A/N - Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah which starts tonight at sundown. Good Kwanzaa which starts tomorrow. And Season's Greetings, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year to everyone!
Disclaimer: The X-Men were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and belong to Marvel Comics. Harry Potter was created by and belongs to J.K. Rowling. I also don't own Godzilla. I make no money from this and the only thing that's mine are the original parts of the story.
26) RESCUING THE TEAM
"Normal Speech"
"Telepathy"
Lightning left the group to follow Mage's patronus. Logan went with him leaving Juggernaut to lead the prisoners to safety. This he did very well. He was able to find his way back to the exit from the fortress simply by following what Mage had called his "trail of busted up Sentinels" that he'd made earlier. None of the defunct Sentinels had been cleaned up yet so it was easy to find the way out of the fortress. Now and then they ran into a functioning Sentinel or even two. They didn't stay functioning for long after meeting Juggernaut.
Eventually they came back to the place where the weapons were mounted on the outer wall of the fortress. With some blows of his powerful fists Juggernaut made sure to destroy all of the remaining weapons in that location thereby clearing several new unimpeded exits from the building. Beyond it he could see a clear sky with sunlight shining down from it. He exited the fortress and dropped down to the ground before turning to the line of people behind him.
"Last stop" he said in a loud voice, "everyone out!" None of the people behind him needed to be told twice and the stream of former prisoners poured out of the fortress. Juggernaut stood by and watched them all exit the building making sure none of them were hurt as they passed through the gun port. Here and there he helped the occasional prisoner down from the port but most of them didn't need any help. Once the last of the prisoners was outside Juggernaut looked back in through the exit to make sure no one had been left behind before turning away and making his way out onto the field surrounding the fortress.
"Is everyone all right?" he called to the rescued prisoners, all of whom seemed to be fine.
"That's good" continued Juggernaut when he was satisfied no one was hurt.
"Let me take Madame Umbridge from you" said Snape, "I can get her to a magical hospital for treatment. Maybe they'll be able to do something for her."
Juggernaut took Madame Umbridge off of his shoulder and handed her over to Snape. She didn't react to this at all. Snape then proved that he could do some wandless magic when he cast a sleeping spell on her before picking her up and carrying her away from the fortress.
Now that he'd gotten all of the prisoners out Juggernaut looked across the field and saw a large contingent of soldiers approaching along with a bunch of members from what was obviously the local police force. They must have arrived while he was inside the fortress. He also saw that the person who seemed to be in command of the soldiers was talking to Thor who must have also arrived while he'd been inside. Juggernaut wondered what the thunder god was doing here but put it aside for the moment. Instead he raised his hand and waved at some of the soldiers and signaled for them to help the prisoners. The soldier who was talking to Thor nodded toward Juggernaut and began issuing orders to his men who reached the rescued prisoners and began seeing to their needs.
Juggernaut then looked to his right and almost froze in shock at what he saw. Standing there, looming over the fortress from not too far away, was the biggest reptile – no, the biggest animal – no, the biggest sentient living being, period, that he'd ever seen in his life. Cain had heard the stories about the kaiju that defended Japan and vaguely knew that one of them was supposed to be heading towards America. Obviously, it had arrived. Godzilla, that was its name Juggernaut reminded himself as he looked at the giant reptile and wondered what exactly it was going to do. And why was it not already doing it?
"Cain!" called a voice. Juggernaut turned and saw Professor Xavier wheeling himself towards him. Xavier looked rather harried.
"Charles" said Juggernaut turning towards his step-brother, "are you okay?"
"I'm fine" said Xavier, "the real question is how are you? You rescued a lot of prisoners."
"Lightning and Logan said I should" said Juggernaut.
"Lightning's alive?" asked Xavier, "he's okay?"
"Last time I saw him he was" came the reply, "and that guy Logan who was with him? I don't know who he is but he and Lightning seemed to know each other. In fact I remember they called each other grandfather and grandson. Under the circumstances I thought he might be one of yours."
"No" said Xavier looking thoughtful, "but he could be in the future. I might know who he is. What did he look like?"
Juggernaut described what Logan's appearance and the professor's face took on a look of surprise.
