In the Control Room Jean and Forge were hugging one another and congratulating each other on a job well down. Five people had awakened from the nightmare sleep, which left only five more. And judging by the rate they were going it wouldn't be long till they were all awake.
"I'm so glad that Scott is okay. I was so worried that he would never wake up."
"I'm just glad that my retrieval unit worked. I could never live with myself if the team in Kitty's head had died or Kitty for that matter. I would have died of guilt eventually."
"So have you transferred everyone to next dreamer? I don't want a repeat of last time Forge," She told him.
"Relax will you. Everything is perfectly under control. I sent them to Clarice dream. They should be arriving any moment now. See that readout over there? It indicates that the whole team is in her dream this very second! Oh no," He said seeing something very wrong at the moment.
Jean really didn't like to hear that, especially from Forge, "Oh no? Oh no what? What's going on Forge? What are you concerned about? What's wrong did someone get hurt? Come on Forge spit it out!"
"It's nothing that drastic. The machine simply didn't have enough power to transfer everyone into Clare's dream. The device sent only Kai and Amanda into Clare's dream. The rest are stored in the computers memory until the next dream cycle."
"The computers memory? Are they even safe in there?" Jean was worried, this was all experimental as it was and something like this wasn't even considered to be able to happen.
Forge thought about it for a moment, "As long as the computer doesn't shut down they should be okay. Right now let's pray that they get through her dream in one piece."
The Danger Room had changed to fit the parameters of Clarice's dream. The dream bubble was reflecting the holding cell, which the team had first met Clarice in. Her worst nightmare was obviously of the time she spent as Trask's prisoner.
Daytripper and Shadow had materialized in the dream tired, hurting, and confused. They looked up at one another and then realized they were the only ones who had appeared. Then they took in their surroundings and got a serious case of déjà vu.
"Shadow does this place seem familiar to you?" Daytripper asked nervously. She gazed around the cell trying to figure out why it looked so familiar. It even smelled like some place she'd been before. But she couldn't place it.
"It should be familiar to you. We are in Trask's holding cell at the Sentinel facility. I never wanted to come back here. I spent too much time locked up. This place gives me the creeps."
"I thought it was impossible to scare a ninja," She joked trying to lighten it up a bit. Being back in this hellhole wasn't pleasant, "Still you think that since this dream takes place here that's the reason were the only ones here? I mean I wonder where the rest of the team is."
"I have no idea. But I do know that we're in a lot of trouble. It seems that Clare's intent on reliving the horrors she experienced here. Everything is exactly the same way it was when we were prisoners here. Including these devices," Shadow said indicating the collar that prohibited them from using their powers.
"Great no powers and if I had to wager a guess even if we did have them I probably wouldn't have my shape shifting ability. That didn't kick in until right before we escaped. To bad it could really help us against those HK Sentinels. You think we'll have to fight them?" Daytripper wondered. She began tugging at her collar in a vain attempt to break free.
"Most likely we will. I'm not looking forward to that. We barely survived it the first time and that was in real life. In the dream world I'm willing to bet my katana that they're far more deadly." Shadow replied glad that he still seemed to have his weapon at least.
"Then let's find Clare and wake her up before we have to deal with those tin cans. Where is she anyways?" Daytripper inquired looking around the area.
Suddenly the two of them heard the sounds of someone crying. Looking all around the determined that the sound was coming from the far corner of the room. Running over there they found a beat up crying Clare who was wearing the same grey outfit that they had met her in.
She looked up at them and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Who are you two? Did your parents turn you over to that madman too?"
"No we were captured by strange men. My name is Daytripper and this is Shadow. We're mutants just like you. I'm guessing that's why we're all here. They want to get rid of us."
"How long have you been here?" Shadow asked her gently. It was hard seeing her like this again.
Clarice sniffled a little. "I've been here for days. My parents turned me over to the FOH when my mutation kicked in. My own parents, can you believe it? How could they do that to me? But then again who could blame them? Look at me I'm a freak! No one could ever love someone who looked like this! Maybe I would be better off dead." She told them miserably.
"Don't you say things like that! You're not a freak and your parents were jerks. I know your hurting right now, but you have to believe me when I say that your parents don't deserve someone like you. You're a kind, caring, and most gentle person in the world. Anyone with half a brain can tell that. Don't you ever let me hear you say that you wish you were dead understand?" Daytripper told her sternly.
