Chapter 5
“Her first.” Emma commanded. She watched in amusement as the exhausted and scared woman rose in defiance. “It will do you no good.” Emma said dismissively with a proud smirk on her face. Everything was coming along perfectly. Well not perfectly. She would have preferred to have Wanda Maximoff, or even Katheryn Pride but it was no matter. They had what they needed to test their theory.
“Vertigo, get on with it.”
“With pleasure.” The woman said with an impish grin. She raised her hands towards Rogue who immediately began to stumble. Sabretooth approached and opened her cell.
“Hey!” Tabitha yelled, throwing a small rock at the woman. “Let us go! People are going to come looking for us and then you’ll be sorry!”
While Rogue was disoriented he grabbed her by her upper arms and began binding her with restraints. He then too this opportunity to knock her out using a special mask to cover her nose and mouth where she was administered a powerful anesthesia. Rogue went slack in the beasts arms and he took this opportunity to hoist her over his shoulder.
“Let her go, you freak!” Tabitha attempted to shake the bars in a fit of rage mixed with fear.
“Oh honey, I like your spirit.” Emma laughed. “I have half a mind to pick you next. Vertigo, shut her up."
The woman giggled and pointed her hand towards both Carol and Tabitha, causing the both of them to stumble and fall. Tabitha tried to hold back the contents of her stomach as the room spun. Satisfied with her work, Vertigo released her hold on the women.
Vertigo's effect had not yet worn off on Carol, but she wanted to chance escape anyway. As Sabretooth entered the cell and dove and somersaulted under him and made a break for the door. She was about to cross the threshold of her cage when her head jerked back with a violent shock. Still holding Rogue over his shoulder, He used his free hand to pull her back by her hair and tossed her into the back of the cell.
Working quickly, he took this opportunity to administer the gas to Carol but she held her breath and tried to come up with a way to escape. Before she could come up with a plan Sabretooth released his grip on Rogue long enough to punch Carol in the diaphragm, knocking the wind out of her. As she gasped for air she inhaled the anesthesia slumped to the floor. Tabitha, now silent and backed into a corner watched in horror.
“Not so spirited now, are you girl?” Emma cooed. “Perhaps you will find it again when we come for you next.” She turned around and accessed the computer and started working.
Sabertooth now had both women slung over his shoulders and casually retreated just out of sight. Vertigo followed close behind. Tabitha assumed this cave was big, but now she wondered just how big. Her attention snapped in the direction of what she now assumed was the entrance to this location as she heard footsteps. Emma spun around in her chair and smiled in approval.
“Oh excellent, just in time!” She stood and motioned to what had been Carol’s cell. “Place her in that one.”
Pyro and Sunfire did as instructed and closed the door behind them.
Tabitha feared the worst for all of them. So far as she knew, only young women were being captured and she could only guess what for.
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Sabretooth entered a brightly lit room that was furnished with all sorts of medical equipment. The room was far from sterile but it was as clean as one could manage. He took turns setting each woman down on their own examination table before strapping them down and moving out of the way so that men in lab coats could begin hooking the women up to the surrounding machines. After several minutes both women had their vitals displayed on monitors and each had their own anesthesiologist.
A man stepped from the shadows and assessed the situation. "What is the progress?" He asked.
"Just about ready to being Dr Essex, we just await your word."
"Excellent. Sabretooth, you may leave." Dr Essex strolled over to the women and admired his prizes. "We are making history men. We may proceed."
The man nodded and turned towards a console. "deactivating collar on patient one." With the press of a button the device on Rogue's neck made a chirp sound and an indicator light turned from green to amber. "Begin procedure."
Wordlessly, two techs unstrapped one of Carol's arms and placed her hand on Rouges bare arm. Immediately the read out on the two women's vitals reacted. Carol's blood pressure, brain activity, body temperature, pulse, and respiration rate started to rapidly drop as Rogue's rose. The women's bodies started reacting with random twitches and convulsions.
Suddenly Rogue's eyes flew open and her fists clenched.
"Sir, subject one is awake." The tech assigned to Rogue alerted.
"Increase sedative." Dr Essex replied.
"We cannot introduce more without risking the patient's life."
"What is the status of patient 2?"
"Almost all brain activity has been ceased." The second tech said.
At that moment Rogue snapped the restraints on her wrists and fought to sit up.
"Abort procedure! Reactivate patient one's collar!" Dr Essex yelled. He had feared that this could happen, but he had accounted for this.
A man scrambled to slam the button on the console. Just as Rogue reached for it the indicator light on the collar shifted from amber to green with another chirp. Rogue's body ceased and then went limp. The machinery continued to alarm for a moment before they settled back within acceptable ranges. The tension in the air was thick, and the pause that followed seemed to last a small eternity.
