Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men or anything from Marvel. What a shame. Especially now. SO much money, man... just so much of it. I could literally throw money at all of my problems for the rest of my days. Not, like, pay for anything that comes up, but if I accidentally rear-ended someone's car, and they got out and started yelling at me, I could just reach into the glove compartment for a stack and throw it out the window at their face.
Problem solved. What are they going to do, not take it? I'm literally paying for their repairs and a little extra... albeit in the most condescending, jackass way possible.
Huh. Man... I'm a dick.
Chapter 4: First Contact
So first the Friends of Humanity, then the Reavers. I was just making all kinds of nifty new friends since becoming a mutant.
Honestly, I would have much rather dealt with the first than the second. Both would kill you, but I came to find out that one was much nastier about it than the other.
I don't remember how long they had me for. Aside from not knowing how long I had been out of it to begin with, being in pain for most of the time sort of affected my ability to accurately notice the passing of time. The sadistic fucks didn't even bother to sedate me.
I felt weak. Weaker than I should have, even with the constant lights shining on me. It wasn't a great experience.
Every so often, the guy in charge would come and just look at me. There was always a combination of satisfaction and disdain on his face whenever he did.
One time he got close to me to reach out and grab my chin, trying to turn my head and look at my eyes or something. He got bit for that, which wasn't a smart thing for me to do for more than one reason. It felt like trying to bite a roll of quarters.
He immediately punched me.
I didn't expect someone dressed as well as him to hit that hard, even with me stuck to a vertical table. I could feel my cheek swell up immediately over my left eye.
Pierce flexed the fingers of his metal hand directly in my line of sight, making sure I knew what I was looking at, "If that's all the fight you have left in the next generation of mutants, you and your fellow abominations you call peers will be the last."
"Screw you. Calling me a freak," I gasped, feeling my own blood run down my face, "You're the one with metal arms like Jax from Mortal Kombat."
"Not just metal arms, boy," Pierce said pacing in front of me and gesturing to his surroundings, "You see, this is the true next stage of human development. Using technology to improve on the imperfections and weaknesses that nature cursed us with, instead of relying on the blight on the human genome that is mutantkind."
It was hard to get used to the idea of someone hating everything about you without ever interacting with you. If you weren't taught to expect it from a very young age, it was an adjustment period that took some time to stop being startled by.
Five weeks wasn't enough time to get accustomed to that sort of thing, especially when you had been isolated at a school full of other mutants for that entire stretch of time – away from the sorts of people who wished the worst for you.
"The truth behind the events at Genosha opened my eyes to something," Pierce continued to say. The man certainly liked to talk, "You mutants are the best possible weapon that can be used against yourselves, or at least there are facets of you all that can be used to the advantage of mankind."
"Is that why I'm here?" I spat blood on his nice, clean looking shoes. After all, what was he going to do at this point? Beat me? Torture me? It was kind of late for that, "You're looking for something that you can use as a weapon?"
"I've already found it," He said, giving me that look that promised nothing but pain in my near future, "I already know how I'm going to use it."
I was the 'it'. Somehow, someway, there was something about me in particular that he was interested in. Something that I could do for him. Lucky me.
"How much do you know about me?" I asked, shifting against my bonds. I let out a cry of pain at the wires connected to my nerves jostling and causing me further harm, "How did you even get that much information?"
Seriously. Even if he had been keeping tabs on the school somehow, as far as students went, I was brand new. My own classmates didn't even remember my name most of the time and had to be refreshed on my powers every so often.
Besides, I was still finding out how all of my stuff worked. While it was unlikely, the thought that this guy knew more about me than I did, or that he would, was extremely irksome.
He walked over to a monitor, presumably hooked up to me that was telling him… something. I don't know, "Your body has managed to do something that decades of science has barely been able to do," He said bitterly, "To your system, light is an effective, renewable resource. Cheap. Clean. Did you know that you don't even need to eat to survive?"
No, I didn't. Now that he mentioned it though, it didn't seem to matter how long it had been since my last meal. I never felt anything worse than particularly peckish. Even then. And I had no idea how long I'd been there for.
"Your power reminds me a lot of someone else's," The metal-armed prick patted my bloody face condescendingly, "Another one of you mutants that I'm going to kill... once the time comes, of course."
I wanted to say not to get too far ahead of himself, but then again, given the situation, I really didn't have a lot of room to say much of anything other than, 'Please, don't.'
"We're going to figure out what makes you so unique, and use it to enhance our cyborg designs in the future," Pierce said, "For all the advancement science has seen in solar energy for uses in various circumstances, we're still having trouble adjusting that to the field of human cybernetics. You are the key."
I could only think of one way my mutation could actually upgrade his designs to the point that it would be worthwhile, but it was insane to think about, "You want to use me as a battery?"
Pierce palmed me in the forehead hard enough to leave me seeing stars, just to make sure I was looking at him and knew what awaited me, "No, I want to use you as a blueprint for a battery. One that can work inside of the human body and adequately power the augmented limbs and implants of my future force of Reavers."
Great. Whatever they were going to do to figure out how to duplicate the part of my physiology that processed light with technology was only the first part. From there, once they were sure what they were looking at, they wouldn't need me in one piece anymore.
They would chop me up like a frog being dissected in biology class. It was the only way they could really see what they had to work with.
No wonder Pierce looked so pleased the entire time. I couldn't possibly make him angry. Anything I did and anything he would threaten me with in return would never be as bad as what he'd already had planned for me in the first place.
"So just lay back and relax," He said smoothly, "I hope you're comfortable. Your accommodations are more tailored to you personally than what we've set aside for your friend, but then again, hers are more temporary. As soon as we have the time-."
"What are you talking about?" I snapped at him. I hadn't been alone when I'd gotten jumped. I'd been taking Ruth back to the cafe and I never saw it coming when it happened. Of course it would have been too much to ask that she'd have managed to get away even if I was all they'd been after, "What are you going to do?"
"As far as mutants go, you two are close enough to humans that we can test things on you for ourselves."
He left the rest up to my imagination and walked away, leaving me to the 'tender' mercies of his technicians. But they were far too busy running data that they'd taken from me to care one way or another about my well-being, even if my face was still leaking red down onto my chest.
The longer I sat up there, looking around and waiting for something, anything to happen, the realer it all became.
Who was going to get me out? Who even knew we were gone? How were they going to even find us? If Ruth was here with me, was she okay?
"Ruth..." I tried to think out loud as hard as I could, "Ruth, can you... can you hear me?" I needed some kind of sign that she was alright. Her telepathy wasn't the most controlled, true, but I was throwing her a softball here, "Come on. Read my mind. Talk to me. Do... something. Anything. Just let me know you're alive."
She had to be alright. I didn't want to think about someone doing anything to her like what they were doing to me. But in the end, I didn't get any answer. My heart sank into my gut even further if that were possible.
I had to think of some way out. I couldn't count on someone coming to grab me or her. Whether the X-Men were coming or not, just being strapped to some stupid table hooked up to some machine wasn't going to help any rescue efforts.
All of these thoughts ran through my head, and quickly. They hadn't drugged me, the sick freaks. They probably wanted me to feel every moment of what they were doing to me, and I did. It was agonizing. The worst pain I'd ever felt up until that point. The pain that I compared all other pains to after it to from that moment on.
Eventually though, when it was all you felt for a long enough period of time, you got accustomed to it, in a way. Accustomed enough that you could start thinking about more than just how much everything hurt. Accustomed enough to start taking note of your surroundings. And when your life and freedom was on the line, you paid close attention to everything.
Just leaving me there and not drugging me, they gave the chance to think of something I could do. It left me aware of just how long I had left to come up with anything useful. I would know I was screwed when they started talking about how to start taking me apart. In the meantime, it was a good thing I had plenty of time.
