The other X-Men wore the standard black leather that was their uniform, even Hank "Beast" McCoy. Havok's containment suit was conspicuous, but it came with certain benefits. The black material would never melt from his own plasma. He stared at the suit and tried not to remember the prison it had once been.

Beast placed his hand on his shoulder. "Come, Havok. We have a life to save." Havok shook himself out of the reverie and followed the X-Men towards the Government/MRA facility. "Do you suppose Charles's telepathy will get us past the guards?"

Havok shrugged. "He could shut down every mind in the complex if he wanted to. You should be concerned about Sentinels, not guards." To Havok's surprise, Beast did look worried. He would always be a scientist first and an X-Man second. Beast had more in common with Havok than he had suspected. "You're right. Somewhere in that base is a damsel in distress. What do you say we be her knights in shining armor?"

Beast gave a hearty laugh that outdid Havok's grin. "'Some say that the age of chivalry is past, that the spirit of romance is dead. The age of chivalry is never past, so long as there is a wrong left unredressed on earth.' Charles Kingsley. Let us find your damsel, Fearless Leader!"

Xxxxx

Even with Xavier's help, the X-Men only made it to the front gate before a group of Sentinels noticed them. Cyclops muttered something about wishing Storm were there; the Weather Witch had chosen to stay behind to watch the Institute and the students during the mission. Havok pretended not to have heard the statement.

Cyclops brought a hand up to his visor. "Jean and I will hold them off. Havok, Beast, I want you two to head inside the base!" Professor Xavier lowered the psychic shields that kept Cyclops and Jean hidden from the troops. With them to distract the Sentinels, the guards would be too busy facing the seasoned X-Men to realize that there were more Mutants about. Not to mention Professor Xavier's influence on the guards.

The fence had been rebuilt within a day. Jean took no time to appreciate the fast construction as she tore the fence apart with her mind. The metal fence flew up and wrapped itself around one of the Sentinels. While it struggled with the binding, Cyclops bored a hole into the shoulder of another Sentinel.

/ "Unregistered Mutant detected. Target is catalogued as dangerous. Operating mode set to Termination. Halt, Mutant." /

Havok almost stopped to help his brother. That was the first time he had heard of other operating modes for a Sentinel. Could Cyclops be in danger? Then he noticed that the Sentinel who spoke was looking directly at him. It remembered him from the encounter in Northern Jersey. He had to stay.

"Come on, Fearless Leader," Beast shouted, already past the fence's remains. "You can't have forgotten the damsel already."

The words were not enough to convince Havok that he should not stay and fight. Cyclops struck the Sentinel that had singled out the younger brother. The red concussive beam was what finally got Havok to run, even though a voice in the back of his head said it was the wrong decision. Havok was part of a team, and that meant he had to follow orders. His rebellious days had ended when he destroyed that Sentinel in New Jersey.

Havok rushed to catch up, and sprinted all the way to the base entrance. Guards were running towards the gate. Just as Professor Xavier promised, not one noticed the two X-Men amidst them. Havok slipped past them with ease. "Which way to the security room?"

"This is life's revenge for not paying attention in the War Room," Beast quipped. "You have to stare at my furry keister all the way there." The location of the security room had not actually been mentioned in the briefing. Beast and Jean were the ones where were supposed to memorize the path, though Havok suspected his brother had done so as well. Scott, the one-eyed overachiever.

Despite Beast's remark, Havok did not stare at his friend's rear the entire way to the security room. His mind was finally on the task at hand, and he did not want another distraction. The few staff members they came across ignored the pair, yet alarms went off the moment they reached the designated doorway. "Did they notice us?"

Beast paused to listen, his furry ears perked up high. "I believe I will have to answer in the negative. It would appear someone is breaking out of the sublevels."

"Good. Then they won't notice us open the door." Havok pointed his hand toward the door and a wave of plasma incinerated the lock. And the handle. And a chunk of the doorframe.

"In the words of Kahlil Gibran, 'Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your seafairing soul, if either your sails or your rudder be broken, you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas. For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction.'"

Havok froze to decipher the quote. Beast, with no patience for Havok's relatively slow mind, threw open the door and barged into the security room.

