Disclaimer: Furor Paxx and VulgateOfEarth do not own the X-Men or any affiliates. All are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc and its various affiliates and partners. Phoenix Malcolm, Haiden Malcolm and all irregular characters are the sole property of Furor Paxx and are being used with permission.
~~ Mystique, Blob, ShadowCat, Storm ~~
They were running, where to was anyone's guess, but it was Mystique's personal experience that in times like these, it didn't matter where you were running to, but where you were running from that counted. As it was, they were all behind Blob, who was bowling officers over like an over-sized ball knocking aside miniature pins. It was very convenient, Mystique noted, and she would be sure to remember it for future reference. They were running up a slight incline that circled around the compound and would, presumably, take them out. Of course, Mystique was expecting difficulties. By now half the soldiers would be waiting for them, as the mutants made no attempt to disguise their escape. As they ran, Mystique picked up weapons from fallen soldiers and passed them out to Storm and Blob. The girl, ShadowCat, refused to touch the guns, and had glared accusingly at Storm when she had accepted a machine gun. Thankfully, the older woman was more willing to do what needed to be done than that ungrateful brat. Mystique scooped up a grenade from a woman who had been crushed by one of Freddie's arms.
Storm touched Mystique's arm and pointed to her ear. Mystique strained for a moment but then her sharp ears detected the whir of a 'copter. Nearly there, she thought, mentally preparing herself for the upcoming battle. It was stupid to rush into the trap like this, she thought. At least I'll escape alive. She intended to drop back as the others ran into the open and shift into the form of a broken and bruised officer, but after seeing Blob take three shots in the chest at point-blank, she had given the odds of him surviving a slight tweek. About one in a thousand as opposed to one in a million, that was all the hope she could afford to spend on him.
They finally reached the grate that would let them out of the building. With little more than a casual push, Blob heaved the welded grate out of the foundation and into the air. A dark blur erupted from the opening and the startled group found themselves staring at a pair of golden eyes.
"Kurt?" Kitty ran forward and hugged him.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Look, I'm going to drop you guys off in the woods and Pietro will lead you away. Where's everyone else?"
"We split up." Storm offered and Kurt squinted up at the bright moon that hung at its peak.
"Okay, I'll find them later. Storm, do something about that moon. Not yet, wait til you're in the forest. When we get there, no talking at all. Phoenix is looking for us." Kurt took a deep breath, grabbed Blob's hand and disappeared. In about five seconds he was back for Kitty, and then Storm and finally Mystique.
In the forest was Pietro, waiting to lead the mutants to a safehouse on the other side of the woods. He pointedly looked up at the moon and Storm summoned thick rain clouds to cover it. That done, the group of six headed through the woods, leaving the noise and search lights behind. And our friends, thought Kurt, and as if he had overheard the thought, Pietro looked at him, eyes promising that they would return and collect the rest of the mutants.
~~ Jean Grey, Wolverine, Toad, Magneto, Haiden ~~
It was truly the end of the road for them. They had taken a wrong turn somewhere and suddenly a steel portcullis had dropped over the door, not even Wolverine could cut through them and now he rattled the adamantium bars like an animal imprisoned. Haiden winced, he had to stop making jokes about things that weren't funny. Nevertheless, the irony of having two mutants named after animals trapped in that cage of a room wasn't lost on him. Haiden looked over at the unconscious Magneto, praying that the Master of Magnetism would wake soon. One soldier had the presence of mind to throw a grenade, rather than attack the mutants head on, and while his aim was horrible, a grenade was a grenade and the weapon was renowned for the havoc its debris caused. A cinder block had caught Magneto on the side of the head, and if Jean Grey hadn't used her telekinesis, he may have been crushed by the falling blocks.
Wolverine had had his fill of rattling bars and his hands were numb from trying to cut through them. Toad gave a resigned sigh. "Yo, you gonna listen to me now?"
