OK here goes nothing.
The Battle of Bayville Part One: The Siege of the InstituteToad perched on a car roof, watching a manhole. He was almost completely hidden in shadows, and to the casual passerby, he would have gone unnoticed.
There would be no casual passerby tonight. There was something in the air. The only people out tonight would be deadly serious. The key word would be deadly. Suddenly Toad glanced up the street, instantly alerted by the sound of a scuffle. Several men were dragging a scaly mutant down the street. In the next instant several things happened. One of the men hit the mutant in the head with a bottle. The mutant stumbled and fell. The men began kicking him.
Then the manhole cover flew up. Several dark figures leaped out. Before Toad's eyes they attacked the men beating the mutants using various powers. The men stumbled back, and one of them pulled out a portable radio. He hit a button on it, then turned and fled with the rest of them.
At the head of the alley he turned around and shouted back, "enjoy this victory mutants, it will be your last!"
Within minutes there was a gunshot on the far side of town. Toad hopped onto the wall, then crawled up onto the top of the building. He pulled out his com and flicked it on.
"Kurt, what's going on over there?"
"I'm not sure! Some guys in a jeep pulled up a few minutes ago, took the cover off a manhole, and started firing down into the sewers! Hold on, one of them just accidentally dropped a flashlight! It's pointing straight at me! They can see-"
The radio went dead. Toad glanced around to get his bearings, then hopped towards Kurt's location. As he landed on the building nearest Kurt's post, he saw him curled up in the shadow of a large ventilation duct.
He walked over to him, and saw that he was passed out, and had a bullet wound in the shoulder.
"Hold on Kurt," he grunted, and slung him over his shoulders.
As he started jumping from building to building, he heard someone shout from below, "Hey, there's one of those mutants now!"
"He's heading for that freak school!"
"Let him go, he won't get far!"
As Toad neared the Institute he saw what they had been talking about. A ring of FoH members had surrounded the gate and a large portion of the fence. As he hopped towards them, several turned to look at him. Then one of them raised a shotgun.
Kurt gave a low moan, and managed to teleport them both inside. Jean saw Toad stagger under the weight of Kurt's body, and levitated him.
"I'll take him," she said, "the Professor and Hawk are talking to everybody in the war room."
Toad nodded and hopped towards the stairs.
"The FoH have made themselves perfectly clear," said the Professor, as Toad walked in, "they want nothing more to kill every mutant in this building, as well as the Joes for what they see as 'species treachery'
"Rather then attack us head on, they seem to want to starve us to death. They have warned that any mutant who tries to exit the institute will be shot. They also claim to have placed a ring of iron spikes somewhere between themselves and the fence, and to have camouflaged it in the ground."
"Can't you just knock them out?" Asked Scott.
"Unfortunately, they appear to be being supplied with equipment by an organization called AIM. This includes psionic blocking devices, and a teleportation scrambler."
"But Kurt teleported us inside here," said Toad confusedly.
"Be that as it may, the Mass Device has been unable to teleport anything within a fifty foot range of the gates."
"Hey," said Toad, "where's Wolverine and X23?"
"They were also out watching the conflict between the FoH and Morlocks, and have not yet returned," Xavier said.
Wolverine sliced the barrel of a FoH member's gun, and then spun around to kick another one, who had been sneaking up behind him with a knife, in the chest. As he turned back to the first, a steam of bullets hit him in the chest. Wolverine kept moving, and sliced the third member's gun in half. Not far away, X23 was faring similarly. Suddenly Wolverine felt heat on his neck. He turned around just in time to see a man with a flamethrower squeeze his trigger. Wolverine sliced the fuel tank, letting the rest of the liquid spill out, and then threw the man into a wall. Nevertheless the continuous damage was starting to take its toll.