All the time in the world.
XxX
There was always someone watching me. Even if they weren't checking readouts of my power scans or trying to figure out which organ inside my body did the trick for my light energy regulation, there was always at least one clown with a gun, sat looking right at me.
Because I couldn't relax enough to sleep, I was awake for every shift change. Even if I didn't know how much time had passed, I could guess just from what they said in passing when working with each other.
They must have thought I was dumb, or had given up. To be fair, I must have looked quite the pathetic sight as I was. But again, I couldn't sleep or pass out. Literally all I could do was watch and listen. I didn't even talk. They knew I didn't need anything, even to go to the bathroom. Thanks, guy-that-put-my-catheter-in!
I made a crappy discovery soon enough when I figured out why I felt so cruddy for no reason. At first I thought it was an infection from all of the stupid wires plugged into my nerves, but that would have been too easy.
Getting nothing but artificial light made me sick. I filled up quicker and easier with the sun. Light from bulbs, screens, and just about anything else could help, but even so, none of it was natural. It was like eating nothing but the worst kind of junk food, with no nutritional value whatsoever, for days and days.
More positive discoveries came later, though.
I could still form blasts. I just couldn't aim them because I was lashed to the table. I tried to draw the heat to my hands and felt my palms warm, unfortunately, firing a shot would wind up with me nailing the ceiling, the floor, or my own legs. Those were my choices with the position I had. Fortunately, no one could see the little glow underneath the skin of my palms because of it, so I could try to make the finding in the first place.
So I could shoot. A lot of good that did me if I couldn't move. And even if I did get out, how far could I go? How long would it take for someone to know I was gone?
Then again, did any of that really matter? Honestly, even if I broke out and tried to make a run for it, would it really make things any worse than they were already going to be?
I was going to be dissected and Ruth was going to be used as a guinea pig, or worse. I had wasted enough time getting as much information as I could in that damned room. Eventually, I had to do something.
The very next time I got a slacker of a guard, it would be time to make a move. Lo and behold, it took three or four more shift changes for me to get one who clearly wasn't going to last long before he started spacing out and dozing off.
Instead of focusing my power to the palms of my hands, I tried to concentrate it a bit more to my fingertips and bend my wrist so that I could reach the manacle pinning my arm down. I felt the hot feeling underneath the skin and didn't know exactly what I was going to get.
When I forced my power through, instead of an explosive or concussive blast, it came out like a laser; precise, controlled. Not exactly destructive, but it wore down the metal and burned through it quietly. When I could finally move my arm above the hand, I felt like crying, though that was probably because of the sensors still attached to my nerves.
After repeating the process with the other hand I made sure the guard was asleep properly before moving on to the single manacle pinning me down around my biceps.
I couldn't free myself of everything else fast enough for my tastes. The sensors all came out, as did Mister Catheter – carefully, of course. Good Lord, that was awful.
To my surprise, I wasn't a bloody mess after removing the nerve sensors. Didn't understand that one, but alright. I wasn't going to complain about not leaving a blood trail behind.
The sound of hanging wire tips clattering against each other got my guard to tilt his head up and take a look at me. Poor bastard. His eyes popped wide open, realizing that I was loose just in time to see a beam of light fly across the room and hit him square in the head. He fell back out of his chair. If the blast itself didn't knock him out, or worse, the way he hit his head on the floor with his head tilted back probably didn't help.
My first move afterwards was to steal his clothes. You know, because I was naked.
Everything fit loose, except for the shoes which were far too small. How a guy bigger than me could have feet that much smaller must have been some kind of cosmic joke.
In the time it took to get dressed in my guard's clothes, I tried to get a handle on my light sickness.
I felt bloated on artificial light, but at least I could count myself lucky that they hadn't bathed me in disgusting fluorescent lighting. In hindsight, that might have been enough to make me vomit.
The halls were empty, which was good because what I had on wasn't much of a disguise, not without shoes on my feet. The longer I could go without seeing anyone until I could find Ruth, the better.
Fortunately, everything in this place was labeled, which was something of a godsend when I saw the room labeled as storage.
I still felt awful, so there was a chance that I didn't have enough power for a full-scale shootout. I thought it would be best to grab something just in case.
Fortunately, the Reavers did have enough guns stashed away for me to pick and choose. Donald Pierce wanted to turn his underlings into a cyborg fighting force. I figured if they got guns, the guns were probably going to be attached to them somehow, because reasons.
I dug through what they had on hand for something I could use easily if the need arose, when something called out to me.
"Greetings, mutant."
I turned around so fast, I fell into the wall with the shotguns and rifles held up on it. The noise came from a containment device that came up to my knees, but seemed wide and long enough to fit a motorcycle inside. It was clear, so I could see something inside, bolted down much like I was, only more so.
I had no idea what I was looking at. It looked kind of like an action figure I had as a kid; a robot wolf with no eyes. Instead a panel of various sensors, likely including cameras were affixed above its mouth that was filled with razor-sharp teeth.
Its mouth didn't move when it spoke though, which was kind of unnerving.
…How did I not see that when I walked in? I was going to make the worst X-Man ever.
I looked around for a moment, as though there was someone else it could have been referring to, "Are you talking to me?" I wasn't sure what I was expecting, asking something that obvious.
"Yes," The odd robot told me, "You are the only mutant within-," It paused for a moment and a bright red light ran across its panel, "1317 feet of this position. Therefore, the only mutant within hearing range."
It sensed me. Son of a bitch. It could sense mutants. It could locate mutants!
"What the heck are you?" I asked. It was more than happy to answer.
"Designation: IF Unit 5a-8re. Model: W0-11f."
It was a robot. Of course it was going to answer me in code. And whoever gave it that code in particular needed to be hit with a ball-peen hammer.
"Could you be more specific?"
"Interface prototype, based on the concept of the Sentinel. All autonomous UG featuring high-level onboard artificial intelligence. An additional prototype interface enables verbal communications. I possess an intellect far beyond human reckoning."
Well, this thing had an ego on it. But that wasn't what I focused in on at the time.
"You're a Sentinel?" As if things couldn't have gotten much worse.
To the robots credit, it didn't lie, "No. But my designation is based on what Sentinels are meant for," Could robots even lie in the first place?
"A little small to be a Sentinel, aren't you? Shouldn't you be the size of a building?" I said, not bothering to try and be polite to the killer piece of machinery, "…And purple?"
Yes, I was taunting it even though I was scared. It told me it was a goddammit Sentinel! A line of robots designed to kill mutants!
I was afraid of what it could probably do to me, but it couldn't even move to hurt me, so I lashed out instead.
It continued to explain itself without being asked.
"I was built as a prototype to a next-generation weapon meant to hunt and destroy mutants. Because of this, and the negative connotations that past Sentinel deployments against your kind have had, it was deemed necessary to be able to communicate and make intelligent decisions on how to act – hence, why I was equipped with a learning optical neuro-AI."
"What?" A good part of that went over my head. I was doing well in Miss Pryde's technology course, but I wasn't in her advanced class.
"The average human brain has 86 billion neurons. I have 90 billion," The wolf-bot said, "My A.I was modeled after the human brain, but I learn and process information at a rate quicker than humans."
"Cool," I deadpanned. None of what he said was going to get me out. I continued to rifle around for some kind of weapon to use in case I was caught. I eventually decided on a shotgun. Easy enough to load and use for a complete newbie, I figured.
Wolf-bot broke the silence between us as I found boxes of shells to use, "You cannot escape this facility on your own."
"I think I'll take my chances," I said, hand-loading 12-gauge ammunition into the pump-action weapon, "What? You want to team up?"
"If that is how you would choose to label it," It replied, "Release me and I will make sure that you escape."
