Beta Team
Members: Negasonic,
Spirit Box,
Colossus,
Glimpse,
CaduceusLocation: Hallway #3 -> the Lab
Skills: Mediumship,
Telepathy, Perception, Mechanical Engineering, Enhanced Speed,
Mechanical Engineering,
Strategy,
Healing Factor
Due to the destructive capabilities of Negasonic, Colossus, and Glimpse, they had been assigned to destroy Sinister's laboratory. Sunshine and Jack had been trapped in it earlier, escaping out of hallway #3. And while those two had destroyed Sinister's mutant DNA library, there were captive mutants in the lab itself and a plethora of research items that needed to be taken care of. For once, Negasonic wasn't on her phone, the device stashed away in her back pocket.
"Are you good, man?" Ben asked Casper softly, as the group stared down the hallway. Some of the fragile specimens and heirlooms had been smashed in the fighting earlier, formaldehyde staining the ground.
"... I mean, that weird ghost is gone, so that's good?" Casper shrugged. He at least had the sense to keep his voice down, even as he talked to his ghostly best friend. Shaw's spirit had vanished after Casper went through Blink's portal. It had taken a few minutes for Ben to reappear after the teleportation too.
"Be careful, I doubt he'll stay gone long... And watch out for murderous nazis," Ben added.
"Yeah, wouldn't want to nazi that coming." Colossus ignored Casper's ramblings. He was in his metallic form, prepared for anything that might come his way. He saw it as his duty to protect these people, no matter the cost. Negasonic was his ward, the others were newfound friends.
"Stay ready," Colossus reminded everyone.
"Do not fight battles you cannot win." "Like one against Sinister?" Negasonic asked with an eye roll.
James eyed the various broken items littering the floor. He couldn't imagine what it must have been like being stuck down here surrounded by all these... oddities. Art was fine and all but this took it to a new level of awkward. He laughed quietly at Negasonic's sarcasam and refocused on the job after a concerned glance at Casper but it seemed he was good for now.
"So the breaking stuff part seems easy but what are we doing with people we rescue? Keep them with us and hopefully safe?" "I would say try and focus on setting the lab up to be destroyed. If we come across anyone, we can kind of try to group everyone together so we can all leave at once. I'll see if I can see how many are inside this lab," Luna said and shut her eyes for a moment. It would be good to know if there were any captives or villains on the other side. Unfortunately there was some kind of telepathic block. Luna flinched from the pain of trying to look into the room and shook her head, frowning.
"Sinister's put a block over this room. I can't get past it. We're going in blind," she said frustrated. Anything could be on the other side of that door and if Sinister put a block on the room, she wouldn't be surprised if there were mutant guards on the other side of that door.
For once, Casper had a good idea.
"... Ben can go and scout ahead - Sinister probably isn't trying to keep out ghosts," he offered.
"Ben, do you mind?" he then asked, looking at his ghostly friend. Ben was currently standing a little bit behind Glimpse.
"I mean, it's not like I can die again, so... Why not..." Ben said with a shrug, walking through the door to the lab. A few moments later, Ben walked back through the door and flashed Casper a not at all ironic thumbs up.
"No one evil's there. Just about eleven mutants in cages. They all look...off." "Off how?" Casper asked, though he had a feeling he already knew.
"...Kinda the way you look sometimes, no offense." "Ben says there's eleven drugged up mutants in cages in there, no one else," Casper informed the group.
"So I think it's safe to enter, as long as you don't taunt them with pills or anything... Speaking of which..." he then reached into his pockets, only to sigh - there weren't any pills there. He wanted a hit right now, not because he was freaked out or scared, but because he was addicted.
"...Let us go rescue our mutant brothers and sisters, da?" Colossus told the others, stepping forward and opening the door to the lab, before heading inside himself. Some of the vials had been smashed. A freezer containing DNA samples had been completely trashed. Two of the cages were ajar, indicating escaped mutants.
