Chapter 7: "Crimson Knight Captured"
The next night Wade is called to the Headmaster's office to talk to Scott about the Nimrod incident that occurred last night. While he is not overly concern about talking to Scott, he knows that it is about time for him to leave the X-Men and get back to being a hero at large. He has spent far too much time here as is, but he wanted to make sure he helped what's left of the mutant community when they needed it the most. He enters the room to see Emma, Logan and Scott all in the room.
"Hey kid, good work by the way," Logan says with a smirk and pats Wade on the shoulder and walks out of the room.
"Hey Scott, Emma, you wanted to talk to me?" Wade says as he sits down.
"Hello Wade and yes, we'd like to thank you for all the help and support you have provided. You have shown yourself a valuable ally to the X-Men and all of Mutant kind. We have discussed it at length and we'd like to offer you a permeant place here if you are willing," Scott tells Wade with a smile.
"You would be on staff as a consultant and teaching business and finances," Emma adds.
"As much as I would like to Scott I can't. I wouldn't be staying for the right reasons if I stayed. Both Beth and Laura are here. I would be staying for them, but you or they don't need me here every day, but when you do need me, and you will, call me and I'm come to help," Wade tells Scott and Emma and places a phone on the desk. "Speaking of Laura, thank you letting her stay Scott. She needs a place like this that can help her find herself."
"Logan vouched for her and agrees with you and she is a mutant, so no need to thank me. I am sorry to hear you won't be staying, but I understand. Thank you again and if you need the X-Men you know where to find us," Scott tells him extending his hand, which Wade accepts and shakes his hand. "When will you be leaving?"
"Tonight, I have a few good-byes I want to say before I go," Wade tells him.
"Okay then, take as much time as you need," Scott tells him.
After that Wade stands up and leaves the room. As he walks past the common room he sees Beth talking with Julian while they watch T.V. and he just watches them interact for a while until she notices him.
"Wade, you know it's creeping when you ninja up on me like that. What's up?" Beth asks him.
"Got a second?" Wade asks her motions for her to come into the hall.
"Umm sure," Beth says and jumps over the couch to meet him.
"I'm leaving tonight. I just wanted you to know that I am glad you found your place here. Please stay safe, I know it seems like things can't get worse, but they can and likely will, so be ready for it. Mutants still have a lot of enemies out there," Wade tells her. "Stay calm and focused and I doubt anyone will be able to match you."
"Alright, you be careful too. You are way too reckless," Beth says and hugs him. "But before you go, how is your arm? Your face seems to have healed up nicely." She asks as she finishes the hug.
"It's back to one hundred percent. Don't worry about me I'll stay safe," Wade answers with a smile before walking away.
Elsewhere outside of the X-Mansion, Laura is sitting on the ground looking off into the night sky with Mercury next to her.
"I did not mean to hurt you," Laura says out of the blue.
"What? Oh when we were fighting Nimrod. It's okay I was wanting to lose a few pounds anyway, so don't worry about it. Besides you probably saved my life. Electricity and me don't get along very well," Mercury says with a giggle.
Wade walks up to the two ladies. "Hey Cessily can I borrow Laura for a bit?"
"Oh sure, I'll talk to you later Laura," Mercury says and walks away.
"Can I sit?" Wade asks Laura.
"Yes," Laura answers and Wade sits down.
"Thank you. Laura if you let them they can help you find out how important your life is. There are good people here and in the X-Men. You can control your life here and make friends, people that care for you," Wade tells her.
"I understand, but I am not sure I will be able to do that," Laura tells him.
"I want to give you something I made while I was training." Wade says and takes off his necklace with a crest of a red dragon attached to it and shows it to Laura.
"Why are you giving me this?" Laura asks him blankly.
"When I made it, my master told me that it would help guide me throughout my life. I think you need it more than I do," Wade tells her and puts it around her neck.
"Thank you, I will look after it," Laura tells him. "How is your arm? I am not very good at treating injuries."
"It's okay I don't have precise control yet. I think the nerves are still healing. Six months ago it would've taken a week to heal, so all things considered," Wade tells her.
"Why are you so interested in me? The girl from the other world wasn't me," Laura bluntly tells him.
