Chapter 5: Rescue Operation
But while the guards were convinced that Logan was down for the count, that turned out to be the key mistake to turn things around for the X-Men.
Logan started to rouse just as they were starting up the incineration process. It didn't take long for him to break loose, since the cuffs were gone. A quick snikt later had him cutting through the door of the furnace and bursting out — the move in itself scaring the hell out of the guard there on duty even without the whole … smoking clothing thing going on. He jumped one of the guards and was sure to steal the uniform and the credentials before he headed down the hall at an easy pace, following the scent trail back to where the others had been.
Of course, the place was a hell of a lot bigger than he'd expected — and there were levels upon levels that the elevators serviced, which really just left him at a supreme disadvantage on where to go next. With his head down, he listened hard and headed toward the service elevators where the trail led... and for the first time hit a little bit of a break in his search. Thankfully, they hadn't gotten too far.
Apparently, once Kurt had heard the order they'd given, he went into total 'fight' and was making life incredibly hard for his captors. He'd somehow managed to snake one of the poles from them and was using it almost like a sword, though obviously, without a cutting edge, he was dealing out a large amount of battering blows for anyone stupid enough to get within his reach.
But the guards seemed reluctant to admit they'd lost control, and one of them even looked relieved when Logan started to rush their way, sure that backup had come even without the call. One of them let out an honest breath — and then stumbled backward when Logan's claws came out and sliced through the remaining bars on his way to grab the guy in charge of Kurt.
"Where are the rest of them?" Logan snarled out to the man as Kurt freed himself from their ridiculous restraints.
The guy wasn't nearly so smug when both of them were out of the cuffs, and his eyes were wide, but he managed a sneer all the same. "Got a cell for each of you, freaks."
Logan narrowed his eyes and popped a claw through a pressure point a few inches over his heart. "Is it really worth dying for? Slow?"
The guy let out a little whimper that just couldn't be stopped. "Fifteen floors down."
"Is that where all of 'em are?"
"Everyone that came in."
"What about the others?" Logan asked.
"That's everyone," the guy promised, shifting in Logan's grasp.
"That was actually helpful," Logan said, though he was speaking to Kurt now. "He was upfront, but he also had a little nasty attitude to start. So it's either quick or let this one walk. I need an unbiased judge, Elf. Whadda ya think?"
Kurt still looked furious as he stepped forward. "I'd say our friends deserve our time more than this one."
"Quick then," Logan said with a growl before he shifted his angle and twisted hard before he turned and tipped his chin toward the elevator. "Matter of time anyhow. Let's go."
Kurt nodded and teleported the two of them to the elevator to speed things along a bit, though once the elevator was moving, he simply hugged Logan. "I'm glad to see you alive, mein Freund."
"What were you expectin'?" Logan said with a frown. "Not the first time you've seen me play dead."
"You were not playing," he pointed out.
"I was," he argued. "If I'm standing here, I was."
Kurt shook his head at his friend. "We'll need to grab some water for Bobby; he's completely dehydrated, and I don't want to carry him when I could be stabbing soldiers."
"Can't let anything get in the way of a good stabbin'."
"On that, we can always agree."
Once the two of them got down to the floor in question, they split up to take on the different heavily fortified cells — which had obviously been individualized for the occupants. Kurt went right to the smallest one, knowing that their favorite weather goddess would be there, so that he could pull Storm out of the enclosed space.
For Logan's part, he simply started slicing through bars and walls to open whatever he could — and he wasn't surprised to find Scott and Jean in opposite cells, though Scott was clearly worn from trying to hold up the heavy device he was wearing just to keep upright. "How about you don't move too much for a minute, Slim?"
Scott sat up a little straighter. "How'd you get out? Did you find the others?"
"You can take a look for yourself in a second if you'll let me get rid of the bucket on your head."
"I won't complain if it looks less like a bucket when you're done."