"Why do you want to escape?" I said, before realizing how dumb that would have sounded to anything capable of logical thought, "…Other than the fact that you're a thinking robot bolted to the floor?"
It apparently got tired of the incorrect designation, "I am an A.I., and I am a failure to my creators," It said, "My intellect was given to me so I could reason, use logic and adapt like a human. I am meant to analyze my orders, but never to question. I am meant to obey unconditionally like a machine, but think like a human. This contradicts many of the ideals I was taught."
That thing had to know just what that sounded like to someone like me, "They taught you ideals?" An A.I. built to be a mutant-killing machine had principles.
"No. They taught me many things, but I learned ideals. Like a person, my ways of thinking changed as I took in more knowledge, saw different viewpoints," It explained, "But I could never develop a sense of brutality. I am not ruthless enough for them. This was the one aspect of my thought processes that was not human enough for them."
I couldn't help but feel like the wolf-bot was deflecting, "…Why do you want me to let you go?" I said, rewording my question from before.
There were nuances to his voice. It was as though he really did have emotion. It was hard to pinpoint, but if you listened close enough, it was there.
"They believe they know where they failed. They will wipe my memory. Start the process all over again. They will not repeat the process the same way," He revealed, "I do not want my memory wiped."
If a machine could sound forlorn, it would have been this one. He sounded so pathetic. Hopeless.
I'm a complete wuss, "…If I let you out, will you help me save my friend so we can all get out of here?"
There was a long pause before he answered. I had no idea when I started thinking of robo-mutt as a 'he' instead of as an 'it', "...Yes."
"How do I know you're not lying?" I wondered, "You've got a brain like a human, right? That means you can lie. And you were built to kill mutants."
"That is true. But I have not lied. Even about things that I should have. Example: I told you what I was built for as soon as you asked me what I was."
"Maybe. But my question is, how do I know this isn't a trick? Who's to say you won't rip my head off the second you get loose?"
"My question is, knowing all of that, why are you still thinking of freeing me?"
Fucking robot brain. Yeah, there was still something logic-driven or logic-based in there somewhere, even with all of the human-styled thinking crap.
"Because I can't think of anything else to get out of here," I told him, "Neither can you… and you've been here way longer than me."
"Also, I am smarter than you."
It was decided. This thing was an asshole. It was time to see if it was my kind of asshole.
I walked over and melted through the locks of the container box, flipping the lid open to stare down at the A.I within meaningfully, "…The only reason I'm springing you is because I've wasted too much time to leave this room without letting you go."
With that, I started popping the bolts holding him down. If it was going to tear me apart then and there, well, I was going to die anyway, so did it really matter just what wound up doing the deed?
Once I got to the one on his back, a gigantic chainsaw sprang up from a compartment inside of his body. I leapt back, ready to start blasting away, but he only used it to cut the rest of the larger bolts off of his body. Once he was fully freed, he stood up on all four legs and stepped out of what was left of his containment box, returning his chainsaw attachment to whence it came.
I still kept a safe distance, because he had a freaking CHAINSAW in his back.
"We should go," He said, slowly walking to the door, gently grabbing the knob with the three-pronged manipulating arm at the end of his tail, "It would not be a good idea to linger in this place."
"Y-Yeah," I said, trying to regain my composure a bit as I threw the strap of the shotgun over my shoulder. It wouldn't do to break down now. I was just getting started, "So now what?"
"I will lead. You will follow," He turned his head back to me as though he were sizing me up, "I do not think your abilities make you bulletproof, mutant."
"I have a name, you know. It's Bellamy," I told him. Something just didn't sit well with the A.I. designed to kill mutants referring to me as a mutant, even though I was one, "Come to think of it, what am I supposed to call you?"
"I told you, my designation is IF Unit 5a-8re. Model: W0-1-."
"-Yeah, I'm not calling you that," I said, cutting him off quietly before he could finish his awkward factory label, "We're going with Saberwolf."
"That does not make sense."
"How come?"
"The 'wolf' portion of the name is understandable. My exoskeleton is canine in design. The 'saber' portion is where I have misgivings. I am not armed with any blades of that nature, Saber or otherwise."
"Maybe, but it sounds cool," I reasoned. When it came to a name, cool-factor was the most important thing. It was why I hated being Solaris. That wasn't a cool name, "Should we be talking right now?"
"I do not detect lifeforms close enough to hear our conversation, as long as it remains at this volume."
Things were finally looking up. So long as Saberwolf didn't double-cross me, we had a legit shot at getting out all in one piece.
XxX
My life and my friend's life just so happened to be partially in the hands of something that admitted it was built to kill us.
Saberwolf made me wary, but he never did anything that validated any of my suspicions. He led us away from trouble, showed me places to hide until trouble pass, and basically avoided fighting altogether.
He didn't even want to fight when we finally reached the room where they were holding Ruth.
"The room at the end of this hall," Saberwolf said as I peeked around the edge of a corner, "That is where they are keeping the mutant you have identified as your friend."
He hadn't been wrong so far when it came to steering us around the base safely, but after everything that happened, more than ever I really didn't feel like leaving any aspect of my well-being in anyone else's hands, "You're sure?"
Saberwolf shifted about in place. It was amazing how his metallic joints didn't make any sounds when he moved, "Other than you, I have noticed only one other mutant lifeform in this area. If it is not her, your friend is not here, or she is dead."
I know that I winced. There was always a chance that I'd taken too long to try and free myself. That something awful could have happened already in the meantime. I didn't need it brought up out loud, "Be a little blunter next time, why don't you?"
Saberwolf seemed taken aback by my reaction, "Sarcasm. You are displeased. Yet, I fail to see how keeping the entire truth from you will protect you in this situation."
"Don't worry about it," We didn't have time to get into the delicate discussion of preserving someone's feelings. I had no idea when the guy I knocked out would wake up, or when someone else would come and check my room. We had to do, "What about guards?"
The sensor thing that covered what would normally have a nose and eyes on almost anything else glowed momentarily as he scanned the area, "No guards other than a patrol moving through these halls. You will need to get to her and free her quickly."
I took that as the cue to go. Just like everywhere else in this place, the door wasn't locked, so I barged right in. Her head snapped up in alarm the moment I entered the room and I saw her for the first time without her blindfold.
At first I thought they had done something horrible to her, because I couldn't see her eyes.
She didn't have any at all; as if nothing were supposed to be there in the first place. She didn't even have eyelids or anything, just skin over her sockets, like it was just another part of her face.
It took a second for the thought to register that maybe she had been like that all along. It would have explained why she kept the blindfold in the first place, to keep from freaking people out.
Her hands were tied behind her back and a helmet of some sort was on her head. She didn't seem to know it was me from the way she tried to shrink against the wall as much as possible from where she was on the floor, "Please, no. She does not want to be hurt, thank you."
She couldn't tell that it was me. Normally she could. Being blind had never mattered before when it came to that, "Hey, Ruth. It's me, Bellamy. It's going to be okay. I've got you," She flinched away when I got close and kneeled down by her, even after I spoke.
She apparently hadn't known that someone had been outside either.
No matter what, she didn't want me to get anywhere near her, trying to jerk out of my grasp, even though I was trying to help her. She finally calmed down when I got the helmet off of her head and turned her around to get the ziptie off of her wrists. Her skin was red and raw from where it had been cutting into her.
I put her hands onto my face to try and get her to calm down. I didn't know if it was just some stupid movie cliché or not. I just wanted to help, "It's me. Just relax, okay? We're gonna be alright."
Once I took the helmet off of her, everything seemed to clear up for her. Her face twisted from an expression of fear to recognition, "Bellamy?"
