Alcatraz Island, San Francisco, Earth 10005
The flight to San Francisco had gone more or less smoothly, really. Hell, it had been downright quiet, except for the phone call that Karla had made back while they were still somewhere over Nebraska. Warren had gone pretty quiet from there. The amount of yelling that he could hear from the other end of the phone had been almost as unsettling as the vague knowledge of what they were heading into in the first place.
One did not simply walk into Alcatraz.
It was dark by the time they reached the West Coast because this movie’s timing and geography makes no effing sense ARRRRGH, but that didn’t prevent everyone from seeing exactly what Magneto was capable of when he set his mind to it. Even Karla, who was not familiar with the iconic sight of the Golden Gate Bridge, sat in horrified silence as the Blackbird banked around, getting a full view of how the bridge had been ripped from its moorings, twisted and bent and now leading directly to the island that housed the old prison.
It appeared one could, in fact, simply walk into Alcatraz.
"Oh my stars and garters," Hank whispered as they came in closer and saw the devastation occurring on the island itself. Mutant against soldiers--the mutants tearing and rending and burning and slicing, but the soldiers fought back with calm efficiency and plastic weapons that hurled cure darts into the air.
"Didn’t they just announce the cure?" Karla asked, peering down below. "How do they already have weapons designed and mass-produced to deliv--oh." That was...probably not the best question to be asking right now.
The same thought had occurred to Warren, who was looking somewhat ill as he looked down at the chaos down below. That was his father's cure. That was his cure down there, being used as a weapon against unwilling targets. Bullets would have worked just as well.
Maybe they would have been kinder.
"Going into stealth mode," Storm announced as she brought the Blackbird down on a nearby roof.
She exited the jet first, flying out amidst seething bolts of lightning that blackened the ground where they hit. She was careful not to hit anyone, more interested in subduing the mob than taking people out. Beast was next, leaping out and landing on the ground far below with the grace of a great cat. Bobby and Kitty simply jumped, Bobby clinging tightly as they went through the surface of the earth with barely a ripple--as opposed to Colossus, who left a crater behind when he landed. Bobby and Kitty surfaced a second later, Bobby gasping out, "Don’t ever do that again!"
"You kids still coming?" Logan drawled.
Warren took a deep breath, looking at Karla and offering her a nod. He was ready for this. He... kind of had to be. His dad was in there somewhere, and he had faith that her shield would keep him from getting hit by wayward darts.
Weaponized cure darts. He found himself wondering if he really wanted to have anything to do with his father at all, now. But he shunted that thought to the side as he pulled Karla into his arms, offering her a smile that was a little more terrified than brave, and looked out the doorway.
"Going down?"
Naturally, he wasn't going to wait for a response before jumping. If he waited a heartbeat longer, he'd just freak out and stay in the damn jet.
Karla didn’t squeal as Warren flung them off the roof--though she might have gasped a little before he caught an air current, turning their plummet into a dive. Over the sound of the air screaming past her ears, she heard Logan’s gruff chuckle and then the squeal of metal on metal as he jumped, catching his claws on the metal siding as he slid down. Storm landed next to him, just as Warren touched down and Karla slipped out of his embrace, taking up a defensive stance. She called in her bladed sticks--hesitated--and then tossed them to Warren. She wasn’t sure how he’d appreciate the lethality of the blades, but she didn’t want him going hand to hand with this mob.
Warren caught the sticks. Took a split second to stare at them wide-eyed before tightening his hands around them and giving her a small nod of thanks. Even if he didn't end up using them, it was better than running into this with nothing at his disposal but a pair of wings and some pointy fingertips, after all.
He'd just have to be careful about how he swung them. Easy.
From the moment Logan landed, he took control. "Guard the doors!" he barked at the human soldiers who were lingering nearby. The mob had noticed their arrival--and how not?--but they had paused for a moment, like a great beast taking a breath. "Everybody get together!" Logan yelled into the brief moment of silence. "And hold this line!"
Karla gaped at Logan. Was he for real?! That was his plan? The eight of them stand hand in hand and will the mob away? Seriously?
She owed Jono an apology. And probably a drink.
