"Yeah yeah you can go now."
Waya said shooing away their clingy little guide. The girl kept coming back like a gnat, intent on not letting the team explore on their own. Waya scanned the white coats for Eliza.
Waya's own voice was like a knife through the air, at least for
Eliza. Her own location was quite obvious when she turned and spotted Waya and the group, a smile spreading across her face as she raised an arm and waved. Since the arm was right now six foot long and the hand like a watermelon with fingers; she'd made her arm grow large so the others could spot her in the crowd.
"I think she's over there"
Jeremy said, pointing unnecessarily at Eliza's massive waving arm.
Rhydian waved to Eliza as they entered the lab. He was sort of looking forward to seeing this place, though he would like to take a full tour of the station in general, he'd rather it be done on better circumstances
"The twins came with you right?"
Waya asked Liz. "We need to regroup, this boat has more weapons than a Genocian arms deal."
"They wandered off with some nerd from over there."
Junior told Waya "I wasn't about to leave Liz here by herself." He added to Eliza "No offense Liz."
"Not actually sure what I'm meant to take offence at"
Eliza admitted, casting Junior a strange look before turning to the group "The twins dissapeared, and I don't think I want to leave my stuff alone just yet..."
Maribel moved some hair out of her face as she looked around. This place was so high-tech and sterile. She calmly rubbed her arm, sticking with her group.
"Great it's just like them to wander off."
Waya growled "Hopefully they'll be able to tell us more about this place at least."
"I know you can take care of yourself Liz."
Junior said half apologizing "But there's no reason for you to take on an attack by yourself."
Eliza looked around slowly at the surroundings..
. "Really, I don't see the chance of attack here. Any scientists would be too scared that they'd damage their own equipment to attack me." She shrugged and sighed "These are the twins, go check somewhere loud and flashing."
Junior crossed his arms, he wasn't going to argue with Liz about wether or not someone might ambush her. This was Magneto's fortress and here anything could ha-ppen.
"Loud and flashing?" Waya said and turned to their clingy guide "What's the loudest most flashey place on the asteroid?"
"The holodeck of course." Their spunky little guide told them "It's a recreation facility, open twenty-four hours a day so any departing work shift might recreate before retiring to their quarters."
"That'll be where they are" Eliza nodded "If you really want to stay here with me Junior you can, it'd be nice to have familiar company."
"There's a holodeck?" Jeremy asked no one in particular "And they use it... for recreation?"
"Oh indeed," The little guide told them "There's dancing, entertainment, food and spirits. It's the most popular hang out on the asteroid."
"Take me there." Waya ordered her "Junior, you and Liz stay here with the others, I don't wanna risk loosing anyone else, especially not inside a giant night club."
"Let me come with you." Phinagin said catching Waya by the shoulder. "The last thing we need to do is go out individually and let them pick us off one at a time." he also wanted to see this Holodeck the guide spoke of.
"Thanks Mr. Fancypants." Waya said giving him an actual smile "Come on." and they followed the guide to the holodeck.
To be honest, Jeremy wasn't quite sure about the "picking them off one by one" thing. I mean the only threatening thing they'd found so far is the mention of warheads... and he doubted they had a war head pointed inwards.
Maribel stood silently and wasn't exactly sure what to do. She just stayed to herself and leaned against one of the lab tables, keeping out of the way.
Junior noticed that Maribel was trying to find a place to settle, using his tail he snagged one of the local chairs and wheeled it over to her.
'Thank you.' Maribel signed with a smile, adjusting the chair before sitting down. On a meteor orbiting Earth and all she did was sit at a meeting and sit in a lab. Whoo-hoo...
Rhydian quickly found himself a seat and sat down, bringing his hand up to his nose quickly. He let out a breath that he hadn't realized he was holding and after a moment, looked down at his hand. Without haste, he wiped it on the inside of his sleeve, not wanting anyone else to see the blood.
Eliza caught him though, the faint tang of coppery red staining his hands obvious to her in this sterile environment. She moved over slowly, standing in front of him before taking his hand gently and trying to get him to show it to her "What happened?"
Rhydian took a deep breath in through his nose to suck any additional blood back. He looked up at Eliza, "I held your machine together. It's no big deal, really. It's happened before, when we fought Moe's mom. And I made that giant trash monster." He didn't like admitting he was weak. He was one of the X-men, he couldn't be weak.
"Ohhh" Eliza winced, sighing and rubbing his palm slowly with her thumb "You should have said something. I don't want you to hurt yourself like this..."
Junior and Rhydian hadn't been talking much lately but Junior was still concerned about him "Maybe you should pop in to the medical deck or something? Maybe it's a tumor?"
"I'm fine." Rhydian told Junior coldly. He didn't even looked up. "It was nothing before, it's nothing now."
"Come on Rhyd" Eliza said, trying to get his attention back to her so he didn't feel jaded "You might seriously be hurt, I don't want to see you like this." She rubbed his palm soothingly, gazing down into his eyes with a worried expression on her face.
"Trust me, Liz, it's nothing." Rhydian told her with honesty. "Nothing that I haven't gone through a hundred times already. Just this time it's lasting a bit longer. I'll be fine."
"Ok.." Eliza said, patting his hand gently and smiling warmly down at her "Just so long as it doesn't go on for ages. Sorry I put you under such strain Rhyd."
Maribel quickly got bored and slipped out of her seat. She walked about the lab tables, mindlessly glancing around.
"Maybe your powers are about to grow?" Junior said optimistically "Remember when I had stomach cramps before I learned how to teleport? Whado the old-timers call it, growing pains?"
"Maybe. Or maybe I'm just straining myself. Have you ever tried to hold a complex machine together with your mind on a trip from the earth to outer space? I think not." Rhydian snapped at him. He really didn't want to talk to Junior since the earlier occurrence back home. He had tried to keep his distance from both of them.