Logan took a moment to look over the heavy device before he popped a claw and sliced through the hinges. As soon as the metal hinge hit the floor, he and Scott both worked to get it pulled apart and off of him. "Kurt went the other way."
"Did you find the professor?"
"No, not yet," Logan replied. "We got a few here to deal with first."
Scott nodded and got to his feet. "Where's Jean?"
"Across the way, I'm looking for the others — whenever you two get around to it," Logan said before he headed out of the cell and deeper into the dungeon like floor, past where Kurt was helping Bobby to sit down with a stolen canteen from one of the guards.
When Logan found K, she was in the middle of a cell, on her knees, with her hands behind her back and a collar with a short chain that attached to the floor, and it didn't take any time at all for him to get her cut loose quickly, though for however long she'd been in that position, she was stiff enough that it just hurt to move anything.
"I don't know where they are," she told him as she wrapped her arms around his neck — more for support than anything else. "Their stupid machine didn't work right on me, so …"
Logan shook his head and moved to sweep her up and head back toward the others. "She's the last one that was down that way. Charlie and Jubes gotta be somewhere else."
"I can find them if we can get past the telepathic shield on this level," Jean said.
"Do the guards know where they are?" Noh asked, shaking out the remains of what had been the band on his head from a closed fist.
"Not the one I interrogated," Logan said as K finally got him to set her on her feet again.
"Then we'll just have to tear the place apart," Noh said.
"No time for that," K told him. "They're manufacturing Sentinels here. Stockpiling them. We'll never make it out."
"Then up and out's our best option," Scott said. "We'll clear an exit, and once we find the others, we'll detour." He turned to Kurt. "Nightcrawler, go with Jean and Logan — that's our best bet to find Charles and Jubilee. We'll clear the path out for you so you can just get out once you've got them."
"I'd like to go with them," Noh said. "I'm a quick interrogator."
"I'm sure Logan can handle that fine — or Jean for that matter," Scott replied.
"Oh, come on," K said, with a tone that illustrated how over this whole mess she was. "He wants to help Jubilee. Let him." She turned to Logan and kissed him before he could argue it at all. "I expect time when we get out of here."
Scott paused when he saw the smirk Jean was wearing too and shook his head. "Fine. Let me know when you find them," he said before the rest of the X-Men simply took off, ready to blast their way out.
For the moment, the rescue squad had no better options than to just go on a floor-by-floor search, though that was sped along by the powerset in play between the four of them, with Noh and Kurt able to go quickly through each level, and Logan could tell whether or not the others had even visited the floor, while Jean did a mental sweep of the guards to see if they knew where their missing friends were.
They finally got a break on one level where one of the guards had seen Charles — and knew that he was on the top floor. Which meant that the "up and out" plan was the most pressing as Jean reached out to Scott to see how close they were to breaking through.
The fight out was precisely that. The search for Charles and Jubilee had tipped off the guards that there was trouble, but they hadn't fired up the Sentinels yet thanks in large part to a small case of EMP grenades that had been used against the computer system that was used to fire them up. Remy had managed to nick them and had a few more tucked away in his coat pockets in case of emergency.
It really was a matter of digging themselves out, with the other X-Men fighting the guards away from the combined efforts of Remy and Scott blasting their way out. Scott was practically drilling a path for them, and Remy was blowing up far more than just cards, stretching a bit as entire sections of wall would glow pink and then blow apart.
Storm, who was still struggling with the sensation of being trapped underground, was being kept in the middle of the group as K covered Scott's back. Bobby had regained enough juice to freeze patches of ground solid or ice up the weapons being aimed at them.
But for as hard as they were fighting, they weren't making enough of a dent until — all at once — the blast doors opened on their own. Jean, we've got a path out, but I don't know for how long. Now's the time, Scott called out telepathically.
We know where they are; we'll be there as soon as we have them, Jean replied. She and the rest of the rescue crew were just up to the top floor, but the security there was intense.
