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Issue #3 |
"Lost Dreams" Part Three: Dangerous Measures Written By Doug Bookey and Aaron Stanley |
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As they fall, Storm used her powers to let lose a monsoon, deluging the rebels with rain and wind. Rain, which Iceman froze as it fell, pelted the rebels. Wind, which kept aloft Angel, who swooped down amongst the rebels, punching them and taking their weapons.
As Storm, Iceman and Angel distracted the rebels, Havok, Beast and Jean snuck around the rebels, flanked them and snuck into the base, looking for their leader Cyclops, who had been captured in an earlier mission against these same rebels.
As the sounds of the rebel's fire grew, deep within the base, Cyclops is stirred from unconsciousness, as the door to his holding cell opens, and Bishop and Cannonball drag in the unconscious bodies of Pathway and Goblyn; which were also part of the mission that Cyclops led against the rebels.
"What did you two monsters do to them?!?!" screamed Cyclops at the two former X-Men.
"Shut up, Summers. Our leader wants us to catalogue and test all mutants...be grateful you haven't been tested yet," growled Bishop, as he clamped Goblyn and Pathway to the wall next to Cyclops, turned, and left the cell without looking back.
Minutes later, Goblyn and Pathway both began to stir. Pathway awoke first.
"Uhhh..." moaned the mutant.
"Pathway...it's Cyclops, are you ok?" queried Cyclops.
"I'm fine...sore all over though. How's my sister?" replied Pathway.
"She's fine...still out, but she seems like she's coming to," answered Cyclops.
"Cyclops...I'm afraid...are we going to be ok?" asked Pathway, her voice trembling.
At this, Cyclops hard features soften, concern crossing his face.
"Don't worry, I'll get you and your sister out...and if not, my friends will come for me," Cyclops said softly, reassuring the young mutant.
At that, a loud boom sounds through the cell, and it shakes slightly.
"In fact, I believe the cavalry is on its way," Cyclops smirked.
At that moment, Jeans group came up against a solid steel door.
"Looks like this is the way in....Havok, you've got the key, open it," Jean commanded, pointing at the door as she used her telepathy to make them invisible to the passing mutate rebels.
"Gladly..." Havok said, grinning as he raised his hand, pointing a finger at the door, a plasma-blast lancing out to cut through the lock, the door swinging open with a gentle push.
"Beast, you've got the best vision here, you peek into that dark hallway, and tell me what you see," Jean ordered, Beast nodded and poked his head around the corner, drawing it back quickly as a blast of flame goes ripping past.
"We've got approximately 6 hostiles; 5 seem to be mutants with no visible mutations, one has claws and scales, so would likely be a physical attacker...If you and Havok lay down some cover, I'll close with the enemy, and take out the ones with short range powers," Beast suggested.
Jean nodded, "let's do it."
Jean and Havok launch themselves into the hallway, Jean throwing up a telekinetic field to protect herself and Havok, who shoots his plasma blasts down the length of the hallway, knocking two rebels out instantly, as the Beast bounds overhead, rebounding off the walls and ceiling and floor, drawing ever closer as the rebels try to blast him. Havok and Jean took out more of them, until finally the Beast is amongst the two rebels who remain standing. Beast punched one solidly in the face, who promptly dropped like a bag of flour. The other jumped onto the back of Beast, who reached back and tossed the rebel face first into the wall.
"Wasn't that a bit rough, Hank?" asked Havok.
"Necessity of the times, my friend," replied Beast, already looking around for an ambush.
"I'm going to scan one, and find my husband," said Jean, who grabbed one rebel by the collar, and scanned his mind.
After a few quiet seconds, Jean dropped the rebel back to the ground.
"Nothing...all I got was a layout of the facility, but he didn't know where Cyclops is being held. So, I think we should head to the control room," Jean suggested.
"Then lets go!" shouted Havok, following after Jean as she charged down the hall, the Beast acting as rearguard.
As Jeans group raced toward the control room, Storm and her group
are facing off against the rebels, whose numbers are swiftly diminishing.
"Storm, we need to push the advantage!!!" screamed Iceman, forming an ice club before swinging it at a bunch of advancing mutates.
"He's right Ororo," agreed the swooping Angel, "we need to get in there and back up the others."
