Anyway, time for...
Continued from previous post...
Once inside, M promptly smacked Nova across the face, only slightly holding back. “I’ll thank you never to call me ‘Gorgeous’ again.” Nova flexed his jaw and smiled. “Sorry, precious, heat of the moment. But, correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t we stuck here?”
Rictor went back to the main console and pulled up a directory listing most of the major active super teams and some solo heroes with an available contact method. “I’m calling for backup.”
Nova and M joined him. “Jesus, is there no one not in New York? Oh right, we got Shooting Star and Texas Twister to count on. Tell me, how long does it take to get to Cali from Texas on horseback?”
“Quit whining, blue-suit-star-burst-man. If all else fails, we can just leave. There’s an old X-Jet on the top floor we can use to escape.” From all along the sides of the tower, loud bangs and thuds could be heard from outside. The A.I.M. troopers were not going to let this one go. “Why are they after you?” M finally asked.
“Not the time. We try to fly out of here, they will shoot us to pieces. Those guns have an adjustable setting and by the time I got here, they were really starting to sting. We need a plan B.”
“Your New Warrior buddies?”
“I was on a camping trip. They’re still back east.”
Rictor, running through the many directories in the computer system, finally came upon something useful. “Got something. Maybe.”
X-Corp LA:Detention
“Well, Storm’s team picked him up when he helped some extremists trying to firebomb a clinic in San Francisco rumored to be tagging mutant patients for ‘quiet removals’ by the government. Good news, took most of the team to bring him down.”
“So the troopers may not pose that much of a problem for him, but then again we probably won’t either.”
“Nevertheless, Storm dropped him off and wanted us to call 5-0 to pick him up. We were just starting to dismantle and, well, didn’t. No one but Storm and her team knows he’s here and we get to ask for his help.”
The trio reached a cell in the rear of the detention area, the only one with its power dampener active. Inside, hands still shackled and chained to the ground, the prisoner looked up and grimaced. “Flatscan loving traitors! I should bash your skulls in! A cage can’t hold me. Nothing can hold me!”
Under his breath Nova exclaimed, “This is going to go over well.”
“What’s going to go over well?”
M and Nova looked to Rictor, who merely shrugged. “What? Heightened senses aren’t something you can really turn off and on. The dampener keeps him from shooting through the walls, freezing them brittle, or simply unlocking the door. Or whatever we can do. We have a proposition for you, Cal.”
“Mimic! My name is Mimic!” He jumped up from the prison bench, trying hard to pull the chains out of their sockets. The screech of the straining metal brought Nova into a fighting stance, but Rictor stayed still trusting the cell to keep him imprisoned. M walked back to the wall and leaned, becoming quickly bored with the ‘negotiation’.
“Calvin Rankin, the only human to not only join the X-Men but be named deputy leader. Your powers were all over the place but your incident with the Hulk and then it only got worse. By the end, you were running with the Brotherhood, after Onslaught but a handle on your power.”
“I lived my life, Cheech, I don’t need the replay.”
Eyes narrowed, Rictor continued. “I’ll cut to it, you want to change things. You fight for mutants but you’re not one of them. It’s taken you to a bad place, but someone who stands up for others can’t be inherently evil. And we need you, Mimic.”
“I hear them, outside. They’ll break through these walls in no time. And you want me to hold them back. Why should I let them kill you and escape?”
“You cleared out that clinic before letting the Brotherhood plant the bombs.”
“There were innocent mutants in there!”
“But you let the ‘flatscans’ out, too, Cal. You want change, terrorism is not the answer. It never is. Help us. Join us.”
“And I’ll give you half a million,” M added right after the intrusion alarms began blaring.
“How can I say no?”
The troopers swarmed into the atrium of the tower, spreading out to look for any rooms or exits. As some began to dismount their sleds, and secure the area, the main elevator in the center of the far wall dinged as the doors opened. Almost as one, the troopers trained their blasters at the doors.
Before the doors opened completely, a red beam of massive force exploded outwards, cutting a swath through the A.I.M. intruders. Expecting resistance, the A.I.M. began to return fire only to have many of their shots smacking against dense shields of ice that sprang up quickly to protect the elevator.
Mimic flew out of the elevator, drawing fire as he started his assault. Not one trooper noticed that some of their missed shots ricocheted harmlessly without touching the elevator doors. Mimic telekinetically lodged as much large debris as he could into the hole while raining down optic blasts indiscriminately. He dove straight into the thickest concentration of A.I.M., punching in helmets and kicking in crouches. "Flatscan scum, EAT IT!"