But considering the way the guards were concentrated, they were pretty sure they knew where their remaining friends were being kept. And then when Noh and Logan both could hear behind one of the closed doors that someone was shouting insults...
"Jubilee is in there," Noh said, his head tipped to the side before he got a funny look on his face and simply burst forward and started to tear through the guards between them and the center of the security.
He was moving faster than they had seen him move before, and it was devastating to everything in his path. There is no killer. Killing is accomplished, that is all. No distractions are permitted, was the mantra running through his mind.
Scott, Jean projected out. Noh is in a trance of sorts. And he's being incredibly … efficient. She frowned at their young friend for a moment before she reached out for other minds around them. I think … I can sense Charles too.
Whatever you're going to do, do it fast. They're firing up the Sentinels, came Scott's response, sounding stressed even over the link.
"Crap," Jean muttered before she turned to Logan and Kurt. "We need to hurry this along and get out. The Sentinels are ready to go, and if we don't get down there to help them fast, they're toast."
Kurt nodded and looked past them just in time to see the explosion as Noh decided the door was too slow — which gave him a clear line of sight to teleport Logan and Jean into the room beyond that.
Inside, there was a large array of computers and screens monitoring the battle with the X-Men. Bastion himself was looking furious, and it looked like he'd just hit Jubilee, who was tightly restrained and had some kind of device on her head. Charles was similarly stuck nearby, collared to keep him from calling out for help and in the middle of a lot of technology as well.
Charles was closer to the senior X-Men, but they didn't need to worry overmuch about the rest of the soldiers in the room with the state Noh was in. The young man simply crashed into Bastion — away from Jubilee — and the group heard a muffled explosion several yards away several moments later, so they just focused on cutting Jubilee and Charles out of the technology holding them captive. Logan had scooped up Jubilee into a tight hug as soon as she was freed, though Jubilee still looked upset and was watching the fight over his shoulder even as she clutched on tight.
When Bastion made a rush for Noh, Noh didn't even hesitate before he drove his hand deeply into the man's chest. A moment later, he'd stepped back just far enough that he didn't explode with Bastion — but with five nails in there deep, there really wasn't anything left of the man, and the force was enough to knock Noh back off his feet and finally break whatever concentration he had.
All at once, the kid looked totally exhausted and barely picked his head up from the floor to see the Jubilee was with Logan before he put his head back down. "Alright ... what is left to do?" he asked softly.
"Gotta get out — quicker the better," Logan said over Jubilee's shoulder.
"Right." Noh got to his feet, fairly bloody, though it was hard to tell what was his — not that that was unfamiliar to them in the present company. "Who can I carry?"
"I can teleport several," Kurt said. "Or make several ports... But I think, all things considered, we'd be wise to stick together as a group." He gestured to Charles. "Perhaps you wouldn't mind?"
Noh simply nodded and tipped his head Charles' way. "Do you mind?" he asked.
"Not at all," Charles replied. "Please."
With that, Kurt simply teleported the others out — though Noh wasn't far behind, with Jean guiding him on where to go. And once they met up with the others and Scott saw that they were there, he directed the group out, reaching for his visor to remove it. "Let's see them recover from this," he muttered, simply pouring the last of his optic blast on the Sentinels before they rushed off.
"Yes, you're a magnificent specimen," K muttered back so she knew he could hear it.
Scott shot her a dry look. "Bought us time, didn't I?"
"I … was being sincere," she countered.
"It's hard to tell with you," he shot back.
"Not when I'm talking about the pretty, it's not."
Scott shook his head at her, but he didn't say anything. Not when his focus needed to be on getting the group out into the desert — away from the facility that seemed to be on the other side of the country from their initial wild goose chase.
They kept running until they were a fair distance out and simply needed the break, exhausted after the whole ordeal and the fight afterward. Thankfully, they'd managed to find some caves that were at least some kind of shelter so they could get their breath and take stock of each other.
