Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men. The X-Men are the property of Marvel. Marvel is the property of Disney. I only own Cheyenne. All comments and criticism are welcome but please keep all criticism constructive!
Seated on the low wooden bench in the women's locker room, Cheyenne slipped her feet into her specially made boots as Rogue laced up her own footwear, Kitty pulled her hair back into a ponytail and Tabby cinched her belt around her waist. Storm was adjusting the tops of her boots to fit more comfortably around her legs while Jubilee pulled on a pair of socks.
The thin layer of reinforced metal locked into place around the spike emerging from her left heel and Myth tugged the zipper up the back of the sturdy black leather. She secured the zipper at the top of the boot, which stopped a few inches short of her knee, underneath a tab of leather equipped with a button. The boots were designed so that she could put them on in a hurry if need be, whether her talons were out or not. Her suit was designed in a similar fashion with nearly invisible zippers running up to her mid-thighs so that she could easily step into her suit without fear of ripping anything. There was also a zipper on each sleeve; one long zipper ran along the underside of her arm, from her wrist to just below her armpit. Then she just had to put her arm through a hole, fit her spike into the metal-enforced hole at her elbow and zip up the sleeve. Two reinforced slits in the back of the suit accommodated her wings and the front sported an 'X', dyed to match the emerald hue of her wings. Topping off her ensemble was a sturdy belt that's main function was to hold the communicator she'd been issued.
'It really is comfortable.' Myth marveled, not for the first time, as she zipped up her other boot. This would be her third time wearing her suit, which she had decided was wonderful despite her initial, and still a little lingering, discomfort at being seen in what was, essentially, a leather jumpsuit. Plus she now looked like a real member of the team and not, as Jubilee had remarked after one of their training sessions, like "a psycho escaped gym student".
Standing up from the bench and stretching, she felt a surge of gratitude towards whoever Xavier employed as a tailor. 'I think I would be more nervous if I had to do this in a sweat suit.'
As Gambit descended the Babybird toward the roof of the F.o.H facility, Cheyenne mentally reviewed their plan of attack. She swallowed, jittery, as the stealth-cloaked jet began the process of landing. 'Take out the security, knock out any guards, rescue the prisoners, bring those that require medical attention back to the mansion, return the uninjured to their homes and give them panic buttons and the mansion's phone number.' She recited to herself. 'I am prepared. We will be fine.' Myth continued, as the jet landed silently.
"Time to kick some butt!" Jubilee cheered, releasing the buckle on her seatbelt from her seat next to Myth as Rogue, in the copilot's chair, flicked the switch to lower the ramp.
"Indeed it is." Gambit grinned at Colossus, who was already up and assisting Shadowcat out of her seat.
"Den let's get to it, mes amis."
Myth trailed behind Rogue at the rear of the group as they exited the jet. The exit ramp raised at the touch of a button on a small remote which Gambit stashed away in one of the many pockets on his trench coat. They made their way over to the small sheltered roof entrance door, about twenty feet from the jet, where Kitty helpfully phased her hand into the lock, pushing the mechanism into the unlocked position.
Gambit was first through the door, taking out the lone security camera in the stairwell with an expertly thrown charged playing card. The camera was fizzing on the floor dead, having never caught its murderer on film, as the group of X-Men strode purposefully past it.
The facility, which masked its sins under the title of The Friend's of Humanity Information and Outreach Center, was two stories tall with a basement. On the first floor they did in fact hold informational meetings for prospective members and supporters in addition to arranging information booths at conventions and the like. The second floor, which the X-Men were currently making their way through, was composed of offices.
"Oh, I love two fo' une deals!" Gambit commented as Jubilee took out two security cameras with a single firework, leaving them with gaping holes in their sides.
"Me too!" Jubilee agreed, looking satisfied with herself.
Rogue smirked. "Ah'm sure the guards will share your enthusiasm when they come to investigate."
"Well, there won't be that many of them if they think they're just having technical difficulties." The little black box on the wall gave a pathetic high-pitched whine that caused Cheyenne to grit her teeth as Kitty pulled her phased hand out of it. "That takes care of the first two floors." The basement had extra security measures according to what Kitty had found out.
Fifteen minutes later saw the team standing outside the reinforced door leading to the basement. All that remained to mark their presence in the building thus far was a busted security system, several destroyed security cameras, and three unconscious guards, one of which Rogue had knocked out with a swift touch to the forehead while the other two had the dubious honor of having their heads knocked together cartoon-style by Colossus. The guards were then deposited by the front door, where Kitty phased their legs into the floor to make sure they couldn't go anywhere if they came to anytime soon.
