8
The atmosphere in the Blackbird was tense as the X-Men prepared to enter battle. Some were definitely taking it better than others. For Scott and Jean it was a familiar feeling, the anticipation and anxiety before a mission. They were calm and collected. For people like Kurt, Bobby and Kitty, they had to deal with the anxiety as well as the feeling of an evening ruined. Being pulled from the dance was just another reminder that their lives would never be normal. Bobby in particular was nervous about facing the Juggernaut again. He felt confidant they could deal with the lug, but memories of him were always associated with the panic he felt when they first faced him, on the run from the military, the mansion destroyed, Professor X missing, and the world in on the mutant secret at last. He knew that wasn't the case this time around, but that still carried over and always made him a bit squeamish when thinking about facing the Juggernaut. As if sensing this, Kitty placed her hand on his before he could slip his glove on and gave it a squeeze. He looked up to see her give him a smile, which he couldn't help but return. Ruined date or not, it would still be an interesting night.
They were all going through last minute checks of their gear, tugging straps of boots and gloves tight for some, others checking the weapons they would carry into battle, such as Gambit and his staff, Rogue and her throwing discs. They were doing this all while strapped tight in their chairs as the Blackbird soared at maximum altitude and velocity towards the prison known as the Vault. With luck they would get there before the sphere carrying the Brotherhood reached the prison. Their job would be much easier if Juggernaut stayed locked up tight.
One person was not sitting. Logan stood at the front of the plane behind the pilot seats, starring at the team before him as he held onto a set of handholds above him. The plane held the full X-Men roster, with a few of the New Mutants at backup, and the new recruits. He did a quick look-over of them, hoping to get a sense of the team he would be leading into this potential mess. Cyclops, Jean, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat and Rogue all looked tense but prepared, Iceman looked a bit more nervous and the prospect of going against the Juggernaut again. Behind them, Gambit, Colossus and Laura sat calmly waiting for Wolverine to speak. Lastly, Magma, Sunspot and Berserker would make up the majority of the backup team with Beast and Storm, who were flying the plane. Everyone was in full uniform, though Kitty and Amara's hair still bore traces of the elaborate styles they had used for the dance. Laura, Gambit and Colossus hadn't been at the Institute long enough for X-Men uniforms to be made for them, but all three had opted to wear the same utility belts that all the X-Men wore.
"All right, listen up people; we've got an ETA in five. Here's how this is going to go down. The X-Men are going to head to the maximum security wing with me, Gambit and Colossus to head off the Brotherhood, or if they get there first, take them out before they get the Juggernaut free. With any luck, the bastard will stay locked up and we won't have to deal with him. Storm is going to keep a lookout in the sky for any surprises they might be planning. Second team is Beast, Laura and the New Mutants. I want you on the outside, making sure none of the other prisoners get out. There are plenty of human psychos in there and we don't want any of them getting out." He looked at Laura. "Remember, non-lethal." She nodded.
He flexed his arms and shifted his weight a bit as the plane turned. "We're going in blind here as far as who Magneto is throwing at us. Expect the Brotherhood lackeys and both Sabertooth and Pyro, maybe even Buckethead himself. Remember, Magneto's been on a recruiting drive, so we could have plenty of unknowns popping up. If they aren't wearing an X, take 'em down and ask questions later.
"If they get Juggernaut free, we need to take him down quick while he's still weak from the holding gel. Stick with what works and let Jean mind blast him. If he's got that helmet on, Shadowcat and Nightcrawler are on latch duty, while Colossus, Cyclops and I are going to try and hold him. The rest of you are on distraction duty, keep him disorientated.
"You've beaten Juggernaut before, and mopped the floor with the Brotherhood more times then I can remember, but don't get cocky. There's a lot that can go wrong on this one so remember your training and stick to the plan unless everything hits the fan."
By now the plane began to descend to the ground, and Logan turned back to face forward. "What do we have Hank?"
"Prison alarms have gone off, lots of chatter on the radios. It doesn't sound like it is going well for them. I'm picking up a large sphere landed near the maximum security complex. Outer wall has been breeched and onsite Richter scales are off the chart."
"Avalanche." Wolverine growled. "Put us down near the sphere."
The Blackbird came to rest in the prison yard near the large metal sphere. The X-Men filed out of the jet, Wolverine taking the lead as they headed into the wing through a collapsed wall. The secondary team formed a perimeter around the opening, ready for trouble.
The inside of the prison was just as destroyed as the outer wall. A large, circular tunnel made a straight line into the center of the prison. In between various shattered walls were prisoners and guards alike, knocked out by chucks of falling cement and others next to spent knockout gas canisters. "Man, they really tore through here, didn't they?" Iceman said, looking down at two guards and a prisoner slumped in a line against one another, the last against a cracked wall.
