Chapter 31—Battle Preparation

Citadel- Cafeteria, 2008 February 13 (Evening)

Wanda Maximoff (Gypsy)-

Wanda sat at a table, with a plate of cold food in front of her. It had once been warm, but she just let it sit there. She just couldn't eat, knowing that Sam was so hurt, it felt wrong somehow. Her bother made up for her not eating, as he had cleared six plates of the offered meal.

John was here too, and while he seemed to be eating fine, he was also spending much of the meal with his face buried into a pile of blank papers writing. ‘Wonder if he is trying to distract himself?' she thought while ignoring the spoon in her hand again.

The double doors suddenly open, and her father and Betsy entered the large room. They were talking softly to each other with pointed looks, but she couldn’t hear what they were saying. Wanda thought about trying the technique she learned last night again, and try to listen in. However, she decided against it. There were some things that she didn't always need to know about, not yet anyway.

Wanda decided to push the plate away. She wasn’t going to eat it anyway.

With Sam injured, only Exodus was missing, so she figured that the two of them would explain the situation soon. A part of her hoped that they would retaliate against the people that hurt her friend. Sam and she were not the closest of 'friends', her ranting about shows and movies Wanda had never seen or wanted to see. But in the end, she was still her friend, and Wanda would kill the ones responsible for her current state. 'Well, maybe not kill, but defiantly hurt.' She thought to herself, as she watched the two people approach the rest of them.

“How’s Bass? Is she going to live?” Pietro suddenly asked before anyone could speak.

Wanda thought she saw her dad's mouth smirk for the briefest of a movement before he answered. "She is alive. But it doesn't look good." Her father looked at everyone before continuing. "But Nath'aniel is looking after her. I didn't think some purple and orange jelly would help a person, but she was dying and he hasn’t led us astray, so I say we trust him. He says that his treatment will take six to ten hours to help her so we will give them that.’

"That said, Betsy has been inside of the head of the collared mutant that Bass manage to, ah liberate." At the mention of her name, Betsy seemed to blush. This made Wanda wonder why. Since she knew of other woman's experiences, she should have been used to being in the spotlight. However, Wanda didn't dwell on it as her father continued speaking. "She was able to gather that the enemy is made up of professional mercenaries and had split up their men into four eight-man squads. And not only are they being supported by the attack helicopter, which attacked us earlier. But they have another collared mutant that they are forcing to fight for them as well. We do not know what his power is, however. '

"The safest course of action would be to hide in here, behind Nath'aniel's shield. But not only would that leave that mutant to their mercy, but it would also be agreeing with them, that we are monsters. That we can only win, by ambush and by surprise attack. No, I will be going out there in the morning, and I will make them regret coming after us. And any of you that wish to help me punish these, bullies, can join me.”

Erik then looked over the food that had been cooked for them, he selected a piece of meat off one of the trays and nodded at each of them before leaving for the doors that he had only a few minutes ago emerged from.

John nodded to their leader’s words, before gathering up the papers he had and also left. Wanda looked at her brother. He was picking his teeth with a toothpick. He was taking his time, because if he used his powers he would have been done in an instant.

Betsy took a seat next to Wanda and started to pick here and there at the various food laid out on the table. Before she could take a bite of her food, however, Pietro asked. "Dad said something about purple and orange jelly, why isn’t Mr. all-powerful just magicing Bass better?"

Her brother’s tone was a touch rude, but she too was wondering why.

Betsy sighed, before answering. "He said that magic can bend the rules but not break them and that Sam was too injured for a spell to just fix what was wrong with her." She then took a bite of her food.

Hearing those words hurt Wanda somehow. Magic was such a mystery, and the little she had seen of it had done wonders, to learn that there were things even magic cannot do somehow made it less grand.

“It makes me wonder what other things he can’t do then?" Pietro muttered as he stood up. "Well, I'm off to bed, if the old man's going out there. Then I wanna be there and punch some of those fools in the face." Then there was a sudden breeze as Wanda saw her brother wink at her before dashing out of the room.

Wanda felt a shiver in her spine for a moment. Then she did her best to repress any memory of that night back in Genosha.

“Everything alright?” Betsy asked her.

“Just worried what tomorrow what bring.” Wanda lied.

“So you plan on fighting too?” Betsy asked between mouthfuls of mashed potatoes.