"There're only three more guards." Rogue informed them as Gambit expertly picked the lock. "Five prisoners. The guy Ah absorbed wasn't involved in the torture, just knows how many of the cells are in use."
Gambit, finished with the lock, opened the door a crack and peeked through. "One on de stairs, looks like he's coming to see what happened to his buddies." His arm shot out and grabbed Rogue, preventing her from going to take care of him. "He's got a gun."
Colossus armored up, turning into his metal form. "Allow me then." The guard let out a shriek as he caught sight of the muscular man coated in metal standing in the now open doorway at the top of the stairwell.
"Did he just scream like a little girl?" Myth asked in surprise from where she crouched on the side of the doorway next to Jubilee and Kitty. As an extra precaution her wings were outstretched around them like a blast shield.
"Yeah, he did." Kitty talked in her ear over the sudden noise of gunshots rebounding off of Piotr's metal hide.
"Sounds like Tabby when she sees a spider." Jubilee's voice suddenly no longer had to compete with the gunshots, allowing Rogue, who was huddled next to Gambit behind the door on the other side of the doorway, to hear and prompting her to chuckle.
Remy began to speak, but was interrupted by voices on the stairwell. "Dave - what the? Open fire!" The sound of bullets bouncing off of Colossus rang out again in addition to the confused, and decidedly panicked yells of the two remaining guards.
Then there was silence. "Guess he's finished." Jubilee remarked, rising to move through the doorway.
"Hold it!" Myth yanked her back.
"Watch out!" Colossus yelled from the bottom of the stairwell.
The sound of footsteps rapidly nearing became audible to the members of the group who didn't have superior hearing; the faster footsteps were echoed by Piotr's slower, heavier metal tread.
Cheyenne was still standing nearer to the doorway than the others from pulling back Jubilee, when a man clad in the stereotypical security guard ensemble burst through the door with a gun held loosely in his hands. He had a foot and a good hundred pounds on the mutant before him.
Reacting from experience born of multiple forays into the Danger Room, Myth sliced the talon on her right elbow into the barrel of the gun and let fly with her left fist. The security guard was suddenly getting some up close and personal time with the tiled floor.
"Nice!" Jubilee exclaimed.
"Awww, you guys! It's Myth's first bad guy!" Kitty enthused.
'I just knocked a guy out.' Myth blinked, frozen with a gun stuck to her elbow and a man crumpled at her feet.
"Darn!" Gambit snapped his fingers. "Rogue, we forgot the camera!"
"Ah knew we were forgetting something." Rogue deadpanned. "This is what you get for rushin' me out of the house."
"I just knocked a guy out!" Myth cheered, jumping up and down in excitement and causing the gun, no longer operational, stuck to her elbow to fall off with a clatter. 'Yeah! I'm an X-Man….woman…whatever! I took down a bad guy!' Cheyenne felt ridiculously pleased with herself and not so much like deadweight to the mission.
"Congratulations." Piotr replied in amusement, filling the doorway with his bulk. He had a guard slung over each shoulder.
"You did good, hun." Rogue congratulated as Gambit picked up the unconscious guard by his arms.
Remy unceremoniously dragged the guy to the pile of bad guys where Colossus was depositing his cargo. Kitty searched the pockets of one man while Piotr turned out the other man's pockets.
"Ah-hah!" Kitty crowed jubilantly. "Card key!"
"Swap ya, Chaton." Gambit dropped the Friends of Humanity worker next to her with an audible thump.
'Oh, that's gonna leave a bruise.' Myth winced. 'If I haven't bruised him already, though really that's what he gets for working with a bunch of nut jobs.' Her expression hardened, turning serious once more. 'Working with, phooey! He is one of the nut jobs. Who knows what he's done to the mutants down there, or any mutants before this for that matter.' An image popped into her mind of a blown-up photograph she had once seen at a World War II museum of American GIs held by the Japanese as prisoners of war. They had looked like little more than living skeletons, badly malnourished with eyes that were haunted and haunting in turn.
Myth marched purposefully, determination and confidence - 'I knocked a guy out!' echoing in her head - taking over her demeanor as she followed Remy and Rogue into the stairwell, Jubilee traipsing after her. Piotr remained behind with Kitty as she phased the legs of the new additions into the floor in what was eerily beginning to resemble some odd piece of modern art. Colossus kept a watchful eye lest any of the guards woke up and decided to make trouble.