"Keep quiet," Wolverine said, sniffing the air and cocking his ears. The only warning he had was the sound of boot leather creaking as he stepped through another opening in the wall. The others saw a large mass tackle him with a roar, and both disappeared down the corridor behind the opening. The could hear the two tumbling and rolling, and then the telltale "SNIKT!" of Wolverine's claws. The rounded the corner to help him when he screamed, "Remember the mission!" as Sabertooth clawed at his face.
"Come on, he can handle this!" Cyclops yelled over the growls and snarls of the two fighters. The others followed his lead, continuing down the path the Brotherhood had made. No other surprises awaited them until they came across a wall that had not been torn down, though cracks in the cement revealing steel underneath certainly showed they had tried. Looking from side to side they found a door that had been opened, a knocked out security guard's hand resting on the edge of the palm reader. "Okay people, this is it," Cyclops said as they went through the open security door. Only a few of them recognized the room they entered, having come here once to free the Professor after Mystique had imprisoned him. The shield holding the tank was still up thankfully, meaning the Brotherhood had yet to free Juggernaut.
The Brotherhood themselves were currently standing around Pietro as he typed at rapid speed on a keyboard near the tank. "Stupid Sage couldn't find the stupid code!"
"Hurry up Quicksilver," Avalanche said, "we only have a few-"
"Nerd alert!" called out Toad as the X-Men entered the room, fanning out and rushing the Brotherhood.
"Everyone stop Quicksilver!" Cyclops yelled as he fired an optic blast at Pietro, but it was deflected by the girth of the Blob as he stepped forward to cover his teammate. Toad leapt out of the way as Avalanche moved to the front of the team and with a stomp of his foot the ground under the X-Men began to shake. Both Iceman and Rogue tried to launch an attack at him, but the thrown ice and disc both went astray as their footing failed.
"I've got him!" cried Kurt. He was about to teleport when a field appeared around him. He saw Wanda with her hand outstretched. He tried to stop himself but it was too late. He teleported out of the room and did not reappear.
"Kurt!" Rogue called out and tried to throw another disc but it went wide as the ground rolled beneath her.
"Give me one," Kitty said to Rogue. She handed her disc as she fell sideways against the metal wall. Kitty phased herself, letting the rolling ground simply pass up into her rather than knock her off balance. She threw the disc at Lance just as she unphased her hand and the metal, and it soared straight at him. With a satisfying crash, it collided and cracked the fishbowl Avalanche wore, throwing him off balance and ending the quake. Kitty rushed forward and connected with an uppercut to his chin before he could recover.
Pulling herself up to her knees, Jean attempted to reach out with her TK and pull Quicksilver away from the control panel, when she found her powers instead threw Cyclops into the wall next to him. His head hit with a sickening thud and he collapsed at the base of the wall. "Oops," she heard from her left, turning to see Wanda with her hand outstretched at Jean. Jean attempted to send a blast her way into Wanda's head and shut her down, but Wanda flicked her other hand and Jean could hear Rogue fall with a scream. "Not your lucky day."
"What did you do to Kurt?" she asked as she tried another TK push, this time at the floor underneath Wanda. Another flick of her write and the blast redirect itself at Jean, pushing her back down onto the ground.
"Don't worry, he's fine, just far far away from here," the Scarlet Witch said. She was about to send another hex bolt at Jean when Avalanche's reeling body flew and hit Wanda, and they both sailed into the corridor outside the room. Shadowcat walked over to Jean and helped her up. "It feels so good to just wail on him after all the crap he put me through!"
"How did you just throw him, he has to have at least an hundred pounds on you."
"Like Logan says, it's all about leverage-" her face went pale as a voice echoed from the corridor.
"Oy go check ahn one thing an' ya start a party without meh? Oi, Wanda, lookin' hot all passed out like that. An' Avahlanche, no messin' around onah mission mite! Magneto's gunnah be angry at ya, randy buggah." Pyro walked into the chamber and saw Kitty standing there. "Ah, pretty Kitty is here. Wanna 'nuthah taste ah Pyro didjah?" he said with a mad cackled, creating a wall of flame that rushed towards the terror struck mutant. Jean created a TK barrier around them that the flames rolled over. "No fair!"
"I'll give you fair you son of a-" a frozen form said as it soared through the flames on an ice slide. The flames began to melt his ice as he came through, but they died as his fast moving fist slammed into the pyrotechnic mutant, breaking his glasses and nose.
"Ya gunna pay for that!" Pyro yelled as he stumbled back. "Oy'm gunna meltcha and call ya Puddleman!" He brought his hands up again but Iceman bent him over with a front kick to the stomach. He grabbed the fuel tank on Pyro's back with both hands and froze the fuel inside as he drove his knee upwards into his sternum.