"Guys... please?" Eliza said, looking quite plainly at Rhydian as she spoke. She really didn't want to start a discussion about it, but right not it was bugging them just too much.
"Seriously, Liz. I'll be fine. I just need some time to relax." Rhydian told her,t rying to calm her down. He hated being the center of attention almost more than anything right now
Liz smiled slightly at Rhyd "ok, I'm going back to my experiment. You guys be... civil ok?" She sighed slightly and moved off to her experiement, finding Maribel hovering around it. "Looks confusing doesn't it? Believe me... it is" she sighed, going over and stroking the metal slowly.
Junior didn't like things between him and his best friend to be like this. Eliza was busy, Waya, Jeremy and Phin where gone and Maribel was deaf and several yards away. Now was a good a time as any to try and talk "So... things have been weird lately... Other than the usual..."
Maribel nodded and kept her hands behind her back as to not touch anything.
Eliza smiled slightly and turned to face Maribel "So, this place seems alright doesn't it?" she asked "I mean... so far nothing terrible has happened, that's new for us."
'I want to look around but all we did was sit at a meeting.' Maribel signed, not too pleased with that.
"I'm sure we can go for a wander as soon as Waya gets back, she's just checking up ont he twins after all" Eliza sighed, then chuckled gently "Well, you can go for a wander."
"Gee, you think?" Rhydian huffed at him, tilting his head back to stop the flow. "You know what it's about too, so don't play coy."
"Look, dude, I had no idea she had... stuff like that in her head." Junior told Rhydian. They'd been sitting on this for a few weeks now and it felt good to get it off his chest. "I-never-touched-her."
"Yeah right man. Like she just pictured that all on her own?" Rhydian asked, growing a little more frustrated by the second. The table that was sitting nearby started to shake a little bit
"Don't ask me, maybe she accidentally skimmed it from someone's mind." Junior told him, he got closer to Rhydian so he could whisper "You know, us guys, we shower after Danger Room sessions... maybe she glazed it off one of our heads at the wrong time?"
"Getting a little sure of yourself aren't you? What makes you think any of us guys are checking you out in the showers? I don't know about you, but I'm more concerned with getting the hell outta there before the twins start rubbing up on each other." Rhydian told him with a smirk.
Junior felt comfortable enough to put his arm around Rhydian's shoulder to bring him in closer to whisper "You know about Jeremy right? Bro, you and me are the only 100% dudes in the school."
"Well, the jury's still out on you." Rhydian told him with a smirk as he shook his arm off him. "Besides, you forgot about Phinagin. Trust me, if he were gay, the tabloids would have reported something. Nobody gets away with anything these days if you're famous."
"Oh yeah, i forgot about Fancy Pants." Junior realized. "But you get where I'm coming from right? Waya could have just skimmed that image off Jeremy's head or something. The twins where picking on her remember, she didn't mean to project it into all of our heads."
"Whatever." Rhydian told him with a shrug. "Look, if you don't mind, I'm trying to rest."
"I know, I know." Junior told him, "I just want you to know that I wouldn't betray our friendship with something like that. Bros before hoes and all."
Rhydian held up his hand, "You so did not just refer to Waya as a hoe." Even despite the mind flash that everyone experienced from her, he still had feelings for the girl and someone referring to her in such a manner angered him.
"NO! I didn't mean it like that." Junior said in his defense "I'm just saying that I wouldn't jeopardize our friendship by going after your girl."
Maribel's ear twitched and she spun her head around when she heard Junior shouting.
"She's not exactly my girl, now is she?" Rhydian asked him as he tilted his head back up. The bloodflow seemed to have slowed to a crawl at least.
Maribel quickly made her way over to the two feuding boys. she took her hand and slammed it on a table to get their attention.
The others where led in by a very attentive young tour guide with blue hair. Just in time too.
"Some privacy please." Waya "suggested" to the blue haired girl and reassembled everyone at Eliza's station.
Junior gave Rhydian the universal sign for "We'll talk later." when everyone showed up.
"So what's going on?" Eliza said, starting to draw curtains around the group as they gathered in her station.
"We're here to return this?" the twins had their arms around the tech that had gone missing earlier.
Phinagin stood silent with his arms crossed. He was still unhappy with Jeremy and him messing with Phinagin. What he didn't understand was why he was denying it.
"So are we going for the tour or what? Labs all look the same to me." Rhydian said nonchalantly, in truth, he was simply tired of sitting around when they had an entire space station to check out
"I thought we should take this time to discuss what we found out." Waya told them "Basically the stockpiles of nuclear weapons onboard the station."
"Oh great" Eliza groaned, wringing her hair between her fingers slowly "I bring all my stuff up here, then it gets blown to radioactive dust."
"Oh dont worry. They're only going to use it on Earth." Phinagin said still unhappy with the nuclear situation.
"Oh, well, that's ok then" Eliza grumbled, yanking a knot in her hair firmly as her fingers caught; sarcasm dripped from every word like grease off of a roast.
"Yawn." the twins said together, still with their arms around the tech's shoulders.
"Look, we all knew he was going to have nukes up here. Did you really expect anything different? The man is a tyrant, he just never had a country to rule before." Rhydian said with a shrug. "It's like if Dr. Doom was ever to not have Latveria. He'd act almost exactly as Magneto did. Don'tcha think?"
"Nukes?" Junior asked not sure if heard heard right "There's kids on this instillation. Not even magneto is crazy enough to endanger the new bright future."
"I still don't like it." Waya told them, she doubted it'd be a big surprise "I'm certainly not signing up for mass genocide of our home world and I'm not gonna leave to just get blown apart or frozen to death by a nuclear winter."
