Xmen REVAMP 7

Time Bomb

Pietro and Kody were walking back to base, sneaking in really because they weren’t suppose to leave, but the two wanted to go see a movie together. They really hadn’t had any time to just catch up and talk like old friends usually did. They snuck through a window that was a part of Pietro’s room. Kody went out into the hall to go to her room, but the quiet atmosphere unnerved her. It wasn’t that late into the night, surely someone else had to be up. Granted they didn’t want anyone to catch them as they snuck back in, but they figured Wanda and Lance would stay up to tease them about it.
“… Pietro?” Kody called.
“What?” He asked, suddenly appearing next to her.
“I don’t think… anyone’s here.”
“What are you talking about? My father didn’t have anything planned today, which is why we agreed to sneak out to watch a movie.” He shrugged. “Maybe they’re all asleep?”
“But wouldn’t Wanda and Lance stay up to tease us about this “date”?”
“Well, it wasn’t a date…” He grumbled, slight pink hue appearing on his cheeks. She did have a point, though. Wanda and Lance were suppose to cover for them if his father, or anyone else for that matter, began asking questions. They were teased before they left, surely they would stay up to tease them again?
“Something doesn’t feel right.”
“Okay, okay, I’ll go and see if everyone is in their rooms.” He took off. A moment later, he returned with a surprised look on his face that he quickly covered up. “Hmm… Maybe they went out looking for us?”
“All of them?”
He sighed. “The only thing left to check is the security system.” He picked up Kody and within three seconds, they were in the security room where everything was monitor except for the personal room. Kody went to the controls and surfed through the day’s video feeds. Everything looked normal until an hour after they left. Pietro pointed a finger at a corner screen. “Hey, what’s that…?”
Kody rewound the video and brought it the center screen. A mysterious truck, unmarked and painted black, drove up to the base. A few body armored goons got out and infiltrated the facility and other screens displayed them knocking out the rest of the team in various ways, taking them back to the large truck. Magneto and Sabertooth were the hardest to subdue, but were still caught in the end. The truck left and a few hours later, the two had snuck back in.
“… How…?” Kody began, but she couldn’t finish that. By all means, no one should have known that they were there, let alone powerful enough to take down Magneto.
“Who are those people?” Pietro asked.
“I’m… not a hundred percent sure…” Kody said, clicking to replay the footage again. “But… maybe it’s the group that Senator Kelly hired for his little project?”
“But how did they know where we were at? Dad made sure that this place was concealed.”
She gasped and looked up at her friend. “My hacking.” His eyes went wide. “They might have found it and traced it to here.”
“You said you were careful though?”
“I was… well I thought I was… maybe they were just better?”
Pietro scratched the back of his head. “… I don’t suppose you could find out where the others had been taken to?”
“Well… when I found the machines they were planning on, I did find a few warehouses that they were using. If I had my laptop…” Another moment later it was in her hands. “Thank you.” She opened it up and began bringing up what she had stored onto it. “Here… this is the biggest one that would have the means to holding prisoners… it looks like it’s on the other side of New York…”
“Then we need to get going.” Pietro informed.
“Just the two of us?”
“Who else is there?”
“But what can we do?”
He faltered a bit as he tried to think of something. “Well… you can mess with their systems and I can mess with everything else?”
“I… don’t know…” She messed with a strand of hair. He was right, there was no one else who could help them, but she wasn’t sure if she could handle the rescue mission. She was here only for information, not because she was a fighter.
“We have to at least try.”
She saw the determination in his eyes and sighed. “Okay, what’s the worst that could go wrong?”

… Come on… Wake up…  A voice ordered. She didn’t movie. Wake up… NOW!
A sudden explosion shattered the glass of the pod she was in. She was just barely conscious as she stumbled forward, a hand holding her hand as serious pain resided there. She bumped into something and used her other hand to grab hold of it before she fell forward. The pain slowly softened and she ran a hand through her hair, which was longer than what she remembered. Something pricked her fingers as she reached her neck. On instinct, she zapped the thing, possibly disabling it as it popped off her skin. She opened her eyes as she brought it around for her to look at it.