"Creepy stairwell much?" Jubilee shivered as they trudged down the admittedly not well-lit staircase. "It looks like Freddy Krueger carried his victims down here."
"It fits in with the whole insane evil cult theme they have going on." Rogue tapped on the thin line of track lighting running along the wall with a gloved finger. An identical line of lighting ran on the opposite wall providing for a very horror movie-esque, 'walk in here and be killed' atmosphere.
"I'm sure dey paid dere interior designer extra fo' dat 'Nightmare on Elm Street' feel." Gambit quipped.
The three girls chuckled as they reached the bottom of the staircase. "Ah think the man screamin' like a five year old girl ruined the mood though."
"I thought screaming like a little girl was a staple of the horror genre." Myth piped up as Gambit swiped the key through the lock.
"Yeah, for the victims." Jubilee pointed out as the little light on the door flashed green and Gambit opened it.
"Villains not so much." Rogue agreed as Gambit ushered them in.
Myth paused, sniffing. A scent that would be out of place in any normal office building hit her nose. "Someone's lost some blood." She hurried forward, following the slightly metallic smell towards the cell at the end of the hall.
Gambit strode forward and quickly ran the key through the lock, wasting no time in flinging the door open. "Mon Dieu!" He exclaimed at the sight before them.
There was a man cruelly strapped to what appeared to be a modified upright hospital gurney. His clothes were torn in places and stained with dirt and the odd patch of dried blood. The man's skin was a pine green color, covered in grime and caked in spots with crusty patches of red.
It was his face, however, that caused Cheyenne to inhale sharply and move forward to his aid. Black hair fell to his shoulders in a matted, greasy unwashed mess and it was easily visible to see the parts of his face that had once held piercings. The Friends of Humanity, it seemed, had felt the need to forcibly remove his body art. His left eyebrow and right nostril were surrounded in dry pools of blood that had dripped unchecked down his face, leaving gruesome trails of dark crimson. Topping off the atrocities the Friends of Humanity had perpetrated was a thick muzzle over the lower half of his face, connected to sturdy cords driven into the gurney with nails. Golden irises on black sclera were watching her intently, despite the obvious war he was waging to keep his eyes open.
"Don't worry." Cheyenne said soothingly, making eye contact as she stood before him. "We're here to help. I'm going to get you down."
"Toad!" Jubilee's exclamation brought the captive's eyes, which had fallen to half-lidded, fully open.
"You know him?" Myth inquired, shifting her attention from the man's bewitching optics to the individual straps binding his wrists and upper arms. 'I think it'll cause him less pain if I just cut them off.' The straps looked painfully tight and had dug into his skin, evidenced by the redness of irritation on his uniquely colored skin around the edges of the straps. 'First I'll get that stupid thing off his face though.'
"He works for Magneto." Rogue explained. They had filled Cheyenne on Erik Lensherr's goals and life views several days ago - namely that he was the polar opposite the Friends of Humanity, believing mutants to be a superior race - after Bobby had made a comment about 'Bucket head' that had earned him a confused look from the bewildered Texan. Magneto was currently languishing in a specially built plastic containment cell, but none of the X-Men had much faith that he would remain there permanently.
"Dat explains why dey have him so tied up." Gambit mused. "Dey probably thought dey'd struck it rich with him."
"Probably." Rogue agreed. "You okay getting him down on your own Myth?"
"I'm going to need Colossus' help. He's not going to be able to walk out of here."
"On it!" Jubilee hustled down the hallway.
"Meanwhile we'll get de others out." Gambit moved off quickly to the other cells, concerned about the condition of the other prisoners.
"Holler if you need any help."
"Will do." Myth affirmed. She looked back to the eyes watching her from lowered lids. "Okay," she said, feeling it best to keep him informed as he seemed to be fighting to stay alert, "I'm going to cut off the muzzle first." She raised an elbow to show him what she would be cutting with. Rather than try to work from the ground, Cheyenne opted to flap her wings so that she was hovering at an operable position for her short height and then jab the point of her talon through the upper right cable.
The cable snapped like dental floss and the muzzle leaned forwards from where it had been pressed against skin. Toad groaned in pain.
"Sorry!" Myth apologized hastily. She gently placed her left hand around the muzzle as best she could to prevent further jostling, and stabbed through the remaining right cord with her elbow. This accomplished she carefully pulled the device free of his face to hang useless next to his head. She hissed in sympathy as she took in the left side of his lower lip, which was bloody and swollen.
