*pouts sadly* Almost nobody commented on parts 1 and 1A - is it really that bad?? Well, I'm posting part 2A, B and C all in one shot - the response will determine whether or not this continues....I value every comment I get - and I really need feedback on this 'cause I'm determined to do my best on it - but I don't know if that's any good if you don't tell me! *gets on her hands and knees* Please??
Title: Into The Heart Of Darkness - X-over with X-men
Parts: 2A B and C
Author: Stormy
Warnings: Angst, sap, battle
Pairings: 1x2, 3x4, Rogue/Remy ^_~
Archive: At Jackies page (addy's in the sig) and whoever else wants it!
*looks at Darkflame and Tyr hopefully*
" AARRGH!!!" Quatre gritted his teeth as laser fire tore into his Gundam. The thick armour wasn't pierced, but the resulting explosions rocked the Gundam, throwing Quatre around in his harness. " That was close."
" 04! Are you all right?" Trowa's anxious voice came through the communicator. Quatre chuckled grimly.
" I'm fine, 03. That Leo just took me by surprise!"
Teeth set, Quatre dove back into the fray. Bullets covered his back as Heavyarms sprayed a wide range of fire, driving back the air-born Aries that tried to attack from above. Activating his scimitars, Quatre let out a surprisingly feral yell as he sliced and diced his way through the front line. Decimated, the remaining Leos tried to retreat in order to regroup, but a burst of orange fire swept through them. Quatre wiped the sweat out of his eyes and grinned at the dragon Gundam.
" Thanks 05!"
" A pleasure," came Wufei's voice. " The Aries have regrouped."
" Let's go!" Sandrock leaped into the air, twin blades flashing as he first sheared one flying mobile suit in half, and then thrust both scimitar into the guts of another. Wufei let out a battle cry.
Trowa navigated his Gundam smoothly through two Scorpios that lashed out at him with whip-like appendages of razor-sharpness. One scored a direct hit and he felt the power die in his right arm.
" Damn!"
" 03?" Quatre's head snapped up. He saw the large red and gold Gundam fighting the Scorpios with only his arm canon. Knowing the huge Gundam would soon be out of bullets, he thumbed the communicator.
" 05! 03 needs some backup! Are you okay here?"
Wufei chuckled harshly as his dragon claw slammed into the chest plate of a mobile suit foolish enough to try and sneak up on him.
" I will be fine. Help 03."
" Thank you!" Quatre breathed, and took off across the battlefield that had sprung up out of what was once a laboratory parking lot. Wufei grunted as more firepower struck the faceplate of his Gundam, nearly toppling him. He growled, throwing a glance at the lab.
_Maxwell and Heero had better hurry_!
" Shhhhhhhh!" Heero and Duo flattened themselves against the wall as they heard the running footsteps of soldiers drawing closer. As the squadron passed them, Duo breathed a sigh of relief and motioned for Heero to follow him. Recalling the laboratory blueprints from memory, Duo made a sharp right at the first intersection in the hallway they came across and found themselves face-to-face with a solid metal door. Heero grunted and kept watch as Duo inspected the lock.
" Can you get it open?"
Duo shook his head. " Not in the amount of time we need to. Give me an hour and I'd have it - but we're gonna have to do something a little different."
Heero couldn't help but laugh at the look of pure maniacal glee on Duo's face as he held out what looked like a lump of modelling clay. Duo attached it to the wall, connecting the wires and arming the detonator. " Let's go."
The two of them sprinted down the hallway to the first doorway and leaned against the wall again. Duo held up his fingers.
3....2....1....
A loud explosion rocked the hallway, sending bits of metal and debris flying. Duo grinned. " Oh yeah."
The two of them raced back to the door and Duo noted with satisfaction that he had guessed the correct amount of C4 needed and the exact location of the inner lock. " I am So good."
