Daytripper, Colossus, Douglock, and I walked down the hall, away from the cells, and approached a door. Flanking around it, Colossus kicked the door in while the others ran into the room and I teleported my way in. "It’s a control room!" Daytripper noticed, while Douglock approached the computers.
The lights flickered on, as the back-up generators must have kicked in. Douglock, assimilating the computers, began his work, while I searched their files. Colossus and Daytripper checked out the video displays.
"This is where they watched the prisoners," Daytripper observed. "Oh, dear." Grabbing the tapes, she shut the TV off. "We don’t need to see that." Walking over next to me, she glanced at the papers I had found. "What you got there, Kurt?"
"Files," I mumbled. "They seem to be on finances and the like." Grabbing some of them, I looked up at her.
"We may need them. Take them," I coldly ordered her. "Go to Muir and come right back after you explain it to Moira." Amanda glanced at me quizzically. What was her game, anyways? Disappearing like that and now coming back without saying a word. That’s just not fair!
Amanda teleported away and I approached Douglock. "What are you doing?"
"Well, Nightcrawler, I have downloaded this computer’s information onto both my files and Moira’s, and I am now destroying these computer systems," Douglock explained, grinning. "All done." Amanda appeared again just as we were about to walk out the door, and we waved for her to follow.
Reaching the end of the hall, we found a door and some stairs. We walked through the door, up the stairs, and reached another level. The stairs continued but we stopped. "Are we underground?" Colossus inquired.
"Yes, we are. Currently, we are on Sub-Level 3," Douglock interjected.
I nodded. Looking down the hall, I saw five doors. Pointing towards the first, we flanked it and did the same with the last door. The room was empty, and filled with bunks. There were five bed bunks, some cupboards, and a door connecting it to the next room. All of the five doors I saw were connected and similarly built, allowing about 50 people to live there. Quickly moving down the hall, we were let into some sort of large auditorium. There was blood on the floor, and from where we stood, we could see the control center for this room.
"Douglock, what is this place?" Daytripper asked.
"Well," Douglock paused, "this is where our friend Kitty was........hurt. They bring people here and torture them and............."
"We understand, Douglock, and thank you," I cut him off. Turning around and walking back to the stairs, we went up to the next level.
***
Pete was very angry, I could sense it and smell it. He wanted revenge, and he wanted it soon.
"So what do we do? How are we gonna find the guy?" Brian venerated.
"I dunno, but we will do it. We have to," Pete stressed, holding his lighter to his cigarette.
"I think," I piped up, "that I may be able to track his scent from my cell. He came and visited me not too long ago." Grinning after her lit up his cigarette, Pete nodded.
"So why don’t we go there?" Pete decided. Walking back to my cell, I sniffed around the room for a couple of minutes. I could sense the others’ boredom, but I finally found his scent.
"I’ve got it!" I shouted, taking off towards the door.
The others followed, and we passed an open door with computers in it and walked up stairs. "The others have been here," I added, returning to my task.
Brian and Meggan glanced at each other for support. Meggan was greatly upset at Kitty’s recent condition, and Brian wanted to punch the man’s lights in who did it to her. I mourned Kitty’s loss of innocence and the sin that was done to her privately, longing to hurt him myself. Poor Kitty, she did not deserve this!
Going up another flight of stairs, then passing what smelled like a weapons room and finding more stairs, we reached the scent I was tracking. I pointed to the door adjacent to the door that let to the stairs. "That’s his office," I informed.
"Thanks, Rahne, now git," Pete growled. "What I’m going to do is not for the likes of nice kids like you." Before Pete could open the door, though, the room was filled with the sound of uncloaking, and we saw about thirty men in armor standing in the hallway, surrounding us, along with Graydon Creed.
"Git 'em!" Pete shouted, throwing his hot knives at some of them. And so the fight began.
***
Reaching the new level, Kurt regally glanced around. What was up his butt? I would think he would be excited to see me here, but instead he’s giving me the cold shoulder! Pointing to the door in the middle of the hallway, Colossus broke down the door, while Douglock and I walked in it, and Kurt teleported in. It was a weapons room!
Looking over the guns, Kurt commented, "Douglock, what are these things? Can you recommend a good gun for us?"
Grabbing four guns, he handed them to us. "These are rechargeable plasma guns. Shoot it, it recharges, then the light comes back on, and shoot it again," Douglock ordered.
"What else is in here? Are there any bombs?" Kurt inquired.
"Yes, there are," Douglock answered.
"Can we set them up by detonator, so we can set them off while we are in the air and safe?" Kurt wondered.
"Yes, we can," Douglock answered after kneeling down at some boxes. "There are about ten here, but if we do what I recommend we only need eight." Returning to the boxes, he tinkered with them. Assimilating the control box, Douglock looked up when he was done with the job. "I have assimilated the control, so I can set these bombs off an any time I want to. Take this bomb, and hide it in the control booth all the way downstairs." Douglock handed a bomb to Kurt, who quickly returned. "Colossus, take this bomb and put it in the lab place where they hurt Kitty." He nodded to Colossus and Colossus took off with the bomb in hand. "I’ll leave on in here." He set one aside. "Kurt, take this bomb to the roof." He handed one to Kurt, who teleported away. When he returned, Douglock handed him another one. "Take this one to the balcony where the men attacked us from." With a release of sulfur and a return of it, Kurt came and went, and was handed another bomb. "Take this one to the ground floor were we attacked." Kurt bamfed away. "And Amanda," he finished. "Take this one to the control room all the way down the hall." I ran down the hall, placed a bomb under one of the chairs there, and ran back to see Rahne and Colossus returning from the stairs. We nodded and entered the weapons room. "All set!" Douglock rejoiced.