At that moment, he heard a discharge from a large projectile, followed by the sound of it whistling through the air. He ducked and rolled away, but the concussion wave from the rocket's blast still picked him up and flung him bodily at a wall. Through years of training, he managed to twist his body in the air, and land with his feet against the wall. A lesser man would have been killed. As it was, the impact knocked him unconscious, seconds before a second rocket caught X23 full on.
While Beast worked to revive Kurt, Forge was toiling away in his lab, trying to find a way to defeat the teleportation scrambler.
Meanwhile, Hawk, Xavier, Scott and Althea planned strategy.
"Our first problem is finding a way past the iron spikes," said Scott, "They have technology, which could effectively neutralize any of our powers that might help. The only one they couldn't neutralize is Blob, and he's still at the Pitt."
"He was going to come over here tonight," said Althea, "but obviously he can't now."
There was a shot, and far off, in the other wing of the mansion, the sound of glass breaking.
Althea and Scott jumped to their feet. Hawk did likewise. Scott paused at the door to turn to the professor, "sir, if they're actually attacking the Institute, the safest place for you would be the danger room,"
"I understand that, Scott. It's just, I'm not used to feeling so helpless."
"I understand, professor, it was the same way when Mystique kidnapped me. But there's nothing you can do."
"Actually, there is one thing. Scott, I need you for this. After Mystique activated the mansions self-destruct, I included a failsafe in Cerebro. In order to activate DEFCON Four, it requires both of our identifications simultaneously."
Scott nodded, "will it still attack the students?"
"No, I programmed it with their DNA, as well as the Misfits and the Joes. Hurry, Scott, there may not be much time."
Althea rushed into the room, with the broken window, and found Lance lying on the floor, in a pool of blood.
Her eyes widened, and she yelled, "Hawk!"
Hawk ran in, and quickly studied the situation. He lifted Lance in his arms, and ran towards the infirmary. Hank, having heard the glass shatter and Althea's yelling, met him halfway there, and took Lance from his arms.
"I'll take him," he said, and bounded off towards the infirmary. At that moment, the mansion went into lockdown. Metal plates slid down in front of all of the windows and doors, and the turrets emerged from their customary places. Across the mansion, everyone froze, their eyes on the turrets.
Do not be alarmed, said Xavier telepathically, they will not harm you, and in any case they are set to deliver an electric shock, that while it should induce unconsciousness, it is not fatal. Across the mansion, a collective sigh of relief was let out.
Down in the infirmary, Kitty was standing by Lance, who had had a bullet removed from his back, and was now bandaged and laying in bed.
He opened his eyes. "Kitty? What happened?"
"Someone must have taken a shot at you," she said.
Lance nodded slowly. "All right, I guess that makes sense."
"You don't sound sure," said Kitty, with a puzzled expression on her face.
"Kitty, was there any glass laying on the floor?"
"I don't know. Hawk and Althea found you."
"Ask them for me."
"Lance, is everything ok?"
"I'm not sure, but I know this. I was facing the window, but I took a shot to the back. Ask them."
Kitty nodded, and left the infirmary, thinking over what Lance had said.
Logan awoke strapped to a table. Surprisingly enough he wasn't wearing a restraining collar. Also, the straps holding him to the table appeared to be made of nothing stronger than titanium. If he could just get his claws in the right position… but he couldn't. And once he realized that, it no longer seemed foolish, but, on the contrary, a stroke of genius. Adamantium was, expensive to obtain, to say the least. When he thought about it, it seemed almost obvious to simply put him in a position where his claws weren't a threat.
At that moment he realized that he was moving. Or, more accurately, he was in a moving vehicle. A plane, or other air vehicle, by the feel of it. He glanced around the room, taking stock of his surroundings. The room was sparse, and aside from the table he was strapped to, contained only a large crate, of some kind of unidentifiable metal. Or at least, he thought that was all that was there. He couldn't tell, as the strap around his neck prevented him from looking at the entire room. At that moment, a man, wearing Kevlar, and seeming rather nervous entered the room.
