The Morlock Tunnels, New York City, New York
The Past, Six Weeks Ago
"When Ah joined you Avengers, Ah thought mah days of traipsin' through sewers were over," Rogue complained. A fat drop of water landed on her forehead and she pulled her hood up over her hair.
"This is an access tunnel, not a sewer," Iron Man observed. "If this was a sewer, we'd likely all asphyxiate on high levels of hydrogen sulfide."
"Thanks, Mr. Wizard," Rogue said sarcastically.
"My friends," Storm said with a hint of impatience as she raised her hand, "may we have silence, please?"
Both Rogue and Iron Man were bringing up the rear of the party. Storm and Cannonball set the pace before them. Wolverine and Captain America took point. They were below the streets of New York in a stretch of tunnels previously inhabited by the Morlocks. The tunnels had flooded with East River water at one point and now were filled with a mix of mud and debris.
"Can you pick up anything?" Cap asked Wolverine as the shorter man crouched. Cap signaled and the party came to a halt.
"Not a thing," Wolverine said, searching for a familiar scent. "Just mud and wet."
Cap examined the map with a flashlight. "We should be approaching the next checkpoint."
Wolverine nodded at the dark stretch of tunnel up ahead. "Must be that door," he said, though no one save him could see it in the darkness.
The group approached a large round steel door. At its center was a wheel. Wolverine grasped it and turned. The wheel refused to move.
"It doesn't look like it's been used in awhile," Wolverine said.
"Allow me," Iron Man said and strode forward. There was a tearing and rending of metal as he grasped the door and pulled. It tore free from the jamb. A rush of sludge and filth poured through the opening, rising up past their ankles.
"Lovely," Iron Man said looking down at his boots.
Wolverine moved through the opening and then paused. "I got somethin'," he said and his nostrils flared.
Storm moved up to stand behind him. "What is it?" she asked.
"Smells like the Cajun," Wolverine said. "Stinks like fear."
"Why would a clone be frightened?" Storm asked, a touch of anxiety fluttered in her chest. She squelched it.
Wolverine shook his head from side to side. "Let's go," he said and moved forward. Now that he had a scent, they moved more quickly though they had to wade through ankle deep water. Wolverine stepped up onto a chunk of broken concrete and paused. He cast about in the darkness and found an empty water bottle. Wolverine let the refuse drop back into the water and pressed onwards. At a fork in the tunnels he paused again.
"There's somethin' else," he said. "Moloid, I think. It went this way." He pointed into the darkness.
Captain America shown the flashlight down the tunnel. A few rats scattered as the light fell upon them. "The next checkpoint it at the next left turn. We're getting close."
Wolverine started off in the direction Cap had indicated. The rest followed. Wolverine walked down the tunnel, then drew up short and backed up a few paces.
"What's that?" Cannonball asked, pointing at a small speck of light set in the wall.
Storm approached to see a glowing gemstone. "A marker of some kind," she said. She could feel a cool wind blowing up from below. Storm crouched and found a narrow crack in the tunnel wall. Her apprehension grew. She knew this was the next point on the map, and that she would have to crawl through this narrow place.
"You all right, darlin'?" Wolverine asked.
Irritation flashed through Storm like lightning, chasing her fear away. "Of course," she said and crawled through the opening as quickly as she could, to spare herself from the crushing weight of her claustrophobia. For a moment she felt as if the earth had swallowed her. She could feel the scrape of the stone walls pressing down on either side. Then suddenly, she was free and standing in an open space. She drew a bracing breath.
Wolverine was quick to follow and she had to move aside to make room for the remainder of the party. One by one, they each passed through the gap.
"It's black as pitch in here," Rogue said. "Don't we got any more flashlights?"
"How's this?" Iron Man said and suddenly, a bright light shown from his chest.
Rogue blinked in the dazzling glare and raised her hand to block the light. "You've blinded me, ya ninny!"
"Would you please lower your voice a few decibels?" Iron Man said, his voice echoing in the chamber.
Rogue was about to retort, but as she lowered her hand, she blinked in confusion at something just above Iron Man's head. "What in tarnation – ?" she began and then screamed as something leapt from the shadows to fall upon her.