"Also you are not a freak. You're a lovely young lady. Just because you look different doesn't mean you should be treated like this. Remember its not what you look on the outside, its what your like on the inside that counts. Now lets get out of here and go home okay?" Shadow told her gently helping her to her feet.
"But how do we get out of here? These collars prevent us from using our mutant powers and if we try to resist them, they'll shock us. Believe me when I tell you what they have planned for us is no picnic. They're going to make us fight these newly improved Sentinels. There a new smaller more deadly models. Once they've tested them against us, they plan to send them to attack the rest of the mutant population." Clarice informed them from what she had gathered, wiping her eyes.
Daytripper told her best friends. She gave her a small reassuring smile, "Then we'll just have to destroy them before Trask gets a chance to use them on the rest of the world. Don't worry Blink we've had a lot of formal training. We can handle those annoying tin man no sweat. Just keep your head up."
Just then the cell doors started to open. The three teens tensed up and got into battle stance ready to defy whoever was at the door. Their lips curled in distaste as they saw Trask himself flanked by his two cronies. "Well what do we have here? Obviously my men brought fresh meat so I could test out my newly improved toys. I can't wait to see how long you mutant scum last against my new improved HK Sentinels." Trask told them.
Kai stood against him angrily remembering all the things this monster put him and the others through, "You're a monster you know that Trask? You think that were the threat, well its people like you who are the threat. You and your kind are the real problem. You people are so intolerant of others. And that's why you're going to roast in Hell (or whatever the Japanese equivalent.) You have no honor what so ever. You're worst then the blasted Yakazue!" Shadow told him calmly.
"We will stop you and your little project. SHIELD locked you up once before and I don't doubt for a minute that they'll do it again. Only this time you're not going to get an early parole!" Daytripper told them hotly. She glared at them angrily.
Both of them paid dearly for their defiance. Their collars delivered a painful shock that brought them to their knees. They refused to let the pain overwhelm them. They stared angrily at Trask just waiting for a chance to kick his sorry ass. "I admire your spunk, but in the end it won't matter. My HK Sentinels will make short work of you and I can't wait till your nothing, but lifeless corpses. Bring them all to the compound. Let's see what they can do."
Daytripper and Shadow resisted the entire way kicking and flailing around. They refused to give their guards the satisfaction in seeing them broken. Clare just walked down the corridor like a zombie not really caring what was happening to her. It wasn't long until they reached the compound and where thrust inside. The doors closed with a mighty clang sealing them inside.
"You got any fresh ideas of how to get out of this mess? We barely survived the HK Sentinels in real life, no doubt they'll be even harder to survive in this dream." Daytripper questioned her team mate.
"None that come to mind at the moment. My main concern is just keeping all of us alive. The only way I know for sure we can survive is if we get Clare to wake up. You're her best friend talk to her." He encouraged her.
Blink had been listening in and didn't understand a thing that was going on, "Listen you two I have no idea what you're talking about, but I stop gibbering over there. Trouble's coming, are way so get ready. Here they come." Clare told them.
They stared over at the other side of the compound. They tensed up as they saw the one of the things that plagued their nightmares. The thing made the earth shake and the walls vibrate intensely. Slowly, almost cautiously it stepped inside. It was a HK Sentinel and it had brought along two friends. All three of them spotted the mutants. "Priority One Mutants. Must destroy."
"MOVE! Don't let them shoot you!" ordered Shadow. He drew his katana and flipped over at the Sentinels trying to draw their fire. Daytripper grabbed Clare's wrist and dragged her towards some shelter.
"How long do they generally leave us without powers?" she demanded as they did their best to avoid getting shot trying to remember if her dream was different then what happened in reality.
"We should have them right now. After all they want to see where their little toy needs improving on. But I'm so tired I don't think I can fight them." Clare replied wearily.
"Well I don't think you have much of a choice. Shadow may be a ninja, but he needs our help right now. So come on Blink lets go beat up a couple of Sentinels." She told her as they ran after him.
Daytripper fired a couple of force bolts at the oncoming Sentinels causing them to stumble backwards. Shadow then slashed apart their energy blades with his katana making them less of a threat before Blink used her energy lances to disable their main gun.
"Good job keep up the good work. Shadow! Is there anyway the three of us can use are transporting powers to get out of the arena?" Daytripper yelled over the chaos. The Sentinels had switched to secondary systems sending the three mutants scurrying for hiding places.