"Kevlar?" Scoffed Wolverine, "when I get out of here Kevlar isn't going to stop me."
"Shut up," said the man, and hit him in the chest with a small device. The device sent a tremendous amount of energy through him. Wolverine smelt the flesh burning. But this had told him more about his captors then the man could knew. He had said 'shut up' not adding freak, or mutie. That would indicate that his captors weren't mutant haters. Which meant they wanted him for something else. Wolverine gritted his teeth. They more then likely wanted him as a soldier. Or more accurately, a weapon. He remembered Rina fighting beside him. The only way she would have let him be taken was if she was completely immobile. That meant that she had also probably been captured. But she hadn't been put in the same cell as him. Whoever it was that had them, obviously not the FoH at this point, was smarter then that. They also had to have considerable resources, in order to transport them like this.
That meant that they were less likely to make any obvious mistakes, like leaving the key in the same room as him, or sending someone who could be easily intimidated to this room. No matter, there was always a flaw; it would just be slightly harder to find it. He turned his attention back to the man.
"Who are you guys anyways?"
"Nice try, Weapon X," said the man, and left.
'Weapon X' mused Wolverine, "Not anymore, bub, not anymore."
"Come to think of it," said Althea, "I don't remember that there was any glass. I can't be sure. I was mainly paying attention to Lance, but I don't think that there was any glass on the floor. Which would mean," Althea paused, "that he was shot from inside the mansion."
Kitty nodded slowly, "Lance seems to think that that's the case. He asked me to ask you."
"Third floor, west wing, room 399," said Althea.
"What?"
"That's the room he was in."
Kitty nodded and left the room.
Rina was in a room almost identical to that which contained Logan. The only noteworthy difference was that the table she was strapped to also put her in a position where the claws, which emerged from her feet, were useless.
Rina, however, had not yet talked to any of her captors.
Wolverine had found the weakness. The metal band shackling his right wrist to the table gave him a tiny amount of slack. This was because one of the screws holding it in was loose. It was barely noticeable, but years of subconscious training had allowed him to identify the weakness. Now he had set about attempting to exploit it.
He had been systematically banging the manacle in a somewhat circular motion, which was slowly undoing the screw.
One of his captors walked into the room, and Wolverine immediately stopped the motion. Wolverine had memorized the guards' schedule, and was starting to tell time from it. So far he had been working for two hours. There was no telling what had occurred in Bayville during that time. The guard left, and Wolverine resumed his systematic banging.
Lance was able to move about now, and had even climbed the ladder into the attic. There he watched from a high window as the FoH continued to swarm outside the Institute's gates. He clenched his fists in anger, and sent a massive tremor out. It left the gates untouched, but knocked many of the FoH members about like so many bowling pins. Exerting the much control and power however, took its toll on his body, which was already weakened from loss of blood. He clutched his head in agony, and passed out.
Hawk saw the results of Lance's attack and sprang into action, "This is our chance! Husk, Colossus, get out there and find the spikes in one of your invulnerable forms. Pietro, once they destroy part of the spikes get Bedlam close enough to destroy their electronics. Once they're done, the rest of us will mop up! Go!"
Husk and Colossus, both in they're metal forms, charged out. The bullets, that the few FoH members who had managed to back on their feet fired, merely bounced off. Both of them felt the iron spikes crumple beneath their feet, and then they were through. There was a green blur, and suddenly the machinery started explosion. One of the FoH members had managed to get an electricity cannon on its feet. Suddenly it exploded. He dove back, and hit his head on a rock. While Peter toppled various machines, Husk had begun to pull the iron spikes up from the ground.
Pietro was in the process of coming around for his fifth round of the mansion, when he ran into a fish line to FoH members had stretched out. He managed to twist in midair, so that Bedlam came down on his chest. A FoH member hit Bedlam in the back of the head with a baseball bat.