Wanda hadn’t even thought that not fighting was an option. Yes, her father had said they could remain here, but there were soldiers outside looking for them. And they had seriously hurt a friend of hers. The thought of just sitting here in the Citadel, safe, while others were going out to protect her. Well, a thought like that kind of made her mad.

She pushed her still mostly full plate away, before leaping to her feet. Wanda snapped, saying. “Damn straight I’m fighting. And anyone who isn’t tomorrow, shouldn’t stay in the Brotherhood.” Before storming off towards her room.

 

Antarctica Special Region- Northern Jungle

Benjamin ‘Slice’ Smith-

Slice stepped into the small clearing, and the first thing he noticed were the two dead bodies lying at the bottom of a tree. They wore nothing more than a loin cloth and seemed to be holding clubs. Seeing as they weren't Fang he didn't give them another thought.

So he pressed on. As he and his remaining men moved towards the center of the clearing, Scalpel moved to intercept them and immediately offered the controller to Slice. He reached for it and swore he saw her holding her breath while she held it.

He took it and turned it around in his hand. Then Slice switched the controller to its tracking mode and found the heading on his missing freak.

"She's where you thought they were, but we can't find anything, it's just more jungle." Scalpel reported. "We headed towards it, and then after a while, the tracker would ping that it was behind us. What happened to your neck?"

Slice didn’t answer her. He just looked over the controller, wondering if it was broken.

“It’s not the tech. That thing is working just fine.” Tech-box shouted from the rock he was sitting on.

‘Then why aren’t we finding them. Unless they got a base and in it are more freaks whose abilities can conceal or confuse us.’ Slice wondered. Then he sighed as he rubbed his eyes.

“What are the odds they have a fortified position here boss?” Tech-box asked him.

“What that’s impossible. No one knew about this place.” Scalpel argued.

"No, that tracks." Slice corrected her.

She blinked twice before blurting out “What?”

“Think about it, they did a job. Blew up that chem plant. And then they were on their way back to their base in the UK. Not knowing that their allies sold them out, probably to save them a jail sentence. And then they walked, well flew, into a British ambush. So, you're down two people and have a damaged jet, and your hideout has been compromised. Where do you go?" Slice explained their train of thought.

Scalpel took a breath as she thought about it, before saying. “I would go to a place I thought was safe. But then why didn’t they just land their plane there? Why park it so far north?”

That Slice couldn’t answer, but he’d be willing to bet that there was a reason. After all their fast freak came to them before they could get into it, and then following his trail eventually lead him to Big M himself, so they hadn’t abandoned the craft.

“Boss orders?” one of the riflemen asked.

They had been marching for hours and left early in the morning after only having a short nap. They either were going to burn out if they didn't end this soon. So they either needed to find the Brotherhood's camp and end this or find someplace to rest.

Slice looked at the semi-setting sun. The sun would dip some more before it starts to rise again. He hated being this far south. ‘Rest or work?’ Slice pondered. He looked around and saw all of the tired gazes looking back at him. “Scalpel, get the data that Sky-born sent us and find somewhere close that we can set up camp, I want a site picked in ten to twenty. Tech-box you’re with me.” Slice could see the relief in his men’s gazes at the prospect of sleep.

Slice moved toward where the data was pointing them, he didn't go too far. Just far enough so that he could chat politely with his tech support. He waited till Tech-box was standing next to him.

“Boss you wanted something?” Tech-box asked after a moment of silence.

Slice waited a moment to gather his thoughts before speaking. “If they do have a base, they may have more mutants than we thought. Ones which do not aid so much in combat, but in other avenues. Say one that can conceal its base from us so well that we walk right past it. How would we bypass that?"

Tech-box waited a moment before answering. “Mutant abilities are both wide and diverse. But we can assume that if they have something like that, they would only affect the minds of people. So we would need something without a working mind.”

Slice nodded before answering his own question. “Like Sky-born’s drones and camera rockets?”

Then Tech-box added an unexpected alternative. “Or our last ace.”

“What? What do you mean?” Slice was surprised.

“You did read the manual that came with those?” Tech-box asked pointing at the controller still in Slice’s hands.

Slice looked the other man in the eye. “Pretend I didn’t.”

