "Apparently her powers are always on, even unconscious."

"She actually thought we were going to kill her," Roberto was stunned.

"Don't take a telepath to see that," Remy snorted. "We gotta go."

"What about her?" Mrs. Leech asked pointing to Lisa.

"We can't just leave her here!" Jean said.

"Got no choice," Remy said. "If we bring her you can't use your telepathy. After we get the boy we can come back for her later."

"You probably will be able to use your telepathy the further we are from her," Roberto reasoned.

"You're right, preventing a nuclear explosion comes first," Jean sighed.

"Nuclear explosion?" Mrs. Leech asked.

"We'll explain later," Jean said. "Come on, let's go!" They ran out of the room.

Meanwhile in the control center of Neverland. "WHAT THE HELL IS ALL THAT RACKET?" Kincaid shouted at his underlings.

"The mutants sir, they're revolting!" One soldier told him.

"I've been saying that for years," Kincaid grumbled.

"No sir, they are really revolting," He pointed to the monitors. "Look! TheX-Men we capturedare loose and most of the mutants have escaped the main Pens!"

"Oh for crying…" Kincaid gnashed his teeth. "Send squads Four through Seven to quell the…"

BOOOOM! BOOM!

"Now what?" Kincaid shouted. "That came from outside!"

"Sir the X-Men and Misfits are attacking!" Another soldier showed him on another monitor.

"Fine…" Kincaid growled. "I want all Sentinels outside! Set them to termination mode!"

"But sir, the ones that have returned haven't even been repaired yet," The soldier said.

"No time," Kincaid said. "Send them out. Hopefully they'll do enough of a job to slow them down. We still have ten functioning Sentinels on reserve. Also send out every tank we've got as well as the first battalion of armored squad. Send Squad 9 out for support of the main science lab where Project X Elimination is. All remaining squads contain the mutants inside! Those that resist are terminated!"

It didn't take long for the Sentinels to be activated. "Heads up!" Logan warned. "Here comes the welcome wagon!"

"Bring 'em on," Tabitha made a huge energy bomb and threw it to Peter. "Here ya go Colossus, throw 'em a fastball special will ya?"

"AHHHHHHGGGGH!" Peter shouted as he hefted it into the air. It hit one Sentinel, which went down quickly.

"One down, twenty something more to go," Lance noticed the tanks and soldiers streaming out to attack them. "And they brought friends!"

"Let's do it!" Scott shouted.

Outside the X-Men and Misfits fought the Sentinels and tanks in order to get into Neverland. Inside dozens of abused, angry mutants fought soldiers and small robots in order to get out of Neverland. Some had electric powers. One had shadow like powers enabling her to dodge in and out. Some could control fire and ice. A few had limited teleportation powers, one of them used the opportunity not to fight, but fled to parts unknown, taking two weaker younger mutants with her.

Those mutants that did not have strong offensive powers grabbed whatever weapons they could. Guns from fallen soldiers, broken pipes or sharp objects. They used whatever they could to fight for survival. Running in and out of every room they came into to either free other mutants or fight more humans.

Jean struggled to not give into the madness surrounding her. She used her shields to protect Mrs. Leech as well as some of the weaker mutants, including Artie. Remy and Roberto fought hard as well, managing not to kill their targets.

Not all of their companions were so forgiving.

In the years that followed mutants would talk in whispers and in underground conversations about the Battle of Neverland. Sometimes the numbers of mutants fought and killed and or humans fought and killed would vary. Several stories would be told surrounding this battle. Some imagined, some factual, others greatly exaggerated.

All would become legendary.

The basic truth of the story remained. It was a fierce and it was deadly. For both sides.

But mostly for the humans. As Kincaid witnessed from the monitors of his command center. The damaged Sentinels had been quickly dispatched and his tanks were almost annihilated. The more functional Sentinels managed to last longer but were still being beaten back by the mutants. The attempt to use gas on them backfired, as Storm used the wind to blow the gas the other way. Although his soldiers on the outside weren't being killed they were being routed and many fled in terror.

Inside Neverland it was getting worse. More and more mutants were being freed from the labs and trashing them. The soldiers were trying to stop them but with facing mutant powers the fighting was all but futile. Many of his scientists were either fleeing for their lives or killed already. And any robotic assistance was quickly being trashed by mutants with telekinetic or electric abilities.

He was fighting a battle on two fronts and he was losing.

Unless his scientists got that damned contraption up and running soon.

He ran down to the main lab with a few soldiers. Dr. Windsor and a few scientists were working on the device. Dorian was hooked up to a huge dish, which was attached by wires to a large power converter. "Dr. Windsor! Is that damned thing ready yet? And where the hell is Dr. Lang?"

"He fled like a little girl running to a Barbie convention," Dr. Windsor snorted. "Once he heard the mutants were revolting. Where the hell did you find that gutless idiot anyway?"

"He was recommended by Trask," Kincaid told him.