Casper's ability was so useful. It sucked that it made him miserable though. He followed Colossus through, looking around at everything. There was already a bit of damage there but way too much was intact. He eyed the room critically. They had two jobs, rescue and destroy. The others definitely had the destroy part on lockdown so James decided it was probably best for him to focus on the other part. He considered the cages, locks in worn out condition, and looked around for something to help bust them open. Getting these guys out of blasting range would let their heavy hitters go wild without fear of injury.
"Hey Casper, you think you could help me keep these guys out of the way for a second? Imma gonna break the locks and send them.your way okay? James asked even as he picked up a computer monitor. It wasn't much but it would get the job done. Beggars cant be choosers after all. He took a few moments to check the locks. Weakest at the top so a straight down smash should get the job done.
"Okay guys, I'm going to start breaking you out of here. Once I get the door opened, go ahead and run over to Casper, that guys there." James pointed Casper out and then he lifted the monitor and slammed in on the locks. He managed to break five of the open.
"Okay, let's go. Over to Casper quick as you can." Luna heard the relay from Casper about his ghost friend Ben. At least they wouldn't be going in blind then. She didn't like the idea of drugged up mutants being released, look how well that happened last time but they didn't have many options and then needed to get all of them out. Preferably alive. Luna followed in after Casper and Colossus, she stepped out of the way for James and Negasonic and surveyed the room, seeing what the rest of them saw.
"We need to destroy any computer hard drives as well. He may have things already backed up but limiting his resources would be ideal." Luna checked around but it seemed the only monitor had just been destroyed by James. Not entirely bad but not ideal for her original thought either. Luna moved off, letting Casper and James look after the mutants and started scanning the area for items to use in bomb making. She had forgotten Negasonic was a living bomb but they could use it here or in the lobby so Negasonic wasn't caught in a possible blow back. As she worked, she scanned the lab, glancing at all the vials and odd things but didn't see anything that would trigger her suspicion.
Colossus ripped the doors off of the remaining cages, freeing the rest of the captured mutants. They all seemed relatively harmless, most of them too drugged up to really notice what was going on. A few of them were coherent though, practically running out of the cages as soon as Colossus and James had freed them. Casper was by no means the sort of savior they expected to be running to - he looked like a homeless piece of trash.
"Da, go to garbage man," Colossus told them, a slight smile on his metallic face as he directed the mutants to Casper.
"Wow, he actually said something funny - it's a miracle," Negasonic quipped. She went up to the hard drive that had been connected to the monitor James grabbed, charging up her own powers ever so slightly and exploding the piece of machinery into nothingness.
"Are you blowing this place up or am I, Princess?" she asked Glimpse.
"Okay, yay, we're escaping, we're calm, we're following me! And I am not at all offended by being called garbage man by a nice, shiny Russian ex X-Men," Casper narrated. He started walking backwards, as if he was some sort of tour guide. All of the mutants followed him warily to the exit of the lab, well all except for one. There was one last mutant being held prisoner inside of this laboratory. Glimpse would be able to detect a faint psychic signature - Nightcrawler was stashed away in here somewhere.
"We're going to get everyone down this hallway and then we're going to teleport you home," Casper promised, leading the mutants out of the lab and into the hallway like some sort of demented Pied Piper.
"You're talking to them like they're kids and you're escorting them out in a fire drill," Ben pointed out.
"Shut up, Ben. No one asked you." "Just saying..." James put down the computer monitor and looked around. With all the mutants safetly out of the lab, all that was left to do was destroy the lab. The rest of the hall didn't have any doors so they'd probably just meet up with the rest of the team once they were in the clear.
"Unless you need me here, I'll head back with the Casper and the others. I doubt I'll be useful blowing things up." He said.
"If things start getting loud, I don't want him to be on his own if they panic." James waited for some sort of confirmation before he rushed off.
Luna stood up with her makeshift lab created bomb in hand and looked around as the others finished freeing the mutants.
"Hold on, there's one more," Luna stated. She looked at Negasonic when she asked who was blowing up the lab, the Princess comment didn't bother her any. She had heard worse.
"Take care of this lab, we'll save the bomb for the lobby when we are all leaving and detonate it once we were are safely out," Luna said. Luna focused back on the last mutant. She sighed.