She opened her mouth to protest that completely ridiculous display of tactics just as Magneto roared, "FINISH THEM!"
Warren swallowed heavily at that. Okay. So they'd just stepped into some old school fighting-style video game, and this was... the last horde of baddies on the way to the final boss? They could handle that, right? They'd faced the endgame so many times at this point that this was old hat by now. Nothing could touch them. This was cool.
Warren was swearing off of playing games with Bobby again, if they actually managed to live through this. There was a mob sweeping over them, Beast roaring as the clash started in earnest. Logan was lashing out with his claws to take out a light post in hopes of slowing them down, Storm squaring off one-on-one against someone over there, and a very, very large man cracking his knuckles before turning toward the building, looking fully confident in his ability to just plow it clean through should he have a mind to do so.
And apparently, he did have a mind to do so.
"He's going for the boy," Hank hollered, managing that much while grappling with his own personal assailant.
Karla sent a wave of Sapphire power at the group surging towards her and turned towards Hank, just in time to hear Kitty cry, "Not if I get there first!"
"Wait!" Karla yelled, running for her. "I’m the only one of us who is immune to both the cure and its source." Thank you, Jono, for that phrasing. "I’m not a mutant; his powers can’t affect me. Let me go."
"Both of you go," Logan said from where he was slashing off limbs of a mutant who was growing them back just as quickly. "Karla, get the boy. Kitty, lead Juggernaut away from them. Hey, Wings! Aerial surveillance! You can keep in contact with your girlfriend, right?"
"Angel," Warren muttered under his breath. "Codename: Angel."
Maybe it had grown on him a little.
"Yeah, we can keep touch," he added, a little more loudly, not really bothering to correct the girlfriend bit. It wasn't the time to start hashing out the details of their relationship, anyhow. He gave Karla one more nod, and then crouched, springing up and taking to the sky.
Karla went red in the face, but nodded at Logan, too.
"All right," he said, vastly uninterested in their teenage romantic drama. "Get in there. We got a kid to save."
"Take my hand," Kitty said. "I can get us--"
Still blushing, Karla gave her a grin. "Thanks, but," she said, and passed through the outer wall of the facility, "I got it."
[NFB, NFI, and once again written with the lovely glacial_witch! We're almost done with this canon catchup mess, promise!]
One did not simply walk into Alcatraz.
It was dark by the time they reached the West Coast because this movie’s timing and geography makes no effing sense ARRRRGH, but that didn’t prevent everyone from seeing exactly what Magneto was capable of when he set his mind to it. Even Karla, who was not familiar with the iconic sight of the Golden Gate Bridge, sat in horrified silence as the Blackbird banked around, getting a full view of how the bridge had been ripped from its moorings, twisted and bent and now leading directly to the island that housed the old prison.
It appeared one could, in fact, simply walk into Alcatraz.
"Oh my stars and garters," Hank whispered as they came in closer and saw the devastation occurring on the island itself. Mutant against soldiers--the mutants tearing and rending and burning and slicing, but the soldiers fought back with calm efficiency and plastic weapons that hurled cure darts into the air.
"Didn’t they just announce the cure?" Karla asked, peering down below. "How do they already have weapons designed and mass-produced to deliv--oh." That was...probably not the best question to be asking right now.
The same thought had occurred to Warren, who was looking somewhat ill as he looked down at the chaos down below. That was his father's cure. That was his cure down there, being used as a weapon against unwilling targets. Bullets would have worked just as well.
Maybe they would have been kinder.
"Going into stealth mode," Storm announced as she brought the Blackbird down on a nearby roof.
She exited the jet first, flying out amidst seething bolts of lightning that blackened the ground where they hit. She was careful not to hit anyone, more interested in subduing the mob than taking people out. Beast was next, leaping out and landing on the ground far below with the grace of a great cat. Bobby and Kitty simply jumped, Bobby clinging tightly as they went through the surface of the earth with barely a ripple--as opposed to Colossus, who left a crater behind when he landed. Bobby and Kitty surfaced a second later, Bobby gasping out, "Don’t ever do that again!"
"You kids still coming?" Logan drawled.