"I don't think so! Remember this dream is based off Clare own memories of her time spent captive. If she couldn't use her powers to escape neither can we. I think our best chance at getting out of here is taking those machines permanently." Shadow replied.
Before she could open her mouth to reply she heard Clare's voice shout a warning. A laser beam was heading straight for her. Before she could teleport she felt someone shove her out of the way. Picking up herself she gasped in horror. "CLAIR!"
In the infirmary Clare's body was responding to the attack as if it actually happened. Her skin had darkened and was hot in several places as if a laser beam had just grazed it. Blood had started to trickle down from her broken nose and several bumps had appeared all over her body.
"What in the world could they be doing? Bobby could you come over and help with this. I need someone to hold her nose while I set it. This is certainly turning into a messy occasion not to mention a day where I get to show off my powers. Honestly the intensity of emotions around here is almost to much." Gail muttered angrily.
"Gail you okay? You seem kind of upset." Bobby asked cautiously.
"I'm not upset. More like outraged! I mean what more do you people want from me? Cure the common cold while I'm up and fixing every minor injury!" she replied hysterically.
"I think Gail is having a meltdown." Rogue whispered to Vincent how kind of nodded his head.
He had never really seen her like this before and was kind of getting a bit worried for her, "Must be all the stress in the air. Maybe she should sit down for a minute and relax." He replied.
"Yeah before there is a real emergency that requires her talents." Kurt injected.
"Hey guys give her like some slack. She's been healing us up for hours. She has a right to like have a meltdown." Kitty told them.
"Not when it interferes with the health of a patient." Scott reminded her.
Unfortunately Gale had overheard all of this, "Enough talking from the peanut gallery! I told you guys to relax! Your bodies need a chance to recover from the experience and they can't very well do it with all of you yammering!" Gail yelled at them from across the room.
"Remind me never to get on her bad side." Warren whispered to Piotr.
The Russian man had to agree with him on that, "I will make sure that none of us do. In her state she could cause more harm then good."
"That will be quite enough people. I know your all worried, exhausted, and in pain, but we need to focus on the task at hand. Please try to calm down so we can get through this. Thank you." Professor Xavier said trying to calm things down.
Forge at the moment was busy in the Control Room going over Clare's bio readings. They indicated that her body had taken a major hit, but it wasn't life threatening. He pressed a few more keys attempting to clean the picture up so he could make more sense of what he was seeing. "Is the picture coming in any better yet?"
Jean peered down into the dream bubble below, "No if anything it seems to be getting worse. I'm still amazed by the fact you're able to transfer pure thought into a computer generated reality. It's quite remarkable actually."
Forge sighed to himself as he wiped his brow, "It would be more amazing if I was able to get a better signal and if they could leave that world whenever they wanted to. Of course they can't as long as the dream helmet is engaged. Any contact with the outside could result in disaster." Forge reminded her
"Don't have to tell me twice. Why do you think I've triple saved the team in the computer's memory? I don't want to take a chance that we lose any of them. Have they reached the peak moment in the dream yet?"
Forge shook his head. "Nope, not yet, but their getting there. A few more minutes and then all Hell breaks lose. That is if it hasn't already. I think I got it!" he yelled excitedly. Twisting a blue wire out and connecting red one in its place the picture improved dramatically. "Yes I did!"
"That you did. Oh no look! There in serious trouble!"
Daytripper was cradling Clare in her arms while Shadow deflected HK Sentinels shots away from them with his katana. He also used his power of shadows to cloak them in semi darkness.
"Clare wake up, come on girl wake up. This is no time to take a nap. We've got big problems." Daytripper said shaking her.
"Quit shaking me. I'm awake. Sorry about jumping in front of you like that, but I couldn't risk you getting hurt. You're my only friend. If I lost you I don't know what I do." Clare told her getting to her feet.
"Right now we have more important things to worry about girls. We need to get rid of our friends here now. Any ideas DT?" Shadow asked her.
"Maybe, but it would take all of us working together. He's the plan. I'll draw their fire with my force bolts leading them over to that pile of rocks over there. Once on top I'll teleport out of the way. Blink, I need you to hurl your strongest energy lance at the base of the rocks causing them blow everywhere. While their trying to get up, Shadow here can use his speed, agility, and shadow weapons to put these guys out of commission permanently." Daytripper outlined for them.