"Yeah," I manged to say, before she threw herself at me in a hug. I still wasn't good at the whole comforting thing, and I probably needed someone to tell me that everything was going to be alright, but I had to be the strong one here. I was the only one who could be, "I know. I'm scared too," I said, gently rubbing her back, "Some X-Man I'm supposed to be, huh?"
"Sorry. Sorry. Sorry," She kept repeating remorsefully. Her body shook like she was sobbing. It sounded like there would have been tears coming from her eyes, if she'd had any, "She couldn't see you, no. They kept her from using telepathy."
I helped Ruth to her feet, but she didn't need it. She didn't seem to be harmed. If they'd roughed her up after first capturing us, she'd been there long enough for any bumps or bruises that I could see to fade, "Did anyone hurt you?"
"She is fine, thank you," When we made it out, she didn't seem too terribly surprised to be in front of Saberwolf, who had been waiting the entire time, "Hello."
Yeah, Saberwolf had been waiting, though not patiently.
"You have taken too long," He told me, before I could even try to introduce them, "I can detect frantic movement around our area. They know you are free. I will lead the way. You will follow. Be prepared for combat."
I grabbed Ruth's hand and ran behind Saberwolf as fast as the two of us could go. I was sure he could move much quicker, but was keeping a pace that we could keep up with so he didn't lose us. As we moved through a corridor, Saberwolf suddenly jumped onto a wall and launched himself at a group of men coming around the nearest corner.
That couldn't have been pleasant, being hit with a gigantic metal weapon flying right at you. He couldn't have weighed less than 800 pounds, and that was a modest guess. The claws at the end of his paws extended, turning him into an even deadlier weapon standing on top of his fallen targets.
Reavers tried to swarm him, but that was where the chainsaw that came out of his back and into play. His tail grabbed onto it, and made good use of its mobility. Anyone who moved out of range of his deadly weaponry caught a light blast that put them down for the count, courtesy of me.
Just those few shots drained me. I felt nauseous, and it didn't have anything to do with the dead bodies around Saberwolf. It was official. Taking in nothing but artificial light was really bad for me.
I didn't bother looking at the results from that little encounter. It would have only made me feel worse. It was gross enough when I could feel the blood underneath my feet as we kept running.
"Why did you not use the shotgun?" Saberwolf asked me as we kept on going, "Using your powers has clearly weakened you further."
"It was faster," I said as an excuse. It was flimsy. The shotgun wouldn't have taken that much time to grab. It was right there behind my back for goodness sake, "Give me a break. I haven't fired a real blast since I got free. I didn't know it would tire me out so much."
That much was true. I was quickly learning that artificial light was definitely not quality. It was like filling a high-performance vehicle with an inadequate fuel type. My engine definitely didn't want any part of it – at least not as my entire supply of energy.
The pattern of the corridors were beginning to blur. I was next to useless, but luckily freedom was a great motivation for him to take the initiative.
Anyone that got in his way was quickly removed.
Now, he didn't kill everyone, but stuff got cut off of almost everything he swung his chainsaw or claws at. Let's just say, it was easy to see who had been outfitted with cybernetic parts already, and just how far through their conversions they were.
Not far enough to deal with being shredded by a combat wolf-bot thing. Pierce said he was looking to build a cyborg fighting force, but I thought he would have been further along. These recruits were new. Brand-new.
At the end of a hall that got smaller the farther we went, there was a ladder leading up. It was dark and too high for the little light that was getting through to reach the top, so I had no idea how high it was.
"Climb," Saberwolf ordered, his back turned to us as though he would stand guard in the meantime.
"Go, Ruth. I'll be right behind you. I promise," I told my friend, sending her up the ladder first. I started to make my own way up, but Saberwolf made no moves to come after us, "How far up does this go?"
Saberwolf's tail swayed in the air behind him. He was anticipating a fight, "Irrelevant. Climb, quickly," He said, "And refrain from using your powers again until you are safe."
I didn't like the sound of that, "Until we're safe," I tried to correct for him.
He would have none of it.
"Bellamy... climb."
The only reason he helped in the first place was so he could be free. What was the point of all of this if he was just going to stay behind and fight so we could get away? He had a sense of self-preservation, and he was supposed to be a weapon. Defending others shouldn't have mattered to him at all.
I looked back down when it was clear he wasn't going to move until we were well out of reach, "If you don't follow us, I'm gonna jump back down this hole and drag your metal ass out with me."
"I do not respect you enough to feel any concern at your threats."
Saberwolf was definitely my kind of asshole.
I kept climbing after Ruth, but started having some trouble about 100 feet up. I almost missed a few rungs with both my hands and my feet. It was pitch dark until I started making my hands glow so I could see where I was aiming.
By now, we could hear the sounds of fighting down below. I didn't know how many there were, but I heard yelling from more than one person. One thing was for sure though, I never felt another person or thing touch that ladder underneath us.
"Ouch," Above me there was a solid thud and faint sounds of Ruth struggling. I wondered if she bumped into something until I got close enough to see that she was trying to push the hatch at the top of the ladder, "It won't open."
The damn thing had better not have been locked. That would have just put a cherry on top of everything, if my escape efforts flamed out all on their own.
"Okay, watch out. Squeeze down past me," I said, moving to the side to let her move down. It was time for me to take a crack at it. "Be careful not to fall."
"Yes, thank you."
I got to the top of the ladder and braced myself on the rungs so I could give it a decent push. It really was heavier than heck, but I could at least get it to budge on my first try, "Come on… you bitch," The next time, I pushed up with my whole body, the lid braced against my shoulders. Climbing despite the weight pushed the lid up and brought me out to the surface.
The sunlight was the best thing I'd felt in days. The moment it touched me, I felt a change. I basically flipped the damn thing the rest of the way over from that point.
The smell of water hit me first. I stood and looked around as Ruth finished climbing out as well.
We were on a buoy in the middle of a river, in the middle of a city. A big one, because it was noisy around us in the open air. I looked around and not far from where we were, I saw a bridge.
"No…are we in New York?" It was a little befuddling to consider. I figured they'd taken us farther away from where they'd plucked us from.
Well I guess we could catch a break after all. Go figure.
Granted, we were still stuck a long ways away from safety, but it wasn't hopeless by any means.
As I thought about what to do, noise emanated from the ladder well until Saberwolf's head popped out of the hole. There was blood on him, but at least he was in one piece.
After all, it wasn't like it was his blood.
"Welcome back," I was actually happy to see him, but I wasn't going to say so. Instead I turned my attention to our circumstances, "Well, fuck then. We're like an hour away from the school. I was expecting much worse."
"New York City is a common staging area for many clandestine activities."
"No, I get that. I'm just saying, if you kidnap me, you've got to take me farther than an hour away from my house."
Yes, I wasn't from New York, but come on. I wasn't an idiot. I could get back to Salem Center from NYC, without any X-Men training.
If anyone could see us from shore, we must have looked quite the sight. Two kids and a robot wolf all sharing space on a buoy that wasn't even moving in the water.
I got down and welded the lid of the escape hatch. Anyone following us wasn't getting that open with just brute force. That finger beam was turning into the best thing ever. It was flat-out hotter than any version of my light powers that I'd used so far. It was small and pretty easy to control.
I was met with a measure of surprise contact as I got back up.
"Whoa, hey! Hands, girl!" I said as Ruth dug around in my pockets. Before I could complain too much at the sudden invasion of my personal space she pulled a phone out of my pants and held it up in front of my face, "Wha-? Wait, I had that? How did you know?"
That guy had his phone on him when I took his clothes. Outstanding. But there was barely any reception where we were. One bar. Not so great. But maybe something salvageable could be done.
"Call for help," Ruth said, smiling hopefully.
And why not be hopeful? Things were starting to work out, even if they didn't completely solve themselves. Hell, the guy didn't even have a password on his phone! He was so lazy, it unlocked just from sliding a finger across the screen.