It was small and octagonal, clearly a microchip, but for what? Why was it on her? She didn’t care as she dropped it and stepped on it with her boot covered foot. That’s when she noticed she was in an outfit she wasn’t familiar with. It was soft white, form fitting, and a dark gray cape over her shoulders. That was weird, she never imagined wearing a cape before.
Her mind snapped back into focus. Where was she? What happened? Where were Gambit and the others? The last thing she remembered was grabbing a slice of pizza before going to her room to sleep. Something knocked her out, and now, she was here. Wherever here was…
The room she was standing was darkly lit and essentially bare save for the pod she destroyed and some kind of control pedestal that she was currently leaning against. When she was sure she would be able to walk without falling over, she made her way over to the only door that hopefully led to somewhere that would give her a few answers.
She only acquired more as the door swung open on its own with no one on the other side. The door gave way to a long hallway that stretched out on either side. It was brightly lit, but there was nothing that said which way led to where. She was the only soul in the hallway, and decided to go down the right side. She continued to meet absolutely no one else as she turned the only corner and on her way. A feeling of being here before and yet not knowing why plagued her mind. It was unsettling how familiar the setting was, but, she was sure she hadn’t been here before as well. Another corner, this time left, and she came up on another door. This one swung open as she approached it.
This one was similar to the room she was in, but it had more cells than pods, and it was filled with her fellow teammates, and a few mutants that she didn’t recognize. A single platform led its way further down the room, which led to a similar control podium, and ended where the cells were. There was only one man who was outside the cells. A bald head, his lab coat covered back to her, slightly dirty gray slacks and scuffed up shoes. He turned around when the door opened. He was an older fellow, obviously a scientist. He wore dark lab goggles that covered his eyes, but really surprised her was that his right arm was a robotic one. He was surprised to see her there as well, but shrugged when he addressed her.
“Ah, back online, Magus?” He asked.
She kept a straight face, but wondered why he called her Magus. Her name was… it was Zero. She decided to play along, and nodded.
His brows furrowed as he studied her. She began to wonder if he was capable of looking through her façade. “I did not expect them to activate you just yet. Perhaps this is just a test run… probably told you to search for me…”
Suddenly the lights flickered. It looked like the power had shut off, but a backup generator prevent them to lose power entirely.
“… Now what did those imbecile do now to trip the backup generator this time?” He scoffed with a shake of his head. “They better not be messing up with the other pawns. We need them to make sure the campaign goes according to plan.” He began walking towards the door. She stepped to the side to let him through. He paused to study her another moment. “… Stay here, Magus. When I get back I would like to perform a test of my own. I may even let you chose your opponent…” She didn’t reply, not sure if she should. “… Nod if you understand me, Magus.”
She did.
“Hmm… I guess we’ll see what the problem is when I get back.” And he left.
The door closed, and she released the breath she didn’t realize she was holding. Now she was more confused than ever. She stepped away from the door, heading backwards into the room. After the third step, she faced forward and walked over the controls.
Gambit, Sabertooth, and Colossus were accounted for, so were Wanda and Lance. Magneto, Kody and Pietro were missing, but she put the worry on the backburner for now. The rest who were in the cells were none she recognized, most of them teenagers. There was a young man with brown hair and red sunglasses, a girl younger than him with a lighter shade of brown hair and blue eyes, an elf like mutant boy with blue fur and a tail, a beast like man that could rival Sabertooth’s bulk and wild hair, and lastly a man that was short and bulky, black hair flared back and cold blue eyes. All of them were wearing collars, which obviously suppressed their mutant abilities otherwise they would have broken out by now.
“… Zéro?” Gambit called.
A sharp pain reentered her brain. Again she would have collapsed if she had not caught herself, leaning against the podium covered with buttons and levers. Imagines flashed in her mind… Training… she was training… there were others, two… both girls like herself, but their imagines were blurry… they received word of a fourth joining them… separated… the explosion… then nothing…
“Hey… hey, Zéro!” Gambit called again.
Her power caused the keyboard to pop and fizzle, she jumped away at the shock. She couldn’t tell is she was going crazy or not.
“Are you actually going to help us, or are you just gonna stand there, snow?” One of the mutants she didn’t recognize asked.
“You okay there Chére?” Gambit asked.
“I’m… I’m fine…” She answered. “It’s just… this is weird.”