Heero couldn't help but agree. Mischievious and playful the boy may be - but he was a terrorist at heart. And no one was better then Duo when it came to blowing things up. Except when it came to self-destructing - Heero still held that record.
Once inside, Heero quickly counted only three scientists in the room. One of them reached for a gun on the counter and Heero calmly put a bullet through the man's heart. The other two froze. Duo scampered forwards and herded them together while Heero went straight to the main computer. He began searching the root directories, slipping a blank cd into the drive to save everything he found. Duo looked up from where he had tied the scientists up - and froze.
" Heero?" he asked in an odd tone. " What is THAT?"
Heero growled, annoyed at being pulled away from his computer search - until he saw what Duo was looking at.
A metal spiderweb of tubes and cross pieces stood beyond the banks of computer terminals. Interlocked pieces of metal gave it a circular framework which was brought a spiderweb to Duo's mind. The center was black. Deep black. Pulsing black - Duo stared harder. It looked like the damn thing had a heartbeat!
Heero stared and turned back to the computer quickly, determined to find out what it was. Duo decided to take the obvious approach. He waved his gun in the face of the scientists.
" What IS that?" He casually kicked the body of the dead scientist at his feet. " And don't bother acting tough, okay? Not if you want to live."
One man collapsed, and the other looked up fearfully.
" It's an experiment we're working on - one that was just recently successful! You can't kill us now - it's the discovery of a century!" The man looked about ready to cry.
Duo squatted down until he was looking directly into the man's eyes. " What experiment?"
" A black hole!"
Duo abruptly straightened and looked back at the...thing. " That's a black hole?"
" Well..." The scientist hedged.
" It's the same principle bit it's got different properties," Heero said, appearing next to Duo, holding the cd in one hand. Duo gave him a blank look. Heero motioned at the framework of metal. " Think of an energy converter - and think of the way mobile suits are able to take existing energy from space and use it to increase their speed. They're automatically converting different energy into what they need." [1]
Duo nodded. " Go on."
" A black hole is nothing but energy - sort of. It doesn't convert anything, it just is. At least, that's the way these guys were thinking."
" So that's a storage tank that changes energy. What's it change to?" Duo asked, brows wrinkling in confusion.
" We're not sure yet," blurted out the scientist. " You see - this is all unprecedented - we're using a piece of machinery that we found here - that is made of a material we've never seen before!"
" Where'd it come from?" Duo asked him sharply. The man shook his head.
" Not from earth. At least, THIS earth."
Duo's eyes widened - and then narrowed. " Don't tell me you're thinking what I think you're thinking."
The scientist nodded fractionally. " Teleportation. Or a version of it. But not just from one PLACE to another--"
" From one WORLD to another?" Heero's face had lost the blank neutrality Duo hated so much and now looked interested. The scientist nodded again.
" Exactly."
" Okay, yeah. Sure - tell ya what, how 'bout I go get my comic books 'cause they'd make a whole lot more sense then you are right now!" Duo said, raking a hand through his unruly banks. The scientist glowered.
" It's true! We were about to make history - and then YOU showed up!"
" Tough. " Duo shrugged. The man leaped to his feet and slammed his fist into a console, striking a button that had been previously covered with glass. So quickly did he move, that for once, both Heero and Duo were caught off guard. Lights began to flash and alarms began going off all over the base. Heero and Duo fired catching the man in the chest and the head with pinpoint accuracy. the man was dead before his body hit the ground.
" SHIT!" Duo swore as he watched everything start exploding.
(Interlude)
Sinister made a final modification on the black metal box, watching it pulse and hum with energy. Threnody stood behind him calmly.
" It's ready," he murmered, splaying his fingers over the top. " I'll have to remember to thank the dear Professor for doing such elegant work."
He turned away from the machine and went back to his computer. Pressing a few buttons, he watched as a black swirling appeared in the small metal gateway he'd constructed. Behind him, Threnody watched impassively.
" Threnody, my dear. We are about to make history," he chortled. " Do you know what this is?"