"Well that explains a lot," Dr. Windsor grumbled. "I'm almost done. In about three minutes every mutant within three miles will lose their powers. They should be easy to control after that."

"What about the mutant's electrical nullification abilities?" Kincaid asked.

"Maybe a few toasters might explode but I'm pretty sure we'll be able to…" Dr. Windsor shrugged. Suddenly the noise outside the door grew louder.

"They're here!" Kincaid drew out his gun. "Defensive positions!"

There was an explosion. Solitaire, Jean, Remy, Xi, Roberto, Eve and a few other mutants were at the door. "DORIAN!" Mrs. Leech screamed.

"Stop him!" Jean shouted. "If he turns on that device…"

"GET THEM!" Kincaid ordered. The soldiers started firing on them. Eve, Roberto and a few other mutants took care of the soldiers, knocking the weapons out of their hands. Jean shielded them using her telekinesis.

"Too late!" Dr. Windsor readied himself to push the button on the machine. "Now…"

Xi tackled Dr. Windsor and knocked him down. Remy charged up a card and used it to slice into the power cords that led back to Neverland's main source of power, effectively shutting it off before it was even turned on.

"NO!" Kincaid screamed. "Without that device to shut off the mutants' powers! We're done for!"

"You fools," Dr. Windsor snarled as he knocked Xi off of him. "You have no idea what you've done!"

"You are the fool! You have no idea how close you came to total annihilation Sinister!" Xi snarled.

"Sinister? That's Sinister!" Remy shouted.

"What are they babbling about?" Kincaid asked. The mutants backed the soldiers and the scientists into a corner.

"The good doctor here is a mutant," Xi told him. "Well more like an altered human anyway..."

"WHAT?" Kincaid snarled.

"You're not serious," Eve gasped.

"I am really beginning to get annoyed by you Xi," Sinister morphed into his original self.

"Dorian! Dorian can you hear me?" Mrs. Leech asked as she and Artie helped remove her son from his bonds.

"M-mom?" Dorian was groggy. "Where are we?"

"It's okay kid you're safe now," Eve told them. "These jerks were gonna make you part of their science project!"

"Let's see how they like being lab rats!" Cell shouted. A rousing cry went up from several mutants.

"Solitaire!" Broadband ran in with more mutants. "All the soldiers are either dead or heading for the hills! The X-Men and Misfits are dealing with the Sentinels! We won!"

"We're free!" A blue female mutant with green hair and many scars on her arms cried out.

"A mutant," Kincaid glared at Sinister. "I trusted a mutant!"

"That is the least of your problems," Solitaire hissed. "You have hunted, imprisoned and tortured mutants for too long! Now you must pay the price!"

"Wait," Jean said. "You can't kill them! They have to pay for their crimes in a court of law."

"You're joking right?" Eve sneered.

"If we kill them, we're no better than they are," Roberto told her.

"Who cares about being better than anyone?" Broadband snapped. "I just want payback!" A loud chorus of agreement could be heard.

"Do you really think that humans would convict a human, a general for that matter of killing mutants?" Solitaire snapped.

"The law…" Jean began.

"Only applies to humans!" Solitaire snarled.

"Yeah and since this guy is a mutant he should be the first to get it!" Another mutant shouted as he pointed to Sinister. "That'll teach him to experiment on his own kind!"

"Perhaps some other time," Sinister reached for his belt. "But first, I'll leave you with a little parting gift." He pressed a few buttons.

BRRRUUMMMMMM!

"What the…?" Kincaid jerked as the ground shook.

"I had a feeling something like this would happen," Sinister told them. "So I cooked up a little surprise. Farewell for now X-Men. Ta-Tah!" Before anyone could stop him he created an artificial portal and disappeared into it.

"What the hell did he just do?" Eve asked.

One of the other scientists looked at the monitor. "The reactor! It's overloading!"

"The nuclear reactor is overloading?" Roberto gasped. "This is not good!"

"Nuclear?" Eve's voice went higher. "You mean that jerk intends to nuke us?"

"Not if we get outta here first!" Another mutant shouted. Several mutants were starting to flee, forgetting the soldiers they cornered. Most of the remaining soldiers didn't question their fortune and decided to flee for their lives as well.

"Come on!" Broadband grabbed onto Eve, who held onto Mrs. Leech who was holding onto both Artie and Dorian. He used his powers to take them somewhere far away from Neverland via the communications systems.

"COWARDS!" Kincaid screamed to his retreating troops. "COME BACK HERE!"

"We have to work together if we don't want to cause a meltdown!" Jean told Kincaid.

"Why shouldn't we allow the humans to have what they've been giving us?" Solitaire had steadfastly remained.

"If this station blows up mutants as well as humans will be affected," Xi told him. "Do you really want that to happen?"

Just then someone else teleported in. "Man am I late for the party or what?" Deadpool looked around. "Okay did anyone play Pin the Tail on the Donkey yet? I love that game!"