“The scientist made it sound like you were just an experiment.” The sunglasses remarked. “Shouldn’t that mean you’re under their control?”
“I... I was.” She admitted. “But, I destroyed the device they were using when I… woke up…” She clicked a few other buttons. “I… think I could get you guys out…”
The power flickered once more, but remained on as she messed with the controls. However, the lights turned red as an alarm sounded off. Zero paused from her work as the door opened once more. Instead of the scientist that she was expecting, another girl stood. Much like the facility they were in, she looked familiar, but didn’t at the same time. She was in an outfit similar to the one Zero wore, but was dark green with no cape. Her green eyes were glazed over with a blank stare. Zero tensed, something wasn’t right.
“Cassandra!” The sunglasses called.
The only response she gave, was shooting a blast of fire at Zero. She quickly responded by forming a pinkish-purple energy shield. The fire was deflected and dispersed, but it only followed with another blast after blast.
“Cassandra, stop!” He ordered.
“I don’t think she’ll listen to you.” Zero remarked. There was a good chance that she was under their control.
Cassandra charged forward, fire in hand. Zero dropped her shield and prepared for close combat. They appeared equally matched as they dodge blows. She tried to disarm her opponent, knocking her out in some way, but Cassandra wouldn’t yield. Zero managed to slip around, hooking her arms underneath hers and put her in lock.
“I am not your enemy.” Zero informed. “They’re controlling you. Fight them, not me!”
Her mind control chip was in the same place Zero’s was, the base of her skull. Before she could get to it to deactivate it, Cassandra pushed her back though a burst of air. Zero flew over the control podium, back landed smack dab against the glass wall of the cells. She slumped forward, but she remained standing. Not much time to recover as Cassandra lunged forward once more. Another round of combat ensued with the new goal of getting to the control chip. If Zero could deactivate it, she would probably come to her sense.
The moment struck. When Cassandra lunged forward, Zero dodged to the side. Her pinkish-purple energy aura formed around her right hand as she zap the small device on her neck. It popped off and Zero caught it. Cassandra fell forward and collapsed on the floor, unmoving.
Zero stood there, catching her breath. She looked at the chip in her hand, an exact copy of the one she found on her neck. She dropped it, and like before, crushed it underneath her boot. Hopefully that broke whatever control they had over the poor girl. She limped over to her fellow mutant, and went to a knee. She moved a few strands of hair from her face, wondering why she looked familiar, but the name they called her didn’t ring a bell. She wasn’t thinking anything, not even dreaming. The sudden removal of what was propelling her caused her to immediately black out.
Slowly, her eyes began to open. The two of them shot away from one another, both equally confused as to what happened. Cassandra looked around madly, seeing her friends in glass cells. What happened? Where were they? She looked ahead and saw Zero. Who was she? There was a feeling of familiarity, but nothing clicked.
“Wh… what’s…?” She stuttered.
“Believe me, I wish I knew the answer.” Zero answered. “All I know is that you and I were about to become weapons that I doubt either of us wanted to be… I’m trying to get them out.” She motioned to the one in the cells. “Care to help?”
Cassandra nodded and got up. She studied the glass that separated her from her teammates. She got an idea and stood in the middle. Her hands were raised, fingers splayed as she lined up with the air that was on the other side of the glass. Zero got a weird feeling that she shouldn’t be near the glass right about now, and moved away. Suddenly Cassandra balled her hands into fists and moved as if she was pulling something towards her. Not a moment later did the glass shatter, freeing everyone that was held captive.
Gambit rushed over to Zero. “Are you sure you’re okay, petite?”
“Yeah.” She nodded, reaching for the collar. Like she had done with the control devices, she zapped it and it fell to two pieces.
“Okay, they got the Professor, Stella and Jean.” The Beast informed.
“Cyclops, Nightcrawler, you’re with me. Shadowcat, Beast, find us a way out of this place.” He looked over at Cassandra. “You coming with?”
She nodded.
“They also have Magneto, Wanda and Lance.” Gambit remarked. “Possibly Pietro and Kody as well.” He looked over at the ones who weren’t a part of Magneto’s crew. “Don’t suppose you mind us tagging along avec vous?”
Sabertooth growled with the one man who brought out metal claws. Gambit got in between them.