Warren took a deep breath, looking at Karla and offering her a nod. He was ready for this. He... kind of had to be. His dad was in there somewhere, and he had faith that her shield would keep him from getting hit by wayward darts.
Weaponized cure darts. He found himself wondering if he really wanted to have anything to do with his father at all, now. But he shunted that thought to the side as he pulled Karla into his arms, offering her a smile that was a little more terrified than brave, and looked out the doorway.
"Going down?"
Naturally, he wasn't going to wait for a response before jumping. If he waited a heartbeat longer, he'd just freak out and stay in the damn jet.
Karla didn’t squeal as Warren flung them off the roof--though she might have gasped a little before he caught an air current, turning their plummet into a dive. Over the sound of the air screaming past her ears, she heard Logan’s gruff chuckle and then the squeal of metal on metal as he jumped, catching his claws on the metal siding as he slid down. Storm landed next to him, just as Warren touched down and Karla slipped out of his embrace, taking up a defensive stance. She called in her bladed sticks--hesitated--and then tossed them to Warren. She wasn’t sure how he’d appreciate the lethality of the blades, but she didn’t want him going hand to hand with this mob.
Warren caught the sticks. Took a split second to stare at them wide-eyed before tightening his hands around them and giving her a small nod of thanks. Even if he didn't end up using them, it was better than running into this with nothing at his disposal but a pair of wings and some pointy fingertips, after all.
He'd just have to be careful about how he swung them. Easy.
From the moment Logan landed, he took control. "Guard the doors!" he barked at the human soldiers who were lingering nearby. The mob had noticed their arrival--and how not?--but they had paused for a moment, like a great beast taking a breath. "Everybody get together!" Logan yelled into the brief moment of silence. "And hold this line!"
Karla gaped at Logan. Was he for real?! That was his plan? The eight of them stand hand in hand and will the mob away? Seriously?
She owed Jono an apology. And probably a drink.
She opened her mouth to protest that completely ridiculous display of tactics just as Magneto roared, "FINISH THEM!"
Warren swallowed heavily at that. Okay. So they'd just stepped into some old school fighting-style video game, and this was... the last horde of baddies on the way to the final boss? They could handle that, right? They'd faced the endgame so many times at this point that this was old hat by now. Nothing could touch them. This was cool.
Warren was swearing off of playing games with Bobby again, if they actually managed to live through this. There was a mob sweeping over them, Beast roaring as the clash started in earnest. Logan was lashing out with his claws to take out a light post in hopes of slowing them down, Storm squaring off one-on-one against someone over there, and a very, very large man cracking his knuckles before turning toward the building, looking fully confident in his ability to just plow it clean through should he have a mind to do so.
And apparently, he did have a mind to do so.
"He's going for the boy," Hank hollered, managing that much while grappling with his own personal assailant.
Karla sent a wave of Sapphire power at the group surging towards her and turned towards Hank, just in time to hear Kitty cry, "Not if I get there first!"
"Wait!" Karla yelled, running for her. "I’m the only one of us who is immune to both the cure and its source." Thank you, Jono, for that phrasing. "I’m not a mutant; his powers can’t affect me. Let me go."
"Both of you go," Logan said from where he was slashing off limbs of a mutant who was growing them back just as quickly. "Karla, get the boy. Kitty, lead Juggernaut away from them. Hey, Wings! Aerial surveillance! You can keep in contact with your girlfriend, right?"
"Angel," Warren muttered under his breath. "Codename: Angel."
Maybe it had grown on him a little.
"Yeah, we can keep touch," he added, a little more loudly, not really bothering to correct the girlfriend bit. It wasn't the time to start hashing out the details of their relationship, anyhow. He gave Karla one more nod, and then crouched, springing up and taking to the sky.
Karla went red in the face, but nodded at Logan, too.
"All right," he said, vastly uninterested in their teenage romantic drama. "Get in there. We got a kid to save."
"Take my hand," Kitty said. "I can get us--"
Still blushing, Karla gave her a grin. "Thanks, but," she said, and passed through the outer wall of the facility, "I got it."
[NFB, NFI, and once again written with the lovely glacial_witch! We're almost done with this canon catchup mess, promise!]