Wolverine just growled, thoroughly put out at having to listen to a teenager. "You can't cut through the bars, but what's holding the bars in place, man?" Logan looked back at the portcullis, gauging how thick the concrete walls that held it in place were. "And before you start that again, why don't you just tear down that door there so we can let someone else mess around with the friggin' metal thinger?" Toad settled back as, once again, everyone stared at him. "C'mon, yo, I thought the X-Men were the smart ones and the Brotherhood was just the rejects." Haiden couldn't help but grin at that. He had just met Todd Tolansky, but from what he gathered from the other mutants, he was generally deemed worthless, the reject's reject, as Wolverine had mentally noted earlier. Now, he had nothing to say as he stalked to the door that they hadn't noticed before and he slashed the lock to little slivers of metal. The short, powerful man took three steps inside and then turned around.
"You don't want to go in there." He stated simply and took up his post at the portcullis again. Typically, Jean, Haiden and Toad looked anyway. Inside were several dozen large tanks with creatures suspended inside.
"Like pickling jars." Toad said with a nod. He immediately began shuffling through one of the six desks that were set up against one of the walls.
"They're mutants." Jean gasped. "and they're still alive."
"I suppose you want us to rescue them." Toad called from across the room.
"Well, we can't leave them here!"
As they argued, Haiden walked through the rows of tanks, peering into each one. He cautiously peeked into the parauniverse, and found many of the mutants there. "Actually, Jean, almost all of them are dead. The ones that aren't dead dead are brain dead. There's no reason to get anything from here except proof of the experiments."
"Experiments?" for a second she looked like she might faint, but she regained her composure quickly.
"Yo, I found a set of keys. Wonder where they go..." Toad pocketed the key ring and finished searching the desk. Then he turned the computer on and cracked his knuckles.
"Don't you think there's a password?" Haiden reminded him and was rewarded with a grin.
"'course. That's what makes hacking into government computers fun."
Haiden decided he had seen enough and began riffling through another of the desks and a few moments later, Jean did too. While Toad worked on cracking the password, Haiden and Jean finished going through the other desks. There were a few personal items, but nothing that stood out.
"Well, well. Guess what. Tro and your little blue friend are here." Toad called to Jean. "They've hacked the database too."
Haiden called Logan into the room and they all grouped around the computer.
"Where's it say that?" Wolverine demanded.
"Trust me." Todd keyed a few words and then peered at Haiden. "You got a cell?"
"A what? Oh, a cell phone… no."
"Hm." Toad opened a desk drawer and pulled out a walkie talkie. He pried it open and started changing wires and occasionally glanced at the computer monitor. "No, the voltage is wrong. It won't work." He muttered darkly and threw the device to the side.
"Hey, would one of those things… with the pen work?" Haiden presented a PDA to Todd. "I found it in one of the desks."
"Perfect." He accepted it and quickly took it apart. Three minutes later he put it back together with a flourish and began typing on the computer again. "Alright, yo, we're home free. Pietro will lead us out with this and Kurt's gone to get the others. Mystique, Storm, Blob and Kitty are safe and sound." Todd stood and walked out of the room, into the one with the portcullis. He scribbled something on the screen and a second later, it lifted.
"Let's go. Pietro wants us outta here so he can focus on finding Scott, Lance, Evan and the Professor. They aren't on any of the cameras and Kurt can't find them either. They may have escaped already, but I don't see how." Todd led the group back into the hallway, around the pile of rubble and towards freedom.
Thinking back, Haiden knew it was too good to be true, to fantastic to last. They were almost at a safe exit when Jean Grey tripped on something. She bent down for a closer look and Logan held out a match. It was an arm, severed a few inches above the elbow.
"Why does that watch look so familiar?" Logan asked absentmindedly, half knowing the answer.
From a few feet away, Todd called. "I think I found a door, but I can't open it. And there's blood leading right up to it, maybe someone we know is in there." When he got no answer, he walked back to where Logan, Jean and Haiden stood. "What?" he glanced at the watch that Jean now held in her hand. "Isn't that Summers' watch?"
