Chapter Nine

As soon as we burst through the tree line, I started singing. I didn't think too much, just let my anger and pain at my boys being taken from me bleed through my every note. After a few seconds, Lotta joined in, her anger just as sharp as mine. Together, we easily turned all the guards against each other, and their fighting paved the way for our group to enter through the fence, courtesy of Erik. He simply parted it like I would curtains and waved us through.

"Bianca, Lotta, stop," Charles said firmly. "These are just men following orders."

"These aren't soldiers, Charles," I spat back. "They all joined this 'private outfit' to avoid going into the military. They had to know what's going on inside, and they are just as complicit as those at the top. And I will show no mercy to anyone who is behind this fence voluntarily."

Logan snorted. "I knew I was gonna like you. Let's go."

Hank and the three soldiers picked up dropped weapons on our way inside. "Hank?" Charles questioned, making me want to strangle my friend.

"I designed this rifle, Charles. Did you really think I couldn't use the weapons I've been designing for Stark?"

"And I knew I liked you," Logan snorted out another laugh. "Now, Professor Chuck, can we go in, or do we need to leave you out here with your delicate sensibilities?"

A smile fought its way across my face as I left the arguing behind. I didn't care that Charles disapproved of my methods; I hadn't encouraged the guards to kill each other, after all, just to fight one another to keep them occupied. And if they knocked each other out, well, then that was just a bonus. As I ran into the building, though, I heard several drop, like Charles got tired of my methods and put the guards to sleep, instead. As long as they stayed out of my way, I wasn't complaining of the methods that took them out.

Once inside, a few startled guards made a feeble attempt at stopping us. I say feeble, because Erik simply stripped them all of their guns and pistol whipped each one, causing each guard to fall to the ground, utterly unconscious. "You could save some for the rest of us," I teased, the giddy feeling of a fight I knew we would win giving me a high I hadn't felt in years, and masking my true emotions.

"I'll save the scientists for you," he grinned back, causing my stomach to flip. Until I remembered just who I was speaking to, and what he was referring to.

"They'll regret ever touching my boys," I vowed, punching the guard who came around the corner. "Or any other mutant."

We fought our way through another rush of guards, and I couldn't help but wonder just how many were in this "facility". Lotta and I headed down one hallway, as I wasn't willing to let her leave my sight, but it seemed like the direction most of the guards were coming from. Erik followed, and I wasn't sure if I was furious or ecstatic. Or possibly furiously ecstatic. But soon enough, the guards were being replaced by panicked scientists, so-called doctors who knew exactly what happened as a result of their actions. And then kept going. My anger boiled over into my song, turning the scientists onto each other with a fervor that had been missing with the guards. These were the ones doing the experiments, the ones actually hurting my boys.

Lotta followed my example, her song tinged with a vicious glee. Neither of us were remotely sorry when our music left several dead on the floor, others with wounds they most likely wouldn't survive.

Erik simply ushered us forward. "They seemed to be guarding something further down this way," he said. "Why don't we go see exactly what it was?"

It turned out to be a series of cells, each filled with a pitiful prisoner. Erik made quick work of the doors, and Lotta and I convinced each inside that it was actually safe to come out. Most seemed to be soldiers, either snatched from missions or "transferred" like Stryker had tried to do with Ink, Spike, and Toad. A few were Vietnamese villagers who didn't understand a word we said, but with our persuasive powers, they were able to understand we were there to save them. But the last cell was the most heartbreaking.

A young woman, who couldn't be older than Lotta, slowly emerged, clutching a newborn to her chest, with another tiny child clinging to her leg. The child seemed barely old enough to walk, still rather wobbly on stick thin legs. Horrified understanding flooded over me, making me nearly lose what little I'd managed to eat that day.

An elderly woman shuffled over to help the girl, as well as one of the soldiers. His quick communications with her let me know he could speak Vietnamese, which helped immensely. I told him to tell those not speaking English that they needed to follow us and we would get them out. We were mutants, just like them, and we would get them free.

As the cells were the end of that hall, we led our ragged band back the way we had come. I couldn't help but notice the reactions when we ran into the scientists again. As bodies littered the floor, it was difficult to walk without stepping on someone, and most of the soldiers didn't bother to try. Several of the villagers spat at them, anger and pain ruling every action.

But as we got back to the main hallway, the soldier who'd spoken to the villagers stopped us. "There's more cells that way," he told me. "And they're the ones being experimented on currently."

After quick instructions, his buddy led the rest of the former captives out the way we had come, while he led Lotta, Erik, and me further in. "Name's Thompkins," he introduced as we hurried down the hall.

I couldn't stop myself from hoping that I would see Alex at any moment, hold my boy in my arms, so I barely noticed when Lotta took it upon herself to introduce us.

"You're not those Serenas, are you?" he questioned, looking a bit intimidated as I tuned back into the conversation around me.

"Those Serenas?" Erik asked quickly, and the protective note to his words warmed my heart, for just a second, before I could help myself.

"I'm from Atlantic City," Thompkins hurried to explain. "There's a family there-"

"Yes, we're those Serenas," I cut him off with a grin. "That won't be a problem, will it?"

"No, not at all," he squeaked. "Actually, I thought you looked familiar. You sing at the White Siren, don't you?"

"She used to," Lotta snarled, stalking forward furiously.

"Don't worry, she's mad at me, not you," I assured Thompkins.

He nodded, but any response he might have made was cut off when Lotta screamed. A guard suddenly popped up, grabbing her before anyone could do anything. "Don't come any closer, or I'll slit her throat," he growled, his gleaming knife against Lotta's throat.

Red filled my vision. How dare he threaten my Lotta? My mouth opened without conscious thought, a wordless song filling the air. But just as he started to relax his grip on her, she reared back and cracked her head against his nose, making him nearly drop her in his haste to let go. Erik finished him off with his own knife.

Thompkins stared at the three of us in slightly terrified awe. "You are-"

But the most blessed sound I'd ever heard cut him off. "B, is that- Is that you?"

"Alex!" I surged forward, running to my boy. "Where are you?"

Erik assisted by ripping all the doors from the walls. "Ov-over here!" Alex coughed.

That wasn't terribly encouraging. If Alex needed me to get him out of his cell, things had to be very bad for the terribly proud and independent man.

I found him in the last cell, though I encouraged the other captives I came across to leave, as well. "B, you're here," he breathed in relief the second I crossed the threshold. "You came."

"I'll always come for you," I swore, hurrying to his side. He was slumped against the farthest wall, in the corner so dark I could barely make out his silhouette. But once I made it to him, I realized he wasn't the only one there. Someone else lay with their shaved head in Alex's lap, presumably the reason Alex hadn't left already under his own power.

"Hey, B's here," Alex said, softly shaking the other man's shoulder. "I told you she would come for us."

Hope mixed with disbelief in a powerful cocktail as I waited with bated breath for the other person to turn toward me. "B? Am I dreaming?" Sean croaked, so quietly I could hardly hear him.

AN: I hope that was a surprise for you! I really like Sean, so I didn't want him to be dead, and since I'm the writer, he gets to live! Thanks for reading, and a big thanks to brigid1318 for your lovely reviews!