Elsewhere in the room, Quicksilver's last line of defense was having a tough time. Toad and Blob were trying to keep Gambit and Colossus from reaching the speedster. The metal Russian was wrestling with the Blob, and actually managing to move him some, while Gambit was launching exploding cards at Toad, who thus far had managed to keep Gambit from getting to the other side of Blob, where the Cajun could have a shot at Quicksilver. Every time Gambit thought he would get a clear shot, Toad's tongue would pull his arm out of position.
"Aren't you suppose to be on our side?" Toad yelped as a card singed his foot.
"T'ings change my disgustin' little friend," Gambit said, using his staff to vault himself into a sidekick that almost connected with Toad, who was latched onto the wall. The spry mutant leapt to the floor to dodge. Gambit kicked off the wall, sending another flying sidekick, this time with the other foot, into the back off Toad. The mutant was squashed down into the floor as Gambit pushed off of him and landed in a crouch. He brought his staff around in front of him to hit Toad when he stood, only to be sent flying by the wild backswing of a punch from Blob that had been intended for Colossus. He crashed into the far wall and slumped down dazed next to the collapsed Rogue and Cyclops.
"Hah, take that Cajun! Teach you to mess with the Toad. Totally showed him, I – yaaaaa!" Colossus had maneuvered himself near Toad during his fight and punted the gloating teen into the wall opposite the one Gambit had been sent into.
Toad's cheers were replaced by another's, and the sound of motors and gears. "Got it! Now you X-Geeks are in for a fun time!" Quicksilver yelled, but faltered as he saw the room for the first time since the X-Men had come in. Cyclops, Rogue and Gambit were near one wall, only Gambit seemed to be conscious, pulling himself back to his feet using the wall as a support. Toad was upside down against the opposite wall. Shadowcat, Jean and Iceman were near the door, moving to the center of the room on guard, and behind them he could see Avalanche, Pyro and Wanda out cold in a pile. Blob and Colossus were still in a collar and elbow lock, vying to unbalance the other. "I spend five second on a computer terminal and you knock each other out? Definitely not how this was supposed to go down."
A giant hand with a rust covered gauntlet wrapped around Quicksilver's neck and lifted him off his feet. "I don't think it is."
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Above the complex, Storm flew a circle around the perimeter, scanning for anything out of the ordinary. It appeared that the Brotherhood went straight for Juggernaut, taking out guards and prisoners alike, as no one came out of the gap in the wall. The question was, where were the rest of the guards? A high tech military prison such as the Vault usually had far more soldiers.
And then she saw it, a second metal sphere outside of a different wing of the prison. She touched the earpiece to the headset she was wearing. "Beast, this is Storm. There is a second sphere, near A block."
"That's where they keep the minor threat super powered beings," came Beast's voice over her earpiece. "I'm bringing the team to investigate; it doesn't look like any prisoners are coming out here."
"I will stay to make sure. Be careful Hank."
"Always am Ororo."
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"You," Juggernaut said with a slight shake of Pietro, "once helped Xavier lock me back up here. Why should I let you live now?"
"BecauseMagnetohasanofferforyouandhewon'tbetoohappyifyoukillhisonlyson," Pietro said quickly, his voice strained due to the large fist wrapped around his throat and part of his head.
"Magneto's brat? What does—" he grabbed his head with his free hand and roared in pain.
Jean's eyes were closed in concentration, her hands on her forehead to help her focus. "He's resisting!" she said through clenched teeth.
"That's not all he's doing!" Shadowcat said as she grabbed Jean and Iceman, phasing them both as the control panel for the containment tank flew through them and smashed into the wall. Unfortunately being phased weakened Jean's power and Juggernaut was shaking the last of the pain from his head.
"Where's my helmet?" he asked Pietro, who was still in Juggernaut's hand.
"Overthere!" he said, pointing to the dome shaped helmet lying on the floor on the other side of the tank. Juggernaut dropped him and reached for the helmet, putting it on quickly and latching it as he rushed forward towards the trio.
"Going to squash you flat, you little pukes!" he roared, reaching out to grab the three.
He was intercepted by the lowered shoulder of Colossus, who checked Juggernaut from the side directly through several walls. He turned to the others. "I will do battle with the monster, you must work to help me get his helmet off." They ran around the fallen form of the Blob, who was rolling on the ground clutching his groin.
"You fight dirty Colossus," Iceman said, feeling twinges of pain just thinking about it.
"I did what I had to," said the big man as they chased down the Juggernaut.
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Bullets bounced harmlessly off a wavering shield three feet in front of the mutants walking down the corridor. The soldiers continued to fire as the two mutants flanking the center one simply smiled. As they approached the soldiers, the cloaked one raised his hand and made a fist. The guns the soldiers were holding bent in odd angles, wrapping themselves around the wrists of their wielders, who cried out in surprise and in pain as the hot muzzles were pressed into their skin. Some thought to rush the group anyways in hopes of stopping them, but Bishop and Sage took care of them with quick blasts from their pulse pistols.