"Then press on, X-Men," ordered Storm, whipping up a gust of wind that pushed back the rebels, buying time for the X-Men to charge into the facility. Storm flew through the doorway and buried it with tons of debris.
"And our backs are protected too," Storm said, glancing around the hallway, and saw the unconscious rebels.
"Looks like they went this way, Storm," Iceman grinned.
"And thus, we shall as well," Storm replied, charging down the hall, but grinded to a halt as Cannonball and Multiple Man turned the corner.
"Oh shi..." started Iceman.
"Stand down X-Men, or be destroyed" Cannonball ordered, as Multiple Man began to fill the hallways with duplicates.
"Storm, what do we do? These are our friends," Havok muttered, not taking his eyes off Cannonball or the Multiple Men.
"You DIE, X-Man!!!" screamed Cannonball, launching himself down the hall at the three.
"X-Men, defend yourselves!!" ordered Storm, striking out with lightning at Cannonball, as the battle is joined.
As Storm and her group fought to keep Cannonball and Multiple Man from overwhelming them, deep inside the facility, Bishop once more enters the cell, checking the restraints on all the mutants.
"What are you doing with us, you traitor?" demanded Cyclops.
"Shut up Summers," muttered Bishop, continuing to check the restraints. "You're in no place to demand anything," Bishop finished, as he left the cell once more.
"This is it...I scan three low level mutants on the other side.
I'll take middle. Hank, go right, Havok, go left. Ready X-Men?"
Jean asked.
She received a nod from her two friends.
"Then let's get it done," she said grimly, blasting the door of its hinges with her telekinesis, and charged into the control room and knocked out the middle rebel, as Beast and Havok take the other two.
"Now, find me a monitor that shows where my husband is," ordered Jean, turning to the control station in front of her, and scanning the screens.
After a few minutes of silence, Havok hollered out. "Guys, I've found him...Level 3, section A-4. That's on this level."
"Hank...Alex...let's go get my man," smirked Jean, leading the charge to Cyclops' cell
As Bishop closed the cell, he saw Jean, Beast and Angel racing down the hall toward them. Turning back quickly, Bishop reopened the cell, unlatched Cyclops, wrapped an arm around the X-Man's neck, and pointing a weapon at Cyclops head.
As Jean, Angel and Beast near the open cell door, Storm, Angel and Iceman arrive on the other side of the doorway.
"Jean...I'm assuming that this is the location of Cyclops?"
asked Storm.
"Yes, but...how did you find out Storm?" replied Jean, curious
as to Storm's group knowing where Cyclops was being held.
"We found a...helpful, rebel, who pointed us in the right direction," Iceman said grimly, the air around his eyes freezing as he has pushed his power to a level he thought never thought possible.
"Good. I'm scanning the cell, and I can read the minds of two other mutants that were with Cyclops...I can also faintly read Scott's mind, and....there's another, but I can't break through his defenses in a short period of time, and I want to take him alive," growled Jean.
"X-Men, enter the cell quickly, fan out, and incapacitate the rebel," ordered Storm, watching as the X-Men moved to enter the cell, waiting for her signal.
"GO!!!!"
At her word, the X-Men charged into the cell, coming up short as they found Bishop with the gun pointed at Cyclops' head.
"Don't move X-Men, or the boy scout gets it," Bishop warned, sweating at his position.
"Face it, Bish, your done," said Iceman, stepping forward.
"Bobby, stop!!" shouted Havok, who pulled Iceman back.
"Alex?" asked Cyclops, his eyes going wide at the sight of his long thought dead brother.
"Yeah, Scotty, its me.... and this freak picked the WRONG family to mess with," said Havok, raising his arms and letting lose a plasma blast.
As the blast hurtles across the room, Bishop threw Cyclops out of the way, and Bishop absorbed the blast.
"HAHAHAHA, keep blasting fool, your only charging me further," chuckled Bishop.
At this, Havok once more unleashed a plasma blast, blasting Bishop before the other X-Men can stop Havok.
"HAHAHAHA, Havok, you ARE a fool.I'm a channeler...that energy you just blasted me with? I ABSORBED it. And now, time to DIE X-MEN!!!" roared Bishop, as he pointed his arms up at the ceiling, and blasted the stored energy out, striking the ceiling and collapsing a portion onto the X-Men....
Next issue...
The War Begins!!!