"Who are you kidding?" Junior asked "You'd probably survive after everything thawed out."
"If I might make a suggestion?" Tech said, his voice a little quivery but he had a feeling the twins might back him up "Maybe you guys should check out the rest of this place out? There's been a lot of time, creativity and money put into it. Everyone knows about the armaments, some don't agree and most feel safer, but they're not about to spit in the eye of a major world country or countries. Not when we're a tiny little chunk of asteroid and they're ... well, the whole Earth."
"We're also a well armed ship in orbit of a planet that can't see us. An enemy in sight you can keep an eye on, but when something invisible attacks you you've got almost no chance" Jeremy said, seeing as he had the most experience of invisible back attacks. He gave the tech a slight distrustful glance, then turned to the others "Maybe... I should check this place out a bit tonight? You know, just see what's going on?"
"That's a good idea Jeremy." Waya told him "Junior, you back him up, at least both of you can phase threw walls." She turned to Liz "Are you going to spend the night in the lab or do you trust your stuff to be safe?"
"Looks like it's me and you tonight Jer." Junior told him.
The twins left the tech for a minuet and wrapped an arm around Maribel and Waya. "So, did Magneto happen to mention where we will be staying again?"
"Yey... but I can't speak... so I can't tell you to watch out alright?" Jeremy said, nodding slowly "It will be working with a ghost I'm afraid."
"He said that there are rooms prepared for us. Personally, I don't like the way prepared sounds up here." Rhydian told them. He shrugged, "I dunno, maybe it's just me. But they certainly are prepared to defend themselves should anything happen."
"I'll keep on my toes." Junior told Jeremy.
"I don't like it any more than you Rhydian" Waya told him, "but we all agree that we're not gonna leave him up here with his finger on the kill switch right?"
"Watching him at least" Eliza muttered, rubbing her head slowly and running her hair through her fingers "I mean this place seems nice, seems like it's a good place... except for, you know, the nukes."
"The guy had a 'not-so-friendly' life with the normals down on Earth." a twin began.
"One can't blame him for wanting to protect the largest mutant collection in Earth's range. Magneto hasn't been active 'villain-wise' for years. He came to, remember?" the other twin finished.
"Villainy is like a cancer. It may go away for awhile but it can always come back." Phinagin said adjusting his suit. "How do we know that he isnt just gathering all the mutants up here to keep them safe while he nukes the Nonmutants into extinction?"
"People get itchy when others have nukes, even if the people who have them are considered good." Eliza sighed softly, shrugging at the twins "We haven't said we're going to do anything, we're just going to snoop you know? Keep an eye on the guy who once tried to kill our."
"Look, let's just snoop or not snoop already. Personally I just want to check out the rooms that he's arranged for us." Rhydian said sharply, getting a little annoyed with all the talking. He was tired and didn't want to do much of anything until he got his strength back up.
Maribel placed her hands in front of her and signed, "I'm getting rather hungry myself." She wasn't sure who exactly was paying attention, but it was worth a shot.
Phinagin sighed, he was getting worked up again. "I agree with Rhydian and Maribel. We should find our rooms and then see about getting some food."
Rhydian was awful pleased that someone had agreed with him. Usually he was just ignored whenever he spoke. It was nice to have someone around who actually listened for a change.
Eliza nodded, she knew Rhyd needed a rest at least "It's not like we can do anything right now. Guys" she pointed at the twins, a playful scowl on her face "Leave the tech here alright?"
"Aww...but he's so fun to play with." the twins remarked a if the tech was some kitten they had found. "Alright alright..." they looked to the innocent tech, "Run along now little one."
"I don't mind." tech told them "I'll keep an eye on your work so no one will mess with it. You guys have been really nice to me, it's the least I can do."
"So it's setteled," Waya said "Jeremy and Junior will keep an eye out for trouble and we'll go find some grub and our rooms." she looked at the eager to aid tour guide and called her over.
The guide was pleased that she was finally going to get some guiding in, she's have a chance to tell them all the wonderful things about the compound on their way to M-Resedential Quarters
"You know that you-break-it-you-bought-it thing that shops have?" Eliza said sweetly "Well... I have the you-break-it-I-crush-your-face policy. Nothing personal, this is irreplaceable and my life work..." She didn't frown though, just grin at the Tech and patted his shoulder before walking after the guide.
"Don't worry, I'll protect it with my life." Tech told her "Oh, since you guys are "special" guests you probably get room service, I recomend the kosher meal."
Nodding slightly nervously, Jeremy just gave a half hearted thumbs up to the tech and followed everyone else as well. He wondered if the guy had noticed his spirit form at all.
Several hours later and a lot had gone down, but the labs had remained seemingly uneffected. Eliza's machine had been cordoned off and people were examining it, but there were very few guards there at the moment; after all, why bother with a machine of one of the people when there were some still loose out there.
Eliza paused outside the door, pressing a finger to her lips and giving a soft "shhhh" noise as she peeked inside. What sort of trouble would they be getting in here? She just hoped it didn't turn nasty...
The scientists from earlier and a few technicians and researchers surrounded Liz's machine. they where unaware of their presence and one of them replied "When Cortez has her killed we can take the credit." It must have been a joke because two thirds ot the attending individuals burst into laughter.
Someone give me a gun... Eliza thought to herself, rolling her eyes before waving a hand at her group to follow her inside. She moved in quietly, wanting to take the people by surprising so they would avoid a shoot out that might damage things.
"say what you want." Said one of the scientists who hadn't laughed "But I dont believe we would have ever gotten this far on our own, the girl is quite brilliant." there where a few murmered replies of agreement when one of the nondescript techs said "Uh oh..." he'd not spotted liz or her men but he'd done something grave.