Tech-box took the goggles that he was wearing off enough to place them on his forehead. "Well with the collars and controllers, you can drive even the most passive of those freaks into a killing frenzy. But you can also do the opposite. Making their minds so non-responsive they are like a walking corpses, which will only obey your orders. In that state, they will likely ignore any psychic defenses that they might have set up."

One of his squad mates walked over to the two men. “Boss, Scalpel got a spot for us, it’s only five clicks from here.”

Slice didn't respond right away, instead, he looked over to the mutant that sat off by himself. His yellow collar stands out brilliantly in this jungle. The merc thought about changing his orders and pressing on, dragging the freak into one last fight. But then he remembered the earlier fight, and that was when he wasn’t tired.

‘No I will not bury more men because of ego.’ He thought before saying. "Lead the way."

 

Citadel Fist Floor- Medical Wing Date unknown (Night)

Nath’aniel-

The mage focused on the Cleansing spell that he had started a couple of minutes earlier. He now understood why his health mentor, Lo’carious, had told him to never release regenerating formula into a body. Samantha’s organs healed in half of the time that her face and arms were. The skin and muscle clearly absorbed much of the solution while the internal body had no barrier and took it all in.

If he hadn't been watching her condition who knows what damage or alterations would have happened to her body. Nath'aniel sighed, knowing that he could now leave her safely. As there was no risk for the rest of her as he had done similar treatments before. Still, the mental fatigue of watching her body had drained him, so he sat on the chair that had been his perch for the last three hours. So relieved was the mage that he even closed his eyes.

“I wanted to say, I am sorry.” Nath’aniel’s eyes shoot open at the sound of Exodus’ voice. “For attacking you earlier.” The mage turned and saw that the other man was by the Medical Wing’s doors and not near him. “Is she going to survive?”

"Yes. There is no further risk of death at this point. Her second heart and other internal organs are all healed and the rest should be done by morning." Nath'aniel said as he crossed his arm. Even though his head faced Samantha, he still could make out the other man's form and position. "Although given what she has put her body through, she should take it easy for a week or so. And I recall you saying sorry earlier."

Exodus took a deep breath and then says. "I didn’t mean it then. I, I just wanted the information… But it’s a good thing she will survive. She deserves a shot at happiness."

Exodus was about to leave when Nath'aniel asked. "Do we know who did this, was it the weapons from the Empire?”

“Didn’t the others tell you?” The Knight asked in surprise.

“I heard Quicksilver talking to his sister, but I was focused on looking at the health of three wounded, so I didn’t grant large amounts of my attention to his story. So I only caught part of it." He admitted.

Exodus nodded, before saying. "It was two groups. The first was odd. They were natives here. They seemed old fashioned in their assembly, but they were clearly human. The bulk of them were seen as being very simple of mind, wielding weapons of wood and stone. While their leaders are like the Druids I meet in my youth, capable of wielding magic as you do.'

"The second group, are private soldiers, which have probably chased down here after us. I suspect they are seeking the reward for our capture. And they are armed with advanced weapons, even for this era. Even the collars they use to control the girl is more advanced than what we have seen before."

Nath’aniel nodded. And with that Exodus and the mage stood in silence, before the soldier left the room.

Once he was alone, the mage asked. “Citadel did they request your aid in tracking their enemies?”

“They did not.”

With his eyes still on the wounded Samantha when he asked. “With the installed power cell standard feed, how many of the military constructs can you currently power?”

“Without taking from the settings you have set?” He nodded. “Sixteen.”

Nath’aniel took a step towards the sleeping naked girl by the door. “Is that including the four I have already activated?”

“Yes.”

His eyes drifted towards the collar floating above the void stone headboard. The light above the things clasp flashed red or green in a pattern, it had done so since it was opened. He had examined the thing, but beyond the base energies and chemicals stored in the thing, its function was alien to the mage. And the sight of it made Nath’aniel imagine these soldiers having more such collars. He hadn't seen the woman under its effects, but he had seen the damage done to both women from the surges and the damage the woman's war form had inflicted on Magneto's impressive armor.

He then thought about the systems that he had on, few would power another two or three constructs. And those that could do more, were required for their defense. Nath'aniel sighed before giving the order. "Citadel drain the power cell, get as many of the military models awake and online, even if don't have enough. Then drain the utility models as well."

“Shall I awaken even the Berserkers?”

He hesitated a second, before saying. “Even them.”