Chapter 8: Acid
There were fifteen of us in the front of the re-rigged commercial plane; Ice man, Wolverine, Gambit, Jubilee, Storm, me. Shadowcat, Colossus, Havok, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Angel, Deadpool, and Domino. Fifteen of us against who knew how many heavily armed guards.
"Everyone knows what they're supposed to do?"
We all nodded.
"Stryker's mine." Remy, Logan, and Wade said at the exact same time.
"We'll decide that when it's time." Cyclops ordered.
The plane stopped just out of sight of the base. Hank stayed on to keep it in the air while the rest of us slid down on nylon ropes. The fourteen of us snuck up over the ridge and flattened ourselves to the ground. I checked the anklet Beast had given me.
Nightcrawler disappeared in a puff of blue smoke. A moment later, we saw a guard fall. The others started shouting and running around, carefully staying on the path. Blue flashed again and shots went off.
"Shadowcat, now."
She got up and sprinted down the hill, phasing underneath the fence. The ground shifted as the first few land mines went off.
"Remy, take care of the fence."
Remy charged a card then hurled it at the electrified fence. The card exploded, blowing an enormous hole in the links. At the same time, the last of the land mines went off, throwing the guards into the air.
Shadowcat pushed the doors open. We charged. Guns went off on either side. Emma turned to her diamond form.
We ran into the base with the soldiers right behind us.
"Deadpool."
"On it." He launched himself at the soldiers.
Logan unsheathed his claws and took off down the sterile, white corridor. When he got to the first door he slashed through the lock. Sirens started wailing. The sound of opening doors echoed down the hall.
"Quick, inside."
We ducked through the now open door. Cages lined the walls. Each one held a mutant wearing an iron cuff. Gambit set a hand on a door. Magenta energy flowed down the line of cages.
"Ai'd stand back if Ai were you."
The doors blew off their hinges and clattered to the ground.
"Who here can fight?" Storm yelled. "It doesn't matter if it's fancy. Who here has a power they can use to fight and isn't badly hurt?"
A few stepped forward.
"Wolverine, get the cuffs off them first. Gambit, get the others." Cyclops ordered.
Many of the mutants changed visibly when the cuffs fell off, sprouting spines, talons, or sharp teeth.
One with flat white eyes spoke up. "The powerful ones, the fighters, are in the next block. I can take you to them."
"What's your name?" Storm asked.
"Norn, I can see energy." She responded.
"Warn us if guards get too close."
"It's through here." She said, pointing to a door at the end of the hall.
Cyclops pushed it open, one hand on his visor. The cages in this corridor were different; larger and make from think, foggy glass. Each one had a separate key pad set into the door.
Gambit charged the lock and the door swung open.
"John." Shadowcat gasped.
He looked sick and the patches of skin that weren't covered in bruised or bandages were ashy.
"Get me out of here and get this cuff the hell off me." He growled.
Remy set one hand on the cuff and it shattered then pressed a lighter into his hand. "Ai brought dis for ya."
John grinned and flicked it open.
Norn gasped. "Guards are right around the corner, lots of them. We have to hurry."
Pyro got up. "I'll take care of them."
The guards came barreling around the corner and collided with a wall of bright red flames.
"Shadowcat, Wolverine, stay here and get the rest out. We'll start on the other blocks."
The corridor went in three directions at the end of the row of cages.
"Split up."
Gambit, Jubilee, and I ran down one of the branches. There were no cages here. Just metal and glass doors spaced far apart. The hall reeked of bleach and blood and other fluids that were meant to stay inside a person's body.
Jubilee shot a firecracker into the control panel on one of the doors and it swung open. I doubled over, dry heaving.
This had to be the morgue. The bodies hadn't been covered. Almost all of them had been dissected. Bloody scalpels, probably discarded when the alarm went off, lay next to some of the bodies. Then one of the bodies moved.
"Oh God and Goddess…" I gasped.
The man turned his head toward us, white hair falling in his eye. He had cuts all down his body. Two spikes jutted from his chest.
"Why isn't he dead? He should be dead? Why… who could… oh God… he… no, no, no…" Jubilee slid down the wall, curling in on herself.
I forced myself to walk over to him. My mouth tasted like bile, and my head was swimming. Something caught on my foot and I tripped, putting my hand down on a table to steady myself. When I steadied myself, my palm was covered in blood.
"Janos? Riptide? Can you hear me?"
He swallowed and nodded ever so slightly. "K… Ki… kill me."
I reached over and pulled one of the spikes out of his chest. "Is there anyone you want to say goodbye to?"
"A… Azazel? And Emma."
"Alright. You'll see Azazel soon." I raised the spike and drove it deep into his heart.
Remy looped an arm around my shoulders, leading me into the hall.
Jubilee opened the next door, still shaking. It was an office, paneled in dark wood with a ornately carved desk. A white cross hung on the back wall.
"Make one move and he dies."
I froze. "Rebecca."
"That's right, turn around slowly and hold your hands up where I can see them." She instructed.
Rebecca was standing behind Remy with a wooden dark pressed hard against the back of his neck. Blood trickled down his skin.
Something in my mind clicked. Janos's blood, John's, Norn's, Remy's. She was responsible for all of it.
"Ashes to ashes." I muttered. "Dust to dust."
She frowned. "What are you talking about?"
I smiled. "The earth wants you back, Rebecca Stryker."
Wood snapped and strained, sprouting thick, thorny vines. They wound tight around her arms and legs. Blood stained her white lab coat. The vines slammed her into the wall and continued to grow, winding around her neck and waist.
"Hope the vines kill you before the others do. The earth is kinder."
I walked out of the study.