" No, master," Threnody answered, staring at the machine with faint interest.
" Professor Xavier, and the equally brilliant Dr. Henry McCoy were doing some fascinating experiments with this machine," he said, stroking his chin thoughtfully. " Using that child's mutanagenic signature to create a dimensional portal - I never would have thought them capable of such a feat." A faint scowl touched his face. " I'm almost ashamed of myself - I should have thought of it first." He spared a glance at the vials of test tubes that he knew were locked away in his laboratory. " Franklin Richards is one of the few mutants of whom I do NOt have a sample of DNA."
Threnody looked at him quizzically.
" I don't have much time," Sinister said as he began imputting a sequence of codes. " Over twenty-four hours have passed - I can safely assume that the Professor and his X-men--" he hissed the words. "--are searching for me as we speak. I can't even confirm this - THIS--" he waved at the machine. "--is taking up every spare bit of power I have to maintain."
He pressed another button. " Riptide. Report to me at once."
A few seconds later, a side door opened, and a whirling dirvish entered the room, a shock of wild hair and ripped clothing as the mutant cyclone known as Riptide entered the room. Of course, this was not the original Riptide - he was merely a clone, many times over, courtesy of Sinister's twisted brilliance. " Yes, Master?"
" You will be the first test subject," Sinister said, smiling evilly. The clone gulped - even if he died, he knew his brain waves were recorded and would be transferred to another clone. Still - dying hurt like hell. If it was all the same to anyone, he'd rather not. But you don't say that to Sinister. Ever.
" Yes sir."
Riptide moved closer to the metal gate as Sinister turned the power on full-blast.
Duo and Heero burst out of the laboratory at a dead run, sprinting as deadly fire blossomed and chased bafter them, nipping at their heels.
They hit the ground, rolling as the main doors exploded behind them. Duo felt the wind shear past him and he unconsciously touched his braid, making sure it was still there. " Damn that was close!"
Shenlong and Heaveyarms suddenly touched down, carrying Deathscythe and Wing Zero. Duo blinked. " huh?"
" The remaining mobile suits fled as soon as the alarms went off," said Sandrock as it appeared. " We'd better get out of here."
Duo and Heero raced up their Gundams, thanking profusely that the other three remained to shield them from the intense heat surrounding them. Suddenly Quatre's voice came over the speakers again.
" Uh...what's that?"
Duo froze in the middle of climbing into Deathscythe's cockpit. " Oh shit."
Heero, already in Zero's cockpit, watched as a final explosion brought forth a wave of what looked like black fire power towards them. He had a split second to realize it looked remarkably like the energy they had seen floating within the center. He agreed with Duo.
Black thunder washed over them, blotting out the light. Heero had the impression of falling and he heard the cries of his partners. Then there was nothing.
The Blackbird touched down at the side of the building Jean had directed them too. The ramp slid down and Scott led the way. Rogue and Storm flew overhead taking up their ariel positions while Gambit slunk into the shadows next to the abandoned warehouse. Wolverine and Beast extended their heightened senses, following behind Cyclops as he and Jean ran towards the main doors. Suddenly, they felt the ground rumble and then, the world exploded.
" Remy!" Rogue dove through the sky and scooped up the Cajun, pulling him away from a falling piece of scaffolding. Jean erected a telekinetic shield over herself, Cyclops and Beast. Storm generated a small whirlwind that succeeded in keeping the debris from touching either herself or Logan. A few minutes later, they all felt a surge of power and Jean automatically tightened her shield. then everything stopped. Storm touched down, Rogue and Gambit right behind her.
" Y'all get the impression we missed the party?" Rogue asked sarcastically. Cyclops didn't bother to answer as he began plowing through the debris. Suddenly, his optic beam was deflected off a shiny metal surface and stopped.
" What the--" Not much could reflect his optic beams - they tended to pulverize, not bounce off. " Storm?"