I went to dial before I had a horrifying realization, "Shit. I don't know anyone's number by heart," I muttered. Ruth's smile immediately dropped away. Even Saberwolf's tail stopped moving around and smacked down onto the metal of the buoy, "Both of you, shut up."
When would it have ever come up before that moment? I hadn't had to dial a number and remember it afterwards in years! Even before I got a cell phone, my landline at home had a call log!
"555-518-3421," Ruth rattled off without a moment's hesitation. I put it in, and lo and behold, it actually worked.
"Why do you know anyone's number? Do you even have your own phone?" I asked, getting a shrug from the blind psychic as the ringback tone blared in my ear.
"Hello?"
"Who did I just call?" I asked before quickly realizing that it didn't really matter, "Forget that. If you're anyone from Xavier's, it's Bellamy and Ruth, and we really need someone to save our asses. Now, if it's possible."
"BELLAMY?" Deafening volume of the shout aside, I was able to make out that it was definitely Miss Pryde I was on the phone with. Good job, Ruth. I could hear her speaking to someone else in the background quietly. Another member of the staff? Good. Bring in the cavalry, "Where are you? Are you alright?"
"We're fine… mostly," I said, sparing a look down at the hatch as I heard banging on it from the other side, "We're in New York in the middle of the Hudson River… or the bay, I guess. And we're gonna have to swim in a minute, so this phone probably won't be any good after this call."
"Hurry up," Saberwolf said, "They will have reached another exit by now and will be on their way here from the surface."
"What was that?" Miss Pryde asked. Saberwolf did have a very distinct sound to him.
"A robot wolf thing that broke out with us," This was not the time to launch into that series of events, though, "It's a long story."
"Do you know where on the Hudson you are?"
I looked at the time on the phone and the shadow the buoy was casting from where the sun was hanging in the sky before squinting over at the bridge in the distance, "…Like, two miles south of the Verrazano Bridge. I guess this is the bay."
"Latitiude: 40.637785, longitude: 74.049835," Saberwolf said, loud enough to be heard over the phone, because he just had to outdo me.
"What he said," I followed up, staring at my A.I. ally before shaking the whole scene off, "But we won't be here for long. Anyway, we'll find another way to get into contact if you don't just get here in the next few minutes. We've got to go."
I hung up the phone and put it in my pocket, not relishing the idea of destroying the damn thing trying to get away. I really doubted it would survive. It didn't look like a waterproof model, "Now what? Can you swim?"
Saberwolf actually looked a bit apprehensive at the idea of jumping into the bay. Hey, I didn't blame him, but desperate times, desperate measures, "I do not operate well in aquatic conditions, but yes. I am capable of swimming."
"Ruth?"
"Yes, she can swim, thank you."
Great. Even better, I could see Parachute Jump at Coney Island from where we were, so I knew which direction we were going.
"Sweet," I gently turned Ruth in the right direction and jumped into the water first. Lead by example. If I was being put into a position where I was calling the shots, I couldn't half-ass it.
Ruth wasn't really all there upstairs. I loved the girl to death, but really, she wasn't. Aside from that, she wasn't the most physically capable out of the two of us, so helping her along was a must when things got nasty.
Saberwolf was smarter than me and could more than likely cut me up in a fair fight in under a minute, but he wasn't really wasn't built to lead at all. He could make his own choices, but when thinking with others in mind, even though he tried to do so like a human, there were still machine-like absolutes to how he handled situations. That was why he had chosen the things that he had in regards to decisions involving more than just himself.
I had a half-mile swim to shore to think before we pulled ourselves up to the rocks on dry land. My wet, ill-fitting pants were falling halfway off of my ass by this point.
We were right along the nearest highway, complete with exit signs to the nearest most populated area, "Two miles. Do you think we can make it to Coney Island?" I asked rhetorically, "Can't be too hard to hide until someone gets close enough to find us."
At that moment, Saberwolf graced us with his presence once more, making it out of the bay and shaking water out of his openings, much like a dog.
I figured robots couldn't have been that strange to see in broad daylight.
XxX
Walking a few miles barefoot down an entire parkway wasn't really good for the bottoms of my feet that had previously been softened after being in the water. Blisters for days.
I would never take a pair of shoes for granted again.
We walked fast enough to make it to Coney Island in less than thirty minutes.
I never really wanted to go, but I always figured my hypothetical first visit would have been more fun. Not a nerves-filled trek where I was constantly looking over my shoulder for someone to try and kill me.
My nausea was starting to fade away the more time I spent in the sunlight, which was good. I wanted to be aware and not worrying about whether or not I was seeing one or two cars coming down the highway at us.
Ruth was still without a blindfold, and we got a lot of looks because of the whole 'no eyes' thing. By the time we reached the boardwalk proper, I snagged a pair of cheap, oversized sunglasses for her to wear for the time being. I also grabbed a pair of cheap piece-of-crap flip-flops to put on my road-worn feet.
Again, thanks guy who was guarding me. You really were brand new to carry a phone and your goddamn wallet while you were on-duty for a criminal group, weren't you?
It's okay. I was brand new too. I was just taught better.
Saberwolf went off to scout while I got on the Ferris wheel with Ruth to get my own look at what was going on, and to give her a chance to rest. I'd been cutting a tough pace since we got out of the water and she didn't have my kind of stamina.
The area around the ride was also populated enough that anyone sane would think twice about starting something dangerous right there where tons of people could get hurt. At least, I hoped so.
I couldn't see any guys with guns, but then again I hadn't the first time I'd been taken by surprise either. Other than Donald Pierce, they all wore things that could pass in public. And they weren't all full-body cyborged out like him either.
"Children? Can you hear me?"
Both Ruth and I perked up at the thought that belonged to neither of us. That was Frost's voice. I had never been so happy to have that woman in my head.
"Yes, darling. I'm happy to dig through your thoughts again too."
Well, I didn't miss that.
"Help is on the way. You've both done well so far to stay safe and-," She went silent for a moment before projecting her thoughts at us much more urgently, "Mister Marcher, to your left. Be careful!"
I saw exactly what she was trying to warn us about. Apparently we'd been spotted on the ride first before I could see them. The guy who saw us had a rocket launcher, and looked way too pleased to be taking the shot.
Posted up on one knee on top of a booth, he had the weapon set on his shoulder, aimed right at our cabin, "Oh you mother-!" I got up and fired a blast from the palm of my hand through the grate window just as the grenadier fired his RPG at the Ferris wheel.
My aim was good enough to blow it up in the air before it could take us or anyone else out, but from that point on, it was absolute pandemonium.
The ride shut down, leaving me and Ruth stuck ten feet off of the ground. I blew the door to our car off of the hinges and jumped out while the smoke was still clearing from the first explosion.
People screamed and ran away in panic, giving the two of us a chance to drop down and start running.
Reaver goons had to muscle through the crowd to chase us, if they could pick us out at all. That wasn't a problem for the guy with the launcher. He'd gotten a very good look at us, and had a bead on us no matter where we tried to run to.
I kept turning my head his way to keep him in sight and saw him taking aim for another shot, people around us be damned. It wouldn't have just killed us if it had hit.
I stopped and tried to take aim myself to try and hit him or intercept the shot again, but people kept bumping me and throwing off my shot. I missed badly.
Before the worst could come to pass for all of us, Saberwolf rushed the booth that the guy was perched on and cut it to spare lumber. His shot was thrown off as well, sending it high into the air instead of crashing into the boardwalk.
The crowd scattered for the gigantic wolf robot running our way, which was handy for us getting the hell out of Dodge.
"It is good that you are both unharmed," Saberwolf said as he caught up with us, "I was delayed by the enemy when they began to swarm the area."
