Invasion: MSV Chapter 28
Feb. 25th, 2009 11:42 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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marysuevirusI think the block is down... or at least it let this chapter out. This one kicked my ass, folks. Seriously... ugh. I was this close to giving up and making Haley a single mother. Ugh. Lucky for the Four, I got past it. ;)
Title: Invasion:MSV
Fandom: Marvel Universe
Rating: 18+
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognizable characters here. They and the world this is set in are the property of Marvel Entertainment. The Purple Team is the property of ginevrasm (Morgan/Faye), ladydeathfaerie (Dare), sessys_fangirl (Jehnna), nanaeanaven (Roxxy) and dazzledfirestar (Haley). They are not to be used without permission. I make no money from this, and it is simply a form of entertainment.
Warnings: graphic M/F sex, preg, language and as always... ANGST
She could hear the dim echo of dripping water as the hallway widened into a wide set of steps. A deep breath sent her hurrying down the steps, glancing over her shoulder periodically to make sure nothing was sneaking up on her. Torches lit the hallway sporadically and threw strange shadows on the craggy walls. Jehnna closed her eyes and took a few more deep breaths. Why had they split up? This seemed like one of those bad horror movie ideas… that the evil crazy robots were going to pick them off one by one. No, she shook her head resolutely. No, she was an X-Man. She could handle this.
There was a flicker of electric light further down the hallway, like a door opening. She slipped into the shadows and locked her eyes on the spot where the light had appeared. She hoped that whatever was on the other side of that door was friendly… or there was someone friendly to be freed there as the sound of whirring servos filled her ears. Now or never… Jehnna raised her fists and sent a wave of sound at the Doom-bot and the closing door. The robot went into and through bits of the doorframe, sending the panel flying free from its hinges.
Normally, something like that would send everyone in the room into a panic or at the very least cause some yelling of orders. None of that came. What did come at her was a wave of five robots. Just like the danger room… If she could keep thinking of it that way, this would be no problem at all. How many of the Danger Room robots had she taken out in her time? More than five, that was for damn sure. But then, Danger Room robots would stop if they got past her. She shook her head, concentrating on the group coming toward her with increasing speed.
Three of them went down easily enough, her sonic blast sending the front one into the other two and the whole jumble of metal into the nearby wall. The nearest one dodged the wave, however and got close enough to grab her by the throat. She kicked as the bot lifted her from her feet. She struggled for air, marveling for a moment at the strength the bot had. Right… artificial… her mind struggled to stay focused as she reached between the sheets of metal that served to shield the inner workings of the robot. She grabbed a handful of what felt like important cables and tugged. A moment later the strange quiet whir of the computerized brain stopped and the robot let her go. She quickly looked around the room. She’d done it. There were no more robots to smash… at least not yet, and when they came back she wanted some kind of back up.
She moved toward the computer near the far wall before a faint electric buzzing noise followed by a low shuddering groan caught her attention. She spun, thinking that the back-up bots were already bearing down on her and that’s when she saw it. What she was looking for. “Holy god…”
The buzzing was coming from the machinery that held Ben Grimm in place. Glowing electronic cuffs held his arms and legs in place, and by the look of it, periodically sent shocks through his rocky skin. Though his head was flopping forward, as much as his physiology would allow, she could see the small movement in his arms that told her he was still fighting. She went to the computer to see if it would give her any ideas on how to get him down. A low grunt from the Thing distracted her for a moment. “What in blazes…?”
“I’m on your side, Mr. Grimm.” She spoke softly. “I’m an X-Man.”
“Geez…” he flinched. Good god. He actually flinched. That couldn’t be a good sign. “They just keep gettin’ younger…”
“I’m here with Haley.” She pushed a few buttons on the panel. This wasn’t getting her anywhere.
“Figured as much, kid.”
She turned back toward the machines, studying them for a moment. The cuffs were attached to some kind of power source… if she could just break the connection… “Hold still.” She lifted her hands.
“Don’t think that’ll be a problem.” Two blasts of sound later, Ben Grimm was tearing the cuffs from his wrists and ankles. “Thanks, girlie.” He smiled… sort of, and Jehnna returned the gesture, as he took a few shaky steps down from the machine. “That was startin’ ta get uncomfortable.”
“Yeah, I bet.” She moved closer. “Are you okay? Can… if I need back up…?”
“Yeah, kid. I got yer back.”