"Yeah, you're right, she wasn't you. Laura I can't explain it. I've tried to break it down in my head, but the answer is I just do. That's the real reason I got you out of the way of Nimrod's blast. I just moved without thinking Laura," Wade tells her. "I just want you in my life and I can't explain it."
"I still don't quite understand, but thank you regardless," Laura tells him and leans into his shoulder. Wade puts his hand under her chin and raises her head gently and leans in and kisses her.
"Ahhh aint that sweet!" a burly voice cackles from behind them causing Wade to pull away from Laura quickly.
"Logan!?" Wade yells in surprise.
"Relax kid, I wanted to see how you'd react," Logan says with a smirk. "Judging by your reaction I'd say you have next to no experience with girls do ya?"
Wade bushes a bit and turns away. "None at all, before now."
"Kid, that's not normally somethin' someone your age admits," Logan says with a chuckle.
"Anyway, Laura I'm leaving for now, but I'd like to come by and see you whenever I get the chance. I'd like to take you out to, but you don't seem like the dinner and a movie type of girl," Wade rumbles on.
"Sure, I think I would like that," Laura tells him. "And we could always spar; we can actually fight for real now."
Laura and Wade exchange numbers and for the first time, in a long time, Wade is happy. As he leaves he gives one last glance to Laura in the moonlight before he vanishes.
*Two Months Later*
Over the last two months Wade has been visiting Beth and Laura at the Xavier Institute, and his relationship with both has never been stronger. Cassandra, his sister, and he have bought a mansion in Rockland County New York that they now call home and it acts as the base of operations for Crimson Knight with Cassandra providing technical support. As for Wade and Laura's relationship status, it has evolved into spending time outside of the Xavier Institute together and dinner, but because of Laura's overall inability to create or act on emotional attachment and Wade's naivety has stalled the relationship from progressing further although, Laura has become extremely protective of Wade.
Wade and Laura are walking down the sidewalk in New York exchanging small talk with each other. "You know we are being followed right?" Laura asks Wade.
"They've been following us for a while. They aren't too bad at it to be honest, I only spotted them about fifteen minutes ago or so," Wade tells Laura. "But I bet you've known about them from the start with your nose."
"Yes, they have been following us since we left that card shop you wanted to stop at," Laura tells him.
"Is that so? You hungry?" Wade asks her.
"Yes, I could eat," Laura tells him.
"There is a place not far from here. I think they'll have food spicy enough for you," Wade tells her with a smile.
The two enter a small restaurant and get a table by the front window. It's nothing fancy, just a regular small dinner. Wade orders a burger and Laura gets a burger as well but also asks for peppers and hot sauce as well.
"This place isn't very fancy, but the food is good and the owner loves spicy food," Wade tells her.
"Do you eat here ofte…" Laura starts but notices a glimmer on the roof of a building across the street. "DOWN!" She yells and forces Wade to the ground as an explosion encompasses the dinner and knocks Wade and Laura apart from each other.
A few vans speed up to the dinner and several armed men with assault rifles jump out of them as another explosion goes off close by. The men cautiously approach Wade and Laura who are lying on the ground amidst the rubble of the dinner. One of the men hits Wade in the head with stock of his rifle to make sure he is out. Right as the stock makes contact with Wade, Laura jumps up and pops her claws and kills the man only to get hit with a crossbow bolt, then another and another.
"Hey X! Long time no see," a large woman holding a hand crossbow says grinning madly and she fires another crossbow bolt into Laura's neck.
"Ki..mu..ra…" Laura is barely able to say.
"Load the boy into the van. Don't forget the neural disruptor and shackles," Kimura barks to the soldiers. "Alpha target secure. Did you get Beta target? Good." She says into a headset and follows the soldiers into the vans and they speed off.
Laura is unable to move for a little while until her healing factor burns through the tranquilizers the bolts where laced with and she starts pulling them out when she notices Cassandra and Beth running up to her.
"Laura! Are you okay? Where is Wade?" Cassandra screams frantically.
"Some people took Cessily!" Beth tells her.
"They looked a lot like the guys that attacked us in Atlanta a few years ago!" Cassandra adds.
"They took Wade. It was the facility," Laura manages to say even though her throat hasn't fully healed yet.