Clare growled angrily, "After that we'll figure someway to get these collars off us so we can make our escape. I can't wait to give that jerk Trask right where it hurts the most. When I'm through with him he's going to wish he never met me."
"You girls are even more dangerous then some of my old friends back in the village I grew up in. Even the Yakuza wouldn't want to mess with you." Shadow told them in a hushed voice. Placing one hand on top of another the three mutants vowed to end their torment.
Daytripper jumped up and raced across the compound. She started firing force bolts of different magnitudes at them. She struck several vulnerable areas. "Come on you robots! Come and get me! I'm a mutant and it's your job to destroy me!"
"Mutant target locked. Eliminate mutant threat!" one of the Sentinels said. It fired several missiles at her, which she destroyed. Another one took a swipe at her with its energy blade, but she flipped over that. The last one actually tried to squish her, but failed to even make contact with her.
"That's the best you got? Man Trask you're not paying your engineers nearly enough! I've seen toys that work better than this. Your little science projects are to slow!" Daytripper antagonized as she raced towards the pile of rocks sweat dripping and blood racing as she tried to avoid being killed. Logan's Danger Room sessions were looking a whole lot better by the second.
While she was leading the Sentinels into a trap Shadow and Blink crept into position. They were only going to get one shot at this. Hiding behind a partially demolished concrete wall they waited for the signal to strike. "Remember, the minute that we put Trask's toys out of commission he'll turn the collars back on. That means if we want to escape we have to fight to keep our powers functioning."
"No argument here. But the only way to rid us of these collars for good is to get the master key. Trask keeps that in his pocket. But I figure with our combined abilities it shouldn't be to hard to overpower Trask and his little minions." Blink whispered to him.
Before he could respond Daytripper yelled "NOW!" as she teleported out of sight. Not wasting a second Blink hurled her strongest energy lance straight at the base of the rocks. The explosion rocked the entire compound and sent the Sentinels flying all over the place. Even before they landed Shadow was using his powers to disable the Sentinels and turn them into worthless scrap heaps of metal. The three mutants looked over their work pleased before setting their sights on the exit.
"They destroyed my Sentinels! There completely destroyed! When I get my hands on those muties they're going to wish they hadn't been born. Time to put them to sleep!" Trask growled angrily pressing a key on his remote control. He frowned slightly when he saw nothing happening and slowly a bit of fear began to creep up his spine. "Why aren't the collars working?"
"Maybe because this is just a dream and you're a pathetic little man?" a voice said from behind him. He and his men whirled around shocked to find the three mutants standing there twirling the collars. "These things are such a hassle. Maybe you should try them on for a change." Daytripper said as she jumped one of his men. The boy attacked the other and the freaky looking girl went after him.
"Stay away from me you freak! I won't hesitate to shoot you!" Trask warned drawing his weapon.
"See if I care. You're nothing, but a big coward to afraid to face his fears. You think I care what you think of me? Guess again because in my mind you're the freak!" Blink yelled hurling her lances at him. He stumbled back into a computer panel and felt the collar click in place.
"Your turn to get zapped!" Blink said pressing the keys on the remote. Trask screamed like a baby and fell to the floor in agony as jolts of electricity surge through his body. He could hear his men crying out. This was proof mutants were evil.
But just as suddenly as it started it ended. He gazed up at the freak who toward over him. She looked at him with disgust and, worse, pity. "I'm not like you Trask. I don't get pleasure out of seeing people wither in agony. I'm done here."
Blink walked over to her friends and hugged them tightly. "Thanks for rescuing me. For a while there I thought I would end up dead and no one would care. Glad that someone out there still loves me. Can't wait to see you guys in person when I wake up."
"You're welcome Blink. It has been quite an experience. One I won't soon forget." Shadow informed her.
"Take care best friend. We still have to save your Mom, Mr. Logan, Sarah, and Ray. Then will join you. Till then bye!" Daytripper said cheerfully as they dream dissolved around them.
Clair woke up with a start. Her head was pounding and her body ached all over. It felt like that she had just spent the past several hours in the Danger Room. "Someone, please tell me that was all a dream." She moaned.
"Well yes and no. Yes it was a dream and no it wasn't real. We'll explain more later. Right now it's just good to see you awake. You faired much better then the rest of the sleepers so far. Try to relax dear everything will be okay." Beast reassured her as she laid back down wondering if what he said was true.