"Status report on patient one and two!" Dr Essex demanded.
Rogue's tech reviewed her vitals read out. "Patient one is stable."
"Patient two is stable, vitals are weak." The second tech added.
"prepare patients for observation" Dr Essex said trying to hide the frustration in his voice. "24 hours should be sufficient."
"Yes sir!" The two techs went about their work ensuring that each woman was set with IV drips and the appropriate levels of medication to keep them under.
"Doctor?" The man at the console asked. Dr Essex did not respond but simply stopped in his tracks. "Would you like us to go ahead and take blood samples now?" Dr Essex was silent for a moment before saying anything.
"Yes, that may prove beneficial. Take samples from both patients and report to me on your findings."
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Kitty sat up and let her eyes come into focus. She was behind a set of iron bars that covered her on three sides that was set into a cave side. There was a large cavern with monitors, computers, wooden crates, and Tabitha?
"Good morning sunshine." Tabitha was reclined on her cot digging the dirt out from under her nails. "Finally, someone to talk to."
"Where are we?" Kitty said sitting up.
"Somewhere far away from a nail salon."
"I'm serious!" Kitty snapped.
"Me too. But I honestly have no idea where we are." Kitty approached the bars in an attempt to phase threw them but found she couldn't "It's no use Kitty-Kat." Tabitha said tapping the collar on her neck. "These things seem to be preventing us from using out powers. You think I'd be here otherwise?" Kitty reached up to her neck and found the collar. "Now that you're here, I'm sure people will be here to bust us out soon."
Kitty flopped back down on her own cot. The last thing she remembered was going for a run around the estate grounds. Everything was so fuzzy after that. Kitty looked to the empty cell to her right and saw a jacket discarded on the cot. "Was there someone over there?"
"Yeah, Rogue, but they took her and the girl who was in your cell before you somewhere right before you got here."
"Rogue is here?!" Kitty felt a surge of panic.
"Did I studder?" Tabitha had finished cleaning her nails and sat up to point down the hallway. "Her and some chick named Carol. A few hours ago at least."
"What do they want with us?"
"No clue. But whatever it is, they have quite a few people working on it, and I think they are bringing more of us here. Considering there are only three cells I don't want to think about what that means for us."
"We gotta get out of here!" Kitty started looking at the bars to see if there was a weak spot.
"You're wasting your time. If there was a way out we would have found it."
Kitty sat on her cot and wrapped her arms around herself. She tried to calm down and collect her thoughts. Being stressed out was only going to cause problems and stress her out. She should conserve her energy for now until she could figure out what to do next.
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Storm took her place in the pilot seat of the blackbird and Cyclops sat right beside her. Jean, Wolverine, Kurt, and Gambit all took their seats.
"Preflight checks complete." She engaged the switches that opened the pathway for the jet to take off and engaged the thrusters. "If Gambit's coordinates are correct we should be there in 2 hours tops."
"I still don't know why we need to bring this scum along if we have the coordinates." Logan growled.
"Because mon ami…" Gambit said shuffling his cards "I know what we're up against and you will be needin' my help."
"I'm not convinced bub."
"Logan, please try not to kill Gambit. He is the reason we know where the girls are." Storm chided
"If we can believe him. What if he's leading us away from the mansion for a trap?"
"As far as I can tell he is telling the truth Logan." Jean said
"Isn't it impolite to read the mind of a man without his permission?" Gambit quirked an eyebrow
"Forgive me if I have my own suspicions." Jean replied. "You don't have the best track record for being honest. Remember you have done some kidnapping of your own"
Gambit shrugged. "I can't make you trust me, but you never will if you don't give me a chance. Don't you x-men believe in change?"
"Gambit is right Logan." Jean said. "The Professor has placed his trust in Gambit. Perhaps it's wise you do too. He isn't the first person we've accepted into our team that fought against us before."
Logan didn't like that Jean made sense. He himself had a sordid past so shouldn't he give this kid a chance? "The first chance I feel like you're going to double cross us--"
"Let me guess… you'll do something with those claws of yours." Logan didn't like the young man's cockiness but to a point he had to respect how he was calm in the face of danger. "que sera sera."
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"Approaching destination." Storm said. The computer read out had estimated that they were no more than 20 minutes out by flight. "We will get closer and then proceed from here on foot to maintain the element of surprise. "
Storm piloted the Blackbird at a lower altitude to avoid detection from traditional radars and used the improved visibility to find cover for the aircraft. The team knew that the alleged location was in a mountain range and would have to work to find a suitable place to land to allow for both adequate cover and a quick escape. After almost circling the surrounding area, Storm landed and summoned a dense fog to conceal their location.