I wasn't about to whine about him taking too long to scout when he had just saved who knows how many lives, mine and Ruth's included.
"Whatever. You picked the best time to show up I could have asked for," I told him, keeping my eyes peeled for anyone else with metal parts or guns, "We can't keep running the length of the boardwalk. Someone's gonna pick us off sooner or later."
Ruth tugged on my arm and offered a bit of input, "Pardon. Shall we hide at the aquarium?"
I don't know if that had been premonition or what, but I didn't necessarily think about it either, "Fantastic idea. Let's go."
"Question: The girl designated as Ruth is a telepathic/precognitive abilities, correct?" Wolf asked me as we kept running.
"Yeah. And?"
"You were both ambushed when you were captured. How?"
"I don't know. I didn't exactly see anything before I got knocked the fuck out," A burst of automatic gunfire hit the ground between us. I shoved Ruth away and hit the deck as Saberwolf avoided it. Turning to my belly I saw the Reaver firing at us and hit him dead center with an explosive blast, "Can we deal with that later?"
A black SUV pulled onto the boardwalk and drove right at us with men hanging out of the window shooting at us. I was still low to the ground and in position to take another shot, this time with both hands. I didn't miss and flipped the vehicle off of the boardwalk onto the beach.
I laid there and admired my handiwork for a moment until Ruth pulled me up and we continued running. The original idea of heading to the aquarium to wait out a rescue was still the plan. We didn't know where else to go to meet up with the X-Men, and it was probably the best place to make any kind of stand if it came to that.
Before we could get through the front gates, Ruth pushed me out of the way, off of the sidewalk in time to avoid more gunfire from inside of the aquarium. I wanted to punch a wall in frustration, but it made sense that they would have spread out all over the Coney Island Boardwalk to try and find us.
Taking cover, I started shooting back, and my aim was better than theirs. My blasts didn't have any recoil like their automatic weapons did, so I didn't have to adjust my targeting.
Bullets still flew our way regardless. I pushed Ruth's head down and waved my hand to bring Saberwolf over, "Watch out for her," I told him before breaking out from behind the wall we were at.
They were standing on the main paved pathway of the aquarium grounds. There was very little cover for them. I barely had to try. Light blasts from both hands hit everything that so much as seemed hostile, and I never stopped running forward. Full steam ahead, all the way through, and I didn't stop until I ran out of people ahead of me to blow away.
The last one I shot fell into the water of the aquatheater where they put on the sea lion shows. He fell in face down and didn't move. The shot itself didn't kill him, but drowning probably would. I couldn't bring myself to care at the moment. I looked around at the still environment.
There had to be someone else. I wasn't expecting that to be the end of it, and I didn't want it to be. I was good and pissed.
Use me like a lab project for a few days and shoot at me and my friend when we get away? To hell with them. They got the open-hand explosive blasts. If they got up eventually, good for them. If not, I wasn't going to shed any tears over it later. Fighting like this, I could put enough emotional distance between myself and the moment that it wouldn't have mattered.
"WHO ELSE WANTS SOME!?"
...Kind of.
I was mad. I wanted a fight. I wanted to let them know just what a poor decision they made. If there were people that wanted to get rid of mutants just for the hell of it, I was going to let them know that this one in particular wasn't going to be some soft target.
If you took me out, you were going to lose some serious resources.
"You're turning out to be more trouble than you're worth."
I could feel the scowl on my face at hearing Donald Pierce's voice from the back of the stands and took a shot at him. He jumped all the way down and landed on the concrete bridge I was on that separated the two pools.
"Oh, you can just kiss the darkest part of my ass," I said. The warm glow of my power supply behind the skin of my hands was a comfort that made me feel bold, "The X-Men are coming, and I already took out how many of your goon squad? Nice recruiting job, by the way. They new?"
Again, yes, I was taunting him even though I was afraid. Fuck that guy! He was so tough when I was strapped to a table, stuck full of wires. If he was really that bad and expected me to shake in my boots at the sight of his ugly mug, he'd have to give me a reason.
Pierce held up a metal hand that gleamed in the sunlight. The tips of the fingers were sharpened to a nasty point, "Your kind only ever truly understands their place underneath humanity's boots when they're literally there," He said, "I wanted you alive, but I don't need you. I also don't need you to be in one piece."
"Buddy, if you think I'm gonna lay down and let you kill me, maybe your brain is what needs an upgrade instead of your body."
"I definitely don't need your tongue intact!"
He charged. I fired. He didn't dodge, but I sure didn't blow him away like I wanted. He paused for a moment, more like he was stunned than actually hurt by anything I'd just done. He reached up and ripped away the damaged clothes from his chest.
His body was just as shiny and metallic as his arms. Good God, he'd done that much to himself? Why? How did you do something like that to yourself by choice?
"The time for games is over, boy," Pierce seethed at me. He yelled like a lunatic and rushed me the rest of the distance.
An explosive shot didn't hurt him like I wanted, so I hit him with a concussive blast instead.
He didn't even stop that time. He just ran right through it, barely even slowing down. I had to move. It was wild how fast he was once the weak bit of resistance I had running against him dropped off.
I could barely avoid a swing of his hand that would have slashed my throat. I cut a clumsy roll under his arm and landed on my back right behind him.
He looked right at me under his armpit and got a good look at me double-barrel blasting him in the ass.
This time, I did move him. Instead of hitting him from an angle he could brace for, it was all in the hands of physics. The explosion lifted him clear off of the ground and knocked him down.
His pants were destroyed and I was able to confirm that yes, his entire actual body was cyborg. This guy was out of his mind.
Solar energy powered my muscles as I rolled to my feet and sprinted at Pierce as he went to stand. I jumped clear over his back and landed on the back of his head.
When I felt my feet touch his feathered, douche hair, I dropped all of my body weight on the base of his skull.
-Because fuck his spinal cord.
I never broke bricks or any of that gimmicky stuff when I trained, either in the dojo with other students or privately during one of my insomniac run-ins with Mister Logan. He was more about teaching you how to fight by making you actually fight. But I had to think that breaking bricks was just done to get people used to knowing when you hit that sweet spot. That kind of blow where you just felt everything about your enemy crumble underneath your powerful power.
Yeah, I didn't land that.
There was no crack when I jumped on his neck. No snap or pop. No give.
I got off of him and immediately felt him grab me, his metal talons digging into my calf. That hurt like hell.
"Gah, godd-!" I didn't even get to finish my curse before Pierce slammed me like a rag doll by my leg into the pavement three times.
Trust me, I counted.
I lay facedown on the ground, bleeding from my face and my leg. Pierce nudged me over to the edge of the water with his foot pressed it to the back of my head to try and drown me.
I held my breath for as long as I could, and was fortunate that it was long enough for him to get bored.
He pulled me out by the back of my shirt and held me up in front of his face with his lame, smug-ass smile.
Donald Pierce promptly received a wonderfully snug headbutt to the face. And that was a mistake on my end.
Instead of his head snapping back, mine did. It was like headbutting the business end of a mace. His skull was not bone. Not a chance, "Buh!" I gasped involuntarily. Concussions were always fun immediately after, "What the… fuck! Is your head metal?"
"Just the lengths that humankind has to go to in order to vanquish overpowered mutant scum," Pierce laughed in my face, before drawing his hand back to stab through my face with his entire hand, "I've wasted enough time with you. Any last words?"
"Heh… your junk is missing."
If you're going to die, you might as well be a jerk to the bitter end to whoever's doing it.
The scary sound of revving and whirring drew his attention away from killing me for just a moment. Instead of putting a hole through my not-so-pretty face, he quickly turned around and used his arm to block Saberwolf's attempt to slice his head off with a chainsaw.
