Chapter 9
IX
An hour later, everyone was gathered in the medical facility at the mansion. It was underground. “Ah, nostalgia!” Wade had said when the elevator had opened to the blue-tiled corridor. He had pressed his hand to his mouth upon seeing the X-shaped door at the far end, but a squeal had already escaped, making Ellie frown at him. Russell was mostly clueless about everything.
Now they all were in the medical room, masks off and weapons down. Yukio was resting on a bed near the wall. Her head was bandaged and a machine was monitoring her vitals. Ellie was by her side on a chair, holding her hand. She had regained consciousness soon after getting to the mansion. Currently, she wore a concerned expression as everyone discussed what to do about finding Domino.
“Cerebro.” Cable said suddenly, making the chatter stop. “That’s the only way to find her.”
The group sat close to Yukio’s bed, with Cable sitting against the wall. Wade and Russell were perched on a table in the centre of the room, while Logan, Laura and Colossus were standing.
After a pause, Colossus said, “But we cannot use it without the professor.”
“I know.” He said, “Which is why I made this.” He put his hand in his pocket and brought something out. It was a small cylindrical device, as big as his palm. There were cuboidal connectors on its top and bottom, and a small slider on its side. “It simulates the brain waves that the professor used for the machine. It can start Cerebro.” He handed it over to Colossus, who held it delicately, afraid of damaging it.
“Wait, you had this all along?” Wade asked. “And why didn’t we use this to find Logan? Do I smell another plot hole?”
“I didn’t have this all along.” He said, voice strained. “Finished making it a few weeks ago. Been developing this ever since…” He took a pause, then continued, “Ever since I came here, seeing as how Xavier isn’t here himself. It just took a backseat because of other stuff. But w-w-when,” Cable winced, his voice going more mechanical for the last word. Before anyone could ask if he was alright, he clenched his teeth and went on, “When Logan was abducted, I got back into developing it. But it still took a long fucking t-t-t-time.”
“Okay, what's going on with you?” Wade said, moving closer to him. “Is your audio player damaged!?”
Cable didn't say anything for a moment, his eye glowing bright, and then looked up at him. Wade took a step back. He hadn't ever seen Cable look so...there wasn't any other word for it – so weak. There was sweat on his temple, his hands were quivering, his teeth were clenched as if from the effort to hold something in, and his brows were converged together in pain. His eye glowed and turned, while the visible wiring on his body seemed to tighten all over. He doubled over suddenly.
Russell rushed over to him, holding him up. “What-what’s wrong??”
“Nothing,” he panted. “Nothing, it’s a…a techno-organic virus." He coughed, and then, to everyone's surprise, smiled. “Haven't seen one this powerful in ages. And definitely didn't expect to find one in this time.”
“How did you get it? What is it doing to you?” Laura asked as Colossus handed the device to Ellie, who examined it closely with Yukio.
“I got it when I connected my network to that sentinel. That’s why it was calling to me. It was a trap.” They all looked on helplessly as his voice lowered to a whisper. He continued, “And currently, it is breaking down firewalls, loosening interconnected tissues,” He stopped abruptly, then with a breath, added in voice that was clearly forced into sounding bored, “Basically, killing me.”
“Wow. That’s just Tuesday for you, is it?” Wade said, “What can we do to fix it?”
“You cannot do anything. I’m fighting it, and I’ll win. What it is doing to me, I’m doing the same to it. Don’t worry about me.” He looked at them, but when they didn’t immediately stop worrying, he added, “It’s powerful, but not unstoppable. Focus on finding Domino.”
Yukio was looking at the X-Wave Simulator. “This will start the machine, but…I don’t think it can—”
“Make the machine work? Make it d-d-detect and distinguish mutants n-n-non-mutants? I know.” Cable said, “For that, we need actual p-p-p-powers, actual mutants.”
“Who do you need?” Logan asked, ready to offer himself, but Cable shook his head.
“It’ll be dangerous. Fatality risk is high.” He said in a voice barely above a whisper, then lowered his head as the hum surrounding him heightened.
“The suspense is killing me, who is it?” Wade jumped off the table.
“Let him rest.” Colossus said.