Suddenly the curtain ripped back from the machine, tearing under Eliza's furious grip; her hand was roughly three times the size of a normal man's, easily tearing the fabric. "GET YOUR THIEVING HANDS OFF MY MACHINE!" she yelled loudly at them, bristeling all over; she made sure that at least half of her squad was visible, to show she had back up.
The group of egg heads froze after turning towards Eliza and her massive appendage. she was decidedly more frightening than the three SHIELD troopers they could see. "Miss Burd... I know how this must look... but we're under orders. The scientist who spoke was Dr. evergreen, the mutant scientist who had been placed in charge of the project after recent events.
"MY machine! It was never HIS project to begin! I gave everyone orders and you're still here LOOKING at it" Eliza pulled her hand back and squeezed it tight in a massive threatening fist "Now WHAT DID YOU TOUCH!" She glowered towards the tech who'd said "uh oh", licking her lips slowly as she stared threateningly at him "If this thing goes critical we won't need to WORRY about disarming your missiles, it'll melt the entire station by itself!"
there was quite a bit of smattering before someone finally spoke up "We've only had a few hours, we've been running mostly diagnostic tests to see how well our technology will match up in accordance with yours. We actually made quite a break-threw with stabilizing the singularity caused by the device... but we have no idea where the portal will lead."
"Leave the portal direction to me, I'm trying to get the frequency off of Nick because I'm pretty sure he'd have a recording of it. I'm glad that you managed to do what I told you to, but I'd like you all to seriously review your work ethics" Eliza grumbled, moving towards the machine and starting to check it out, see if everything was where it should be and nothing was noticabley dangerous looking.
Some of the scientists whispered between one another and deciding he'd rather keep himself intact spoke out despite his colleague's shushing and tugging. "Cortez installed a bomb!" He pulled himself free of the few men who where holding him back. It was the tech the Twins had taken to the holo-deck earlier in the day.
Eliza blinked and stood up slowly, her hands tight and her knuckles white. She carefully walked over to the tech, put an arm around him and pulling him away from the ground towards her machine. "Ok, I'm going to ask you to show me where... but first" she spun around suddenly, her right arm growing longer as she swung it; it met the faces of most of the scientists there, an eight foot long back hand across the cheek. Eliza actually went back and did the two shorter men in the group after she was finished with the main swipe.
several of the men grabbed their cheeks and tried to keep from whining as their cheeks stun emensely. The tech watched this with bemused bewilderment. "I may be able to turn it off... well Might. I can't make any promises but for you guys I'll try."
"Thanks" Eliza said honestly, patting the Tech's shoulder "Wish I had more people like you back home." She gazed at her machine, eyes flicking around as she tried to figure out where a bomb could be hidden.
Tech beamed, a sort of dumb smile crossed his face before he realized he should be working and not basking in the glow of the lovely Eliza's thanks. "Right!" He exclaimed, shocking himself out of his stupor. "Time to get to work." He shoved a few of the frightened scientists around until he found a small toolkit and knelt by her beloved machiene. "I guess the first thing to do would be to remove the casing and see what we got." He tried a fancy little spin with his screwdriver and completely dropped it. shrugging it off as nerves he snatched up the driver and got to work.
The SHIELD operatives that had been assigned to Eliza made short work of securing the scientist now that the initial interrogation was over. each of the some dozen men where bound to an office chair and immobilize. They where all given strict orders not to speak unless addressed. The three doctors who'd originally been assigned to the project where stationed in front of the nine other men in case Eliza wished to speak with them further.
"Ok... ok" Eliza said getnly, as if trying to help the man through this "Do you know where it is exactly? Do you know what kind of bomb it is?" She wanted a bit more information, in case the tech got the jitters; he seemed a bit shakey as it was, and if he suddenly broke down in the middle of disarming a bomb she wanted to know what to do first.
"Well..." Tech said as he removed the casing and placed it gently to the side. "I know it's based on a design from Stark Industries. But it looks like something out of an action movie." as he removed the flux-capacitor and sat it aside too, Liz could see the overwhelming intimidation of a Stark Industries bomb. There where wires and tubes and casings of various size color and pomposity. "It's designed not to be removed but I think I can manage. All I know is that those guys-" He jutted a thumb over his shoulder at the scientists the shield goons and tied up "-would rather set it off than let Cortez find out they helped you."
"and they call themselves men of science" Eliza sighed, patting the tech lightly on his shoulder "Lucky I have you here. Might as well take you back to the mansion when this is all well and done." Giving him a reassuring smile she peered at the bomb mechanics "Alright, looks like the explosives are hooked up to the chambers of liquid, if it was moved after this was set the liquid would displace and cause a chain reaction within the explosive themselves... If someone would be so good as to try and find us some clamps in this place? Good and tight ones."
"Just like in Diehard." Tech said flipping a pair of snips from the end of a fancy looking ink pen. "Disturbing the containers is too risky they are likely to mix and once that happens we're all space debris... but... if we interrupt communication between the computer and the detonator this should be a sinch" He reached in slowly and with the snips and clipped one of the wires. When nothing happened Tech replied "so far so good."
"Even after we disconnect the computer however it will still be dangerous because if we're not careful the reaction could still go off" Eliza said softly, licking her lips slowly as she tried to keep her cool. "If we tried to clamp down on it actually... the extra pressure on the single valve would force the liquid to mix in another place. We'd either have to sever all the connections at once... or somehow drain one end."
"You see this?" Tech said indicating a series of sensors inside the casing. "If we disrupt the canisters the liquids are set to automatically mix. So we can't drill a hole. What we need is a mutant with control over liquids. They could keep them from mixing while we dismantled the bomb." He made another little snip and gratefully nothing happened.