"My goodness" said the professor, "that does sound like Lightning's grandpa. We all thought he was dead."
"He looked very alive to me" said Juggernaut.
"That will make Lightning happy" said the professor, "did you see any of the other X-Men?"
"Other than Mage and Lightning? No. Last I heard Mage had found the team and had sent a message to Lightning to come quickly. He and Logan went to find the team and left me to lead out the prisoners."
"Which you seem to have done very effectively" said the professor, "did they all make it out with you?"
"As far as I can tell" said Juggernaut, "we ran into some Sentinels along the way who disagreed with my freeing the prisoners but I 'persuaded' them to allow it."
"Of course you did" said the professor.
"Brother" said Juggernaut gesturing at Godzilla, "what about the kaiju?"
"What about it?"
"I heard it was headed this way" said Juggernaut, "but now that it's here why isn't it attacking the fortress?"
"That's a very good question" said Xavier, "which, fortunately, I can answer since I'm the one who convinced it to come here."
"Excuse me?" said Juggernaut in surprise, "you did what?" The professor explained to Juggernaut about how he'd first made contact with Godzilla and Rodan when they were defending Japan and had convinced to Godzilla to come to America to destroy the Sentinels at the source. Once Godzilla actually arrived at the fortress (with Thor following not far behind) the professor had communicated with him again and managed to stop him from obliterating the fortress until after all living people inside it could be evacuated.
"You know" said Juggernaut after hearing what the professor had to say, "has anyone ever told you that you can be very scary when you want to be?"
"I've heard that on occasion" said the professor with a straight face as he went on to tell Juggernaut how both the military and the police had arrived shortly after Godzilla and were there both to help anyone who came out of the fortress and to take Bolivar Trask into custody along with anyone who might have helped him.
"I'd better get back inside" said Juggernaut, "the X-Men might need my help."
"I'll help guide you to them" said the professor, "now that Godzilla has been convinced to wait until everyone living is out of there I can spare some of my power to find them. I'll let Thor know too. He'll almost certainly follow you soon."
The professor concentrated for a moment.
"I've found them" the professor said, "here's where you need to go..."
When Lightning and Logan reached the team they were surprised at what they found. The team, except for Mage, weren't stuck in a bunch of cells. Instead they'd all been put into some sort of giant globe that appeared to be made out of glass and was completely sealed with no obvious opening in it anywhere. It sat on a metal base which contained some machinery which reached down into the floor.
Lightning could see the team clearly and he was a bit puzzled by what he saw. They were all lying, or semi-lying on the bottom of the globe. It looked like they were having trouble getting up from their positions.
"Lightning" said Marvel Girl to both him and Mage, "glad to see you're all right."
"What's going on?" asked Lightning, "why are you having trouble getting up? Your powers seem to be working if you can communicate with me."
"Our powers aren't affected" was the reply, "but the globe is infused with a heavy gravity field that's keeping us down and whatever the globe is made of is resistant to our powers."
"How do we stop it?" asked Mage.
"We think it's controlled by the machine underneath the globe" said Marvel Girl.
"Is that all?" said Lightning who began firing lightning bolts at the machine under the globe. It didn't take long before it shorted out. The effect was immediate as all of the prisoners in the globe were suddenly able to sit up or stand up without any trouble.
"Well done Lightning" said Mage, "now we just need to get them out of there. Unfortunately you heard what Marvel Girl said about it being resistant to their powers. I've tried magic too that didn't work either."
"If magic doesn't work" said Logan stepping forward, "let's try something a bit more physical." With a "snikt" Logan unsheathed his claws and began attacking the globe. The material that made up the globe might have been a lot tougher than glass but even it couldn't resist being sliced up by Adamantium and in short order Logan had cut open a hole in the globe big enough for the members of the team to get out of it. One by one they all exited the globe and were soon reunited with their other two teammates.
"Thank you for opening the globe" said Cyclops to Logan, "I'm Cyclops and we're the X-Men." He introduced Iceman, Angel, Beast and Marvel Girl.
"I see you've already met Lightning and Mage" Cyclops continued, "what's your name?"
"You can call me Logan" was the reply.
"Wait a minute" said Beast getting a good look at Logan, "Logan? As in Harry's grandfather?"