*******************************************************************
She only ran into a few Doom-bots on her way, and they were now decorating the hallway behind her, some bits actually stuck in the rock walls. No need to keep quiet now, after all. And she had to hurry. Something told her she had to hurry. The link felt fuzzy, like it did when he was asleep beside her at home, so either he’d passed out or… she didn’t want to think about what that could mean.
The metal of a doorframe caught the dim light in the hallway. Haley took a deep breath. This was it. She knew it. She didn’t hesitate kicking in the door, driving the heavy metal plate through two of the Doom-bots in the room. She had the door back in her hands before most of the robots knew they were in a fight. She swung the heavy metal door in a wide circle, taking down several more of the guards. One last swing and a good throw took out three more, smashing them against the stone wall.
She felt something vaguely slimy hit her back and when she turned, she realized what it was. Fire retardant foam. It made sense. The bots were no doubt there to keep Johnny from escaping. “That’s just gross.” She wiped some of it off her shoulder. “Doom is so getting my dry cleaning bill.” She punched the bot and a low metallic thud signaled the end of the foam spray.
Her eyes locked on the only door in the room other than the one she’d entered through, and the two Doom-bots left standing on either side of it. The tiny window wasn’t enough to see anything through but…
Her breath caught. Water… Her eyes grew wide. No… that’s why the link wasn’t working properly. He was drowning, and probably trying to keep her out so she didn’t have to feel… She grabbed the first guard that ran at her and smashed the bot into the other one. How big was that room? How much time did she have?
She kicked off the last grip the last bot had on her ankle and moved to the door. There was a computer terminal nearby, but by the time she figured that out… no, there was only one option and it wasn’t going to be pretty. She gripped the door and yanked, blocking the force of the water spilling into the room with the panel. It pushed her back nearly to the far wall before she realized that there was a damn good chance Johnny would get swept out with all the bits of Doom-bots. “Fuck…” She pushed her way closer to the door, and reached around her shield just in time to grab him as he came out. She dropped the door as the flood ebbed.
The link flickered a little as she set him down, shifting back to her flesh self. “Johnny… please…” She shut her eyes, blinking back the tears that were starting to form as she pressed her mouth to his, forcing air into his lungs. “You can’t leave me.” It only took a few breaths before he started coughing, expelling the water from his lungs.
He blinked up at her, confusion evident on his face. “Haley?”
“Hey there, Handsome.”
“How…?”
“It’s not important. Can you stand?” He nodded slowly and let her help him to his feet, flinching when he tried to put weight on his injured leg. “We have to get you out of here.”
“You shouldn’t have come.” He leaned on her, trying to regain his balance and his breath. His chest burned each time he breathed in; a reminder of how close he’d come to dying. “The baby…”
“The baby needs you. I need you.” She shivered a little against him. “I can’t do this alone.” Green eyes locked on blue ones.
“Someone else…”
“No one would believe me.” Her cheeks flushed a deep red. “They all think you’re dead.”
“You came here alone?” She could hear the disbelief, and felt the little bit of anger leaking into his voice. “Haley, are you out of your fucking mind?”
“I didn’t come alone. The girls came with me.” She started down the rocky tunnel, helping him along.
“We have to…”
“The girls are on it. They’ll find the others.” She looked over at him. “I couldn’t just leave you here.”
He stopped, pulling her closer. “I know that, but… the baby…. If something happens to you now…”
“I know. Believe me, I know.” She pulled him along again. “That’s why we need to regroup and get the hell out of here.”
**********************************************************************
Morgan had really thought that this was going to be harder. Her normal game of bait and switch however seemed to keep the robots off her and Faye. Faye’s bat had made enough dents in enough of them to let them get through to the doorway that would no doubt lead to whoever the hell she was supposed to break out. She was just about to send Faye into the room when the last of the bots grabbed her shoulder, slamming her into the rock and knocking the wind out of her.
She recovered quickly enough to pop out of the way of the metal fist that came flying at her head. Okay, maybe this wasn’t that easy after all… She slipped her staff out of a pocket in her coat and twirled it in her hand as she rolled her shoulder. Nothing broken. That was good, though the muscles protested the movement more than she would have liked. Oh well, she’d patch herself up later. Time to make Remy proud of her.
She backed up a little, giving herself room to maneuver. She saw Faye further down the hall, wailing on another bot with her bat. “I thought you took care of those!” She cried to her double.