"Ohhhh... dad" Eliza whimpered softly, gazing at the bomb as if it had just stolen her father again "Where are you when I need you?" That was the problem... she didn't know. "Ok... so that means we're going to have to stop the liquids from mixing ourselves... Now... what would happen if we severed one mixing line and clamped down the other?" Had they disabled the motion sensor yet? If they had they might be able to flush this thing into space...
"The sensors will set if off." He made a wide circle with his hand and said "All this is if I even look at it too hard, this thing will go off." He reached in and clipped something else and thankfully nothing happened.
"God dammit..." Eliza hissed slightly "Ok... if the explosives are the liquids in the tanks... what if we just broke one tank? It would get the liquid out much faster than just... draining it." She swallowed slightly, it was so ineliquent, so slap dash, but she was running out of ideas "Or is there a second detonation device I haven't seen?"
"That would make it go off." Tech said and after snipping another wire said "What if we dismantel the machiene?"
"All that would do is leave us with several months worth of work in pieces and a bomb still here. Unless you're talking taking the machine out of here piece by piece and leaving the bomb behind, which would probably kill every person on this station, I don't think that could work..." Eliza grumbled... but then blinked and rubbed her head "What if... we took this bit out of the machine and teleported the bomb out of here? Dropped it somewhere safe..."
"What about both?" Tech asked. "That way if the bomb does set then you'll have enough time to make it to the escape pods with what's left of your machine? From the looks of this, most everyone will have a chance to evacuate if they start now.
There was a red telephone on the wall that one of the nondescript shield agents handed to Eliza. He told her "This would be less fubar if we attempt evac first. It'll look better on our end."
"I know Nick I know" Eliza said, licking her lips slowly as she watched the bomb in front of her "But I don't want to just sit here and wait with this thing. How far can these teleporter things you gave us go? I mean... if we can drop the bomb out into the middle of the ocean then it'll give us some TIME, but right now we're stuck." She licked her lips slowly and said weakly "I can't lose them again Nick... I can't leave this behind. We've got to find a way to save my machine and everyone here..."
"Oh you don't want to teleport it." Tech said speaking up. "For one moving it that much will probably set if off and another... i would hate to find out what would happen if it decided to go off in mid teleport."
"God dammit..." Eliza hissed, shaking slightly and rubbing her face slowly "DAMMIT NICK! If this thing blows up my machine I'm claiming every single piece I used from you..." She growled slightly and shuddered, she wanted this thing to just GO "Ok... ok how are we going to start people evacuating? Half of them are brain washed."
The shield operative hit a series of buttons on the red phone and after a moment, probably just long enough for the base computers to comply, red lights began to flash and a warning was issued from speakers all over the base. "Please make your way to the nearest evacuation pod. Travel in an orderly fashion. Please make your way to the nearest evacuation pod. Travel in an orderly fashion."
Eliza and Tech worked on the device for quite a while but couldn't seem to bypass the explosive.
Waya's teleporting aim wasn't usually off but this time she sort of accidentally slammed everyone into the floor. They'd been in a hurry to get away from Decay and Waya must have overcompensated her speed.
The first thing Jeremy did ws stand up, the second thing was leave Rusty's body and let the dazed boy smash to the floor. He shook his head for a moment, then moved in to his own body and entered it; the world was spinning, his mind was reeling, but somehow he managed to get one firm grip on Waya's shoulders and planted a hard kiss on her lips. "Gah" he mumbled to himself as he pulled back "Damn I love you Waya..."
Eliza almost jumped when Waya and everyone else slammed into the floor, her body shuddering but her hand remaining perfectly still. She didn't want to twitch, didn't want to move, she was too busy with the bomb.
"What is it with gay guys kissing straight chicks?" Waya asked herself after Jeremy's clammy lips left hers. She looked at the state of her uniform and sighed, the blast had seared away the entire midsection. "Is there a seamstress in the house?"
Maribel grunted when she hit the ground, luckily though, she landed on the twins. Quickly rolling off, she stood up and backed into a lab table, quickly looking here and there. Decay was gone, so it seemed. Rubbing her arms, she hyperventilated.
"I think the danger room needs an update when we get home."
"Definitely." the twins chatted, getting up slowly.
"Are you alright?" Jeremy was beside Maribel in a moment, stroking her down and fussing over her like a mother hen... but not without reason obviously. He really did care for the girl, he knew what it was like to be utterly helpless like this.
"Guys" Eliza called over to her team mater who didn't appear to have noticed what she was doing "Guys... they put a bomb in my machine."
"A bomb?" Waya said immediately forgetting about her ruined uniform and coming to check things out.
"Hello again." Tech said nervously. He'd broken out into a sweat about ten minuets before and the flood didn't seem like it would be over soon. He's soaked threw his white shirt, so much that his ink pens had begun to bleed. "I thought i could take it out but it's been wired completely into the system. I think I can remove it but it may completely damage the machine."
Maribel lifted her hands, concentrating from the shaking to properly sign. 'I want to go home! Please please please...' she went on before adding, 'I don't want to die.' Her eyes watered, having the previous most life threatening moment been when the tractor's breaks gave out. It was nothing compared to this.
Jeremy gripped her hands gently, but still he tried to stop her hands from signing these things. "Maribel... hey, just... calm down alright?" it was a big thing to ask of her but it was all he could do "Maribel, you're not going to die." She should never have volounteered for this opperation, she was terrified by it...
Maribel sniffled and nodded, doing her best to believe him. She felt like she had to learn how to use her mutation and FAST in order to survive this.
"Can't ya just rip it out?" Jayden asked.
"They didn't have it for long...it shouldn't be too complex." Jaden added.