"You know about me?" asked Logan turning to Lightning, "you told them about me?"
"I told them what I knew at the time" said Lightning, "and I showed them the picture of you that I had."
"Wow" said Iceman, "you're the Wolverine from the Howling Commandoes!"
"I was" said Logan, "but that was a long time ago."
"Wait until you hear his story" said Lightning, "he told me all about it while we were stuck in our cell."
"And I'm sure we'll all be glad to hear it" said Cyclops, "but now isn't the time. We need to find our way to the Master Mold and destroy it as well as find some way to shut down all of the Sentinels."
"Mage and I saw the Master Mold before we were captured" said Lightning, "I don't know where its room is from here though. Mage, do you know?"
"Yes" said Mage, "I can guide us there. Come on."
With that the team and Logan moved away from the globe and headed down one of the halls.
"I wonder why no Sentinels showed up while you were getting us out?" said Marvel Girl, "I would have thought the room had an alarm."
"Maybe it did and we just didn't hear it" said Angel, "in which case it's a good thing we left that room."
"Or maybe" said Mage, "the Sentinels can't respond to the alarm if there is one. Look there." Mage pointed up ahead and the whole team was shocked to see two Sentinels lying on the floor in their path. Both Sentinels were obviously very badly damaged and offline.
"What happened to them?" asked Angel in surprise.
"The short version" said Mage sounding like he was smirking under his mask, "is that Juggernaut happened to them."
"Juggernaut?" said Cyclops sounding a lot more alert, "he's here?"
"Yes" said Lightning who sounded pleased about that fact, "and he's on our side. Hopefully he got all of the prisoners out of the fortress by now."
"I did" said a new voice and they all turned to see Juggernaut approaching them, "my brother was right when he told me exactly how to find you."
"Everyone's safe?" asked Lightning.
"Yes" said Juggernaut, "but we should hurry. The military's here and so is Godzilla. Charles has convinced the kaiju to wait until we've cleared the fortress before attacking it but who knows how long it will wait? The sooner we finish things here the better."
"I agree bub" said Logan, "let's do our business and bust out of this place."
"Couldn't have uttered that expression more appropriately myself" said Beast, "Mage, if you would?"
"Of course" said Mage who led them down another hallway. Juggernaut walked next to him. The other X-Men, aside from Lightning, still weren't sure what to make of Juggernaut helping them.
"Are you sure about him?" Cyclops asked Lightning in a low voice.
"Yes" said Lightning, "I saw him send a Sentinel flying down a hallway. You should have seen it. Also he released all of the prisoners from their cells by ripping off the cell doors."
"But why did he come here?" asked Angel.
"He said he's trying to do something worthwhile and this definitely counts" said Lightning.
"Wow" said Marvel Girl, "he really took to heart what you said to him last March."
Before Lightning could reply the group came across a Sentinel that was in perfect working order – or it was for the few seconds it had before Juggernaut walloped it down the hall where it smashed against a wall and lay without moving.
"You know" said Cyclops seeing this, "it's actually kind of nice to have that sort of muscle on our side in a fight."
"You got that right bub" said Logan, "that guy could give me lessons in how to throw a punch, and that's saying a lot."
"Thank you Logan" said Juggernaut, "I think we're going the right way. I can hear more Sentinels up ahead. There must be a real gathering of them nearby."
"Probably where the Master Mold is" said Mage, "we're almost there now. I think it's in that room at the end of this hallway."
Even as the words left Mage's mouth they heard the voice of Bolivar Trask come through a public address system.
"Sentinels!" yelled Trask, "the mutants are approaching the Master Mold. They must not reach it! Stop them by any means necessary!"
"Quoting Malcolm X?" said Beast, "coming from Trask that's completely inappropriate."
Despite what Beast said a whole bunch of Sentinels began pouring out of the chamber up ahead.
"Mutants!" said the lead Sentinel, "they must be neutralized at once. Attack!"
"This is it" said Cyclops, "go X-Men – and friends!"
(To Be Continued)
A/N - That's that. Meanwhile please take a moment to leave me some feedback. Constructive comments are always welcome but no flames or trolls please. Stay safe and well everyone and I'll hopefully see you all next year.