Her noise of empathy was echoed by a deeper voice from the hallway. Glancing over her shoulder, she was relieved to see Piotr. "Shall I hold him while you cut his arms and legs free?'
"Yes, please." She landed and the muscular Russian moved forward to stand in front of the gurney. 'This'll be a lot easier if I don't have to support his weight and cut him free at the same time.'
The band around his left wrist was the first point of attack; she sliced through the material carefully on one side and peeled it back gently off his chafed skin. Reaching up on her tiptoes she repeated the process on his left bicep, biting her lip as a soft noise of pain made its way around his abused lower lip.
Piotr placed Toad's freed arm around his neck and looped his own arm underneath the other man's arm pit. Kneeling Cheyenne made quick work of the bands securing his left leg in place. As she carefully peeled back the band securing his ankle in place, however, some slight movement drew her attention to his foot.
'Three webbed toes.' She noted, a little distracted by the sight of a foot without the standard five toes to immediately notice what had caught her attention. Then she winced, craning her neck around Colossus' legs to get a look at Toad's other foot and verify that what she was seeing wasn't normal. His left toe was bent at an unnatural angle form the other long digits. "Be careful with his left foot when you move him - looks like his toe is broken." Myth cautioned as she moved to the left side of the gurney.
"Da." Piotr replied.
"How are yo' two doing in here?" Gambit asked from the doorway.
"Almost done." Myth remarked absently, her concentration on slicing through the band on Toad's right wrist.
"He is in pretty bad shape." Colossus addressed the Cajun. "How are the others?"
"Hungry and thirsty, but nothing more serious dan a couple o' cuts and bruises. Shadowcat and Rogue are taking dem up to the jet." Myth finished removing the band around Toad's wrist and reached up to push her elbow through the band circling the bicep of his right arm. "Jubilee's getting everything set up for the fire-"
"Oh!" Cheyenne gasped at the sight of crimson.
"What is it?" Piotr asked in concern as he edged his left arm underneath Toad's right arm.
"Yo' alright Puff?"
"I thought I'd cut him." Myth explained, relieved to see that the crimson was etched into his skin and edged in black. "It's just a tattoo." She removed the band from his skin, denying her curiosity to see what exactly he had a tattoo of.
"All set!" Jubilee's voice came over Gambit's communicator.
Gambit fished his communicator out of a pocket. "I'm headed yo' way."
"Done!" Myth announced, peeling back the last remaining band from Toad's leg and rising. Piotr hoisted the injured green man up and arranged him Lois Lane-style in his arms, careful of his injured foot. Gambit motioned them out the door.
"Rogue," Gambit spoke into his communicator as the three X-Men walked down the short cell block, "would yo' be an angel and send me an all clear when Myth and Colossus get on de jet?" He held the door open for the others to pass through.
The reply was prompt from the other end as the quartet ascended what Jubilee had privately dubbed 'The Freddy Krueger Staircase of Doom'. "Guess Ah'm an angel then."
"Dere was never any doubt about it chere." Gambit sent back smoothly, smiling as he tucked his communicator back into its designated pocket in his trench coat.
Myth skipped up the last few steps to open the door, pushing it open as far as its hinges would allow so that Colossus would have plenty of room to maneuver. As it was, Piotr edged through the door at an angle to avoid knocking his passenger's feet. Gambit followed close behind him.
"I'm off to make t'ings go boom. See y'all in a bit!"
Colossus nodded. "Be careful."
"Okay, bye." Myth replied distractedly, her focus on the man in Piotr's arms. 'The seats don't recline that much that he'd be able to sleep comfortably,' she rationalized, hurrying forward to be in the front so that she could open doors for the Russian and his burden as Gambit headed off to meet Jubilee, 'plus I'm sure he's had enough of being on his back.' They made their way up to the second floor, Colossus moving fast as he could without unduly jostling Toad.
'I can sit next to him and we can lay him on his right side - that way I can hold onto him to make sure he doesn't roll off the seats and he can use my lap as a pillow.' Cheyenne planned. She held the door open to the second floor for Colossus, who moved through it with his cargo as he had the previous doorways. As they made their way toward the roof entrance, Myth reiterated her thoughts on Toad's travel arrangements to Colossus.
"That is a good idea." Piotr remarked as Cheyenne held the door to the hallway giving on to the stairs to the roof for him. "We will need to get him to at least drink a little as well. If the others were hungry and thirsty then he most likely is as well."