"What the devil?" Iron Man said as a snarling, long-limbed creature began tearing at Rogue's cloak. The creature let out sharp chirps and snarls.
"Get it offa me!" Rogue cried as the Moloid tried to bite her. She forced it's head back with the heel of her hand. Wolverine leapt and Rogue hit the ground, the breath knocked from her body. The creature sprung away to grab at Cannonball. His arms windmilled in a panic. Captain America swung his shield and struck the thing with a solid ringing sound. The Moloid went flying off into the darkness.
The resulting silence was deafening as the small group stood on alert, anticipating another attack.
"Well that was –," Iron Man began.
From within the cave came a long, loud moan of some enormous beast. The chamber echoed with its roar. The sound faded into the darkness.
Storm stared at Iron Man, her eyes shining faintly, daring him to speak another word. His mouth closed slowly.
"Let us not speak unless absolutely necessary," Storm decreed.
Wolverine nodded, then turned and walked into the darkness. They came to a precipice which overlooked a path that descended to a rushing river. They followed it downwards. A stone bridge took them to the other side of the river. The party continued in silence down the rocky path. A fine mist hung in the air from the turbulent river. Something cracked up in the path ahead and a rock tumbled free to smash itself into the river. The party drew up short as something clawed its way through the hole in the wall. It was an enormous furry monstrosity with a hideous nose of slimy pink tentacles. It dug with long sharp claws, its nose seeking blindly. They could hear the sound of its panting and smell its fetid breath. Wolverine loosed his claws and crouched as the thing fully blocked their path. Storm called upon a wind and rose into the air. Lightning cracked around her raised hands and the light flashed along the cavern walls. The creature recoiled in the bright light. Iron Man joined her in the air and lowered the mask of his helmet to cover his face. He nodded at her and together they blasted the mole creature with bright light. It shrank back with a squeal and retreated into its hole.
"We shall scout up ahead," Storm told her colleagues. She gestured for Iron Man to follow. The pair flew down the length of the tunnel. The light grew substantially brighter. They found no other obstacles or monsters to delay them, and returned to the party to report the news. When they regrouped they continued downwards until at last they came to a lake. Wolverine and Captain America climbed the embankment, keeping low until they reached the summit. They conferred with one another briefly and returned to the shore.
"There's a manor in the valley below," Cap reported. He sketched it out in the wet sand with a stick. "Surrounded by a wall. There is an open expanse of ground with little cover. A few small huts."
"A main entry here," Wolverine said and indicated on Cap's drawing. "And a side gate here. I can't tell if there's another entrance on the opposite side."
"We'll split into pairs," Cap said. "Storm, you and I will take the west gate. You're on point. I want this done quietly until we can assess the situation inside the manor. Wolverine, Rogue, you go east. Cannonball, Iron Man, I want you two as backup. If something goes wrong, we'll need you as reinforcements. Make sure nothing comes out of that house."
Storm raised a mist from the nearby lake to create some ground cover. With their marching orders, they split up and began to move down the valley and towards the manor.
~ oOo ~
Wolverine and Rogue crept along the outside wall heading towards the main gate they had spotted from the embankment. The gate was closed and appeared solid. They passed it and continued down the wall. At the rear of the complex, they came upon a rubbish pile mostly composed of moldy straw. There was a wooden door in the wall and a two-wheeled barrow used for moving refuse in and out of the building. They found that the door was barred from the inside. Wolverine peered through the small square window and through a wrought iron grate. He saw no one inside. Wolverine stabbed his claws through the door and slashed them upwards, knocking free the wooden bar on the opposite side of the door. He pushed it open and the bar scraped across the ground.
They were now in an alley. A few rubbish bins sat just inside the door; from the smell of them it seemed it was kitchen scraps. The alley took them to a door in the manor's inner wall. The pair passed through it into a darkened hall. Wolverine paused and scented the air.
"Sinister," he growled softly.
"Any sign of Jean?" Rogue whispered.
Wolverine considered. "Faint..."