“Apparently, I didn’t!” The bat cracked the bot in the side of the head, leaving a massive dent. “Oh screw this!” Faye turned the bat around, changing her grip and thrusting the grip end through the throat of the machine. It felt in a shower of sparks as she disappeared.
Morgan dodged a few more swings from the Doom-bot in front of her before sweeping its feet out from under it. Her reach wasn’t quite long enough and she just managed to throw it off balance. A good swift kick to its hips finished the job and she drove her staff through what would have been its eye socket. It sputtered and twitched a little then, nothing.
She turned back to the door as Faye popped in between her and the heavy metal panel. “There are four more in there.”
“Did they see you?”
Faye rolled her eyes as she disappeared leaving Morgan with a clear view of the room she needed to get into. And the sounds in there. She shivered. They weren’t coming from the cell itself, but from a sound system in the room. Faye hadn’t heard enough to really tell her any more about it, but she was beginning to believe that Doom was far sicker than she’d assumed.
She popped into the room a moment later, throwing her staff through the face of the nearest Doom-bot. She yanked it out in time to knock the next one off its feet. Faye went to work on the other two, denting and beating them with the bat until sparks flew and they were no more.
Morgan kicked down on the neck of the last bot, watching its glowing green eyes go dead. “Good fucking riddance.” She took a few deep breaths before the sound of coughing caught her attention. Then something that sounded like a victim out of a slasher flick. What the fuck was he pumping into this room? That’s when she recognized the voices coming from the speakers. Johnny, Reed Richards and Ben Grimm. Fuck… She understood almost instantly. Finding a way to physically hurt Susan Richards was a challenge, emotionally though… watching, or hearing her family die would be good enough to break her.
“Morgan!” Faye waved her over to a computer terminal near a door. She stood on her toes to look through the window. She couldn’t see anything but a warm glow of red on the floor in one corner. “The floor’s heat sensitive, so they know she’s still in there.”
“Good, I could use a shield or two.” She tried to work through the computer terminal but the sounds of the three men being tortured were distracting at best. Faye popped back in at her elbow. “Think you can do something about that?”
“Of course.” Faye moved toward the larger computer desk on the other side of the room. She pounded some buttons. Nothing happened. She tried again. Nothing happened… actually Morgan thought it might have gotten a little louder. “Oh fuck it.” The bat appeared in her hands again and Faye beat the machines until the room went silent.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.” Faye was at Morgan’s elbow again. “You’re going to need a key card.”
“What?” By the time Morgan turned, Faye had reappeared near one of the heaps that had been a Doom-bot. “Faye…”
“No, I got it.” She pulled the card from the belt of the machine and ran it over to Morgan. She vanished again, leaving Morgan to find exactly where the key card was supposed to go. When she finally figured it out and managed to figure out the command to open the cell door, the panel swung open with a strange hiss.
“Susan?” She watched the red spot in the corner of the floor fade and smaller spots move toward her before Sue reappeared in front of her.
“Morgan?” Susan remembered the young woman from her time at the Institute.
“It’s okay, we’re here to help.” Morgan put a hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay?”
“The others… we have to…Oh god…” Susan looked vaguely like she might faint, or throw up. “Morgan, he’s killing them!”
“No, they’ll be fine. The rest of my team is going to help them.” Morgan sighed hoping she wasn’t lying. “We need to get back to the main room of this hell hole and get out of here.”
“I won’t argue that.” The two women moved to the doorway that lead to the long hallway Morgan and Faye had fought their way through already.
“Shit…” Morgan’s breath left her as they rounded the first corner. “They’re back.”
********************************************************************
Her head was screaming already. “Figures I’d forget the fucking Advil.” She cursed again, hoping that there was something on the Blackbird that would help her headache when this was all over. There were several piles of melted metal behind her, and she figured there would be at least a couple more before this mess was done, one way or another. Either way, she was going to have to tone it down a bit, or her head was going to pop.
She reached a door that looked to be hermetically sealed. Nothing was getting in or out of that room, it seemed. Well, almost nothing. Through the door she could hear someone screaming… it was the kind of sound that she thought only existed in nightmares… and given the shit she had nightmares about, that was saying something. Whoever was in there needed help, no denying that. But how to get through that door?