Storm nodded and rose into the air. " Mother Goddess of the earth, lend me your strength," she murmered. Feeling the wispy connection between herself and the planet strengthen, she smiled. Formerly blue eyes flashed silvery-white and the winds began to pick up. Jean extended her shield to cover everybody as the weather goddess raised her arms and let the winds flow.
Dirt, wooden boards, metal beams, whole walls began to fly around in a dizzying spral as Storm worked her mutant powers. Taxing as it was, Storm nonetheless revelled in the feeling of nature's fury, whipping around her.
" And that's why we call her the weather witch," Beast smiled as he watched his friend work. Finally, everything had been removed and there stood lay five large...machines.
" Sacre bleu!" Gambit breathed as he looked at the metal monsters. " Sentinals?"
" They don't look like any Sentinals [2] Ah've ever seen sugah," Rogue said as she scratched her head thoughtfully. Beast bounded forwards, eyes bright with unbridled excitement.
" Dear Gods....he did it!"
" Did what?" Cyclops snapped his head around to look at the bouncing scientist. " Hank?"
Wolverine was already prowling around the machine, sniffing curiously. Then he did a doubletake.
" There's something human in there!"
That snapped everyone back into place. Roge and Gambit went up to the first one, made of red and gold metal. Rogue examined it carefully.
" Where's a can opener when ya need one?" she muttered. Gambit smiled.
" I t'ink the entrance is right here, chere." He pointed at the locking mechanism on the chest plate. Rogue nodded and was about to rip the lock off when Gambit stopped her and tapped a finger to the lock. A jolt of pinkish flame and the lock died with a small explosion. Rogue pouted at the unrepentant Remy.
" Showoff."
She pulled the hatch open and gasped. Hanging, unconscious inside a leather harness, was a young boy, slender with long brown bangs that fell over his eyes. Gambit reached past her and instantly felt the boy's neck, checking for a pulse. " He's alive!"
" So's this one," grunted Wolverine as he hoisted a small blond boy over his shoulder and climbing down off the sandy colored mecha. Storm and Beast were prying open the hatch of a white Gundam with a dragon claw on the one hand.
" I think a feat of brute strength might be more prodigeous at this juncture, rather then your usual elegance, my dear," Hank said as he grasped the hatch and pulled it open, muscles flexing. Storm smiled at him.
" I would have to agree."
Inside, Storm gasped as she saw the limp form of a young chinese boy. " Merciful Gaia," she breathed. Henry quickly examined the youth, and a relieved smile crossed his fanged mouth.
" He's alive, merely 'cold-cocked' as our comrade Wolverine might say."
" Thank heavens," Storm murmered.
Jean telekinetically manipulated the locks of the black machine. While doing so, she let her awareness brush inside the robot, searching for an active mind. Finding none, she became worried and finally used her power to rip open the hatch. Nothing. She searched the cockpit, noting the empty harness.
" There's no one here!" she called out to her teammates. Cyclops looked up from where he was blasting open another white gundam. He looked down.
" Well, there's one in here! And he's awake!" Jean flew over and helped him remove the semi-conscious boy from his confining harness. He struggled weakly in their grasp and Jean tried to sooth him.
::Relax:: she sent telepathically. The boy froze and cobalt-blue eyes pierced her own. Dazed they might be, but she could still recognize hostility when she saw it.
" We're friends, " she said. " We're not going to hurt you."
She reinforced this idea with soothing thoughts and she felt him calm down somewhat. He opened his mouth and tried to speak.
" wh...where's...m-my.."
Jean searched his mind and saw the images of the other three boys they had found, as well as one they didn't find - one with a long brown braid. She looked a little deeper and connected the boy with the braid, to the empty black gundam she had searched.
" You're friends are okay," she assured him. " We're going to help you. Just calm down."
" D-Duo?...where...h-has...braid...."
