Hell of a Ride
At the start of the mission, Kitty distributed the watches to Torres, Walker, Sam, and Bucky. Kurt then teleported Team 2 to the other side of the building to find an entry point and then teleported Team 1 to the first point of entry. The agreement was for Team 1 to search the upper half of the warehouse while Team 2 surveyed the lower half.
Sam opted to lead the trio consisting of him, Logan, and Kurt as they began searching the upper half of the facility. The specific portion they were in was covered in shelves with various crates and boxes lining them.
“The computer room would be more towards the center of the building according to Kitty,” Logan threw the suggestion out there.
“Which I assume is that way,” Sam pointed down one row of shelves. They all looked practically identical.
Kurt and Logan nodded and quietly followed him down the aisle. Before they turned the corner, they heard a group of guards approaching. Kurt climbed up to the top shelves and disappeared. Logan and Sam hid in one of the lower shelves, hiding behind a few of the larger crates.
Once the guards had passed, the three men reemerged and carefully turned the corner. As they traveled down a long metallic hall, they hid from another group of guards. Once again, they continued on their way with caution until they found a door that was heavily fortified with four guards standing by.
Kurt acted first and teleported over to one guard, instantly teleporting him away, much to Sam’s dismay. Logan then acted and charged towards two of the guards, slicing their guns with his claws. Sam rolled his eyes and then engaged the remaining guard in a fistfight.
Kurt dropped the guard he’d taken, causing the man to smack onto the floor, instantly losing consciousness. Since then, he teleported back, and snatched a guard away from Logan and repeated the gesture, only to find the guard wouldn’t go down without a fight. Sam spotted Logan fighting a guard with his claws and shouted at him to not kill anybody. Logan shot him a glare and then sheathed his claws before punching the guard straight in the face and knocking him unconscious. Sam hit the guard he was fighting with the shield as Kurt teleported back with the inert body of the second guard, dropping him on the floor.
The three men approached the door and looked for a way to open it. They found a key in one guard’s pocket. They unlocked the door and stepped inside, finding two identical concrete hallways. They looked down both halls and saw that rather than computers, the halls consisted of prison cells with steel bars.
At the sight, Kurt’s grin dropped, his expression turning disturbed. He took a step forward, his eyes having a faraway look as he peered into each cell. Sam could tell he was looking for someone, making sure no one was in this prison.
Sam looked over at Logan, standing next to him, his expression remained unchanged at the sight of the cells.
“Not concerned at all, huh?” Sam asked, looking at him and then back at Kurt.
Logan shrugged, “We’ve fought worse.”
“Then what’s with him?” He questioned, now just watching Kurt as he stepped into one cell and reemerged with a look of unease.
“HYDRA kept him in a cell like these years back. They kept the place dark and made sure he couldn’t move by attaching these restraining devices to him that would dampen his powers,” He sighed as he explained, “HYDRA moved him around a lot to make sure the program would never be found out. He’d use it as a chance to escape, but failed nearly every time. When he failed they attached more restraints.”
“Were you with him during all of this?” Sam raised a brow.
“No, but Kitty was. He’s spoken to me more about it than she has,” Logan spoke as he continued to watch Kurt roam the halls.
“I thought you three were in the same program,” Sam pointed out.
Logan shook his head, “I was in the Weapon X program back in the 50’s and 60’s. Those two were in somethin’ else.”
Sam looked at him with confusion, “Then how did you three even meet?”
“I had my memories messed with for a while and I was lookin’ for anything about my past. I went to one facility and found ‘em there. Broke ‘em out, took 'em to school,” Logan looked at the ground.
“And they’ve been following you around ever since, huh?” Sam put his hand on his hip, asking the question with a slight smile to lighten the mood.
“Suppose so,” Logan shrugged.
Kurt returned to them with a somber look and shook his head, “Niemand.”
“Then let's keep movin’,” Logan gestured for them to start walking again. This time, Logan and Sam got to see the empty concrete cells and the dull yellow collars scattered along the prison floors.
Sam made note of each cell and looked at Logan and Kurt’s reactions. Kurt was still visibly upset while Logan occasionally grimaced, overall keeping his usual gruff expression. As they exited the prison area, he noticed Kurt take a deep breath out of relief. Logan patted him on the shoulder. They exchanged a look with Kurt giving him an expression of uncertainty while he silently comforted him.
It was an exchange that Sam and Bucky had had before. An exchange the two had had before the mission. Bucky had quietly worried about another fight and Sam had done as he always had, patted him on the shoulder and had spoken with him. They’d assured each other that they’d use this mission as a shot in the dark. To see if these people were really in pursuit of a better future for the world.
It was that simple look exchanged between friends that made Sam realize this group was the real deal. They had no plans to betray him, Walker, Torres, or Bucky. They genuinely wanted to do the right thing- a quality that was difficult to find nowadays.
As they traveled down the next hall in what they thought was the right direction, Sam wondered how the other group was doing. If they too felt this odd sense of unity he’d finally managed to grasp with the mutant trio.
^^^
“Why are you asking so many questions?” Bucky whispered to Walker.
“I’m assessing her. We need to make sure someone like her is trustworthy,” Walker responded with his voice at full volume, “We need to make sure we’re not working with criminals.”
“Can you shut the hell up?” Kitty snapped at Walker, “You’re aware this is a stealth mission, right?”
“I’m aware,” Walker sounded offended. He’d been relentlessly questioning her ever since they had split away from the other team which had obviously gotten on her nerves.
“Then, and I cannot stress this enough, shut up,” She reiterated.