She was saved the trouble of coming up with a plan as the door opened, and a Doom-bot came into the hallway. She focused in on the circuitry under the armor, and with a few cracks and pops, the robot collapsed. Well, that was a hell of a lot easier than melting the whole damn thing, anyway. Not as satisfying… but easier by a long shot.
Dare just caught the door before it sealed shut again, and burst into the room, melting more circuitry as she went. Really, the guards didn’t even know what hit them. She was mildly thankful that she hadn’t drawn the ‘rescue the Torch’ straw because, from what she’d seen, the guards were designed to stop whoever they were guarding. Not a bad plan when you think no one’s riding to the rescue, but it seemed that Mr. King of the Castle had underestimated the world… again. Dare almost shook her head. You’d think these megalomaniac types would learn.
The room was surprisingly cold, and she figured out why a moment later. She heard the noise, something vaguely like the sound of ice cracking under foot, but deeper… meatier. She wished she hadn’t chosen quite those words in her mind when she saw the source. Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic, was stretched, not to his limit, but enough, and his arms and legs seemed to carry a hint of frost. Those appendages were bent at the oddest angles, twisted in ways no human body should be twisted. Normally, she was sure this wouldn’t be a problem, but when he was cooled down like that… she heard another crack as one of the two Doom-bots that were in the room grabbed his wrist and twisted.
The pained cries that escaped Reed, coupled with the cracking sound made Dare flinch. Reed saw her before she could react. “Please…” she couldn’t be entirely sure what he was asking for, but she knew it was time to be a big damn hero.
She focused in on the bot that was doing the twisting. Priority one, stop that shit right that very second. It sputtered and dropped to the ground as the other one ran at her. It dropped barely a moment before it would have gotten a hold of her. The hand grasped at her coat for a moment before finally stopping completely. She pulled hard on the coat, but it wouldn’t move. “Fuck.” She slipped out of the caught garment and moved toward the mechanism that held Richards. “Okay, Smarty pants, any idea how to get you out of this?”
His teeth chattered a little. “Warm…” he flinched when he tried to move.
“Warm you up?” Dare took a deep breath. “Okay… I can do that…” She looked at the computers on either side of the contraption. “There’s nothing here that looks like a defrost button.”
“No… not there…”
“Then what?” Dare scratched at her palms almost wishing for another Doom-bot to melt.
“Powers.” He closed his eyes, obviously still in an extreme amount of pain.
She frowned. The man knew his shit. No doubt as soon as he found out Haley was going to be part of the family, he checked out her team and what they could do. “No… I’ve never… I’m more of a melt and blow up kinda gal…” she was babbling a little, she knew that. She’d never tried something this delicate with her powers before. Honestly she wasn’t entirely sure she could even do it, but her options were limited.
“They’re like Johnny’s aren’t they?”
She cursed quietly. “Yeah, basically…”
“Then you should…” He damn near whimpered.
“Okay… okay.” Her frown deepened. Not only would her pride refuse to let her admit that the Torch could pull something off that she couldn’t, but she was out of ideas on how else to help. This was not going to work. She was totally sure of it. Her eyes shut as she began to concentrate on heating up the room slowly. Very slowly. In a matter of minutes, her head was killing her, but the frost on Reed’s uniform was starting to melt. “Holy shit…”
“Don’t stop!” His voice annoyed her more than helped. She bit her lip, closed her eyes again and continued to work. The headache was screaming at her to stop, threatening her with all kinds of horrible ear bleeding deaths, but she kept going. A dull thud echoed through the room as Reed’s body became pliable again. He slowly worked her limps back into their normal shape, but it looked like it still hurt. A lot. Dare dropped to her knees and let out a small groan. He slowly got to his feet, flinching with each step and coming over to her. “Thank you.”
“You’re buying me a drink when we get out of here.” She struggled to her feet.
“I will buy you the whole bar, if you like.”
“Let’s just get the fuck gone, Gumby.”
They made their way slowly through the hallway to the main room. Ben and Jehnna were there already. “How ya feelin’ Stretch?”
“I’ve had better days, Ben.” Reed almost cracked a smile. “You?”
“Nothin’ that won’t be fixed by a beer or two.” Ben tried to shrug, but flinched a little. “Or a case for that matter.”
“Save me one of those, Pebbles.” They turned to see Johnny and Haley come out from the farthest door way. He leaned heavily on her, barely able to put weight on his leg.
“Where’s Morgan?” Haley’s brow furrowed a little.