"It would damage half the machine and probably still blow!" Eliza said, more than a little annoyed right now "And they had a massive team of scientists and probably a few bombs around anyway." She was so stressed right now she could barely stand the twins' antics.
"Do you know how long it has til blowin' up?" Jayden asked.
"Maybe we can just take it home before it explodes?" the other suggested.
"Either way- I vote for destroying half the machine. It's better then the whole thing, right?" Jayden added once more, "Besides, we could use your help getting the boys back. We still haven't found them yet."
"If i breath on this wrong it will blow." tech told the boys, glad that they'd gotten the upper hand of Cortez acolytes. He really preferred the holo deck over having to deal with a massive explosive.
"Listen... kid, guy" Eliza really wished she'd learnt the tech's name "This isn't your fight and this isn't your problem. If... if you can move, I suggest gunning for an exit and getting the hell away. If we survive I can set you up with some places to work, can't I Nick?" She hissed the last bit into her head piece, Nick owed her so much for this.
Maribel stayed leaned against the table. She wiped her tears away, trying to get a grip. Soon, her breathing slowed and she was able to calm down slowly. All she had to do was not die right? That shouldn't be too hard. I mean- they were just fighting crazy mutant super villains...with a bunch of kids...and a bomb in front of her...on and asteroid orbiting earth. Yea- piece of cake. Feeling a tightness in her throat, Maribel turned and placed a hand in front of her mouth before coughing into it.
Tech looked at Eliza as if he could see the hero she could one day become. "You guys are the only ones who ever treated me with any ounce of respect on this asteroid. I'd rather stay and help."
"We've already said though" Eliza reminded him "There's... almost nothing you can do. We're just sitting here panicing until we find a way to at least rip this out." She didn't want to admit that she'd have to lose a chunk of her machine. "Do you think if we removed the entire segment and kept it increadibly steady it wouldn't explode? Because that seems to be the only choice here."
Maribel had stopped crying and felt another tickle in her throat. Walking away from the group, she coughed some more into her hands. This was not a good time to get a cold.
"Let me send it into the shadow realm." Waya said abruptly. It wasn't her best idea in the world, after all Eliza had worked extremely hard on the device and without it she was going to be pushed back to the drawing board. The alternative was dying and Waya didn't like the thought of drifting threw space, undead, just waiting for oxygen and warmth to come along and reanimate her. "I did it to one of the bad guys upstairs, he's not bothering us any more."
"That way we can get the boys." the twins said in agreement to Waya's plan.
Eliza couldn't help but let out that tiny sob, a small shudder running through her body. Her eyes turned to the tech, then to Waya, Twins, Jeremy and Maribel; there was a slight tear in her eye as she whispered "Do it Waya..." She had plans... logistics... blueprints... she could build again, sure she could, eventually.
Waya put her hand on Eliza's shoulder and said "I'm sorry Liz, I know how much it means to you." She knew how much it meant to all of them, all save Rhydian, Jeremy, Maribelle and Phinagin. The rest of them had lost family and Waya had trusted Liz to bring their parents back to them. She reached her hand forward and drew what shadows she needed. Opening an effective representation of an Acme hole, the machine slipped threw it and was gone. Waya just hoped it didn;t kill her grandmother, if she was indeed still alive.
Eliza slumped forward slowly, landing on her knees and staring as her machine fell into the darkness. Her hand shook, but it tightened around the tech's shoulder slightly as she pushed herself up onto her feet. She was silent as she moved, turning back to the others and moved towards her friends.
"You want to wreak some havoc on these mo-fo's that screwed up your baby?" Waya asked, really really hoping she'd say yes.
"Yes" Eliza hissed, gritting her teeth and clenching a hand tight as she stomped along "Going to turn this place to RUBBLE!" Someone was going to pay, and at the end of the day Cortez would have to take a thousand laxatives just to get Eliza's boot out of his ass.
"Oh...cuz..."
"You're just so cute when your mad." the twins smiled, rubbing her shoulders.
The shoulders rippled beneath their hands, Eliza was growing; soon they twins would only just be able to touch the small of her back, the girl now five foot taller than she was when she'd been working. Her hands looked like they could crush car tyres and her arms looked like they belonged on King Kong not a teen age girl. She was not in the mood for consoling or playful teasing; she was going to stomp, twist and snap anything that stood in her way.
"Calm down Liz." Waya told her "Cortez will get what he deserves but you know how you get when your too pissed." Waya was pretty bad when she flew off the handle but her powers weren't necessarily as physical as Eliza's and the girl could cause some pretty decent havoc when she was in the wrong mood. "We need to regroup, calm Maribelle down and get to the boys. We've still not found them yet, Cortez had some Cuckoos throwing me off and I still can't find the boys so I think they may have recovered from what we did to them."
"Why?" Eliza bristled, Waya was the only one who could stop her at this moment; it was bad, but Waya was practically the only one Eliza would turn to if she had a problem. Waya just seemed very... in control, dependible, perhaps the only other adult there who understood what Eliza was going through; Jeremy, Rhydian, Maribel, they all didn't have parents who had been taken by the mutant, the twins and Junior... The twins didn't seem adult to her, she could never bring her problems to them in case they mocked her. Junior... was too close, a blood relative, going to him would reduce the entire conversation to tears. "Why can't I just lose it for ONCE? This guy needs to learn not to MESS with other people!"
Jeremy was standing next to Maribel again, one hand moving to her side and tugging slightly at her clothes; he wanted her to look at him, he wanted to see if she was still freaking out. "We should get you home" he said gently.
Maribel wasn't crying anymore. She looked at Jeremy and nodded. 'That would be wonderful.' she sighed with an honest smirk.