"What do we do now?" Colossus queried.
"Well, there is a different control room down the hall," Douglock began. "I suggest we go there to gather some more information, then leave. I also have one more bomb to place, but none of us have been there yet, and it is too dangerous to have someone put it up there right now." Picking up the last bomb, Douglock took off to the control room I had just exited.
When I reached the room, Douglock was busy working on the computers. Peter went right to working on the videos, and Kurt and I took some files. Teleporting away with the stuff, I handed it over to a stressed Moira and explained to her that she was getting some important information downloaded. Returning back, I smiled at the others in the room. So quiet. This is part of why I hate the superhero business. I was never meant to do stuff like this.
Returning to the hallway, we entered another room with stairs that led up to what Douglock informed us was the first sub-level. It was also, however filled with the noises of battle. Kurt teleported right into the fight, taking out two guys by teleporting them and hitting them. Colossus took out two others by hitting them, while Douglock stood back, guarding the bomb. Glancing around, I saw Brian, Meggan, and Rahne fighting the few men remaining. Besides them, and the assorted amount of men scattered across the hallway, Pete and an odd looking man where running down towards down the hall, and disappeared into a room.
"Douglock," I said, "let’s go place that bomb on this level." Leading the way, he dodged his way into an office. He placed the bomb under a desk, and walked out of the room, returning to the fight.
"Well, that takes care of that!" Brian commented, rubbing his hands together and standing over the unconscious men in the hallway. The fight was over.
"Let’s get these men outside and out of harm’s way," Kurt ordered. He grabbed two men and teleported. He came back and grabbed two more, while Brian and Meggan flew away with two more in each arm. Colossus walked off with two, and Wolfsbane threw one over her arm.
Grabbing my two men, I teleported to the ground level, and dropped them off where the others seemed to be piling them, behind some shrubbery near the forest, far enough away from the warehouse.
***
"Bloody bastard!" I yelled, while I ran up the ladder to a balcony. "I’m going to kill you!" The man just quietly glanced back at me. He was afraid. I could tell it. He damn well better be. "Creed! I’m going to kill you! Do you hear me, Graydon Creed?! That was my girlfriend, you soddin git!" Jumping off the ladder and following the man up the stairs, I shot a hot knife at him. It hit him in the leg, and he began to limp, blood flowing. Taking another shot at him, I got his arm. The knife pierced it, completely, blood flowing out of his new cut. "You asshole! I hate you!" We walked out on the roof, finished off our chase. He had run into a dead end! Ha!
Creed turned around, looking at me. I stepped forward, making him walk backwards, until he was at the edge of the roof. He fell to his knees, crying. "Please, sir, please, don’t kill me!" Graydon begged. "I won’t hurt any mutie ever again!" He sobbed and held onto my leg. Stepping out of his grip, I looked down at him.
"Fine," I said.
"What?" he exasperated, looking up at me. "You’ll let me free?!"
"No," I answered, "I just wanted to make you feel bad." With that, I kicked him off the building. When his dead body hit the ground with a thump, I threw my hot knives at it for awhile, ruining his face, stomach, arms, legs, everything, until he was just a bloody pulp. "Asshole," I muttered under my breath, turning around to the stairs with a tear in my eye.
***
"What are we going to do now?" Wolfsbane inquired. Good question.
"Well, we have systematically set up bombs throughout this place. This place is going to fry," Kurt informed. "The men should be okay, in fact, they’re probably mostly awake right now. But that’s not really my concern here. What I want to do now is get out of here, but first we need to find Wisdom. Does anyone know where he is?"
"I’m right here," Wisdom remarked, walking down the hall. He didn’t have a mark on him, but I could sense relief and distress. He must have done it.
"Where’s Creed?" Rahne innocently asked. She looked around at us. I didn’t have the guts to tell her.
"I took care of her, Rahney," Wisdom replied. "Let’s just leave it at that."
"Let’s get out of here," Brian said. Kurt offered Douglock his hand, while Amanda grabbed Rahne and they both teleported out of here. Brian and I smiled at each other, and Brian took off with Peter. Walking over to Wisdom, who was smoking, I offered him a hug. "Things are gonna turn out to be fine, Pete," I comforted. The only response I got was a sob. Pete began to cry mercilessly, letting it all out. Realizing what he was doing moments later, he jumped out of my embrace, and proudly said, "Yeah, they will be. Let’s get outta here." He turned his back to me.
Knowing better, I grabbed Pete under the arms and took off. We reached the outside to see the plane hovering in the air. Flying to the door, we were let in. The plane took off a little higher in the air, and Kurt nodded to Douglock.
"Ready, Kurt," Douglock said. The warehouse exploded, fire cloud exploding on top of fire cloud. The whole place was momentarily obliterated. Using my power to call to the earth, I caved the whole place in.
We had hoped that with the warehouse our worries would blow up in smoke. Unfortunately, they didn’t. Silently, we flew back to Muir Island, each of us mourning in their own way.
To be continued in Epilogue: Friends of Healing........it’s almost over folks!!!!!!