“I think, young lady that you have far more pressing matters at hand.” Six pairs of eyes turned to stare into the dark. “Did you truly think you would get away with this trespass?”
Title: Invasion:MSV
Fandom: Marvel Universe
Rating: 18+
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognizable characters here. They and the world this is set in are the property of Marvel Entertainment. The Purple Team is the property of ginevrasm (Morgan/Faye), ladydeathfaerie (Dare), sessys_fangirl (Jehnna), nanaeanaven (Roxxy) and dazzledfirestar (Haley). They are not to be used without permission. I make no money from this, and it is simply a form of entertainment.
Warnings: graphic M/F sex, preg, language and as always... ANGST
She could hear the dim echo of dripping water as the hallway widened into a wide set of steps. A deep breath sent her hurrying down the steps, glancing over her shoulder periodically to make sure nothing was sneaking up on her. Torches lit the hallway sporadically and threw strange shadows on the craggy walls. Jehnna closed her eyes and took a few more deep breaths. Why had they split up? This seemed like one of those bad horror movie ideas… that the evil crazy robots were going to pick them off one by one. No, she shook her head resolutely. No, she was an X-Man. She could handle this.
There was a flicker of electric light further down the hallway, like a door opening. She slipped into the shadows and locked her eyes on the spot where the light had appeared. She hoped that whatever was on the other side of that door was friendly… or there was someone friendly to be freed there as the sound of whirring servos filled her ears. Now or never… Jehnna raised her fists and sent a wave of sound at the Doom-bot and the closing door. The robot went into and through bits of the doorframe, sending the panel flying free from its hinges.
Normally, something like that would send everyone in the room into a panic or at the very least cause some yelling of orders. None of that came. What did come at her was a wave of five robots. Just like the danger room… If she could keep thinking of it that way, this would be no problem at all. How many of the Danger Room robots had she taken out in her time? More than five, that was for damn sure. But then, Danger Room robots would stop if they got past her. She shook her head, concentrating on the group coming toward her with increasing speed.
Three of them went down easily enough, her sonic blast sending the front one into the other two and the whole jumble of metal into the nearby wall. The nearest one dodged the wave, however and got close enough to grab her by the throat. She kicked as the bot lifted her from her feet. She struggled for air, marveling for a moment at the strength the bot had. Right… artificial… her mind struggled to stay focused as she reached between the sheets of metal that served to shield the inner workings of the robot. She grabbed a handful of what felt like important cables and tugged. A moment later the strange quiet whir of the computerized brain stopped and the robot let her go. She quickly looked around the room. She’d done it. There were no more robots to smash… at least not yet, and when they came back she wanted some kind of back up.
She moved toward the computer near the far wall before a faint electric buzzing noise followed by a low shuddering groan caught her attention. She spun, thinking that the back-up bots were already bearing down on her and that’s when she saw it. What she was looking for. “Holy god…”
The buzzing was coming from the machinery that held Ben Grimm in place. Glowing electronic cuffs held his arms and legs in place, and by the look of it, periodically sent shocks through his rocky skin. Though his head was flopping forward, as much as his physiology would allow, she could see the small movement in his arms that told her he was still fighting. She went to the computer to see if it would give her any ideas on how to get him down. A low grunt from the Thing distracted her for a moment. “What in blazes…?”
“I’m on your side, Mr. Grimm.” She spoke softly. “I’m an X-Man.”
“Geez…” he flinched. Good god. He actually flinched. That couldn’t be a good sign. “They just keep gettin’ younger…”
“I’m here with Haley.” She pushed a few buttons on the panel. This wasn’t getting her anywhere.
“Figured as much, kid.”
She turned back toward the machines, studying them for a moment. The cuffs were attached to some kind of power source… if she could just break the connection… “Hold still.” She lifted her hands.
“Don’t think that’ll be a problem.” Two blasts of sound later, Ben Grimm was tearing the cuffs from his wrists and ankles. “Thanks, girlie.” He smiled… sort of, and Jehnna returned the gesture, as he took a few shaky steps down from the machine. “That was startin’ ta get uncomfortable.”
“Yeah, I bet.” She moved closer. “Are you okay? Can… if I need back up…?”
“Yeah, kid. I got yer back.”