With a wave of his hand, Magneto sent the door to the cellblock flying inwards. The group strode purposefully through into the three leveled room. Each level consisted of cells with an energized field sealing the cells, though only three were on at the time. The room was arranged in a circle around the open center area they now stood in. Magneto paused to look around him, a look of disgust on his face at the thought of yet again those he considered his people being caged like animals. He raised his hands slightly from his sides and lifted in the air, coming to rest level with the second tier. He stretched his hands out fully and manipulated the magnetic energy to create an electromagnetic pulse around each door, short circuiting most of the equipment in the cells and shutting down the force fields.
The occupants of two of the cells walked out. The first came from a cell on the third tier. He was a tall, muscular man with pale skin and a heavy jaw. A perpetual snarl on his face, he shook his head to clear out the cobwebs caused by being under the cell's power dampening field, his blond topknot swinging back and forth. He looked at Magneto with shock in his eyes. "You!" he exclaimed in a heavy Russian accent. "What are you doing here?"
"I am here to free our brethren from this prison. But I find there are not as many as my intelligence reports would suggest. It is time that mutantkind bands together to fight the oppressions of humanity. I could make use of a soldier such as yourself. Will you join us Omega Red?"
"I have always cared very little for the petty squabbles between humanity and mutants. But they will rue the day they captured Omega Red. I will crush them and take their lifeforce as my own."
"I am not looking for a mindless killer; I need someone who will fight for our cause."
"You have freed me and I will repay my debt to you as long as we have a common enemy.."
A quick whistle came from the doorway. Magneto turned to catch a glimpse of a shadow moving back down the hallway. "We have company. Bishop, assist Revanche. Omega Red, if you truly wish to repay your debt, you will help them. If they are other mutants, X-Men, you will not cause permanent damage. If they are human soldiers I care little what happens to them."
"Very well," he said, leaping from his high vantage to the ground below and stalking out of the cellblock, his carbonadium tentacles beginning to snake out of his wrists.
"He will be a liability," Sage said, stepping out of a cell on the bottom floor. "The Soviets placed him in suspended animation several times because they could not control him, despite his patriotism. You have even less control over him, as Avalon is not his Mother Russia."
"He is an ally of necessity at the moment, until we can find more suitable members. According to your intelligence this cellblock was full should be full. Is she still here?"
"Yes, fortunately she's in here."
Magneto lowered himself back to the ground, speaking as he did so. "Where are the others?"
A voice other than Sage's answered. "They took them, two days ago. Or three, hard to keep track of time."
Magneto turned to the new voice to see a young man of about 18 who looked like he once was a toned athlete but had lost mass while being in prison. He had the stubble of a beard growing on his face, and his dirty blonde hair was a shaggy mess. But despite his disheveled appearance, his sapphire blue eyes were sharp and focused.
"Did you hear where they were taking them?"
"Testing," he said, and jumped as the metal paneling on one of the walls suddenly crushed into the size of a soda can. The look on Magneto's face was pure hatred. "That's all I heard. Don't know for sure why they didn't take me," the boy added almost apologetically.
"They are moving forward sooner than I anticipated," Magneto said, mostly to himself, and he turned back to Sage, who had returned to the cell with the girl. "What condition is the girl in?"
"Neural inhibitors on, but other than that she seems fine. I should be able to disable them."
"Do it." He returned his attention to the boy as Sage resumed her work. "And what of you? You heard what I told the animal Omega Red? Would you stand side by side with me to avenge your fellow mutants and protect our race? Or if you do not feel you are strong enough to fight, would you seek sanctuary on Avalon from those who would destroy mutants?"
"I'm not a mutant."
"But you have power, I can feel it. And they would not have placed you here if you were powerless."
"I have power, but I got it from something my dad did, experiments on me. At least, that's what Xavier said before he kicked me out. Ran away from home, got caught breaking in to a store, but because I've got powers they sent me here."
"What's your name boy?"
"Calvin, Calvin Rankin. But I'll go with you. I might not be a mutant technically but I pretty much am."
"Indeed."
A moan came from the cell Sage had entered and Magneto went over there, Calvin following at the hem of his cape. Sage was kneeling on the floor of the cell with a teenage girl resting her brunette head on her lap. The girl was starting to become frail, but otherwise healthy looking.
Magneto knelt down by her side and took her hand. "Can you hear me?"
"Yeah, head's killing me."
"It will pass in time, your mind needs to recover from the inhibitors. Can you tell me your name?"
"Cassandra... Cassandra Nova."