"This one is very drugged up, like Vulcan and Magik were. I'm going to go try binding him so we can get him out," she noted. Luna walked over to the cage that was behind the DNA freezer. She attempted to bind him but was completely blocked.
"Colossus, could I get a hand over here?" She started to look around the area to find something that could be used to either tie up Nightcrawler or knock him out.
Colossus nodded, walking over to Glimpse.
"Please, step back," he requested, not wanting to get Glimpse hurt. Despite his tease of Casper, he tried to operate respectfully whenever possible - even in interactions with Deadpool. He peered into the cage, seeing Nightcrawler in an almost feral state. He didn't look like he was in any shape to escape, so Colossus pried open the cage and went to hit Kurt over the head to knock him out, only for Nightcrawler to vanish in a
poof of smoke. The lights in the lab then went out.
"Great, hide and go seek with Kurt," Negasonic said dryly, listening in the dark to try to pinpoint Nightcrawler's location.
"I never enjoyed night time raids," Luna mused. The lights had shut off, thanks to Nighcrawler's escape, making things increasingly difficult. Luna tried to pinpoint him telepathically but he was moving too quickly. She switched tactics and tried to combat speed with speed. She managed to catch up with him but he quickly responded by kicking her below the belt. Whoever said, woman getting kicked downstairs was a daft cow. Luna buckled and a string of beautiful British known curses flooded out of her.
"Bloody wanker kicked me in the fanny! You better hope I don't get my hands on you!" Luna shouted into the room.
"Nightcrawler, you are X-Man. Stop this," Colossus implored the teleporting mutant.
"DUCK!" Negasonic screamed all of the sudden, before she let off a gigantic blast of energy. The detonation caused a small crater to form in the center of the laboratory, all of the pieces of equipment near Negasonic being flung backwards. Nightcrawler had been thrown back into one of the cages by the sheer force, hitting his head hard. If there was a time for Glimpse to try her psychic voodoo, it was now.
Out in the hallway, Casper couldn't help but be relieved that there weren't more doors to check. Each door they had to open felt like stepping into a new dungeon in a video game.
"Did that feel too easy to you?" Casper couldn't help but ask James. They had made it back to the circular room from before, where the elevator was located. None of the other teams had returned and they'd have the easiest time evacuating the imprisoned mutants with a teleporter like Magik or Blink. Of course, they could always take the elevator back up, but the streets weren't an option due to the anti-mutant riots.
"Like... We got our asses kicked with just Vulcan at the hospital... Shouldn't there be like... twenty Vulcans here?" "Now that you mention it, you're right. Everything we've done as a group has been challenging. Why isn't this? James looked back down the hall with a frown. He tilted his head for a second as he looked at the now dark doorway to the lab.
"Well, I think we just found our problem. I'm almost 100 percent sure those lights were on when I left. We really should have figured out a way to communicate between everyone, huh? Something to remember next time." James was torn between going back down the hall and checking on the others and staying here. Veil was right that everyone should stay with their group and leaving Casper would leave him to defend ten drugged out mutants by himself.
"Do you think Ben would be against poking his nose in there again? We shouldn't split up and we definitely shouldn't leave these guys by themselves." "You should probably tell him that I can hear him, he just can't hear me," Ben pointed out to Casper.
"Be back in a sec. Try not to get yourself killed, will ya?" Ben scolded, before he ran into the darkness and vanished.
"Ben is scouting ahead," Casper told James, before eyeing the mutants they'd rescued. They seemed to be pretty harmless, though one of them was sneezing
flames and another was slowly drifting towards the ceiling, like a helium balloon being released from the grip of a small child. Their power sets were odd and varied, but Casper noticed that they all were
offensive powers. Sinister and Shaw weren't putting just anyone through the Hound project - just those that would make good fighters. It made Casper feel a little bit relieved, figuring that he and James wouldn't have to worry about being turned into Hounds. Feedback would probably be safe too.
Ben then reappeared, running down the hallway towards them.
"There's a freaking blue demon in there!!!" Ben screamed, clearly panicked despite already being dead.
"Uh, so Ben has... well, just bad news. Apparently they're fighting a demon?" Casper said, puzzled before something clicked. He had spent his early childhood at Xavier's School.