Cable spoke, “Caliban. For finding mutants. Rogue. F-f-for channelling that power into Cerebro.”
“That’s all?” Wade asked, looking at Logan, knowing he was uncomfortable with offering Rogue.
“And one m-m-m-more. A self-healing brain. T-t-t-to take the load of Cerebro.”
Wade chuckled, “Take the load, hah!” It took him half a second to realize what the words meant together, and he said, “Oh.”
Nobody said anything for a moment. Then Logan stepped forward and began, “I’m—”
But Wade pressed a hand on his chest and gently pushed him back. He knelt by Cable. “Nah, peanut, not you, I’ll do it.” He raised a finger when Logan frowned and opened his mouth. “We need you for the actual rescuing. We don’t know how many assholes we’ll have to kill to get to her, and you’re…well, you’re more or less an army.”
Nobody refuted the claim, and Logan had to admit it made sense. But he still wasn’t going to let Wade go in without a protest. “But it’s dangerous. What if you aren’t able to focus enough? What if your healing factor doesn’t kick in? What if it isn’t fast enough?”
“All those concerns apply to you too.” Wade replied. “Don’t worry, we won’t need to stay connected to it for long,” He looked at Cable, who nodded. “Just long enough to get Domino’s location.” He looked at them all. “You guys can storm the place then and rescue her. It’ll be just like when we rescued Logan, except this time it’ll be Logan instead of me killing people.” He raised his hand, thumb and index-finger joined. “It’ll be a-okay!”
Everyone looked at him, questioning everything and saying nothing. Logan felt slightly frustrated, and nervous, and scared. He clenched his fists, trying to think of some other reason to stop him, but finding none. It needed to be done, and the plan made sense.
“We have to talk to Rogue and Caliban too.” Colossus said. “They need to agree as well.”
Logan, finally finding something he could do, said, “I’ll talk to them.”
“There’s something else.” Cable said, making everyone stop. “I was t-t-t-trying to download the sentinel’s data, when the virus infected me. Didn’t get anything, except for one thing.” He looked up, his eye glowing brightly. He gestured for the people standing in front of him to move aside. They did, and he looked at the top of the empty table. A rectangular projection shot out from his eye and a blurry image showed an empty room. The image flickered, breaking into horizontal strips, and then went out altogether as Cable shut his eyes tight. Russell placed a hand on his shoulder. He opened his eyes again and the hologram resumed. The image was clearer, and more stable with less flickering. “It’s a video.” Cable said. “Only thing I c-c-could download, as if it was placed th-th-there specifically for me to f-f-find.”
The video began playing. From a left, a person entered the frame, only his shirt and tie visible, and then he sat down.
“Jack!!??” Wade yelled.
“The fuck?” Logan muttered.
“You know this person?” Colossus said as the man began speaking.
“Hello, Cable. If you’re watching this, I assume our virus is doing wonders for your health.” He smiled. “And I also assume the X-Men,” He spoke the words slowly, as if mocking the name. “Are watching. So, I address you all.”
“Yes, we fucking know this person.” Wade said, his hands on the sides of his head. “He’s the bartender at St. Margaret’s! We just met him three days ago!” He turned to Logan, who seemed just as bewildered as him. “What the fuck!?”
“You were able to successfully rescue Wolverine, and destroy our research facility in the process.” Jack continued, his voice even and emotionless.
“Torture facility, more like.” Ellie said.
“We didn’t count on Cable finding our facility so fast. We were going to move Wolverine, but you reached us before that. That was on us. But this time, we are prepared.” He paused for a second, then continued, “By now, the virus we made should be coursing down Cable’s organs, infecting and slowly breaking down everything.”
Everyone looked at Cable, who didn’t react, just kept the video going.