“We don’t have time for this.” He informed. “Right now we need to get our comrades and get out of here. You two can duke it out later, convenu?”
“Fine.” The two agreed.
They went into the hall. Beast and Shadowcat separated from the group to look for means of transportation. They found a lab room that held the Professor, Magneto, Jean, Wanda and Lance. It took a moment for them to recover from their near comatose state, and through telepathy Beast alerted them that they found a helicopter that would be able to carry all of them out. Nightcrawler took the Professor to said helicopter with a poof because there would be no other of taken him to it.
“Now we just need to find Stella.” Cyclops remarked.
“She’s… she’s around here.” Jean informed. “But I can’t seem to communicate with her.”
“Gambit, what about Pietro and his friend?” Magneto asked.
“Haven’t found them yet, if they’re even here.” He answered.
Out into the hall once more, they continued their search. Unexpectedly, Kody ran around a corner with a panic. She saw her teammates along with a few she didn’t know, and slid to a stop. “Um… Hi?” She waved before pointing behind her. “And you don’t wanna go that way…”
“Freeze!” A swarm of guards appeared at the end of the hall, guns ready to fire.
Zero grabbed Kody and prepared another shield, but in a flash the guards no longer had their guns nor were they no longer standing. Pietro stopped in front of the group and ran a hand through his hair. “What gives Kody, you said you were close to disabling the alarm?”
“I had it narrowed to the blue and the red wire.” She informed.
“And?”
“Never trust the red wire.”
“Either way, more are coming, so let’s get out of here please?”
“Then everyone should make their way to the Helicopter, while I go find Stella.” Wolverine ordered. Magneto led most of the group away. The only ones that stayed behind were Cyclops, Zero and Sabertooth. He growled at his archrival. “Why are you staying behind, Creed?”
“I don’t need to explain anything to you.” Sabertooth growled back.
With only one member left unaccounted for, they pressed onward. They received word that there was a rather large commotion in the assembly area where they were making their mutant hunting machines, located in the center of the facility. They made their way to the center, and was they saw was something they would have never predicted.
Guards were being brought down one by one in a violent, wild fashion. For all intents and purposes, Stella was like that of a feral, untamed cat. Her hair was crazy, eyes were wide, and blood covered her hands and brown uniform. She jumped, clawed, hissed and growled in an animal like dance against the ones who were trying to subdue her. When she broke through the wall of armed guards, she ran in the group’s direction, Wolverine stepping up and unsheathing his claws. Stella hesitated slightly, not sure if she was aware of who they were, or if instincts told her that Wolverine was stronger than her. Shots erupted behind her, causing her to snap and removed the remaining guards from coherent thoughts.
Stella continued to growl and hiss as Wolverine approached her. “Easy now… Take it easy… Everything is gonna be okay.”
What he was saying did not appear to get to her. When she deemed that he was too close, she lunged forward, scratched his legs, and ran towards the exit, subsequently to the others. Cyclops tried to stop her with a low focus optic blast, but she dodge out the way, struck his shoulder and the glasses that prevented his power from going haywire. Sabertooth was quick to grab her when she came close to him. Thankfully he was strong enough to hold her, but she still struggled.
“Stella!” He growled. “This is not you, stop!”
She continued struggle and fuss, any and all noise akin to that of a disgruntled feline. She twisted in his grip, but he would not let her go. He felt her claws sink into his right forearm, and exposed the control chip that was located on her neck.
“Hurry up and get this thing off her!” He ordered Zero. A second later she bit the arm her claws were into, breaking skin, and she held that position, continuing to growl.
Once again, she deactivated the chip. Only this time, probably due to Stella’s unexplainable healing ability, she did not black out. Slowly she settled down, removing her mouth and claws from Sabertooth’s skin. She saw and smelled the blood coming off of her and the ones she had slaughter. Needless to say she was devastated when she realized what she had done.
“Wha… what happened? What did I… do?” Her voice was shaky and tears were falling.
“It was not your fault.” Sabertooth informed. His grip became tighter around her. “You had no control over what they done to you.”
“But… I…”
“You can cry about it later, cub.” Wolverine remarked, handing Cyclops back his glasses. “We need to get out of here before more of them show up.”