"...Nightcrawler... They're fighting Nightcrawler..." "Well, that's a problem." James said as the sound of something exploding came down the hallway. Negasonic clearly joined the fight. He hesitated for a second. How did they deal with someone that could teleport? He must have some sort of limit so if they could outlast him, maybe use the darkness to pull out Glimpse and Negasonic so Colossus was the biggest threat, or they could trick him, force him to teleport and be prepared when he tried to attack someone from behind. James foot tapped, caught between going to jump in and help and stay here with Casper and... he eyed the others warily. They seemed way too out of it present any real sort of problem so worse comes to worse he could always just poke his head in to make sure everyone was okay after Negasonic blasted the room.
"I'm going to check on them to see how they're doing. Just want to make sure no one needs to get put back together yet." James told Casper, bolting down the hallway and sticking his head in the dark room. He peered into the dimness and saw everyone was still standing at the very least. Nightcrawler seemed stunned for the moment, throwing the need for his plan out the door. He gave Casper a hesitant thumbs up.
Luna was still in a bit of pain, having to crouch over some to keep from the sharp pain that would occur when she moved. She would have taken over being punch in the boobs over the fanny any day. She managed to duck at Negasonic's yell, breathing through the sharp change and saw that Nightcrawler was out. She attempted to bind him, twice but failed both times.
"I can't keep him bound. Colossus do you want to try carrying him out of here now that he's out? Hopefully he'll be knocked out enough from Negasonic's blast so we can all get out of this bloody place." The British accent was heavy on Luna's voice from the pain, frustration and annoyance.
Unfortunately, Nightcrawler was merely stunned - not unconscious. He teleported to another location in the room, the scent of sulfur left behind in his wake.
"Careful - do not allow him to grab you. Nightcrawler will kill you," Colossus warned. There were some things burning due to Negasonic's blast, providing them all with a little bit of light in the room. It was just enough light for Colossus, Negasonic, and James to watch with horror as Nightcrawler appeared behind Glimpse. He had run her through with his sword. Neither of them were healers, but Colossus had seen a lot in his lifetime. Glimpse would be lucky to survive that injury.
Whoever said horrible things happen in slow motion was a fucking liar. One second, Glimpse was talking to Colossus and the next, Nightcrawler stood behind her with a blade running though her. James felt the wind rush out of his lungs. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the on the blade. Someone was screaming. He realized his legs were moving and he was charging Nightcrawler, lashing out ineffectively in a poor attempt to move the mutant. Someone was screaming. He grabbed the sword. James noted his hands were shaking but he pulled it out anyways. He hit his knees and pressed against the wound, trying desperately to staunch the flow of blood. Someone was scre―
Oh. He was screaming.
Blood welled around his fingers no matter how desperately he pressed against it. His own blood pounded in his ears, refusing to settle in the familiar manner when he tried these things. What if it didn’t work? What if he couldn’t fix this? What if someone died in his hands? He couldn’t stop shaking, he couldn’t stop screaming,
begging for this to work. Slowly, he felt his heartbeat match and the blood started to slow. She didn’t have much time.
Luna was looking at Colossus when she felt a rather odd sensation. Her peripheral vision darkened, her eyes focused directly in front of her at Colossus's metal body. The fire light danced over his form, casting beautiful shadows that Luna seemed to get lost in. And then everything snapped back and she felt as if her body were on fire. Luna looked down, shock settling over her as she saw the point of a sword sticking out of her abdomen. Her fingers fluttered around the sword, confirming it was real before she dropped to her knees. She tried to speak, a panic settling over her but no words emerged. Only a wet, gurgling sound as blood filled her mouth and spilled over her chin. Perhaps being kicked in the fanny, wasn't so bad.
Luna heard screaming but it was faint, as if she were underwater. Come to think of it, chocking on her own blood as she was, was similar to how she felt when she was drowning all those years ago. Some things were vastly different but shock had a funny way of telling the body something different, if only for the mind to cope. She felt someone slam into her back and suddenly the sword disappeared and an intense pressure was pressed against her open wound. Her hands fluttered again, trying to help but she felt rather cold and weak. She reached out, trying to speak again but her mind brushed up against James and she found it easier to speak that way.