"Deadpool you idiot this is not the time for games!" Kincaid shouted. "This entire place could turn into Three Mile Island times ten if things aren't taken care of!"

"Sorry General," Deadpool grabbed his arm. "I got my orders. You're wanted by a few people!"

"Not without my vengeance!" Solitaire grabbed onto Kincaid instantly by his other arm.

Deadpool teleported away with Kincaid and Solitaire. "Solitaire!" Xi shouted.

"Amazing the number of people popping in and out of this place," Remy grumbled.

"Who was that guy?" Roberto asked.

"Who cares?" Remy said. "Let's get out of here!"

"We can't," Jean said. "We have to stop the reactor from a meltdown!"

"How do we do that?" Xi asked.

"Yeah they didn't exactly teach us that in science class," Roberto said.

"We have to get to the power control room," One scientist told them. "Assess the situation."

"Let's go," Jean said.

"You're helping us?" The scientist was astounded.

"They're helping themselves," Another scientist said. "Even mutants don't like to glow in the dark."

They quickly made their way through the chaos of mutants fleeing in terror and went to the control room. "The main problem is that the control rods have been knocked off skewer. The controls just aren't responding. We need to lower them into the coolant pools in order to get it safely online. If they aren't cooled off…"

"Boom, we got it," Roberto said. "How do we do that?"

"We have to do it manually," Jean said.

"Uh, maybe you haven't noticed but there's like a zillion gobs of radiation in there," Roberto pointed out.

"Don't you get radioactive?" Remy asked.

"Solar radiation," Roberto told him. "There's a difference."

"It's still radiation to me," Remy grumbled.

"It might be enough to protect him," Jean said. "Especially if I use my telekinesis to shield the both of us in there."

"Are you insane?" Remy threw open his arms. "Your shield may not be strong enough for the both of you!"

"What choice do we have?" Jean asked him.

"She's right," Xi told him. "We can assist the scientists with the controls."

"What do you know about nuclear power plants?" One of the Scientists was startled.

"Between Cobra, Forge and Trinity I know enough of the basics to help," Xi told them.

"Who?" Another scientist asked.

"Don't ask," Remy sighed. "At least put on some kind of suit. You do have a radiation suit or something don't you?" He looked at the scientist.

"Yes, but we'd better hurry," The scientist nodded.

Soon the two of them had suited up and gotten into the core reactor. Roberto changed into his solar form and used his powers to fly and move one of the reactor rods. Jean used her telekinesis to shield him as he moved the control rods. "They're doing it," One scientist was shocked. "They're actually doing it!"

"You'd be surprised at what they can do," Remy told them. "Sunspot watch out!"

Roberto's powers started to fade. "I…I can't hold onto it much longer!" He started to fall. Jean caught him and got him into a large shield around them.

"There's still one rod left! And it's approaching critical mass!" Remy shouted.

"It's gonna blow!" One scientist screamed.

"Not if I can help it!" Jean focused her powers. She strained as she used her telekinesis to both keep the shield around them and move the rod as well. It took all of her strength but she did it. She barely had strength enough to keep the shield up as Roberto dragged her back inside.

"I can't believe we did that," Roberto removed his suit in the changing room and then the two of them wobbled into the main control room.

"Yeah looks like our troubles are over now," Jean sighed.

Then she noticed that both Remy and Xi were unconscious on the floor.

One of the 'scientists' pushed a button on his belt and he morphed into Hairbag. The other scientists did the same, turning into other members of the Marauders. One of the morphed scientists had snuck behind the two of them and knocked them out cold.

"My dear Miss Grey," Sinister grinned as he revealed his true form. "Your troubles haven't even started yet."

Meanwhile back outside the Sentinels had been destroyed and both soldiers and mutants were fleeing.

"Into the woods!" One mutant shouted. The mutants fled the building, streaming out as fast as they could. Some of them were able to fly away. Others teleported. The rest grabbed any vehicle they could find. Dozens piled onto trucks and sped out, fleeing in different directions to parts unknown.

Just behind them staggering was Lisa. "So much for mutants sticking together," She grumbled as she leapt onto a nearby jeep and hot-wired it. She sped off alone into the night.

"We won!" Tabitha whooped.

"Well at least Neverland's shut down," Wanda looked at the wreckage.

"Yeah but a lot of the jokers running the place got away," Logan growled. "And whose to say a lot of 'em won't just set up shop somewhere else?"

"What happened to all the survivors?" Amara asked.

"Over there," Rogue pointed to some carriers in the distance. "Saw a whole bunch of 'em take a plane and a couple of 'em take some trucks and jeeps. They all high tailed it outta here."

"And the Leeches probably went with them," Scott sighed. "But where's Jean? And Gambit, Sunspot and Xi? What happened to them?"

"Spread out!" Logan ordered. "We're gonna search every inch of this dump until we find them!"

But they were already long gone.