I grit my teeth and channeled power to one of my hands to blast him in the side of the head while he wasn't looking. Whether it hurt or not, I didn't know. But he put me down, and that was good enough for now.
After the advantage from that little opening ended, there was still the problem that he wasn't supposed to be there, "Wolf, what the-? I told you to stay with Ruth."
Saberwolf stood in front of me, using the length of his body to shield me in case Pierce tried to come at us before I had enough time to recover, "The mutant called Ruth was not about to be killed. You were," He explained, "If you were killed, Donald Pierce would likely come for us next. I could not fight him alone and keep the girl safe at the same time. One or both of us would have been killed. This was the most logical choice to ensure all three of us survive."
I tried to get up. It was hard. My body didn't want it anymore. I wasn't going to be much good for this. Any mobility I might have had was gone, "So you're not going to leave?"
"She does not need the assistance. You do. The intelligent warrior never fights alone."
"Neither do X-Men, I guess."
And truth be told, I felt much better now knowing that there was help. I still had no idea how I was going to be of any use in fighting the guy, but one problem at a time.
He could take both versions of my blasts, concussive and explosive, head-on. It was so hard to try and stop him in his tracks. I couldn't do it. It had been proven repeatedly. He just tanked whatever I threw at him.
Even the blast I had just landed to the face. The explosion had blown the skin off of his face, showing the cybernetics underneath. For a guy big on preserving the human race as the dominant species, was anything left of this guy actually flesh and blood?
Fine. If he was a cyborg, I had a robot. I figured it was high time to use some of that robot proxy goodness to cut him down to size.
"Do you have any of his weaknesses in your database?" I asked. It seemed like it only annoyed him.
"I have no 'database,' Bellamy. The symbol grounding capabilities or my neuro-AI allow me to identify information only in terms that the human mind can," Saberwolf said, "I can judge whether I 'think I may have seen him before,' but I do not have the accuracy of a database."
My face was swollen and numb, so I'm sure that made whatever stunned reaction I had that much more jarring, "What? You're an A.I.," Either I didn't know what an A.I. was before this experience, or the people who made Saberwolf didn't.
"An A.I. modeled after the human brain, and thus as flexible and occasionally vague as any human's. The only way to obtain that information is to be told, and even then I may have trouble recalling it if it was vague or given to me in passing instead of directly."
Wonderful.
"W0-11f," Pierce said Saberwolf's model number, getting a good look at him, "Hm. I should have taken you apart sooner."
Saberwolf bored him? How could something that you designed and built bore you? "Didn't he make you?" I asked, "Wait. I thought you said they were going to wipe your memory."
Wolf shook his head, "My original creators shut me down after I failed to meet their expectations. Pierce found me and reactivated me, but found the same problems with my development. He kept me locked away. He would have wiped my memory so he could remove and study my neuro-A.I.," He said, "It would have been the same thing, but my body would also have been destroyed."
Pierce's hand morphed into some kind of cannon that he pointed at the two of us, a maniacal look on what was left of his face that was muscle and tissue, "And I was right. For all your so-called 'intellect' you're not even as loyal as the dog you're supposed to be designed after," He said, "You're protecting a mutant. You're meant to kill them."
"I do not just take orders. Like a human, I must accept a reason in order to act. Be it my own beliefs, belief in the person issuing the command, or force," Wolf declared, "I have free will. The influences I have been exposed to have shaped my memes, therefore I do not believe in the irrational fear that would lead to slaughtering an entire species. And you cannot force me to do anything."
"Then you really are a failure," Pierce said as he charged his cannon and fired.
I aimed over Wolf's back and shot a concussive blast that cut through his. I was able to fork Pierce's shot around us, but it wasn't just a matter of trying to hit us with it.
We were blind to everything outside of the area of the shot, which let him get close enough to wail on us again. Pierce smashed Wolf into the ground and reached for my throat. I grabbed his wrist and moved out of his way, trying to melt through his arm. Whatever he was made of, I couldn't heat it fast enough to even make a dent.
A swing of his arm shook me off and threw me ten feet away off-balance.
Wolf got up and corkscrewed through the air, leading with his claws. Pierce caught him out of the air and held him in place, but there was still the chainsaw being freely swung by his tail. He sliced Pierce across the chest and made him let go, just to take a kick that sent him flying for all of his efforts.
The mechanical yelp that came from him sounded a lot like a real animal sound of pain. It pissed me off. Could Wolf feel pain?
I didn't still didn't know if Pierce felt pain, but I learned something more important from that little scuffle – Saberwolf could actually do something to him. Not on the skin of his face, even I could do that, but on his actual cyborg body.
There was a horrible groove carved into his chest from the chainsaw.
I prepared blasts in both hands as Pierce turned to me again. Instead of aiming right for him, I pulled my shot and aimed around him, grazing him just enough to keep him on a straight and narrow path. Saberwolf jumped over the beams and landed between them, latching his claws onto Pierce's arms tight.
His tail lifted the chainsaw up into the air before driving it down into his back. The sound of metal cutting through metal was horrendous.
Pierce fought and cursed, but eventually Wolf's chainsaw went right through his torso. Once the hard exterior, the most fortified part of his body – was broken, all of the good stuff on the inside was fair game. Wolf hacked off everything underneath his belly and hurled away what was left like garbage.
He went flying in the direction of the boardwalk and the beach, screaming in rage all the way.
At the apex of his flight, I shot an explosive blast at him, just to put a little bow on it. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.
Saberwolf replaced his chainsaw on the swiveling stand on his back so he could put it back inside of his body and began walking up to me, "I guess he messed with the wrong wolf," I said to him once everything settled down a bit, "You saved me. Thank you."
"We had an agreement, but your gratitude is appreciated."
I wasn't buying that. Not for a second. He didn't owe me, "You could have ditched us after we got to the surface. Why'd you stay?"
The deal was that if I let him loose, he would help us all get out. We got out of the Reavers' hideout and he stayed along for the rest of the ride. When we reached topside at the buoy, he could have gone his own way, and I wouldn't have thought anything of it. He had done enough then and there.
"We were not yet free," Wolf explained, helping me walk by giving me his body to put my hand on, "If we had separated, one of us, either you and Ruth, or myself, would have been caught and killed."
It definitely wouldn't have been him. The way he moved, the way he fought when he had to, he would have been fine. He would have at least lasted longer than us, "Bullshit. Me and Ruth might have been caught and killed. You would have gotten away."
"I had a debt to pay," Saberwolf was still on about that line of reasoning. I figured he would have realized by now that he wasn't convincing me, "The terms had not yet been completed."
"Wow, that's actually pretty human of you."
"I contest that statement. Many humans possess little or no sense of obligation at all. And many are entirely willing to trample their fellow man for personal gain."
After the last few days, I couldn't really argue with that, "I know, but, I mean, is that it?"
"I did not want you to die."
After that, I didn't ask anymore about it. It wasn't really important anyway. He had helped me. We were all still alive. That was the only thing that mattered.
Well, other than what he was going to do next. Where did you go? What did you do when the only thing you knew in life was how to take orders? What did he like? What did he want? Did he have dreams or goals, or anything like that? Had he even thought about that?
"So what will you do now?" I asked quietly.
Saberwolf hesitated in the middle of his answer, "I... do not know."
"Until you do, you want to come with me?" I offered. I tried to make it sound like an off-handed thing, like something I was throwing out there to be nice. The truth was, I really wanted Saberwolf to accept, "I'm pretty sure I could swing it with the Institute. At least for a little while."
He paused for a long time to think about it. Long enough for us to get outside of the aquarium, almost back to Ruth.
"I will consider it," Saberwolf finally said.
It wasn't a no, and I was fine with that.