"You can fly off the handle all you want." Waya told Liz "but first I want you pointed in the right direction and the right direction is at Cortez... or the first Acolyte that gets in your way. Right now we need that ginormous brain of yours to figure out how we find the boys."
Eliza grit her teeth slightly, tapping her foot as she tried to work all that killer energy into thought instead of smashing. "They'd be underground, out of cameras and away from public eye. That's why they're attacking you guys all the time, cause they can't find the boys" she scratched her cheek slowly, staring at the wall ahead of her "Have you guys looked in places like the air flow ducts and where the engineers would keep this place in tact?"
"We've not had much luck." Waya told Liz. "It's been one bad guy after the other since we got back on board. We've not even heard from Cap."
"Maybe we should just rip a hole in the floor?" Eliza grumbled softly as she looked around "Mole man this place up until we find something of use, like the boys... or Cortez."
"We kinda did that." Waya told her "It took a tole on the boys." She jabbed her thumb back at the twins.
"Hey- this stuff is thick..." a twin defended.
Eliza looked around at the machines of the other scientists in this place, eyes scanning them quickly "Maybe I can make something that will make the floor unstable so we'd be able to create more holes more frequently? Might help us find them faster."
"Or breach into an unstable pocket in the asteroid's surface." Tech said speaking, "Magneto chose this asteroid because it's mainly comprised of various metalic ores, but it's not perfect, there are gaseous pockets we utilize for energy. If you pierce one of those we could all be dead."
"Well fuck!" Waya cursed, striking out and flinging something unimportant looking off a nearby table. "We're the good guys right? Aren't all our plans supposed to work?"
The boys walked around to either side of the tech. Wrapping their arm around his shoulders like they had once did when they snuck out to a party earlier. "What about you, cutie? Don't you know the layout of this place? Even just a little?"
"Don't drag him any further guys" Eliza sighed, watching the tech with a slight sigh "He's done enough for me as it is..."
Jeremy stuck his hand slowly up into the air "Uhhh... guys... now we're in a safe place... why don't I just... you know, turn ghosty and fly around the asteroid looking for them? Nothing can touch me, I can run away if I come across that... decay guy."
"If you find them You'll come back before trying anything?" Waya asked but it sounded more alike an order. "It'll give Maribelle a chance to chill out."
"Course, not like I can do anything really" Jeremy said, knowing that he would break that at a moment's notice. If they were in trouble he'd give help to his friends, no matter how much danger that might put him in. He was dead, right? What could they do?
"This is ridiculous." a twin said, rather bored of all this.
The other brother looked at Waya, "You can't locate them from here?"
She'd already explained this and it proved that they hadn't been listening. "You wanna know what I get when I try?" Waya asked Jayden and lashed out at both of them with her telepathy, filling their minds with an intense searing white light. It didn't last long but the intensity of the light would probably leave them seeing spots.
Jeremy sighed softly... then sat on the floor and dropped dead, again. He looked around for a moment, then immediatley just dove through the floor and began his search for his friends.
"Ack!" Jayden and Jaden winced and stumbled back against a table. Planting their hands on their eyes, the two of them bowed down, waiting for their eyes to readjust.
Maribel was merely watching the others quietly before her throat became sore once more. Turning, she coughed into her hand hoarsely. A cold? Right now? This was definitely not a good time.
"Now do you get it when I say there's something bright in my way?" Waya asked the twins. She didn't have many weaknesses but she had contracted the Smith family curse.
"Yea yea, whatever!" a twin batted at Waya.
"Jeez..." the other mumbled, straightening himself up.
The boys' eyes adjusted finally and they couldn't help but give Waya a bit of a scowl. "Jeremy better not take very long."
"Yea- it's been a long time since we saw the guys."
"And where in the hell are all of the SHIELD officers?!"
The SHIELD officers who'd been dispatched with Eliza where still guarding the scientists who where responsible for the work done to her machine. one of them spoke up saying "The Captain and his men had another mission, radio silence suggests they've ether been taken hostage or are unable to communicate from their position."
"Go figure." Jayden rolled his eyes. "So much for being the best of the best of the best."
Maribel drifted away from the group once more so that she wouldn't get the others sick. Placing a hand on her sore throat, she could feel a warm lump. A bit scared, Maribel rubbed it, trying to feel what it was but it only made her cough more. It was strange...it felt as if something was in her throat but- she wasn't choking at all, only coughing. What was even more unsettling was that she hadn't eaten for hours.
"Keep trying." Waya ordered the men, even though they where technically Eliza's to command "Once we've found the boys I say we shove a boot up Cortez' ass."
"HOO RAH!" The SHIELD company responded, they certainly weren;t interested in dieing on this rock.
Eliza was annoyed, annoyed that her machine was destroyed, and annoyed that her bloodlust was being wasted in this stupid room while she could be stepping on necks. "So what have you guys been doing while I'm kissing my hard work goodbye?" she grumbled at her friends.
"Almost died, kicked some ass, ran away a bit...you know, the usual." the twins said together, shrugging and innocently lifting their shoulders.
Maribel managed to hold in her coughs for a little while as she tapped Eliza on the shoulder. 'Bathroom?' she signed, wanting to get a drink from the sink.
Eliza frowned slightly at Maribel, nodding slightly and raising a large hand to point off in the distance. "I'll... take you" she said, the girl was looking a bit off "You know... incase we get in any trouble." She looked over at the others, nodding slightly and leading Maribel over towards the toilet.
'Thank you.' Maribel signed with a grateful expression. She would be screwed if she ran into that Decay guy again. Maribel grit her teeth together, forcing her coughs down as she let herself be led by Eliza.