“Domino is a fascinating mutant. Our scientists are determined to study her incredible abilities, and it would change the world if we could isolate them and employ them. But all that does not interest me. What interests me is the eradication of mutants from public life.” For the first time, his voice betrayed an emotion – anger. “You are mere weapons. You do not deserve to live among common people. You do not deserve to endanger them.” His voice rose as his anger grew. “We don’t deserve to die because of you. I did not deserve—” The sentence and the video got cut off by an obvious edit and Jack resumed, his demeanour calmer. “Our goal is to eradicate mutants, and eradicate the x-gene. You killed Dr. Rice, but do not think you have won. You have simply delayed us. We will achieve our goal. Our scientists will use you as guinea pigs,” Logan’s fists clenched at the familiar words, said to him months ago by Zander Rice. The man continued, “and the world will be safer in your absence. Domino will help us a lot. Forget her. You will not find her this time. This was a warning. Take care.” The video ended on the unsettling and insincere phrase. Cable lowered his head, breathing heavily.
Silence reigned in the room as the words of the man sunk in. Eventually, Wade broke the spell with a loud, “Holy fuck!!” He looked at everyone, then turned to Logan and repeated, “Holy fuck! What was Jack doing there?? Has he been a spy this whole time? What the fuck?”
“I don’t fucking know.” Logan said, “But we’re taking him down, and whoever is with him.”
Ellie asked, “Were there any details in the video, any time or location stamps, anything?”
Cable didn’t answer for a second, then shook his head, “No. There was n-n-no metadata. They wanted me t-t-t-to find the video, and g-g-get infected.”
“Fuck.” Logan whispered. “Alright,” He said, “I’m going to talk to Rogue and Caliban. Get Cerebro started up. I don’t care what threats that asshole gave, we’re finding Domino and getting her back.”
“Yes, we are!” Wade said, patting Logan on the back, who growled and left the room. Laura followed him.
Ellie got up. “Wade and I will fit the Simulator into Cerebro and see if it works.” When Yukio tried to get up, she put a hand on her shoulder and softly pushed her back on the pillow. “Stop. Stay here. We’ll figure it out.” She kissed her on the lips and took the device from her hand.
“It’ll work.” With an effort, Cable spoke, “Rogue and Magneto. The Statue of Liberty. All that happened here, right?”
Wade answered, “Of course, X-Men! The first one. That’s what started it all!”
“Do you h-have the blueprints of the m-m-machine that Magneto used?”
Colossus thought for a moment, then said, “They should be in the Professor’s study. Why?”
“The energy siphoners that p-p-powered the machine. Use them to c-c-connect Rogue to Cerebro.”
“But it almost killed her before!” Colossus was aghast.
“T-t-t-told you it’d be dangerous, pal.” Cable said with a small smile that immediately turned into a grimace as he fought whatever was happening inside him. After a moment, he nodded at the X-Wave Simulator in Ellie’s hand. “K-k-k-keep the slider low when you attach it.” He clenched his teeth, and Wade noticed that he was shaking. “Once Rogue and Caliban are c-c-connected to Cerebro, raise it to th-th-the highest setting. It’ll c-c-c-convert and store the energy, k-k-keeping the machine running for a few m-m-m-more minutes even after they’ve disconnected. Then you,” He lifted his head weakly towards Wade, “just have to foc-c-cus on finding Domino. It’s easy.”
“Yeah, easy.” He raised a hand. “I have another question. If we’re using these siphoner thingies, why do we need Rogue? Isn’t Caliban enough?”
Cable took a moment to respond. “Th-th-the siphoners were m-m-made for mutants like Magneto or Rogue, whose powers work on the surface. Caliban’s are more internal. He senses the nearby x-gene internally. It wouldn’t matter if he was in contact with the machine. So—” His voice choked up and a shaking fit took over for a minute. Russell looked with scared eyes.
“Okay, okay, makes sense.” Wade nodded and looked with concern as the cyborg stopped trembling. “Can we do anything for you? Get you somewhere? Install some antivirus or something? Cough syrup?”
He didn’t say anything for some time, long enough for Wade to doubt if he had heard him. Then he said, “Take me to the j-j-j-jet.”
“The jet? But you’ll be away from everyone!”
“I’ll stay with him.” Russell said.
“I have shit there that can m-m-maybe help.” Cable said as Russell helped him to his feet.
Wade sighed. “Maybe will have to do, I guess.
Colossus left to find the blueprints. Cable went away with Russell’s help to their jet. Wade and Ellie nodded to Yukio, who said, “Fine, but I will help with connecting the siphoners.”