She only ran into a few Doom-bots on her way, and they were now decorating the hallway behind her, some bits actually stuck in the rock walls. No need to keep quiet now, after all. And she had to hurry. Something told her she had to hurry. The link felt fuzzy, like it did when he was asleep beside her at home, so either he’d passed out or… she didn’t want to think about what that could mean.
The metal of a doorframe caught the dim light in the hallway. Haley took a deep breath. This was it. She knew it. She didn’t hesitate kicking in the door, driving the heavy metal plate through two of the Doom-bots in the room. She had the door back in her hands before most of the robots knew they were in a fight. She swung the heavy metal door in a wide circle, taking down several more of the guards. One last swing and a good throw took out three more, smashing them against the stone wall.
She felt something vaguely slimy hit her back and when she turned, she realized what it was. Fire retardant foam. It made sense. The bots were no doubt there to keep Johnny from escaping. “That’s just gross.” She wiped some of it off her shoulder. “Doom is so getting my dry cleaning bill.” She punched the bot and a low metallic thud signaled the end of the foam spray.
Her eyes locked on the only door in the room other than the one she’d entered through, and the two Doom-bots left standing on either side of it. The tiny window wasn’t enough to see anything through but…
Her breath caught. Water… Her eyes grew wide. No… that’s why the link wasn’t working properly. He was drowning, and probably trying to keep her out so she didn’t have to feel… She grabbed the first guard that ran at her and smashed the bot into the other one. How big was that room? How much time did she have?
She kicked off the last grip the last bot had on her ankle and moved to the door. There was a computer terminal nearby, but by the time she figured that out… no, there was only one option and it wasn’t going to be pretty. She gripped the door and yanked, blocking the force of the water spilling into the room with the panel. It pushed her back nearly to the far wall before she realized that there was a damn good chance Johnny would get swept out with all the bits of Doom-bots. “Fuck…” She pushed her way closer to the door, and reached around her shield just in time to grab him as he came out. She dropped the door as the flood ebbed.
The link flickered a little as she set him down, shifting back to her flesh self. “Johnny… please…” She shut her eyes, blinking back the tears that were starting to form as she pressed her mouth to his, forcing air into his lungs. “You can’t leave me.” It only took a few breaths before he started coughing, expelling the water from his lungs.
He blinked up at her, confusion evident on his face. “Haley?”
“Hey there, Handsome.”
“How…?”
“It’s not important. Can you stand?” He nodded slowly and let her help him to his feet, flinching when he tried to put weight on his injured leg. “We have to get you out of here.”
“You shouldn’t have come.” He leaned on her, trying to regain his balance and his breath. His chest burned each time he breathed in; a reminder of how close he’d come to dying. “The baby…”
“The baby needs you. I need you.” She shivered a little against him. “I can’t do this alone.” Green eyes locked on blue ones.
“Someone else…”
“No one would believe me.” Her cheeks flushed a deep red. “They all think you’re dead.”
“You came here alone?” She could hear the disbelief, and felt the little bit of anger leaking into his voice. “Haley, are you out of your fucking mind?”
“I didn’t come alone. The girls came with me.” She started down the rocky tunnel, helping him along.
“We have to…”
“The girls are on it. They’ll find the others.” She looked over at him. “I couldn’t just leave you here.”
He stopped, pulling her closer. “I know that, but… the baby…. If something happens to you now…”
“I know. Believe me, I know.” She pulled him along again. “That’s why we need to regroup and get the hell out of here.”
Morgan had really thought that this was going to be harder. Her normal game of bait and switch however seemed to keep the robots off her and Faye. Faye’s bat had made enough dents in enough of them to let them get through to the doorway that would no doubt lead to whoever the hell she was supposed to break out. She was just about to send Faye into the room when the last of the bots grabbed her shoulder, slamming her into the rock and knocking the wind out of her.
She recovered quickly enough to pop out of the way of the metal fist that came flying at her head. Okay, maybe this wasn’t that easy after all… She slipped her staff out of a pocket in her coat and twirled it in her hand as she rolled her shoulder. Nothing broken. That was good, though the muscles protested the movement more than she would have liked. Oh well, she’d patch herself up later. Time to make Remy proud of her.
She backed up a little, giving herself room to maneuver. She saw Faye further down the hall, wailing on another bot with her bat. “I thought you took care of those!” She cried to her double.
“Apparently, I didn’t!” The bat cracked the bot in the side of the head, leaving a massive dent. “Oh screw this!” Faye turned the bat around, changing her grip and thrusting the grip end through the throat of the machine. It felt in a shower of sparks as she disappeared.