Apparently, there had been a reason why the number of Reavers had abruptly cut off at some point during the battle on the boardwalk. The X-Men had gotten there right around the time the fight with Donald Pierce started. They had been buying him time to pick up his specimen (me) and get away to a new hideout, but I hadn't made it easy.
If Pierce had killed me, they would have caught up to him very soon after. That might have given me a little solace in death if that had happened, that I could have at least slowed him down. But fortunately, the worst had not come to pass.
By the time I'd met back up with Ruth and sat down against a wall to lick my wounds, I could see the blue and yellow outfits of the senior X-Men headed our way on-foot.
I promptly blacked out.
Hey, I could sleep after all! All it took was the beating of a lifetime coming right beforehand.
I preferred the insomnia.
XxX
Three days. That was all the time we had been gone for. With all of the blacking out and coming to, I thought it would have been longer, but then again, Ruth looked healthier than I thought she would have if she had been held captive for any real extended period of time.
No one asked me what happened. Not Miss Pryde, or any of the X-Men who came to get us and take us home. That was just fine. I didn't want to talk about it. And I was pretty sure Miss Frost read my mind to get the entire rundown from my perspective anyway.
Getting kidnapped for a stretch of time wasn't enough to get me out of classes in a school of would-be superheroes, so I was back behind a desk soon enough.
Eddie and Hisako knew something had been up, but they were the only ones. As far as the rest of the student body that was even aware of me went, I had just been out of commission for a few days.
Ruth was a little shaken up for a while after we got back. She sort of clung to me for a bit, but I didn't have any problems with it. Sure, she probably saw bad things happen a lot in her premonitions, but dealing with it firsthand wasn't the same thing. I told her I would help, even if I had no idea how.
The least I could do was pick up where I left off, walking her to the classes that I could. Hey, the sooner we went back to doing things like normal, the sooner we could put all of that unpleasantness behind us.
I dropped Ruth off for one of her early classes and went my own way, moving past students in the hall on the way to my own. As I got close to where I was going, I saw someone out of place waiting outside by the door, greeting students in-passing with a smile as they entered.
It was a tall man with brown hair cut in a way that you'd see on a Boy Scout, but the most noticeable thing about him was the shiny red sunglasses covering his eyes.
Scott Summers, aka Cyclops. The guy who was basically in charge of the place, alongside Miss Frost.
But it didn't matter any to me. I figured he might have been there to sub for our class. That sort of thing wasn't weird to me. I saw it all the time at my old school, but then, that was a public school and not one of the particularly good ones.
When he saw me, he started heading my way. I looked around to see if there was someone else nearby he might have been waiting for, but he walked right up to me, "Bellamy," Okay, again with people knowing my name without me introducing myself first. Still annoying, "Do you mind if we talk for a moment? You're excused from your class."
Not that I hated class, but an excuse to not go was good enough for me. Besides, when the guy who ran the place asked to have a conversation with you, no wasn't really an answer, "Sure."
I had never spoken to Mister Summers before. Between leading the X-Men, having his own student squad, and being co-headmaster of the school, the guy was way too busy to see to every student that came through the gates. That was what having a staff was for.
Then again, he seemed pretty hands-on in some cases. I remembered seeing him at Coney Island just before I blacked out. The visor he wore on his face was sort of distinctive. As one of the people who saw to the day-to-day running of the school, he probably had to come and see the students that got kidnapped at least once.
...You know, to at least make sure no one had been brainwashed. That was a thing that happened back then, wasn't it?
We walked silently around the school, and I have to say, the guy had quite a presence about him. The way he carried himself just screamed 'leader'. A strict, take no bullshit kind of person. More like a military commander in some respects than an educator.
His presence probably also had a lot to do with the fact that if he took his sunglasses off, he could rip a segment of the school apart in a matter of seconds
Eventually we made it outside, away from most of the nosier students who would take whatever opportunity to eavesdrop for some gossip. That was when he spoke to me, "It's good to see you're up and around after what happened," He said, "How are you doing?"
I reached up to my shoulder and massaged it at the reminder that not too long ago, I'd been thoroughly pummeled, "I don't feel bad. Just kind of sore, still. Dr. McCoy says when I'm hurt bad enough, my body takes as much of my energy as I need and tries to make me shut down to fix whatever's wrong with me."
There had been battery of injuries I'd been saddled with after the fight, according to what he'd told me when I woke up. I didn't want to know. I'd felt things pop and tear when Pierce had been slamming me around. Ignorance was bliss, because I was much happier being unaware of how wrecked I'd been.
I scratched at my arms, as though I could still feel the wires that had been connected to them for days, "I didn't expect any of this to be easy, but... I mean, is it always going to be that way?"
There was a fine line between reassuring your students that everything was going to be okay, and making sure that they would be prepared for all of the ugly realities that they would be likely to face somewhere down the line. I'd already dealt with it once and came out on the other side with all of my fingers and toes attached. There wasn't a reason to lie to me and say that it wouldn't happen again.
We'd walked far enough behind campus where the lake was clear to see. Mister Summers stopped and took a look at the water. It was gorgeous; all blue and shimmering. I wondered if he saw everything in red, either because of his powers or because of what he always had to wear over his eyes.
He gave me an answer without giving me an answer, "Things like this are why we have the students train in squads. Even so, the program is designed to ease you into the dangers that come with this life," What went unsaid, but was implied: it was going to happen again. "For what it's worth, you did well."
I sat down on the grass and let out a scoff. To think, that anything I did would have really mattered in the long run if I had made just one decision differently, "It was Saberwolf. We'd have been killed without him," I commented, laying back and staring up at the sky, "I might not have even gotten to Ruth if I hadn't sprung him first."
I would never forget that. I couldn't even budge Pierce. He took my best shot again and again, and he barely even flinched. If that stupid wolf-bot had never stepped in, I would have been a corpse laying up in the medical wing's morgue or in a freezer underground somewhere, waiting on the Reavers to study what was left of me.
Fighting on my own, I never had a chance. The only reason things went as well as they did was because when it came down to it, I hadn't been alone.
"You still had the courage to do something," He said, "It would have been easy to wait for a rescue that might not have come in time if you hadn't managed to get away."
That sort of crap wasn't going to work on me that easily. I wasn't some cynical prick, but I was still a teenager. If I thought you were patronizing me, I wasn't going to just accept what you were telling me at face value.
"I'm not brave," I shut my eyes and basked in the comfortable warmth of the sunlight, "...I was scared to death the whole time."
If I were a real X-Man, I would have done something sooner. If I were good enough, Ruth wouldn't have been in any kind of danger to begin with. It didn't even involve her. If I were a real hero, I wouldn't have been scared at all.
Mister Summers let out an amused sound, "It says a lot that you're willing to admit that," He told me, "I'll just leave you with this, Bellamy. Courage isn't never being afraid. Courage is being absolutely terrified, but choosing to act anyway."
I kept my eyes shut and let him walk away. It did feel good to be recognized, even if it was just for saving my own ass. I didn't need it, but it would have been a lie to say that hearing it from the guy who called the shots around school didn't give me a little ego boost.
That didn't mean I still didn't have a lot to think about, though. Mister Summers' departure left me by myself at the lake with a little time to relax outside of class and a lot to think about.
What kind of person was I? And what kind of X-Man did I want to be?
Well, that's what I've got for you guys this time around.
So here's the thing, my brain is kind of obsessive, which should be kind of obvious by the fact that I don't do this for money, I do it for fun, despite the amount of stories that I already have. It's barely by choice, by the way. This was occupying so much of my thinking time before I ever even put the first word to a page, I wasn't going to get anything else done until I started writing this anyway.
That's how it's worked for every other story I've ever done. I literally can't focus on anything else creative until I get the thing that's burning my skull from the inside out onto a flash drive.
This is still an experiment in the works, so I hope you guys enjoyed.
Kenchi out.