“Sure.” Ellie said and rushed Wade out before Yukio could start getting up again. The pair walked across the corridor to the giant vault doors shaped like an X.
“Jack!” Wade said, “I still can’t believe it. I liked him. He poured our drinks. And managed St. Margaret’s. That’s a sacred place! And for so many months! Why? Did they pay him? Was he always a spy?”
“Probably.” She muttered.
Jack left his mind the moment they stopped in front of the Cerebro vault. “How’re you gonna open it? Don’t you need the professor’s eye scan or whatever?” He asked, excited in spite of the circumstances.
“No, he changed the settings before he left. All X-Men can open it.” She said and leaned forward to let the door scan her eyes.
“Can my eye be added to the password?”
“No.” She said. The light on the door flashed green and she moved back. The circular lock of the door turned as the mechanism inside aligned, followed by it pressing backwards and the doors opening. A voice said, “Welcome, X-Men.”
He stopped sulking the moment the door spoke. “Nice!” He said, entering the room and looking around. The long walkway that led to the helmet which controlled Cerebro lighted up as they walked. Slowly, all the lights turned on. The giant spherical room felt majestic. “Whoa, this is awesome!” His voice echoed. Ellie rolled her eyes and smiled as she walked to the table. “Where do we—oh yeah,” Wade said as she knelt down. “That’s where Mystique put whatever it was that poisoned Xavier in the first movie.” She pulled out a panel filled with wiring. “So, do I get Xavier’s spare wheelchair down here, or what? Where will I be sitting?”
“We have spare chairs.” She clicked her tongue and pressed a button on the table. A rectangular panel in the floor slid away and a silver chair rose up. Wade gasped and put his hands to his mouth. She rolled her eyes. Detaching one of the wires from the table, she attached the simulator to it and fixed it into the machine. “Hope I won’t be poisoned by whatever Cable cooked up in that flying meth lab of his.”
She frowned at him and said, “Why would you say that? You’re the one who’s going to have to sit here and do everything.”
“Aww, are you worried for my well-being?” He pressed his hands to his heart and pouted.
She went back to work, pushing the panel back in. “Nope, just incredulous at your wondrous stupidity.”
Wade grinned, “Ooh, that’s good, ‘incredulous at my wondrous stupidity.’ You mind if I steal that for the title of my autobiography?”
She got up and began walking out. “As one of the eight billion people who won’t be buying it,” She turned to him and lifted both middle fingers. “I couldn’t give a shit.”
“You spoil me.” He flicked his wrist towards her in a small wave.
They found Colossus getting out of the elevator just as the door behind them closed. He had a blue rolled up chart in his hand. “Found it.” He said when he saw them. They re-entered the medical room where Yukio seemed suspiciously happy in her bed. She raised her eyebrows and smiled when they came in.
“I know you were trying to get out.” Ellie said.
She sighed. “Fine. But I’m okay.” She pointed to her head. “This is nothing. It’s healed by now.”
“I’m not taking any chances. You were unconscious too long.” She said, her tone revealing the finality.
Colossus spread the blueprint over the table. On top, the title said ‘Energy Siphoner 2.4.0.’ There were detailed diagrams showing the wirings and mechanisms inside the two three-foot tall siphoners, along with notes scrawled all around in a small, neat handwriting. Colossus dragged the table closer to Yukio, who was craning her neck to see. Wade understood nothing of the technical stuff, so he stood back, leaning against the wall. After a while, once all three had studied the whole thing, Yukio nodded. “This shouldn’t be too hard to make.”
Colossus said, “But it’ll take time.”
“How long?” Wade asked.
“At least four to five hours.”
“Four to five hours!?”
“Yeah, if we want to get it right.” Ellie said, “And I’m thinking of adding a safety switch.”
“Oh, yes, good idea! A switch that would shut the machine down before it harms the person.” Yukio said, not taking her eyes off the blueprint. She added, thinking out loud, “Maybe by checking the pulse? Hmm, we’ll figure it out.”
“Okay!” Wade straightened and clapped once. “Let’s find Domino!”