"Right." Myth agreed as they made their way past the destroyed security cameras. "And I can at least clean out the cuts on his face until we can get him to Hank."
"I think we have a few ice packs in the first aid kit. We can strap one to his foot."
"Good idea!" Cheyenne held the door open to the last stairwell. "That's probably all we can give him for the pain." Golden eyes gazed hazily at her through half-open lids as Colossus edged past her. "I don't think it's a good idea to give him pain meds; it looks like they drugged him."
"We do not want any bad reactions." Piotr concurred. "I would not put it past the F.o.H to use illegal drugs either."
Cheyenne hurried up the narrow stairwell, feeling a simultaneous urge to tend to the wounded man and go bang a few cultist heads then leave them tied to a gurney. 'And I would tie them upside down.' She thought violently as she watched Toad's eyelids fall shut only to snap back open from the top of the stairs as Piotr moved towards her. 'Hopefully he'll quit fighting to stay awake on the ride back. The rest would do him good.' She turned and pushed open the roof access door, tilting her head at the odd sight of the lowered ramp on the still stealthed jet. There was empty air then there was Kitty standing at the top of the ramp, illuminated by the well-lit interior of the jet, waving at them.
"You're good to go, sugah." Rogue notified Gambit via her communicator from her seat in the copilot's chair.
"I'll get the first aid kit." Kitty went off to fetch the box she'd left on a nearby seat after tending to the cuts of the other former prisoners.
Myth sat down in the window seat of the last row, folding up the armrest between the two seats and arranging her wings so that only her right wing was tucked around her. Her left wing she allowed to stretch out against the backs of the seats. 'I can use it to help keep him from rolling and he can use it as a blanket.' She thought as Piotr carefully lowered Toad down on his right side, resting his head in Myth's lap. It was a tight fit, but, with how curled up he was, Piotr managed to lay Toad out in relative comfort.
Cheyenne wrapped her left wing around the green man, cradling his head in her arms. Brushing back the tangled black mass of hair gently out of his face in an effort to make him more comfortable, she caught sight of his ears and winced. "They really worked you over good, didn't they?" She whispered, tracing her fingers in the air above the places in his ear that had once held piercing.
Toad gave a sleepy grunt of agreement, reminding Cheyenne of Angela after she'd had her wisdom teeth out and strengthening her belief that the Friends of Humanity had drugged him in some way.
"Here's some water." Piotr handed over a bottle of water from the ice chest.
"And I've got the first aid kit." Kitty announced. "Pete said he had a broken toe. Which - Never mind," she canceled her question as she got a look at his foot and the toe leaning at an obviously wrong angle. "Let's get an ice pack on that."
"Toad," Myth said, unscrewing the cap off the bottle of water, "You need to drink some water then you can go to sleep, okay?"
The green man's eyelids, which had been drooping, opened once more as Myth gingerly lifted his head and held the bottle to the less abused side of his mouth. She tilted the bottle up a little and Toad parted his lips to lap greedily as the water. After a few moments full of slurping, Cheyenne removed the bottle to give him time to breathe. 'Don't want to overdo it. Too much water will make him sick.'
Her timing proved to be very fortunate for at that moment Kitty sandwiched two ice packs around Toad's foot.
"Bloody 'ell!" Toad groaned, voice hoarse as he jolted at the contact to his injured digit.
Cheyenne and Kitty both startled at the unexpected voice. 'He's British.' Cheyenne thought dumbly as she very nearly spilled water all over herself and Toad.
"There we go." Kitty said, tying a bandage around the two ice packs to hold them in place. "Scared me half to death."
"Me too." Myth agreed as Toad sank back into her lap.
" 'Urts…" He muttered sleepily, eyelids closing.
"Shh…" Myth soothed, rubbing a hand against his cheek. "Go to sleep."
"Time to go." Piotr called from the ramp, where he'd been keeping watch.
Kitty quickly jumped in the seat across the aisle, buckling up. "Everybody buckle up!"
Colossus slid into the seat next to Kitty as Gambit bounded up the ramp and into the jet, closely followed by Jubilee. Rogue, who had the jet prepped for take-off, flicked the switch to raise the ramp. Gambit took his place in the pilot's chair and they were in the air in moments.
"Call it in, if yo' would, chere." Gambit requested.
"On it." Rogue stated, picking up a phone Kitty had rigged to come across as a local pay-phone to any tracing programs. "Hello?" Her voice was panicky and breathless. "There's a fire at the Friends of Humanity building on fifth and Maple!"