Morgan dodged a few more swings from the Doom-bot in front of her before sweeping its feet out from under it. Her reach wasn’t quite long enough and she just managed to throw it off balance. A good swift kick to its hips finished the job and she drove her staff through what would have been its eye socket. It sputtered and twitched a little then, nothing.
She turned back to the door as Faye popped in between her and the heavy metal panel. “There are four more in there.”
“Did they see you?”
Faye rolled her eyes as she disappeared leaving Morgan with a clear view of the room she needed to get into. And the sounds in there. She shivered. They weren’t coming from the cell itself, but from a sound system in the room. Faye hadn’t heard enough to really tell her any more about it, but she was beginning to believe that Doom was far sicker than she’d assumed.
She popped into the room a moment later, throwing her staff through the face of the nearest Doom-bot. She yanked it out in time to knock the next one off its feet. Faye went to work on the other two, denting and beating them with the bat until sparks flew and they were no more.
Morgan kicked down on the neck of the last bot, watching its glowing green eyes go dead. “Good fucking riddance.” She took a few deep breaths before the sound of coughing caught her attention. Then something that sounded like a victim out of a slasher flick. What the fuck was he pumping into this room? That’s when she recognized the voices coming from the speakers. Johnny, Reed Richards and Ben Grimm. Fuck… She understood almost instantly. Finding a way to physically hurt Susan Richards was a challenge, emotionally though… watching, or hearing her family die would be good enough to break her.
“Morgan!” Faye waved her over to a computer terminal near a door. She stood on her toes to look through the window. She couldn’t see anything but a warm glow of red on the floor in one corner. “The floor’s heat sensitive, so they know she’s still in there.”
“Good, I could use a shield or two.” She tried to work through the computer terminal but the sounds of the three men being tortured were distracting at best. Faye popped back in at her elbow. “Think you can do something about that?”
“Of course.” Faye moved toward the larger computer desk on the other side of the room. She pounded some buttons. Nothing happened. She tried again. Nothing happened… actually Morgan thought it might have gotten a little louder. “Oh fuck it.” The bat appeared in her hands again and Faye beat the machines until the room went silent.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.” Faye was at Morgan’s elbow again. “You’re going to need a key card.”
“What?” By the time Morgan turned, Faye had reappeared near one of the heaps that had been a Doom-bot. “Faye…”
“No, I got it.” She pulled the card from the belt of the machine and ran it over to Morgan. She vanished again, leaving Morgan to find exactly where the key card was supposed to go. When she finally figured it out and managed to figure out the command to open the cell door, the panel swung open with a strange hiss.
“Susan?” She watched the red spot in the corner of the floor fade and smaller spots move toward her before Sue reappeared in front of her.
“Morgan?” Susan remembered the young woman from her time at the Institute.
“It’s okay, we’re here to help.” Morgan put a hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay?”
“The others… we have to…Oh god…” Susan looked vaguely like she might faint, or throw up. “Morgan, he’s killing them!”
“No, they’ll be fine. The rest of my team is going to help them.” Morgan sighed hoping she wasn’t lying. “We need to get back to the main room of this hell hole and get out of here.”
“I won’t argue that.” The two women moved to the doorway that lead to the long hallway Morgan and Faye had fought their way through already.
“Shit…” Morgan’s breath left her as they rounded the first corner. “They’re back.”
Her head was screaming already. “Figures I’d forget the fucking Advil.” She cursed again, hoping that there was something on the Blackbird that would help her headache when this was all over. There were several piles of melted metal behind her, and she figured there would be at least a couple more before this mess was done, one way or another. Either way, she was going to have to tone it down a bit, or her head was going to pop.
She reached a door that looked to be hermetically sealed. Nothing was getting in or out of that room, it seemed. Well, almost nothing. Through the door she could hear someone screaming… it was the kind of sound that she thought only existed in nightmares… and given the shit she had nightmares about, that was saying something. Whoever was in there needed help, no denying that. But how to get through that door?
She was saved the trouble of coming up with a plan as the door opened, and a Doom-bot came into the hallway. She focused in on the circuitry under the armor, and with a few cracks and pops, the robot collapsed. Well, that was a hell of a lot easier than melting the whole damn thing, anyway. Not as satisfying… but easier by a long shot.