Kurt and Ororo were taking care of each other; Ororo was feeling much better aboveground and after having taken out so many of the soldiers, so it was her turn to look after her "little brother" this time. Logan was still holding onto Jubilee in a snuggle — both of them concerned for each other — and K was on his other shoulder, resting in appearance at least but definitely keeping an eye out. Bobby and Remy were looking out while Jean and Scott put their heads together on what to do next, and Noh set Charles down with a murmured apology for all the blood on his clothes that was now on Charles.
"It's really the very least of my worries right now, Noh," Charles said gently. "Thank you." He looked up at the young man with a soft smile. "Are you terribly hurt?"
Noh looked down at himself and seemed almost to assess his injuries right there on the spot. "I just need to eat, that's all," he said before he glanced back up at Charles. "If I'd been able to kill them without you seeing, I would have. I'm sorry."
Charles looked surprised for a moment. "Noh, you used the force that was necessary in this particular case, and though I don't endorse killing as a means of finishing a mission … I have to admit, we would not have gotten out alive ourselves otherwise." He leaned a little closer. "And not even I have perfectly clean hands."
This time, it was Noh's turn to look surprised, almost stunned, before he smiled and nodded. "Then… I am not that sorry," he said, the smile widening a bit. "It was the best way I could save you and Jubilee."
Charles gave him a tired smile and leaned back against the wall of the cave, obviously worn out himself from the ordeal. "It seems that I should be apologizing to all of you as well," Charles said a bit louder. "They would not have known how to attack if not for all that they'd managed to extract from me."
"We can work on your ability to stand up to an interrogation later, Charles," K muttered with a little smirk.
"None of us blames you, professor," Scott added quickly.
K couldn't help but smile a little wider at Scott's addendum before she started tearing up the uniform Logan was wearing. "Noh, let me wrap some of that up for you."
"It would do more help if I ate the strips," Noh said with a shrug. "I have to feed the healing first before it can kick in. Anything organic."
"You're not familiar with the flora and fauna around here. And when I step out to hunt and gather, I don't want to bring back anything toxic for the others," she explained.
He watched her for a second and then let out a sigh and nodded. "Alright."
She got to her feet and made her way over to him, frowning as soon as she saw some of the worst of it. She held her breath and reached up to gingerly pull at the fabric near his shoulder that was bloodstained and pressing up oddly. "Noh … is this bone?" She didn't exactly wait for him to reply before cutting open the tattered uniform and just staring at the answer. "Noh…"
He met her gaze looking as if it was perfectly normal. "Go ahead — you can't hurt me," he said, totally misreading her concern.
"Honey, that's not ... " She shook her head lightly. "This needs to be set. How …"
"Probably in the explosion when I blew Bastion to bits," he said. "Go ahead. Like I said, it won't hurt. I don't feel it right now."
"Stardust, how do you not feel that?" K gestured for him to lie down so she could get the right angle all the same.
"It's straightforward, really. Just reroute pain to the audio cortex. It's quite loud in my head right now," he explained.
"Which is shorthand for 'it hurts — a lot,'" she said, shaking her head before she took a moment and guessed how to pull things for the bone to go back to where it belonged. K started bandaging him up quickly with the strips of fabric after that and then put her hand on the center of his chest. "Stay down. At least until you're healed up enough to allow your pain receptors to work right again."
"I can still help," he argued.
"Not if I break your legs and make you stay down," she argued right back. "Heal. I'll get you something to eat."
"Best not to argue with her," Kurt said with a smirk. "Especially when she's right."
K got to her feet and gave Logan a little squeeze as she passed him to disappear into the desert, leaving the others behind to wait — though after only a moment, Jubilee made her way over to Noh to take his hand and sit with him.
It was silent in the cave for a long time after that. Everyone was too exhausted to put forward any effort to speak — and too relieved to be out of Bastion's grasp to care about much else.