Chapter 14- Shots Fired

Chicago- Warehouse near the docks, 17- March- 2008 (Night)

Raven Darkhomle- (Mystique)

Raven stared in surprise as the bullets flew towards her. She had taken the form of Exodus, to make the offer to Deadpool and Copycat, while he hid up in the rafters. Just before she got shot, two things happened.

First, the three ceiling lights in the warehouse went out, as swords of light fell out of them. Vastly reducing the already dim building into a near-pitch-black state. This also caused her eyes to switch to her night vision mode, an ability she rarely told anyone that she had. ‘Maybe only Irene and Erik know I have it.’ She pondered for half a second, while the second thing happened.

Her son appeared in front of her in a blast of sulfuric gas. Before he wrapped his arms around her, Raven felt the rush of being teleported away. She mentally smiled at seeing her boy in shades of white and grey, completely different from his usual blue.

His face looked very worried as he asked. “Are you all right?”

She could hear the mercenary leader shout off towards her left. “Grizzly find him!” before she could answer.

To answer her son, she shifted into her normal form. The sack of her folded costume and guns were stored in, fell out of her back, from the pocket she had made inside of her. So she was a very naked woman when she cupped the boy’s face and instead of answering, she muttered. “Such a good boy.”

Her night vision kicked off when a rift of light appeared behind them, she thought to quickly make fake clothes to cover herself with, but instead moved on motherly instinct and pulled the boy to be behind her. As Solo fell out of the rift he generated his machine pistol in one hand and his pistol in the other.

The merc blinked twice, before muttering. “You’re not Exodus, and why are you naked?”

“Nope.” She agreed, before shifting more bone into her foot and kicking him in the balls.

The merc was smart enough to have some protection there, but he still groaned in pain from the impact. Kurt hugged her, and they jumped again, as Solo opened fire with his machine pistol.

Like the cheap weapon that it was, he emptied his clip into where they had been standing before. It only took a couple of seconds for the small rounds to pepper the paper thin walls.

Solo waved the now empty gun to clear away the gas and smell as he muttered. “A fellow ‘porter, huh.”

Her son drew his saber and stood to shield her from the gunman.

Without the rift, her night vision kicked back on. She wasn't sure if the boy had something similar, but judging by the guarded stance, Solo clearly didn't.

They hadn’t gone very far. It looked like a small office attached to the warehouse. Her guns and armor were where they fell, about twenty feet from them. But the merc was still there, and he had drawn his still-loaded regular pistol.

"We just came for our ally, and you start a fight," Kurt said to the man.

Knowing what was about to happen she moved to shove him away, as Solo aimed and fired his pistol at them. But Kurt teleported away, so Raven fell face forward, and nearly got killed by the discharged round.

Her shoulder burned from where the bullet grazed her. He jumped so quickly, that Raven wasn't sure that the merc could hear where he came out. As she was currently helpless, she started to crawl towards her things.

“You have any idea, just how much money. Your pal there is worth? Or the woman that is with you for that matter? I didn’t get a good look, but I was pretty sure that was Mystique I saw hugging you. You two shacked up?” Solo slowly taunted her son.

Kurt made a grossed-out expression and another noise. Resulting in the merc twisting around and firing another shot at him. Instead of jumping away, the boy knocked the bullet away with his sword.

The spark it caused illumination in the room to show everyone where they were, and what they were doing. Raven crawls towards the sack. Solo thinking they were easy prey. And her son was outraged at the thought of her being dragged away for some bounty.

Solo quickly dropped his machine pistol and drew a knife to parry Kurt's fist swing. But the boy wasn't done, again and again, he swung. His second swing got through, heavily damaging the body armor on the merc’s chest. The following one was also parried, a second time, and then the last was a great success. The boy was able to land a deep slash into Solo's knife arm.

Then the merc fired his pistol at point-blank range, Kurt teleported away at the sound of the bullet, but unlike the last two times. This time Solo created a rift under his feet, and the solider fell into the Earth, leaving Raven alone in the office.

She got up and moved towards her stuff. She opened it and threw her costume onto the top of a nearby desk, before getting the harness and pistols holstered in it. She had no idea where her son had teleported to, and if Solo followed him. She only knew she could hear fighting and screaming coming from deeper in the building.

