Vweeheehee! New Chapter! A bit darker at the beginning than the previous one, mainly because of Maxis. I just had to finish up that X3 reference.

Chapter 8: Ruby

Beep. Beep. Bee-

The guard patrolling the cages stopped in mid-stride and pulled the walkie-talkie from his belt. "What is it?" he said, slightly irritated.

"Backup! We need backup in the laboratory! He got loose and AAAAAAAGGHHH!" crackled the voice on the other side of the line. And with that, the transmission went dead.

"Shit," the guard cursed, placing the walkie-talkie back onto his belt, and making a bee-line for the exit. Unfortunately (for him, anyways), in his hurry he got a little too close to Maxis's cell. A scaly, clawed hand shot out through the bars, grabbing the surprised guard by the throat. "Told you so," Maxis growled into his ear. He tightened his grip, applying more and more pressure to the side of the man's chin, just near where the neck lead into the head. A sickening snap could be heard throughout the room, and the guard's body hung limply in Maxis's grip. He reached down, and removed the keys from the man's belt, and proceeded to unlock his cage. Apparently, the electricity would only turn on if it was activated manually. With a flick of his arm, he tossed the guard's limp body against one of the walls, watching it fall to the ground like a rag doll.

"Hey, what the hell!" the other guard remarked when he noticed Maxis free of his cell. He levelled his arms at the young man, and fired several blasts of concussive force at Maxis. Rolling to the side, Maxis tossed the keys to Pietro, and charged straight at the guard. The guard attempted to fire another couple of blasts, but he was too slow, and he was on his back with Maxis on his chest before he knew what was happening. The reptillian mutant leapt to his feet again, dragging the hapless guard with him. Roaring in fury, he swung the guard around, and slammed him into the stone wall hard enough to leave a deep indentation. Whipping the guard's body around once more, he slammed him straight into the ground, leaving another crater. Whether the man was still alive remained to be seen, but either way, he wasn't getting up. Maxis stood over his victory, and then reared his head back and let out a guttural roar, one that echoed through the room, and down the hallways leading away from it.

Breathing heavily from the rush of battle, he turned to Pietro, eyes still burning. Pietro was staring at him in shock, not quite sure what to make of what just happened. He just fucking killed someone like it was nothing. Remind me to never, EVER get on his bad side, he thought to himself, as he shook himself from his stupor, and quickly unlocked the cage. He also found a small device on the keyring, that when held to the collar around his neck, caused the power-nullifying device to deactivate and fall off.

"Ah, that's much better," the white haired young man sighed, doing a quick twenty laps around the room. "Yep, feels good to stretch the legs. Now, uh, what say we get the hell out of here?" Pietro said, unlocking the other cages, and stopping in front of Maxis.

"Oh, you won't be going anywhere, Mr. Maximoff. For now, you're going to be taking a nap," said a female voice from behind Pietro. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and he felt his strength leave him. He was unconsious before he hit the ground.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Heh... Hahaha!"

The laughter seemed to be coming from all directions at once. The guards that had been summoned to the room groped around in the dark, desperately trying to find the young man they'd be brought in to detain.

"AAAAAAAGGGHH!" one of the guards screamed, as he was tossed across the room by something that had wrapped itself around his midsection. He landed with a crash against the far wall, and crumpled to the floor in a heap. Soon, more crashes and screams could be heard. The woman who had been speaking with Morgan earlier had grabbed a flashlight and a spraycan from one of the fallen guards, and had backed herself into a corner.

"So, is that all I am? Just a science experiment? A saviour in a fucking test tube!" Morgan shouted, as he quickly dispatched the other guards.

"N-No! You would have been a person, first and foremost! A defender, yes, but a person! With feelings, and dreams!"

"If your intentions were so noble..." Morgan said, grabbing the doctor from behind. "Explain this!" he finished, 'porting them to one of the rooms containing rows upon rows of cages containing hundreds of different mutants.

"Oh god... What is this?" she asked, horrified.

"Oh, like you didn't know? Cut the crap, Doctor Frankenstein."

"I swear, I didn't know anything about- Ruby."

"Ruby? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Ruby is one of my assisstants. She was always talking about how we should be taking a less altruistic approach to this. But I never thought that... That she would go this far. And right under my own nose!" the doctor remarked, silent tears streaming down her face.

"You- You really didn't know about this, did you?" Morgan asked, looking at the tears in her eyes.

"No, I swear to god, I didn't know this was happening. I would never condone this. The only reason we restrained you before was because we were certain that you wouldn't participate willingly. But we needed your DNA so badly. It was the only piece missing from the puzzle," she said, tears still welling up in her eyes. "But this... We've got to find her, and put an end to this. She should be somewhere else in the base, probably in another cellblock. She always said we'd need as many as possible. If she was capable of this, than without a doubt there are more kidnapped mutants."

"You'd better be right, doc," Morgan said, taking them both back into the shadows.

------------------
"You! You're the one from before!" Maxis snarled, leaping at the woman who had called herself Ruby.

"Well, someone's cranky," she said, easily parrying Maxis's attack, and tossing him across the room in one smooth motion.

"Yeah, well he's not the only one!"

A strong pair of arms had wrapped around her midsection from behind, pinning her own arms to her sides. "Ah, Lance Alvers. Hasn't anyone taught you that it's rude to attack from behind?" Ruby snapped her head back, catching a surprised Lance in the jaw, and causing him to lose his grip. Moving flawlessly, she slipped out of Lance's hold, and spun around, delivering a spinning kick to the side of Avalanche's head. That blow dropped him like a ton of bricks.

She was then almost knocked off her feet by a slimy tongue that wrapped around her ankle. Almost. Grabbing hold of the long, mucus-covered muscle, she yanked Toad off of the ground, and used him as a mace against Freddy Dukes, who was now charging at her like a freight train. Toad was sent flying at Blob's face, blinding him and causing him to trip, sending his massive form tumbling and rolling across the floor. He and Toad landed in a heap a good four meters away.

An animal roar pulled her attention back to Maxis, who had leapt back to his feet. Before she could even react, she had been knocked onto her back by a leaping tackle. He was stopped mid-attack, by Ruby slamming her palm into chest. He could feel at least two of his ribs crack from the impact, and he had the wind knocked out of him. Her palm began to glow, and he was thrown back to the other side of the room by a blast of energy. He slammed into the wall, and crumpled to the floor in a heap. Most of his shirt had been burned off, and there were several burn marks on his chest from the blast. He struggled to his feet, his mutant healing abilities quickly repairing the damage to his body. He then found himself flung skyward, slamming through several of the lights hanging from the ceiling, and sending the crashing to the ground, plunging part of the room into darkness. He staggered to his feet again, but nearly toppled over. His healing factor was good, but even that had it's limits. The wound he's sustained in the battle would heal, but only if given the time to heal. If he was constantly being pummelled like this, his healing ability was next to useless.

He waited for the next blow to slam into him, but instead, it never came. His vision blurred, and he saw the one called Ruby being lifted off her feet by something large and black.

"I trusted you! You were my colleague! My friend! I trusted you, and this is how you repay me? By becoming the very thing that we swore to stop!" screamed a voice that Maxis didn't recognize. He struggled to stay awake, but his body was screaming for rest after the beating that he'd just taken. He felt himself weaken, and he collapsed to the floor.

The plot really thickens! Now, for the obligatory big battle! Tune in next time for even more super-mutant-kung-fu-fighting action!

But until then,

Stay Snazzy!