Guards within turned to face the new arrivals. A quick leap brought Beast on top of two, knocking them unconscious instantly with the impact. One punch was all it took to remove the last guard from consideration. "Now, for the computer. What a –"

Havok interrupted yet another quote from his friend. Beast spent entirely too much time in the lab or reading books. "How many prisoners are being held here? I want to get them all out, not just the woman we came her to find."

"Patience, my friend. I have the entire world at my fingertips, and with the press of a button..." Beast dramatically pressed the enter key and a list popped up. "Voila."

Havok leaned over his shoulder and went through the list. As he read, he started to frown. "They're all children," he observed in horror. "Why are they being held?"

Beast typed in a few more commands. "Apparently, they are being used to test containment devices and," Beast stopped suddenly. He could not read on.

"To test Sentinel weapons and tracking systems." The Mutant Registration Agency was using the facility to experiment on American citizens in order to better kill them. "I want you to download enough evidence to put these people away. Destroy the rest." This time Havok spoke with disgust. The people who worked for the MRA did not deserve to continue living, but that was not his decision to make. All he could do was reveal their secret.

Xxxxx

While Beast stayed in the security room to take care of the computer files, Havok went in search of the escaping prisoners. He triggered his personal radio. "Cyclops, how much more time do we have?"

There was the slightest pause. When his brother spoke, it was immediately preceded by the sound of an optic blast. "We've taken out most of the Sentinels, but the troops are coming in force." Another zakt sounded over the radio. "Try not to take too long, Havok. I don't know how much time we have before they call for reinforcements." Havok wished his exaggerated words to Beast about Professor Xavier's abilities were not made up spur-of-the-moment. Even the Professor was mortal, and there were only so many things he could concentrate on at once.

Havok ran down the halls and followed the path of the guards. He knocked them unconscious with waves of plasma, all caught unawares thanks to the Professor's influence. The halls deeper into the facility were warped, as if an earthquake had struck. Havok continued forward more cautiously.

The walls rippled as if they were made of water and not steel. Havok stopped altogether, fear in his throat. He knew the name of only one Mutant who had power over metal. That was impossible. Magneto trapped inside a plastic prison. A figure walked towards him from down the hall, but not the person Havok expected. Not a man at all.

Her clothes were almost dirty rags, yet passed beneath Havok's notice. Her hair was green, a color that seemed to defy natural law, and the wild form matched the anger in her green eyes. "Get out of my way," she commanded with a voice that almost made him comply. This was the woman that had brought the X-Men to Indiana.

"Where are the other prisoners?" he asked, ignoring her demand. "We have to get them out of here."

The woman was taken aback by his question. She expected resistance, not a man out to help her. "Just – just around the corner. Why should I trust you?"

Havok glanced pointedly at the distorted shape of the walls. "You don't have to. If I do anything you don't like, just do to me what you did to those guards." He turned back towards the way he had come. "We have a jet ready to take you some place safe."

She considered his offer with narrowed eyes. Was it worth the risk? "I'll meet you outside," she decided. "Have someone ready to lead us to the landing site."

Havok was unsure if she had found all of the prisoners. He also did not know whether or not the research data was still intact. There were too many questions for him to ask, so he decided to see for himself. "Fine." He considered burning a way through the walls to the courtyard, but his reserve was too limited. He needed the energy for later. "Head to the courtyard. I'm going to the sublevels."

The woman's mouth gaped in surprise when he started to ignore her. He pushed passed and made for the elevator. There was more work to be done.

Xxxxx

The sublevel – or basement, in common English – was devoid of conscious life. All the prisoners were out, as the woman claimed. Havok melted the computers and research equipment into piles of exceptionally large paperweights with his plasma. Beast signaled him a moment before he finished.

"I have successfully completed my task, oh Fearless Leader. Might I suggest we make our fastidious retreat?"

Plasma superheated the last computer terminal into a yellow, glowing pile of metal. Havok tapped his earpiece. "We're done here. Cyclops, are the escaped prisoners safe?" He rode the elevator back up to the ground floor.

"Jean escorted them aboard the Blackbird. Once you get out of there, we can head home."