Eliza kept a slightly worried eye on Maribel as they moved, purposefully ripping down a few "discrete sheets" that hid people's machines form view. There was a toilet near the back, for the scientists to go to so they didn't have to deal with "normal people" outside the complex. "Here" she said, shrinking down slightly so she could go into the bathroom ahead of Maribel.
Waya crossed her arms and leaned against a table. "I hate waiting around like this." She told the twins. "I've been relying too much on my telepathy lately, I'm not even very good with it."
"Yea- we know you're not." the twins teased with smirks before they leaned against the table and sat on the edge.
Waya was now flanked by the twins and despite this stayed where she was. "Very funny." they had no idea how inadequate she felt about it, this had been the only ability that hadnt come to her like second nature.
Maribel stepped forward into the bathroom and turned the sink on. As she waited for the water to get cold, she looked at herself in the mirror, specifically her throat.
Eliza stood beside her, one hand on her shoulder and a frown spreading across her brow "Maribel? Did something happen to you? Did you breath anything in or get touched by anything strange?" That wouldn't help, but it would narrow this down at least.
Maribel shook her head. Aside from almost dying several times in under 24 hours, she couldn't recall any hazardous chemicals. Maribel was with the others the entire time. Anything she would have, they would have the same effects too.
"Are you allergic to anything?" Eliza had one of her wrists in her hand now, holding it gently and taking her pulse "Cats? Dogs? Horses? Feathers?" She was just rattling off suggestions, things that people might have a mutation for "Are you taking any medication?"
Maribel shook her head, but Eliza's concern was starting to make her worry. She was practically a girl genius, she would know out of anyone here about health-related issues. Feeling the cold water, she cupped some in her hands before bringing it to her lips. Leaning up and drinking, she was interrupted afterward by a slew of coughs.
"How long has this been happening?" Eliza was peering into Maribel's eyes now, watching them for any strange movement or dilation. This might not be a very good time for this sort of thing.
Gathering herself, Maribel signed, 'Twenty minuets ago. It is just a cold, don't worry.' She rubbed her neck for a moment, feeling the slight lump.
"A cold that hits like this in twenty minutes?" Eliza said, trying not to sound worried as she pulled back and watched Maribel. "Here" she muttered, reaching out and feeling Maribel's neck as well, frowning at the lump there "Strange..."
Maribel waved her away and signed, 'It's nothing, really. Don't worry about this.' The last thing Maribel or the group needed is for her to be ill with something.
"Let me try and figure this out, alright?" Eliza said with a slight huff, pressing down on the lump on her throat gently, seeing if it was solid or liquid.
It was firm, but had some give to it when force was applied. Maribel coughed when Eliza would press down too hard. This was quickly starting to make her feel uncomfortable.
"Sorry" Eliza said quickly, removing her hand from Maribel's neck and frowning slightly "If we had the right equipment and enough time I would check you out... but right now all we can do is wait..."
"You think she is going to be alright?" a twin asked, gesturing to where Maribel and Eliza walked off.
"Yea- the poor frenchie is probably having a mental breakdown right now."
"You'd think her powers would react out of fear." Waya said quietly "Like my shadow shield or Junior's auto-phasing."
"Maybe she is wired differently..." Jaden suggested.
"Well...she IS foreign." Jayden added.
"I doubt that has anything to do with it."
The two leaned forward now, gently swaying their legs against the cabinets under them.
'It's probably just a cough.' Maribel admitted before she turned the sink off. 'And there are a bit more important things to focus on at the moment.'
"Well..." Eliza said with a reluctant sigh "Let me just... run some tests when we get back alright?" There were other things to think about right now, but she wanted to check Maribel out as soon as possible.
Maribel nodded, not wanting to think about it any longer. Eliza's concern made her even more nervous.
"I'll wait outside... give you a little moment" Eliza said, giving Marivel a smile as well and waving to her as she walked out of the toilets again. She'd take Maribel back to the others, just in case something happened along the way.
"I wouldn't be surprised if she went back to France after this." Waya confessed. "Maybe she should have stayed on Earth before we came back."
"Most definitely." the twins agreed. They paused for a while before asking, "Do you think Jeremy is going to succeed?"
Maribel gathered herself and took a few more sips of water before she exited the bathroom. She gave her a thankful smile before heading back to the others.
"I hope so." Waya said "I hate sitting here like this..." but this little breather had gotten rid of the splitting headache she'd gotten when Klinestock split on her.
Eliza smiled and rested a hand on Maribel's back, leading the girl back towards Waya and the twins. She had to concentrate on something to get her mind off of the fact her machine was destroyed.
"You said that already, petal." Jayden teased, scratching his chest lazily with a thumbnail.
"Welcome back ladies..." Jaden said with a cheeky grin to Maribel and Eliza.
"Feeling better?" Waya asked Maribelle, "Your not gonna keel over on us are you?"
"As soon as we get back I want to fun some tests" Eliza said firmly, nodding her head and crossing her arms "She's fine, a cough, but I want to make sure."
Maribel sheepishly waved at Waya, feeling guilty for worrying these guys. As if it wasn't enough that she felt like dead weight already...now she had a cold.
Jeremy was back, gasping as he hit his own body and rolling over. He coughed hard for a moment, then sat up and said "They're in this place... looks like a throne room. Attacking Cortez. Looks like they need help."
The twins hopped down from the table and knelt to help Jeremy up. "Is it far?" they asked, wanting to dart off in the proper direction right away.
Jeremy stumbled up slightly, moving off towards the direction in which he remembered he'd come from. "It's... off towards this way. Almost in a bee line..." he mumbled to himself, hoping that the walls were soft enough for them to get through.
"Can I break stuff NOW?" Eliza asked, raising her fists up and growing slightly again so she'd be able to do some more damage.
"We can move the debris away." the twins explained, liking the sound of breaking through everything.
Stumble!