Take me home, to my father. Please. It was a simple request, if not the plea of a small child but is that not what we all are when standing on death's doorstep. Children waiting to go home. Luna lifted her hand and groped her neck, fingers slipping down a gold chain.
Take this. If they couldn't take her body, the least they could do was return her
locket to her family.
“No. No. NO! NO!” James thought back at her, although he may have screamed it. It was hard to tell anymore. A wetness spread across the back of his hands, catching the weak light flickering around the room. His world shrunk to nothing more than the color of blood and an encroaching silence that filled him with dread and despair. He heard her slipping, the dull beating of his own heart slowly coming to a halt in tandem with hers. He couldn’t breath, he couldn’t speak, he couldn’t think.
He was consumed by the stillness.
No. Everything in him rebelled against he frigid emptiness. He pushed, he screamed, he struggled against it with everything he had, everything
she had, for what felt like an eternity before... A weak
thump. He felt his own heart tremble and he pushed himself harder than he ever had, pushed himself further than he ever could, pushed himself as far and fast as possible, grabbing that single thread that kept her here and
pulled. He gasped as the silence roared into a cacophony and everything came rushing back: the crackling of the flames, the feeling of blood on his palms and tears on his face, the pain of the floor biting into his knees. The sensation of
life slammed into him like a train and all he could do was stare as he felt a heart start again and flesh slowly knit together.
Luna's world eventually fell silent, her eyes closed and her limbs went limp. There was a comfort in the nothingness that seemed to pull Luna closer. She didn't fear death, death was apart of living and she always knew she would go in a fight. That's how she wanted to go. The nothingness revolted and she was thrown back to the living. Her heart beat and her lungs filled and the pain returned. She gasped, her eyes opening and she looked blindly around the room until things focused back. Then the pain was gone, the feeling of warmth spreading around her left and was replaced with the cold of the blood that now soaked her shirt. She looked up at James who was still compared to her movements. She didn't know what to say, thank you seemed hollow when your life was just saved. Luna pushed herself up, ignoring the head rush and hugged James.
Ben was staring at Glimpse, dumbfounded. For a brief moment, her spirit had been about to cross over to the other side. He didn't wish this plane of existence on anyone - it was cold, empty, and harsh. Casper was the only thing that made it bearable, as he continued to evolve and change unlike the dead. The dead could never move on. Casper ran into the room, leaving the liberated mutants in the circular chamber in the center.
"Is.... Is everyone okay?" he stammered out.
"I... I am so sorry..." Nightcrawler stammered, stumbling backwards. "Please... forgive me, fraulein..."
James barely registered it as Glimpse hugged him. He couldn't look away from the blood coating his hands. Nightcrawler's apology, Casper's arrival, it was all just static in his head. Glimpse's last words, the crushing feeling of his heart stopping in tandem with hers, the burn in his lungs. It all lingered. The stickiness on his hands kept him there in that moment, even as he felt the woman that was dying in front of him breath again. He couldn't stop shaking, he couldn't stop crying. He felt like he lost something, like it took something.
"Please." James said quietly, not really sure what he was asking for.
Luna looked over James's shoulder, seeing Casper walk in. She could feel James shaking and his tears start to fall on the top half of her shirt. Good thing she had worn a darker colour, if it had been white there would be no point in wearing a shirt anymore. Luna pulled back, looking at James when he said please. She wasn't sure what he was referring to but it could be a whole matter of things in reference to what the two of them had just gone through. She glanced down, seeing his blood covered hands. Her blood coated his hands and she swallowed. She looked around for something that could help wipe his hands clean but there was nothing beyond her shirt, which was covered and his. Nighcrawler started speaking, asking for damned forgiveness. Luna looked over at the mutant.
"Don't ask me that now. Not now," she growled out him. Later maybe but right now, hell bloody no. She looked back at James.
"We need to get out of here. We can deal after but right now we have to go to the other mutants." Luna was in a bit of shock herself but all she knew to do was to keep moving forward.
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