Rictor went back to the main console and pulled up a directory listing most of the major active super teams and some solo heroes with an available contact method. “I’m calling for backup.”
Nova and M joined him. “Jesus, is there no one not in New York? Oh right, we got Shooting Star and Texas Twister to count on. Tell me, how long does it take to get to Cali from Texas on horseback?”
“Quit whining, blue-suit-star-burst-man. If all else fails, we can just leave. There’s an old X-Jet on the top floor we can use to escape.” From all along the sides of the tower, loud bangs and thuds could be heard from outside. The A.I.M. troopers were not going to let this one go. “Why are they after you?” M finally asked.
“Not the time. We try to fly out of here, they will shoot us to pieces. Those guns have an adjustable setting and by the time I got here, they were really starting to sting. We need a plan B.”
“Your New Warrior buddies?”
“I was on a camping trip. They’re still back east.”
Rictor, running through the many directories in the computer system, finally came upon something useful. “Got something. Maybe.”
X-Corp LA:Detention
“Well, Storm’s team picked him up when he helped some extremists trying to firebomb a clinic in San Francisco rumored to be tagging mutant patients for ‘quiet removals’ by the government. Good news, took most of the team to bring him down.”
“So the troopers may not pose that much of a problem for him, but then again we probably won’t either.”
“Nevertheless, Storm dropped him off and wanted us to call 5-0 to pick him up. We were just starting to dismantle and, well, didn’t. No one but Storm and her team knows he’s here and we get to ask for his help.”
The trio reached a cell in the rear of the detention area, the only one with its power dampener active. Inside, hands still shackled and chained to the ground, the prisoner looked up and grimaced. “Flatscan loving traitors! I should bash your skulls in! A cage can’t hold me. Nothing can hold me!”
Under his breath Nova exclaimed, “This is going to go over well.”
“What’s going to go over well?”
M and Nova looked to Rictor, who merely shrugged. “What? Heightened senses aren’t something you can really turn off and on. The dampener keeps him from shooting through the walls, freezing them brittle, or simply unlocking the door. Or whatever we can do. We have a proposition for you, Cal.”
“Mimic! My name is Mimic!” He jumped up from the prison bench, trying hard to pull the chains out of their sockets. The screech of the straining metal brought Nova into a fighting stance, but Rictor stayed still trusting the cell to keep him imprisoned. M walked back to the wall and leaned, becoming quickly bored with the ‘negotiation’.
“Calvin Rankin, the only human to not only join the X-Men but be named deputy leader. Your powers were all over the place but your incident with the Hulk and then it only got worse. By the end, you were running with the Brotherhood, after Onslaught but a handle on your power.”
“I lived my life, Cheech, I don’t need the replay.”
Eyes narrowed, Rictor continued. “I’ll cut to it, you want to change things. You fight for mutants but you’re not one of them. It’s taken you to a bad place, but someone who stands up for others can’t be inherently evil. And we need you, Mimic.”
“I hear them, outside. They’ll break through these walls in no time. And you want me to hold them back. Why should I let them kill you and escape?”
“You cleared out that clinic before letting the Brotherhood plant the bombs.”
“There were innocent mutants in there!”
“But you let the ‘flatscans’ out, too, Cal. You want change, terrorism is not the answer. It never is. Help us. Join us.”
“And I’ll give you half a million,” M added right after the intrusion alarms began blaring.
“How can I say no?”
The troopers swarmed into the atrium of the tower, spreading out to look for any rooms or exits. As some began to dismount their sleds, and secure the area, the main elevator in the center of the far wall dinged as the doors opened. Almost as one, the troopers trained their blasters at the doors.
Before the doors opened completely, a red beam of massive force exploded outwards, cutting a swath through the A.I.M. intruders. Expecting resistance, the A.I.M. began to return fire only to have many of their shots smacking against dense shields of ice that sprang up quickly to protect the elevator.
Mimic flew out of the elevator, drawing fire as he started his assault. Not one trooper noticed that some of their missed shots ricocheted harmlessly without touching the elevator doors. Mimic telekinetically lodged as much large debris as he could into the hole while raining down optic blasts indiscriminately. He dove straight into the thickest concentration of A.I.M., punching in helmets and kicking in crouches. "Flatscan scum, EAT IT!"
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