"What do we do?" Cassandra asks.
"We go after them obviously," Beth answers.
"No, I will get them back. Both of you go home now," Laura tells them both.
"Laura, this is my brother we are talking about here! I haven't known Cessily for long but I want to help her too if I can!" Cassandra objects.
"Cassandra, you aren't suited to fighting. If you went you would die. I will get both of them back I promise," Laura tells her.
"Well I am going and that's not negotiable. I have powers and training," Beth interjects. "Don't worry Cassie, Laura and I have this."
"Fine," Laura says with a grunt. "Let's go, I know where we should start."
"Please be careful, I wish I could help," Cassandra tells them.
**A few hours later**
Laura has led Beth to an abandoned looking apartment building. "This is a cover for an information broker operating out of New York. He will likely have information on the abduction." Laura explains. "Stay quiet and follow me." Laura explains and starts walking through the building and heads upstairs. She gets half way to the second floor before she stops. *Sniff sniff*
"What is it Laura?" Beth asks.
"I smell gunsmoke and blood," Laura tells her and hurries up the stairs and quietly rushes over to a door.
Beth follows her quietly and takes a position behind her. Laura slowly pushes the door open enough to see inside. See sees a man lying on the ground surrounded by blood. She hears someone talking quietly. It sounds like someone is being questioned. Laura slowly enters the room and sees a man in a black jumpsuit with a gun holding another man by the collar. The man in the jumpsuit quickly turns to Laura and points his gun at her. Laura sees this and charges the man popping her claws.
"WAIT!" Beth yells and grabs the man in the black jumpsuit and Laura with her telekinetic powers.
"Well this was unexpected," The man in the black jumpsuit says. "How have you been Beth?"
"What are you doing here Tim?" Beth asks.
"Trying to find my little brother, same as you, can we do this somewhere else and without, you know, being held in place by your powers?" Tim asks with a smile. "Also I know where they took them thanks to our friend here."
Beth lets go of Laura and Tim and Laura walks over to Tim with her claws still out. "Okay where are we going? Laura it's okay he is a friend."
"Let me call…" Tim start as Laura stabs the man Tim was integrating in the chest.
"Laura! What are you doing!?" Beth screams.
"He was no longer useful and would have warned whomever he just gave up. It was the best option to ensuring we are able to save Wade and Cessily," Laura coldly tells her.
"That is true, but there were other ways to keep him quiet. Killing is only something that should be done when absolutely necessary," Tim says as he holsters his gun and walks over to a coat in the corner of the room and puts it on. "Let's go I have a car across the street we can talk on the way."
Laura, Beth, and Tim all leave the building and go to a car parked across the street and leave the area in it. There is a long silence until Beth speaks up.
"Laura, I know you were trying to help, but you shouldn't have killed that man. You won't be killing a defenseless person again okay? If you have to kill an armed person I won't like it, but I'll understand that," Beth explains.
"You know Beth, Wade and your beliefs aren't always the best option. Wade is very naïve and it is rubbing off on you. He's going to end up biting off more than he can chew and his powers and abilities won't be enough to get him out of it and he'll have to make a choice that will haunt him forever," Tim explains to Beth.
"Wait how do…?" Beth starts to ask but is interrupted.
"I'm with S.H.I.E.L.D. and I've made it my business to keep an eye on the little monkey and firecracker," He answers her.
"Monkey and firecracker?" Laura asks.
"Wade is monkey and Cassie is firecracker. They needed nicknames when they were little," Tim tells her with a smile. "There isn't much in their lives I don't know about. I even see why Wade is infatuated with Laura over here. Strong, intelligent, loyal, and despite how hard you try you deeply care for people that get close to you. The very few you let get close that is."
Laura just stares at him with a disgruntled look on her face. "You don't know what you are talking about." She tells him.
"Sure don't, that's why you have his necklace around your neck," Tim says with a chuckle.
"Okay enough teasing Laura, where are we going?" Beth asks.
"There is a lab that the Facility is using upstate. We are about fifteen minutes out. We can enter the building from the roof. Beth you will need to levitate us up there. Once we get inside I'll cause a distraction and you two go find Wade and the other girl they kidnapped, Cessily, I believe," Tim explains to the girls.