Again, the connection was made, and she bit her lip, unsure of what to tell him. The boy sensed her uncertainty and his eyes flew open. Jean read his mind again, wincing at the lack of diplomacy in regards to such use of her powers, but knew it couldn't be helped. She picked out the names.
" Quatre, Trowa and Wufei will be fine." She then hesitated. The boy's eyes pinned hers. " We can't find Duo."
" How..."
Jean lifted the boy carefully with her powers. Cyclops let them go by as he began thinking of a way to transport the machines to the mansion. Jean looked down at the boy as she moved.
" I'm a telepath," she said gently. " Now go to sleep. We'll find your friend."
" Duo..."
His eyes slid shut as Jean mentally put him to sleep. She put him on the last med-bed in the blackbird. The Beast was inspecting all of them.
" Shock, minor burns and some cuts and scrapes," he said cheerfully. " Absolutely nothing life-threatening. A good night's rest and they'll be on their feet."
" Good," Jean said with relief. Cyclops stuck his head in the door.
" I've got the first two tied to the Blackbird - she should be able to lift them." The Beast nodded.
" The Blackbird's a tough old gal," he agreed. Rogue stood next to Gambit.
" Ah can carry one," she offered. " The mansion ain't that far and Ah've carried two sentinals togther before."
Scott nodded. " Then that just leaves the last two - the Professor is sending out Blackbird 2 on autopilot. It'll be here in a minute and we can attach the other two to her."
Wolverine growled as he returned from his little search mission.
" I checked the whole area, Cyke. Sinister was here, with what smells like Riptide. but he must have transported nearly everything."
" But how?"
" He's got members of the old Brotherhood [3] working for him," Wolverine shrugged. " Wouldn't be surprised if he got that teleportin' freak chick Fatale to move everything. I can smell it."
" Including a boy?" Jean's voice broke in. " One of them is missing."
" How do you--never mind," Rogue grinned sheepishly. " Dumb question."
" Why would the other four be inside their machines, and the fifth one not?" Cyclops asked. Remy lit a cigarrette and taped the ash away as he joined the conversation.
" Looks like you're gonna have t' wait until dey wake up den, non?"
Sinister growled as he stalked around his laboratory. Threnody flinched each time he passed her but didn't stop from her work, organizing all the misplaced papers that had spilled during the move. Riptide was noticeably absent - destroyed by absorbing the brunt of the explosion. The beautiful asian assassin Fatale stood by the doorway.
" May I take my leave now, Mr. Sinister," she asked him. Sinister flung his arm at her and she nodded once. An implosion of air and she was gone, not to return until Sinister bade her to. Sinister growled again.
" What happened....the calculations were exact. Such an explosion must have been caused by outside forces. And instead of getting weapons or warriors..." Sinister stopped pacing and stared up at the large tank and the contents within. " I get THIS!"
" Still, it may be useful..." Sinister muttered as he replayed the scene over again, walking out of the laboratory, Threnody right behind him, slamming the door as they left.
And in the tank, a pair of violet, pain-hazed eyes opened slightly before drifting shut again, a long brown braid floating behind him.
End Part 2C
Oh I'm so mean....But I don't mean to be! Duo's just fun to pick on!
Notes:
1. I don't pretend to be a scientist, but I do know black holes are aabout energy and matter. I just twisted it aorund a bit for my own dark purposes.Still, if anyone thinks this was a bit incoherent, let me know and I'll revise it.
2. Sentinals are large robots that the government built as a method of controlling mutants. They aren't used much in today's Marvel world but Rogue was referring to back when they DID battle them.
3. The Brotherhood was a gang put together by Havok (Alex Summers), brother to Scott Summers. Again - I just need Fatale to provide Sinister with an escape - he does use them afterall - and the Brotherhood will not be making an appearance.
C&C - PRETTY PLEASE WITH SUGAR ON TOP!!
Stormy
Please send comments to: dingostorm@hotmail.com