They passed through the corridor. The lights along its length were dimmed. They came to another door. Wolverine opened it to a more expansive space, a warmly appointed hallway. There were doors at intervals all along the hall. The doors were closed. There was another opening in the hall leading to a room painted in soft yellow. They proceeded towards it silently. As they neared the yellow room, Wolverine increased his pace until he was nearly running. Rogue tried to follow behind as quickly and silently as possible. Wolverine had come to a halt at the center of the opening, standing frozen as he stared into the room. Rogue came up behind him and turned.
A woman was sitting upon a settee in front of a fireplace, her back to them. Her red hair had been pulled up to a knot at the back of her head. As Rogue and Wolverine stood, her head turned slowly on her long elegant neck. They saw her face in profile. It was serene and expressionless.
Wolverine took a step into the room.
"Jean?" he asked.
The woman slowly stood and turned, her long silk gown sweeping gently across the area rug. She looked upon Wolverine blankly.
"Jeannie?" Wolverine repeated and took another step forward.
Just then, the mullioned window to their right exploded inwards. Wolverine and Rogue fell back defensively as they saw what could only be Sabretooth leaping into the room. There was a split second as both Sabretooth and Wolverine tensed. The next instant they both sprang to meet one another mid-air in a flurry of animal snarling.
Rogue darted forward to seize Jean by the wrist. "Let's go, sugah!" she said and tugged at the woman's arm.
The woman refused to budge. She instead raised her opposite arm in a languid gesture. The shards of glass littering the floor trembled and then rose into the air. Rogue watched the shards hovering in the air before turning her gaze back to Jean. The woman's green eyes were like seaglass; flat, softly unfocused, and completely without emotion.
"Wolverine!" Rogue cried and threw herself away from Jean to hide behind he settee. Glass shards whipped through the air, shredding everything in their path. Rogue cried out and protected her face with her raised arms. Wolverine and Sabretooth crashed down beside her to roll across the carpet, heedless of the flying glass that flayed flesh from their bodies. Rogue launched herself at Sabretooth, her bare hand coming to clamp upon the man's bloody arm.
Sabretooth rose up and Rogue threw her other arm around his neck, holding on to the burly man and using him to shield her body from the flying glass. She could hear more crashing and snarling. Two more Sabretooth clones leapt through the window. By now, pieces of furniture were rising up from the floor the throw themselves at the walls. The debris joined the spinning tornado of glass, pummeling them all save the woman standing at the eye of the storm. The fire burst from the fireplace. Flames encircled the woman who stood so still, her face devoid of any expression.
Rogue was battered by the flying glass and debris, but even as she was cut and clubbed and burned the healing factor she'd ripped from Sabretooth's now still form repaired the damage. One of the clones leapt upon her and she used her newfound strength to throw the man across the room to strike a wall. She moved in on the woman at the center of the room, buffered by fragments of furniture and glass.
"Jean!" she shouted. "Stop! Stop, it's me! We're here ta help you!"
A gout of flame ripped the air from her lungs and she collapsed onto the smoldering rug. From the corner of her eye she saw the woman's hand open. A poker from the fireplace was summoned towards Jean's outstretched hand. Rogue could see the woman's slippered feet approaching. Rogue fell back. The woman gestured and the poker raised above her head, the point of it aimed towards Rogue's heart, seeking to impale her to the floorboards.
The woman's fingers twitched and the poker began to fly towards Rogue. Three long claws sprouted from Jean's midsection. Her face remained hard and blank even as she dropped to her knees. The poker fell harmlessly to the ground with a clatter. The glass shards, wooden fragments, and bursts of flame dropped to the floor as well. Wolverine withdrew his claws from Jean's back and retreated as she fell backwards onto the floor.
"Mah god!" Rogue cried.
There was a long deep-throated growl. The trio of Sabretooths were rousing themselves. Rogue met Wolverine's eyes briefly, but they were as empty of human emotion as the clone lying dead at his feet. The look in his eyes was instead wild with animalistic fury. Rogue began to crawl backwards, her hands sliced by broken glass.
For a moment all was still as the feral men readied themselves to fight. Then an explosion tore through the house and the walls collapsed upon them all.
~oOo~
Next time: What Storm finds in Sinister's London.