Bucky hadn’t managed to get a word in. Not that there would be anything for him to say since he had no idea how to approach a conversation with these two people.
Walker broke the silence again, “Why do you even need a gun, anyway? You have superpowers.”
“Because I need one,” Kitty looked like she was going to claw her face off, “What? Do you not trust me with a gun?”
“I don’t even trust you with a tray,” Walker fired back.
“That’s on you,” She rolled her eyes, “And look around there’s no trays.”
“You still have a gun,” Walker pointed out.
Kitty clenched her fist and then took out her gun from its holster before forcefully handing it to Walker, “There! Happy now?”
“Yes, I am,” Walker replied, looking annoyed and then handed the gun to Bucky who then handed it back to him with a scowl.
Kitty turned away and went back to leading the group down the gray hall.
Once again, it was Walker that ruined the silence, “You may be hiding other weapons we don’t know about.”
“Okay, let’s be honest here, I don’t need a weapon to kick your ass, alright? Can we just leave it at that?” Kitty was very close to yelling at him.
“Is that a threat?” Walker asked. He was picking for another fight. A rematch of sorts.
Finally, Bucky spoke up, “No, she doesn’t want a fight with us.”
Walker whipped his head to look at him, “Why wouldn’t she? That seems to be all she wants.”
“It’s not,” Bucky insisted calmly.
“How would you know that?” Walker continued to question.
“Because he knows who’d win,” Kitty started suddenly, looking back at them. She looked at Bucky with coldness for a second longer than she should have before turning back and continuing to walk.
Walker looked between the two of them with confusion before asking, “Is there something I don’t know about?”
“No,” Kitty and Bucky said at once.
The hallway came to an end and Walker went to check to make sure that there were no guards. Unfortunately for him, there were four guards by the door. He hid behind the corner. Kitty looked at him with a mixture of annoyance and curiosity. Bucky just raised a brow. Walker raised four fingers and then used his hands to make the shape of a door and guns. Kitty grinned a bit, took a large breath, and then walked past them and into the opening.
Both Bucky and Walker looked at her with bewilderment as the shots began to ring out. They both watched Kitty as the bullets flew through her and into the wall. She watched as the guards continued to fire and then launched forward towards them.
The guards were caught off guard as she approached the first one, kicking him in the shins and then kicking his chin once he bent over. She took the machine gun he was holding as he passed out. She moved on to the pair of guards that ran towards her. She used the gun to repeat the actions of moments prior with another guard, hitting him in the chin with the gun rather than her knee. Rather stupidly, the third guard approached her without raising his gun and lunged towards her. She reacted by turning around quickly and pummeling him in the head with the machine gun.
Unbeknownst to her, Bucky had followed in her footsteps and had taken on the fourth guard, engaging him in a fistfight and then knocking him to the ground before even being able to grasp his weapon. Walker, who’d stayed behind the wall, approached them with a nod of unease and approval.
Kitty looked down at the guy Bucky had taken down as he lay there unconscious and then went to the door, “I’m gonna see what’s inside, make sure nobody shows up.”
They nodded and she phased through the door and into the room. After a few seconds, they heard shouting and then quiet moments later. Kitty phased through the door again and then smirked in triumph, “Found it.”
“We don’t have a key card to get in,” Walker brought up.
Kitty rolled her eyes again, “You don’t need a key card,” She held out her hand. She was still half-phased through the door. Walker hesitantly took her hand and she phased back through the door and pulled him into the computer room. After he was fully inside, she just phased her arm through the door again to get Bucky. Bucky took her hand without a second thought and was pulled into the dimly lit computer room.
“Feel free to let the others know while I get started,” Kitty said and then looked at the computer system like it was a fresh meal.
“How do I do that exactly?” Bucky inquired, looking down at the watch. He was completely both dumbfounded and fascinated by the little orange thing.
“Hit the button under the screen on the left. Then once the hologram pops off, snap a picture and use the holographic keyboard to type out that you found the computer room,” Kitty continued to approach the computer system and then started stating the directions. She then noticed Walker approached a person she’d knocked out when she’d gone into the room before them, “Don’t touch them.”
Walker scowled at her while Bucky fidgeted with the watch and figured out how to do what she’d asked. As he finished sending the message, he looked up and watched Kitty connect a device to the computer system and then begin typing. She searched for any files in the system that were relevant to either of their causes. Anything they found that was of interest was transferred onto the device.
With a BAMF! Sam, Logan, and Kurt appeared in the room. Walker swatted away the purple mist. Kurt had a haunted expression and went over to Kitty, standing by her. Sam went to check in with Torres. Logan stood next to Bucky with his arms crossed, watching Kitty and Kurt with eagle eyes.
Kitty stopped typing after having gone through all of the files in the system and let the remaining files transfer over to the device. Bucky watched as she turned to Kurt to give him a small smile of reassurance. He still held that troubled look and instantly went to hug her for comfort. She held him gently and whispered some things to him. He nodded without responding verbally. He lingered there for a few more seconds before letting her go.
Sam returned from checking on Torres, “Can we hurry this up? Torres and the dragon spotted a new group of guards on their way here.”
Kitty rushed over and waited for the final file to upload before unplugging the device and storing it in her belt and saying that they were good to go. Kurt requested that everyone hold on to each other before he teleported them out in a moment.
The group had just teleported out of the warehouse when Sam went to contact Torres again to make sure the coast was clear. Kitty stepped away from the group and towards Kurt and Logan as Bucky and Walker stood by Sam.
A single shot rang through the air as a string of blood landed on the ground.