A part of her wanted to just run in and help, but having been shot enough times, she wanted to be properly protected too. Thus why she asked to have her costume was so light and simple. Raven quickly donned the chestpiece and utility belt, as well as her gloves.

But when she heard the click of the door opening, Raven dropped her boots, pulled a pistol, and aimed at whoever came through the door.

Blue-skinned woman aimed a gun at a white-skinned woman. While the white-skinned woman did the same.

“Mystique, since when was the Brotherhood allied with the Hellfire Club?” Copycat asked her.

“We aren’t. What your feral smelled was my son.” Raven admitted.

The albino chuckled before saying. “I am guessing his dad is the Club’s assassin.”

Raven shrugged but agreed. "You would be right." Then she added. "While that relationship was a mistake, my boy wasn't… So did you decide? Paycheck or our help?”

Copycat chuckled and guessed. “So that was you, and not Exodus. Who I was talking to, wasn’t it?”

"It was, and the offer was genuine. Apparently in the Brotherhood's darkest hour, we found some kind of savior. Assuming Exodus hasn't been lying to me, but I doubt it, given that doing so would besmirch his 'lord's' honor." As Mystique said that, she shifted muscles and bones around to reduce the strain of holding the gun on the woman.

“You know what is wrong with Wade?” Copycat asked, actually looking worried since being faced with a gun aimed at her.

"I do," Raven admitted.

Then there was a silence as the two women continued their stare down. Raven was worried about her kids and Destiny, but at the same time, she also was worried about what rushing the other woman into a discussion would do.

Then her night vision switched off, as a large rift of light opened. Both Solo and Kurt fell out of it, the two in a grapple fighting over a knife. Kurt’s saber was currently held in his long flexible tail, while Solo was missing all of his guns.

Copycat pivoted her gun towards the two, but Raven didn't. Instead, she shot. The bullet flew true, despite the other woman trying to dodge. It buried the dead center of the woman's gun arm's bicep. Causing the albino's own shot to go wide.

“Knock him out, don’t kill him.” She told her boy, as she moved towards Copycat.

Kurt landed three quick jabs to the other man's chin, knocking Solo out of the fight. Raven expected Copycat to run, now that she was wounded. Instead, she dove, towards her son. With her son in the way, Raven refused to shoot. She could see the woman, and the experienced woman trusted her aim, but it was the inexperienced boy who put the accuracy of the shot into question.

When Raven came into a clear shot at the woman, she saw two Kurts. As Copycat had a firm grip on the boy’s tail, the fake didn’t waste any time and shot at her, twice. Both hit center mass, but their damage was absorbed by the armored tabard she was wearing.

It still made the woman gasp, as the air was knocked out of her.

Then the two Kurts vanished in a puff of sulfuric gas. Raven didn't know which one initiated the teleport. Copycat to get away or was it Kurt to protect her. Left with an unconscious Solo, she rolled the man over. Before she pulled the pair of handcuffs, she spotted on his belt while talking to his leader.

She cuffed his wounded arm to a nearby desk, before grabbing the rest of her gear, minus her time-consuming boots. Raven shifted her legs to look like they were on, as she moved to the sound of fighting.

She walked through the open door that Copycat had come from. There was a small hallway that led to the warehouse proper. In a side room, she stopped at the sight of Destiny squaring off with the woman with the whip.

The room once had a small collection of computers and furniture. After their ongoing brawl, there were only broken electronics and shattered fake wood. The redhead cracked her whip towards Destiny. Raven saw a pulse of energy surge through the whip before it made the noise. The expected sharp sound was muffled, as it was turned into a small shockwave instead.

Destiny sacrificed her crossbow pistol, to absorb the coming wave. Before she did she had thrown a palmed bolt with her other hand towards the woman. The seer must have known, because the throw was amped by her opponent's wave as well. The bolt buried itself in the redhead's left cheek.

Raven readied herself to gun down the woman with a whip, but Destiny’s words stopped her.

“Go! Help Rogue and Murmur. I have this.” The woman’s digitized voice sounded sure.

Raven left after letting off a parting shot. Making the whip woman flinch, and open her guard for Destiny to palm and throw another bolt into the woman’s knee.

“You fucking bitch, I’ll make you pay.” The redhead snapped, as she pulled the bolt out of her face.

Raven could hear only part of Destiny’s rebuttal. “…should have taken our offer.”