They heading for the helicopter that everyone else was waiting at, but she still couldn’t hold back the floor of tears. She was aware of what she was doing, but couldn’t stop herself. Those people, the ones in the lab coats, they somehow suppressed logical thinking, awaking the instincts that drove her. She attacked out of fear, but it soon became rage, a rage she didn’t even know what was in her. That scared her.
They made their way out to a courtyard. Everyone was signaling for them to come to the largest helicopter in the field.
“Hey, stop!” A voice called out.
Zero slid to a stop. That voice. There was no mistaking it this time. She knew who that was. Don’t turn around! Don’t turn… She did, against what the voice was practically yelling at her. It was one of the scientists. Dark hair, sharp features, his brown eyes stern, and he was about as tall as Gambit. There were a few burned scars on his face, but there was mistaken who that was heading their way. She didn’t have a name, but deep down she knew that she hated this man the most, and the mere sight of him, the sound of his voice, was enough to trigger.
“You…” She said quietly.
“Start the Helicopter!” Gambit ordered, jumping off of it.
“What are you doing?” Magneto demanded.
“Keeping a promise!” He headed towards Zero as the blades began to spin.
“You will not be going along with them!” The scientist ordered.
“YOU!” She shouted.
Energy sprung forth from her body, forcing everything near her away. A dome formed, and it grew every second. Her eyes and hands were glowing. The energy ripped away her outfit, burning away the cape. The power was growing within and around her. The one thing she feared most, was about to repeat itself.
It was a matter of time before the area was engulfed in a crater.
Gambit rushed forward, despite the energy coming close to burning him to a crisp. Every step he moved forward, the force would push him two steps back, but he continued to get to her. “Zéro! Let me in!”
Gambit, get out of there. The Professor said in his thoughts. It’s too dangerous!
She won’t make it a second time! He shot back. He used his powers in hopes that they would cancel hers enough for him to break through. Thankfully it worked, pain intensifying with each step. I promised her I wouldn’t let this happen again!
“Zéro! Hold on! I’m coming ma chére!” And he pressed forward. She was strong, he had to admit, but this was not was she wanted. He didn’t want this to happen either.
Gambit! The Professor yelled. It’s too late! She’s going to destroy everything!
Then go without me! He ordered. I’m not about to leave her!
Do you really think you can get through to her? Magneto asked, with the help of Charles.
I promised her I would try!
Finally he was close enough to her. He reached out and grabbed her shoulders. Another surge shot through them, almost splitting him. “Zéro, you said you didn’t want to do this again! Don’t let this get the better of you! You can control this!”
No… NO! Not… again… It was her voice he heard in his mind. He could sense the Professor trying to reach through, but she was just too powerful. He sensed her power flowing through him, back into her. It was both thrilling and terrifying at the same time. He felt her thoughts, her feelings. She was aware of what was happening, but was too over whelmed to do anything. I… I… Can’t! Just… go!
I told you, I keep my promises. He replied. We can stop this… together…
H-how!? He began increasing his power, though that seemed to make things worse. What are you… No! You’re making it… stronger!
Trust me, chére!
But–
Her mind went blank as the last thing she expected happened. Gambit placed his lips against her, holding her close. Once she got over the surprise, she realized that he was taking the power from her. He was absorbing it? How was that possible!? Her power began to diminish, dwindling down until the dome faded away. Gambit brought out his bow staff, which he managed to find on their way out, and jabbed it into the ground as deep as he could. The ground ruptured beneath them, spread out in every way around the two of them, and collapsed a building, but it was no where the damage it could have been.
But… how…? He could tell she was weak. Her power was literally drained from her.
Right now… I couldn’t care less… He chuckled softly, stopping when he felt pain in his chest. It worked…
He took of the remains of his jacket, placing it around her near naked form. The next moment, he caught her and he fell to his knees. She had blackened out, and he could barely feel anything from his body, but they were breathing, both of them, and that’s what mattered.
Nightcrawler appeared next to them, took Gambit’s shoulder, and transported them back onto the helicopter. Gambit managed two steps backwards before hitting the wall, sliding to the floor as his legs gave out. He breathed heavily as he held Zero’s sleeping form against him, trying to recover from the shock of it all, but he could sleep peacefully now. He kept his promise and prevented her worst fear from happening.
“Vous allez être la mort de moi, chére.” He mumbled before passing out.