~~ Mystique, Blob, ShadowCat, Storm ~~
They were running, where to was anyone's guess, but it was Mystique's personal experience that in times like these, it didn't matter where you were running to, but where you were running from that counted. As it was, they were all behind Blob, who was bowling officers over like an over-sized ball knocking aside miniature pins. It was very convenient, Mystique noted, and she would be sure to remember it for future reference. They were running up a slight incline that circled around the compound and would, presumably, take them out. Of course, Mystique was expecting difficulties. By now half the soldiers would be waiting for them, as the mutants made no attempt to disguise their escape. As they ran, Mystique picked up weapons from fallen soldiers and passed them out to Storm and Blob. The girl, ShadowCat, refused to touch the guns, and had glared accusingly at Storm when she had accepted a machine gun. Thankfully, the older woman was more willing to do what needed to be done than that ungrateful brat. Mystique scooped up a grenade from a woman who had been crushed by one of Freddie's arms.
Storm touched Mystique's arm and pointed to her ear. Mystique strained for a moment but then her sharp ears detected the whir of a 'copter. Nearly there, she thought, mentally preparing herself for the upcoming battle. It was stupid to rush into the trap like this, she thought. At least I'll escape alive. She intended to drop back as the others ran into the open and shift into the form of a broken and bruised officer, but after seeing Blob take three shots in the chest at point-blank, she had given the odds of him surviving a slight tweek. About one in a thousand as opposed to one in a million, that was all the hope she could afford to spend on him.
They finally reached the grate that would let them out of the building. With little more than a casual push, Blob heaved the welded grate out of the foundation and into the air. A dark blur erupted from the opening and the startled group found themselves staring at a pair of golden eyes.
"Kurt?" Kitty ran forward and hugged him.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Look, I'm going to drop you guys off in the woods and Pietro will lead you away. Where's everyone else?"
"We split up." Storm offered and Kurt squinted up at the bright moon that hung at its peak.
"Okay, I'll find them later. Storm, do something about that moon. Not yet, wait til you're in the forest. When we get there, no talking at all. Phoenix is looking for us." Kurt took a deep breath, grabbed Blob's hand and disappeared. In about five seconds he was back for Kitty, and then Storm and finally Mystique.
In the forest was Pietro, waiting to lead the mutants to a safehouse on the other side of the woods. He pointedly looked up at the moon and Storm summoned thick rain clouds to cover it. That done, the group of six headed through the woods, leaving the noise and search lights behind. And our friends, thought Kurt, and as if he had overheard the thought, Pietro looked at him, eyes promising that they would return and collect the rest of the mutants.
~~ Jean Grey, Wolverine, Toad, Magneto, Haiden ~~
It was truly the end of the road for them. They had taken a wrong turn somewhere and suddenly a steel portcullis had dropped over the door, not even Wolverine could cut through them and now he rattled the adamantium bars like an animal imprisoned. Haiden winced, he had to stop making jokes about things that weren't funny. Nevertheless, the irony of having two mutants named after animals trapped in that cage of a room wasn't lost on him. Haiden looked over at the unconscious Magneto, praying that the Master of Magnetism would wake soon. One soldier had the presence of mind to throw a grenade, rather than attack the mutants head on, and while his aim was horrible, a grenade was a grenade and the weapon was renowned for the havoc its debris caused. A cinder block had caught Magneto on the side of the head, and if Jean Grey hadn't used her telekinesis, he may have been crushed by the falling blocks.
Wolverine had had his fill of rattling bars and his hands were numb from trying to cut through them. Toad gave a resigned sigh. "Yo, you gonna listen to me now?"