As she kicked open the door that would lead her into the cargo area again. The room was as dark as she remembered it. The ceiling lights were all out, and the only illumination came from the hole in the wall. The table was on its side, and the guns and ammo were scattered all over the place. The sounds of talking and shooting brought her attention towards the first set of fighters.

“Bang. Bang, bang bang." She heard Deadpool say as shot and ran around the room.

Rogue had just dove behind a quickly disintegrating crate as she entered the warehouse. Firing blindly back from cover, while also trying to not to get shot.

Past them, Raven saw the tall blonde was having a fistfight with the larger red man. Not that the large man seemed to be throwing any punches of his own, but was rather just taking a beating. But then the blonde was halfway across the room from him, and her reach was inhumanly long.

‘She must be Anaconda.’ Raven thought just as she fired her gun dry. She managed to put two bullets from her pistol into Deadpool’s legs, and the last one into the blonde woman's back. With a flick of her thumb, she ejected the empty clip and grabbed a fresh one.

She inserted the fresh clip while running towards Rogue. As Deadpool fell, he threw away his guns and shouted. “Reader, why didn’t you warn me about the blue assed bitch?”

When she got near Rogue, Raven lifted the teen up and they moved to another more intact piece of cover. “Who the fuck is Reader? Do they have another member we don’t know about?” The shape-shifter asked.

“I don’t know, but he has been ranting about him since we revealed ourselves. Please don’t make me drain him. I don’t want to be in his head.” Rogue said while she reloaded her own gun. Then she asked. “Where’s Jumper?”

“Don’t know. He knocked out their teleporter, but then Copycat grabbed him, and they both ported away.” Raven said before looking back at the regenerator. He was lying face down on the ground while struggling with something on his belt. She glanced away to look at the fistfight.

Grizzly held the wrists of the Anaconda and just stared at her. His eyes seemed a bit glazed over, like he was really asleep. The blonde woman seemed to be struggling against something. Then Raven guessed that she was trying to recall her extended arms, but the man was holding her in place.

"Where's Murmur?" The shape-shifter asked after she sat back down against the crate.

“Past the big guy. She managed to tag him with her power, but I haven’t seen her since.” Rogue explained as she did her own sweep of the place.

“Ok, you drain Anaconda, just enough to knock her out, and I will deal with Deadpool," Raven suggested for a plan.

However, before the teen could agree, they heard the regenerator shout out. "Pineapple surprise!" then an egg-shaped grenade landed on the ground by their feet.

Both Raven and Rogue stared at it for a second, before they both sprinted away from it.

The shape-shifter got about half a dozen steps away before Deadpool started talking again. “A dud, now that is a surprise. That’s right shake the blue ass for me, Mommy." Then he started shooting again. He had pulled his other pair of guns that were the compliments to his first pair, so he had the Desert Eagle in his left hand and the Berretta in his right.

His first few shots were on target, hitting her in the chest, and winding Raven further. She still got a couple of shots off of her own, but he was a rather small target, and she really didn't want to shoot him in the head.

Then she got hit in the knee, and blood flew everywhere. He saw this, and adjusted his aim, but the more powerful pistol clicked dry before he could repeat the shot. However, he still hit her in the legs twice with the weaker gun, driving her to her knees.

Angry and in pain, Raven didn't care anymore and shot him in the head twice.

Raven didn't hear any more shooting, or anyone grunting from punching someone else. So she took a moment to close her eyes and take a deep breath. Then the sound of a heavy man landing on the ground made her open them again.

Standing above her was a beast of a man, easily as tall and as muscular as Grizzly, but definitely not him. His left eye glowed in the darkness of the warehouse, and his left arm gleamed as if made of metal. He casually held a rifle in his other normal arm, Raven thought it a laser weapon, as the barrel looked nothing like a conventional weapon.

Despite that, what really caught her eye wasn't the rifle or the tactical body armor he wore, but the semi-charred teddy bear, that he had hanging from his utility belt.

“You Reader?” she asked him.

“Nope, Cable… Sorry bout this, it’s nothing personal.” The large man answered back. A moment later his left eye started to glow brighter, almost like a small flashlight. Then he raised his rifle and fired.

DLRhanna

Sorry for the cliff, but it is what it is. And since the next chapter follows Rogue, so unfortunately you wont know who Cable shot at till chapter 16, so I will give you this is your worried.

Spoiler

He didn't shoot Mystique, but he did kill someone.

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