"What about you?" Beth asks.
"Well after you save them, I'll be long gone, so don't wait up for me. Trust me I'll be fine, this is what I do for a living," Tim reassures Beth.
It takes about ten more minutes before they get to a spot where they have to stop the car and continue on foot. Tim goes to the trunk of the car and pulls out an assault rifle, a small duffle bag, and some combat gear. After putting on the gear they hide the car with some camouflage Tim had in the bag.
"Okay, everyone ready? Good let's go," Tim says and he starts leading the two girls to the lab, which takes them about twenty minutes to. All that separates them is a open space of about fifteen feet. Fortunately, no one is guarding the side all that is there are a few security cameras. "Okay I can knock out the cameras for about twentyish seconds before they send someone to fix it. Beth you think you can get us on the roof in that time?"
"That shouldn't be a problem, but what do we do from there?" Beth asks.
"If we get to the roof I can get us in easily," Laura answers her.
"Okay then, ready?" Tim asks them and when they shake their heads yes he presses a button on his watch. "Go!" He quietly commands and runs toward the building with the girls.
Once they get to the building Beth wastes no time in levitating them to the roof and softly puts them down. "Okay Laura you're up," Beth says.
Laura looks and heads over to vent and pulls the grating off. "Beth, you will need to use your powers to keep the ventilation shaft from buckling under our weight and we'll have to move quietly to avoid attention. I will find the best place for us to exit the vents," Laura explains quietly.
All three enter the vent and quietly follow Laura until she finds a safe place for them to exit the vents. They drop down in an empty hallway and check a nearby room. The room is empty so they all enter it.
"Okay girls, I doubt its going to take them long to find us. I am hoping I can cause enough of a distraction to pull most of the guards to me while you two find Wade and Cessily, however expect resistance as they will notice you before you are able to find them," Tim whispers to them.
"Alright what should we do?" Beth asks.
"Give me ten minutes then go and find them," Tim tells her and runs out of the room.
Five minutes go by and they hear a large explosion go off somewhere in the building. "He is luring them to the top floors. Wade and Cessily are much more likely to be on the lower levels. We should have an easier time getting to them now," Laura states.
"Right," Beth acknowledges.
They wait the remaining five minutes before leaving the room and Laura takes the lead as her heightened sense of smell will locate Wade and Cessily faster. They stop briefly from time to time, at turns and stairs, for Laura to get a sense of what direction their scent is coming from. Eventually, Laura stops altogether and gives Beth the sign to stop as well, which she does.
"What is it?" Beth whispers.
"Oil, gunpowder, and a lot of people are on the other side of this door. All ready to fire," Laura whispers quietly.
Beth looks around and sees a fire extinguisher. "I have an idea," she says with a smile and leads Laura away from the door and grabs the fire extinguisher with her telekinetic powers and throws it through the door. When it hits the door gun fire erupts and the fire extinguisher explodes creating a smoke screen and Laura takes the opportunity to charge in and attacks the armed guards and Beth follows tossing people into other people and pulling their weapons away from the guards as the smoke clears. Twenty guards lay either dead or unconscious.
"We need to hurry before the rest of the guards come back. They should be holding them close by," Laura tells Beth as she starts sniffing.
"Okay, which way?" Beth asks and Laura motions a direction and runs off in that direction with Beth following closely behind.
*Elsewhere in the Facility*
Wade is awoken from the sounds of screaming in pain to find his feet and both hands locked in high tech bindings with his body elevated above the ground. After looking around the room he sees Mercury in a tube across the room where she is being tortured with electricity. After counting the people in the room there are ten scientists and fifteen heavily armed guards. He tries to moved his hands and feet but quickly stops as he notices the movement and pressure sensors in the bindings. He can't even activate his powers and he notices a bandage on his left arm and thigh.
"What has happened here? Okay think of your next step Wade. Getting out of these binds should be fairly easy, but getting to Cessily and taking down the guards poses an issue. They clearly know I am Crimson Knight and have found some way to nullify my Soulforge. I can still feel the power inside, but can't seem to manifest outwardly. They have me elevated, which poses a slight issue, though less of one since my powers are locked up at the moment," Wade says to himself still looking around the room for more information.