Wolverine just growled, thoroughly put out at having to listen to a teenager. "You can't cut through the bars, but what's holding the bars in place, man?" Logan looked back at the portcullis, gauging how thick the concrete walls that held it in place were. "And before you start that again, why don't you just tear down that door there so we can let someone else mess around with the friggin' metal thinger?" Toad settled back as, once again, everyone stared at him. "C'mon, yo, I thought the X-Men were the smart ones and the Brotherhood was just the rejects." Haiden couldn't help but grin at that. He had just met Todd Tolansky, but from what he gathered from the other mutants, he was generally deemed worthless, the reject's reject, as Wolverine had mentally noted earlier. Now, he had nothing to say as he stalked to the door that they hadn't noticed before and he slashed the lock to little slivers of metal. The short, powerful man took three steps inside and then turned around.
"You don't want to go in there." He stated simply and took up his post at the portcullis again. Typically, Jean, Haiden and Toad looked anyway. Inside were several dozen large tanks with creatures suspended inside.
"Like pickling jars." Toad said with a nod. He immediately began shuffling through one of the six desks that were set up against one of the walls.
"They're mutants." Jean gasped. "and they're still alive."
"I suppose you want us to rescue them." Toad called from across the room.
"Well, we can't leave them here!"
As they argued, Haiden walked through the rows of tanks, peering into each one. He cautiously peeked into the parauniverse, and found many of the mutants there. "Actually, Jean, almost all of them are dead. The ones that aren't dead dead are brain dead. There's no reason to get anything from here except proof of the experiments."
"Experiments?" for a second she looked like she might faint, but she regained her composure quickly.
"Yo, I found a set of keys. Wonder where they go..." Toad pocketed the key ring and finished searching the desk. Then he turned the computer on and cracked his knuckles.
"Don't you think there's a password?" Haiden reminded him and was rewarded with a grin.
"'course. That's what makes hacking into government computers fun."
Haiden decided he had seen enough and began riffling through another of the desks and a few moments later, Jean did too. While Toad worked on cracking the password, Haiden and Jean finished going through the other desks. There were a few personal items, but nothing that stood out.
"Well, well. Guess what. Tro and your little blue friend are here." Toad called to Jean. "They've hacked the database too."
Haiden called Logan into the room and they all grouped around the computer.
"Where's it say that?" Wolverine demanded.
"Trust me." Todd keyed a few words and then peered at Haiden. "You got a cell?"
"A what? Oh, a cell phone… no."
"Hm." Toad opened a desk drawer and pulled out a walkie talkie. He pried it open and started changing wires and occasionally glanced at the computer monitor. "No, the voltage is wrong. It won't work." He muttered darkly and threw the device to the side.
"Hey, would one of those things… with the pen work?" Haiden presented a PDA to Todd. "I found it in one of the desks."
"Perfect." He accepted it and quickly took it apart. Three minutes later he put it back together with a flourish and began typing on the computer again. "Alright, yo, we're home free. Pietro will lead us out with this and Kurt's gone to get the others. Mystique, Storm, Blob and Kitty are safe and sound." Todd stood and walked out of the room, into the one with the portcullis. He scribbled something on the screen and a second later, it lifted.
"Let's go. Pietro wants us outta here so he can focus on finding Scott, Lance, Evan and the Professor. They aren't on any of the cameras and Kurt can't find them either. They may have escaped already, but I don't see how." Todd led the group back into the hallway, around the pile of rubble and towards freedom.
Thinking back, Haiden knew it was too good to be true, to fantastic to last. They were almost at a safe exit when Jean Grey tripped on something. She bent down for a closer look and Logan held out a match. It was an arm, severed a few inches above the elbow.
"Why does that watch look so familiar?" Logan asked absentmindedly, half knowing the answer.
From a few feet away, Todd called. "I think I found a door, but I can't open it. And there's blood leading right up to it, maybe someone we know is in there." When he got no answer, he walked back to where Logan, Jean and Haiden stood. "What?" he glanced at the watch that Jean now held in her hand. "Isn't that Summers' watch?"