Gambit took point on lead. He knew there were no traps but he would not be surprised if they would run into any of Dr Essex's minions. He just hoped that if he couldn't avoid them, he knock them out before any of them could talk. "This way" He waved a hand and lead the team up a mildly obscured path.
"I don't like this Jean." Cyclops whispered.
"I know Scott, but he's our best chance at freeing Kitty and Rogue."
"We already have Lance to worry about, now we have someone who's actually kidnapped one of us before. The whole thing just wreaks of trouble to me."
"Same here bub." Logan said.
Gambit took cover behind a rock and motioned for the other's to do the same. "That is the entrance their base of operations." He motioned to a narrow cave mouth that could be easily mistaken for a solid wall. " If I was a bettin' man, and I just so happen to be, I'd say the girls are in there. I suggest I sneak in and scope out the place first. Make sure we aren't wasting our time."
"I can sense Tabitha and Kitty. They must be close. Perhaps the element of surprise if our best option. We don't want to risk putting them in further danger."
"What about Rogue?" Kurt asked. "Can you sense her?"
"No." Jean said. "But we are likely to find a lead in there. Gambit, go ahead and go in, but take Kurt with you."
Gambit didn't dare argue. Perhaps the fuzzball could be of use. "Follow me, and stay quite." Gambit crouch and began advancing. Kurt followed suit.
As they approached the entrance Gambit motioned for Kurt to stay put as he stuck his head around the corner, then wordlessly motioned for Kurt to follow. They proceeded down the mouth of the cave and into a large opening filled with crates, computers, tables, and other signs of occupation. Gambit poked a head around a crate and saw no sign of anyone other than Kitty and Tabitha. Gambit motioned for Kurt to look and then attempted to use hand signs to Kurt a plan to get the women out. Kurt looked confused but nodded and Gambit advanced alone.
When he got close enough to be visible he picked up a pebble and gave it just enough charge to get their attention but make little sound. The pebbled bounced and made a tiny popping noise that indeed caught their attention but looked around a moment before finding Gambit. He put a finger over his lips and then motioned for Kurt who appeared in Kitty's cell to grab her and teleport her out. A moment later he came back for Tabitha and then Gambit.
"Kitty!" Lance said rushing to her to hug her. She returned his hug with the same intensity he showed. "Are you alright? Did the hurt you?"
"I'm fine, but they put these collars on us that make it impossible to use our powers."
"We've tried to get them off but no luck." Tabitha added.
"You need to deactivate them remotely." Gambit said "The controls must be back in there."
"How do you know that?" Cyclops asked defensively.
"Let's just say I'm well acquainted with these things." Gambit reflexively reached to his neck remembering the feeling of the device.
"Or we could do it my way." Logan said extending one claw.
"Logan no!" Jean cried as he grabbed Tabitha and precisely stabbed the collar and sliced down. The light went dark and the collar was loose enough to pry open. Tabitha backed away in the response to being confronted with Logan's claws but then tested her powers.
"Looks like I'm back in business!" Tabitha celebrated. "That thing was a real bummer." She rubbed her neck as she kicked it away from her.
"Okay, me next." Kitty approached Logan and let him cut hers off too. "We have to go back in for the others."
"Other's?" Jean asked.
"Yeah, Rogue and this other girl are in there still. They took them away after knocking them both out." Tabitha said.
"Other girl?" Kurt asked.
"Then no time for questions, let's move." Cyclops commanded " Kitty, Kurt, Logan, you're coming with me. Storm and Jean, stay here and provide cover and interference if anyone shows up. Same with you Gambit. Lance….Try not to cave us in."
The team advanced to the side of the cave mouth and Cyclops motioned for Kitty to phase through and check each room before they entered. Kitty made a stop and Rogue's cell to grab her coat and then lead them down the hall Tabitha had told her they took her. Halfway down the hall Logan caught her scent and took the lead. He lead them into the brightly lit room where both girls lay unconscious and hooked up to machines.
Kitty ran to Rogue's side and tried to rouse her but it was no use.
"Beast, come in." Cyclops spoke into his communicator. "We have a situation here."
"Yes Scott, how can I be of assistance?"
"We have located the girls but two of them are hooked up to a bunch of medical equipment. How do we proceed?"
Beast asked a series of questions to assess the situation and guided Scott on how to safely remove the women from their medical bondage. Beast had cautioned that the unknown woman's vitals were concerning but if she appeared stable and was not on any machines that assisted her life support then she was safe to move. Logan removed the collars on each of the women and tossed them to Kurt to take out and put with the rest. The more then could bring back to the mansion the more data they had to work with.
Kitty tried once again to rouse Rogue.