"Very good you are awake now. To think that Crimson Knight was a rich, pampered child with too much free time on his hands. It was revelation when we discovered this," a woman in a labcoat mocks Wade as he looks down at her. "You have caused us so much trouble. Now that you are here we can study you in much more detail." She smirks. "What's the matter say something!"
"Sorry, but I tend to not waste my time," Wade tells her in a cocky tone.
"You are imprisoned. You have a lot of spare time as it stands now," she tells Wade.
"I don't see Laura here. Unless you killed, which I doubt, she will come and do exactly what you bastards taught her to do. You see I already know how this will pan out in the long run. I could escape from these binds and free Cessily as well. I would escape with a gunshot wound or two and a few broken bones. I have already planned it out in my head with seventy-two contingency strategies," Wade explains calmly to the woman.
"Then why don't you escape?" the woman asks.
"Because if I wait Cessily and I get out much better shape," Wade explains to her.
"Perhaps you are correct, but we already have the data we need from you and the mutant girl over there," the woman tells him.
"Then we'll just make sure there isn't anything left before we leave," Wade tells her with a smirk.
After a short silence the woman walks away from Wade and goes about her work. Wade, still thinking of a way out of the situation, looks throughout the room looking for anything he can use to his advantage. He notices that the people in the room are starting to act very nervously about something. He deduces that he was right and Laura is here and is causing trouble looking for them. Some of the guards line up in front of a large door with their weapons drawn. After a few moments the door is pushed into the room with a violent force. The guards start opening fire toward the doorway and Laura charges into the gunfire and starts attacking the guards and Wade also sees objects being thrown into the guards as well, seemingly from nowhere. Wade takes this chance to free himself from the bindings. As he moves his hands carefully to release himself from the binds he slips up and a small shock goes into his body. It only takes him about a minute to free both arms and legs and he uses the confusion to get over to Mercury's holding chamber. Wade finds a terminal on the chamber and starts trying to use it to open the chamber. By the time Laura and Beth get to Wade most of the Facility's people are either dead, unconscious, or have fled the room. It only takes Wade a few more moments to free Mercury.
As the tube opens, Mercury falls out of it and Wade catches her. She is in a semi-solid form when he catches her. "Cessily are you alright?" Wade asks her.
"We need to leave. Now." Laura exclaims.
"Let Cessily get her bearings first," Beth tells Laura.
Mercury slowly regains her senses and stands up. She looks at Laura, Wade, and Beth. "Oh I knew you would come to save me!" she cries.
"Can you walk?" Wade asks her. She nods and they both stand up. Wade glows red and his costume appears of him. "I don't know how useful I'll be. Whatever they did to me is making it difficult to use my powers."
"Don't worry we can handle this," Beth says energetically.
"I see that. Hopefully it'll be as easy to get out as it was to get…" Wade is unable to finish as three large creatures with liquid metal skin leap through a wall at them.
Beth grabs them with her powers and throws them across the room and through the far wall with terrifying power. "That was closer than I would have liked!" she loudly proclaims as she lifts the chamber that imprisoned Mercury moments ago with her powers and throws it at one of the creatures.
Wade and Laura charge the creatures. Wade tries to ready a nova, but is unable to channel enough magic into Olihandrew and instead slashes at the creature, cutting deeply into it. As it roars in pain one of the other creatures jumps at Wade only to be intercepted by Laura as she cuts into it with her claws. The creature that Wade attacked starts to lounge at him with its mouth only to have many pieces of metal, glass, and other materials fly into it at an insane speed killing it. Wade looks back at Mercury and Beth to see that it was Beth that threw the objects that killed the creature. Wade hates to admit it, but he may just have been saved twice. With his powers as they are now, he is little more than a human. He has fallen into relying on his powers to get him through these fights now. "Wait… there were three… Where is the last one?" he asks himself as he starts looking around and he finds a large hole in the floor of the next room. "It got away… I'm sure that'll come back to bite us later."
Mercury walks over to the dead creatures and some of the liquid metal skin from the creatures joins her body, after focusing a little she is able to reabsorb a little more of the liquid metal. "That's about all I can absorb back into my body I think," she states.