From there, the battle went downhill. Without Bedlam destroying their equipment, the FoH was able to mount another electricity cannon. The first shot knocked Peter out. Husk picked him up, and changing into her stone form, ran back into the house. When she returned, a gas grenade was launched at her. Stumbling and choking, she barely made it back into the house.
In a short time, the X-men, Misfits, and Joes were forced back into the mansion, with the exception of Low Light, who was changing forms to quickly for the FoH to mount any kind of organized attack on him. He would destroy a cannon in his metal form, and as another energy cannon was lowered to point at him, he would change into his stone form. If they launched a gas grenade, he would change into an energy form. But he was slowly tiring from the endless exertion.
Logan had one hand free! He sliced through the table beneath him, and managed to slice through the other manacle. From there he easily cut through the other restraints that held him, and stood up. At that moment the guard entered. Wolverine moved like lightning, knocking the wind out of the guard, wrapping an arm around his neck, and extending one claw to the point where it pressed up against the guard's temple.
"I'm going to ask this once, and once only. Where are we?"
"C-circling above the Institute."
"What height?"
"Fifty-thousand feet."
Wolverine nodded grimly.
"Where's Rina?"
"Rina?"
"The other mutant you captured. Where?" His claws extended a few millimeters further, piercing the man's skin.
"Straight across the corridor."
"Good," Wolverine struggled with himself for a moment, and then muttered, "You're lucky, punk. I've been with Chuck too long." He struck the man in the temple with his fist, knocking him unconscious.
He dashed across the hall, and cut X23's chains. She nodded, and opened the door. Knocking out the guard who had come to check on her, she ran towards the hatch, followed by Wolverine. There was a single parachute.
"You take it," said Wolverine, and dived out of the plane. X23 strapped the parachute to her back and jumped out after him.
Scott had Pietro slung over his shoulder, and was firing optic blasts at the advancing FoH members. He slowly backed towards the Institute doors. However, several FoH members circled around behind him. He was trapped.
At that moment, Wolverine hit the ground. He growled, standing up, bleeding severely from the impact. He growled again, and kicked one the FoH members in the chest. After that he was a blur of motion, utilizing every ounce of his considerable martial arts skill. Within moments, the way to the Institute was clear. Wolverine unsheathed his claws and dove into the midst of a group of FoH members who were coming to reinforce their fallen comrades. Wolverine moved faster then Scott could keep track of, inflicting none fatal wounds with his claws, slicing weapons into ribbons, and generally scattering the FoH members who had surrounded him. Then he started destroying the large machines. One FoH member stood behind him, pumping bullets into his back, as Wolverine hacked away at the machine that was blocking teleportation signals. It exploded, and Wolverine sprang away. Then X23 landed, having deployed her parachute at the last possible moment. She joined Wolverine, as he toppled the supports of another large machine. Suddenly the energy weapons the FoH were using powered down, leaving them with projectiles only. Taking this as their cue, Low Light and Husk turned into their metal forms, and began providing cover for Wolverine, and X23. In a matter of moments, the FoH had been driven away from the Institute, and back into the town.
Wolverine watched them go, and as he picked a piece of gravel out of his arm, he growled, "don't break out the champagne yet kids, we ain't won. They're not gonna rest till both us, and the Morlocks are dead. They'll take this to the streets, to the sewers, to the woods. Chuck, can you track them?"
"Since you appear to have destroyed the psionic blockers, yes, I should be able to."
"Good. Let's go, One Eye, Red, Half-Pint. When the blue elf gets back on his feet send him to find us,"
He strode off. Suddenly there was the sound of helicopter rotors. Wolverine glanced up, and saw a helicopter flying the Cobra flag. There were three others coming in quickly. Within moments the sky above Bayville was almost black. The helicopters started dropping troops.
"Well, this just got a lot more interesting," said Wolverine.
Well the siege is broken, but the FoH is still in Bayville. And now Cobra's here. Hoo boy. Well review soon to get the next chapter, (Darkshadow, Daredevil, Kingpin's men, and several others)