Dare just caught the door before it sealed shut again, and burst into the room, melting more circuitry as she went. Really, the guards didn’t even know what hit them. She was mildly thankful that she hadn’t drawn the ‘rescue the Torch’ straw because, from what she’d seen, the guards were designed to stop whoever they were guarding. Not a bad plan when you think no one’s riding to the rescue, but it seemed that Mr. King of the Castle had underestimated the world… again. Dare almost shook her head. You’d think these megalomaniac types would learn.
The room was surprisingly cold, and she figured out why a moment later. She heard the noise, something vaguely like the sound of ice cracking under foot, but deeper… meatier. She wished she hadn’t chosen quite those words in her mind when she saw the source. Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic, was stretched, not to his limit, but enough, and his arms and legs seemed to carry a hint of frost. Those appendages were bent at the oddest angles, twisted in ways no human body should be twisted. Normally, she was sure this wouldn’t be a problem, but when he was cooled down like that… she heard another crack as one of the two Doom-bots that were in the room grabbed his wrist and twisted.
The pained cries that escaped Reed, coupled with the cracking sound made Dare flinch. Reed saw her before she could react. “Please…” she couldn’t be entirely sure what he was asking for, but she knew it was time to be a big damn hero.
She focused in on the bot that was doing the twisting. Priority one, stop that shit right that very second. It sputtered and dropped to the ground as the other one ran at her. It dropped barely a moment before it would have gotten a hold of her. The hand grasped at her coat for a moment before finally stopping completely. She pulled hard on the coat, but it wouldn’t move. “Fuck.” She slipped out of the caught garment and moved toward the mechanism that held Richards. “Okay, Smarty pants, any idea how to get you out of this?”
His teeth chattered a little. “Warm…” he flinched when he tried to move.
“Warm you up?” Dare took a deep breath. “Okay… I can do that…” She looked at the computers on either side of the contraption. “There’s nothing here that looks like a defrost button.”
“No… not there…”
“Then what?” Dare scratched at her palms almost wishing for another Doom-bot to melt.
“Powers.” He closed his eyes, obviously still in an extreme amount of pain.
She frowned. The man knew his shit. No doubt as soon as he found out Haley was going to be part of the family, he checked out her team and what they could do. “No… I’ve never… I’m more of a melt and blow up kinda gal…” she was babbling a little, she knew that. She’d never tried something this delicate with her powers before. Honestly she wasn’t entirely sure she could even do it, but her options were limited.
“They’re like Johnny’s aren’t they?”
She cursed quietly. “Yeah, basically…”
“Then you should…” He damn near whimpered.
“Okay… okay.” Her frown deepened. Not only would her pride refuse to let her admit that the Torch could pull something off that she couldn’t, but she was out of ideas on how else to help. This was not going to work. She was totally sure of it. Her eyes shut as she began to concentrate on heating up the room slowly. Very slowly. In a matter of minutes, her head was killing her, but the frost on Reed’s uniform was starting to melt. “Holy shit…”
“Don’t stop!” His voice annoyed her more than helped. She bit her lip, closed her eyes again and continued to work. The headache was screaming at her to stop, threatening her with all kinds of horrible ear bleeding deaths, but she kept going. A dull thud echoed through the room as Reed’s body became pliable again. He slowly worked her limps back into their normal shape, but it looked like it still hurt. A lot. Dare dropped to her knees and let out a small groan. He slowly got to his feet, flinching with each step and coming over to her. “Thank you.”
“You’re buying me a drink when we get out of here.” She struggled to her feet.
“I will buy you the whole bar, if you like.”
“Let’s just get the fuck gone, Gumby.”
They made their way slowly through the hallway to the main room. Ben and Jehnna were there already. “How ya feelin’ Stretch?”
“I’ve had better days, Ben.” Reed almost cracked a smile. “You?”
“Nothin’ that won’t be fixed by a beer or two.” Ben tried to shrug, but flinched a little. “Or a case for that matter.”
“Save me one of those, Pebbles.” They turned to see Johnny and Haley come out from the farthest door way. He leaned heavily on her, barely able to put weight on his leg.
“Where’s Morgan?” Haley’s brow furrowed a little.
“I think, young lady that you have far more pressing matters at hand.” Six pairs of eyes turned to stare into the dark. “Did you truly think you would get away with this trespass?”
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Date: 2009-02-27 02:26 am (UTC)