Laura stares at Wade. "How much power do you have left?" Laura asks.
"I am not sure, maybe enough for one mercy strike or one psionic slash, but that's it. I couldn't even use a nova Laura. I can feel the power, but I can't access it," Wade tells her. "So maybe one yellow or purple blade, but that's a maybe. I am pretty useless at the moment. Even my armor is just cosmetic at this point." He tells her. "How did you find us so quickly? Not that I am complaining mind you."
"I see. We had help from your brother actually," Laura explains.
"What? Tim helped you?" Wade asks.
"He is with SHIELD and he was already looking for you we met him," Beth explains.
"I never would have guessed that. I guess I need to get rid of all my blind spots to make sure nothing catches me by surprise," Wade tells them. "Let's trash this place and get out of here." Wade and the others go about destroying all the computers and research material in the room before exiting.
They decide to hurry through the facility to avoid any more trouble from the guards. With Mercury still recovery from her torture and Wade's power out of his reach avoiding combat was the best decision. They only run into minor resistance until they get to the surface where they are met by Kimura and several dozen guards.
"Hey X! Sorry but we can't just let you leave!" Kimura says with a evil smile.
"Not good. Her skin is invulnerable," Laura says griting her teeth.
"Just her skin?" Wade asks.
"Yes why?" Laura asks.
"Then you take the guards. I'll take the invulnerable chick. Trust me. If her insides are vulnerable then I am the best bet to beat her decisively," Wade says drawing Olihandrew and walks toward Kimura.
"Oh you think you can beat me? You can't even use your powers! How do you intend to beat me?" Kimura laughs.
"Well I have one shot and that should be more than enough," Wade calmly tells her.
As Laura and Beth attack the guards Wade runs at Kimura and slashes at her. Kimura just blocks the sword with her forearm and the blade does nothing to her. "Damn looks like even a magic blade can cut her," Wade says to himself. Seeing the blade did nothing he kicks her in the stomach as hard as he can, while it doesn't hurt her it does knock her back a bit. "So at least I can still kick her around, but a mercy strike won't be enough to take her out, at least not just one. Guess I'll have to use a psionic slash then." Wade tells himself.
Kimura pulls out an electric baton and swings it at Wade to which he parries it with Olihandrew and throws a left punch into Kimura's face sending her staggering backwards a few steps. Wade follows up with a spin kick to her neck and then a right straight to her neck with the hilt of Olihandrew. Kimura is pushed back a few steps, but no damage is done through the physical attacks.
"What? I thought you said you could beat me?" Kimura mocks him.
"Yeah I can, but honestly I did think I could you much easier," Wade tells her with a smirk. Wade sheaths Olihandrew and gets into a stance. "This is going to hurt a lot Kimura."
"Oh really? Then hurt me!" Kimura mockingly screams as she swings at Wade. Just before the punch connects with Wade, he steps forward and pulls his sword from the sheath in the form of a slash right into Kimura. When Olihandrew is pulled out of the sheath the blade is purple and when it makes contact with Kimura it goes right through her body. Wade then spins past Kimura striking her with the blade two more times before the blade goes back to normal and stops when it makes contact with her invulnerable skin.
"Damn I was hoping to have enough time to hit her at least four more times," Wade says to himself as Kimura hits the ground.
Laura and Beth make short work of the guards while Wade fought with Kimura. "Wade what was THAT!?" Beth asks.
"Battojutsu combined with my psionic blade. The blade becomes ethereal and doesn't make physical contact with an opponent," Wade tells them. "When I cut someone with my psionic blade it attacks them on a psychic level. We need to leave now." Wade sheaths his sword and they all leave the facility with no more incidents.
Wade, Beth, Mercury, and Laura all walk through the woods to get back to the car they took to get there. Once they arrive at the car they see Tim waiting for them.
"Hey kids, what took you so long? Ready to go?" Tim asks the group.
"Hey bub, so S.H.I.E.L.D. huh? It makes sense why you were gone so much," Wade says with a smile. "Let's go." All five of them squeeze into the car and they leave the area.
Tim had called in a S.H.I.E.L.D. retrieval unit to go into the Facility to arrest the Facility members and collect any data remaining. By the time they arrived Kimura was gone as were several other scientists.