Chapter 16- Enter Cable

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

Exodus-                   

The knight stared at the old cyborg standing in front of him, wishing his lord was here right now. He watched as the rifle panned back over to him. He heard Grizzly shake and spray foam into the mercenary leader's many stumps.

“You still haven’t made your offer to him.” The cyborg reminded him.

Exodus was still disturbed by the lack of light he felt from the energy blasts the cyborg’s rifle fired, so he complied. “Kane, you have proven yourself both noble and capable, despite being a regular human. If you desire it, I will avail my group’s patron to heal and replace your missing limbs.”

“What? But we’re enemies.” The defeated human stated confused.

The knight shrugged before explaining. “We are enemies because you sought to be rewarded for my capture. However, during our fight, despite my having the edge, I could tell your thoughts drifted towards your men, from that I can tell that you are a good man, for being only human.”

The cyborg chuckled.

“You! You could have saved us at any moment, we lost because…”

The cybernetic soldier cut off the mercenary leader. “You lost because you let them dictate the battle. You alone held up, their most powerful and skilled combatant with tactics and overwhelming force. You are the only member of your team without powers. Being Enhanced, or a Mutant, doesn’t automatically mean we win, it means that we have options that others don’t.”

“You orchestrated all of this.” The knight guessed after looking back from wounded soldier.

The soldier raised his rifle, so it aimed at no one before he said. "You have no idea… There is a war going on in the shadows. Players moving pieces, so when the fighting really opens up, you will have already lost. I am a player too, but I am aiming to end up with the world having a better future in the end."

“What did you do?” Exodus foolishly asked.

He cocked his head and gave a half-answer. "I killed her. It was my mission, as well as to test them, they passed… If it helps, she would have weakened the Brotherhood in the end. More importantly, she would have weakened the Mage. Right when we need both you and him at your strongest. This way, I completed two tasks at the same time.’

“Kane, for your success, I am offering you the ship and the crates in its hold. Inside you will find a lab, in it, there are some military-grade cybernetics, that you can use not only to get back on your feet, but to make yourself stronger. But I don’t offer it for free. You and the Six-Pack must agree to come with me for at least two missions. No refusals. Or, you can take the Brotherhood’s offer, and be what you were before.”

As his anger rose, Exodus reformed a sword of light in his hands and constructed a barrier between the two kids and the cyborg, the stranger's odd weapon be damned. He admitted to both killing one of them and knowing about their patron.

But before the knight cut the cyborg down, the man muttered. "I will see you in four days for your answer. Professor, Bodyslide now.”

As Exodus lunged for the thrust, to stab the man in the heart. The air around the cyborg shimmered. Again there was light that he could see, but he couldn’t feel. Like it was false light, it was completely different from anything else that he had encountered in his life.

As the sword pierced where the armor and flesh should be, Exodus instead cut only air. If his left side wasn’t so torn up by the grenade’s shrapnel, he would have stomped his foot in frustration.

He heard the large man growl at him from behind.

“Stand down Grizzly, we lost this fight. Help me up.” Kane ordered.

“Right boss.” The furry muttered.

“You kill any of our people?” The leader asked once the big man got him into a sitting position.

Exodus looked towards the two teenagers. The boy reported. “Not, any of the ones we fought. I knocked out your teleporter, and Rogue here did the same to the woman with the arms and Copycat.”

“Her name is Anaconda, Nightcrawler." Rogue corrected her brother. Exodus raised an eyebrow at the boy having picked a new name. Then she added. "Although if we're being honest, I thought I saw Mystique shoot Deadpool in the head.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time.” Kane quipped from his perch.

Although as Rogue admitted to what their shape-shifter had done, everyone stared as her skin turned blue, and her ears grew little points. “You alright Rogue?” The knight asked her as her skin changed again, looking more red, and her eyes started to glow slightly.

She shrugged before saying. "I still got Copycat's powers. Apparently, she doesn't need to touch people to copy them. Don't worry, I'll figure it out."

Exodus nodded, before asking the two mercenaries. “We done? Or do I need to finish this?”

“We’re done, sorry about all this. If we’re still alive, and you need some muscle, I swear that the Six-Pack will have your back, even if it’s just me.” The merc leader answered. Then he added. “I can't take your offer, if I am going to get back into this life, I need an upgrade. Even if I have to work for that son of a bitch.”

"That means you will have to take the cyborg's offer," Grizzly said before picking up his boss.

“Yeah, well we don’t always like the things we have to do. But we do them because it helps us later. Now pick me up, let’s check out the ship’s hold and his supposed upgrade." Kane muttered. Then the large furred man picked up and carried his boss towards the cargo ship.

“My offer still stands, but I would need a way to reach you” Exodus  shouted at the retreating mercs. Then he turned to the two teens and ordered them. Gather up your sister and Copycat. If you enter the warehouse before I tell you to, I will be disappointed." Before floating off towards the hole in the wall, once there he reached up and turned on his still-working harness lamp.

The warehouse was a mess, crates were shot to pieces, and the table was torn in two. However the knight could only make out two bodies, one Deadpool’s and the other Anaconda's, and to the kids' credit, the large blonde woman was indeed still breathing. To his right, was a half-melted door, and leading towards it was a bloody trail.

Exodus reached toward outside and pulled an orb of light into the room to float beside him. Now that he was ready, Exodus floated towards the door. He then used some of the stored light in his body to blast the door’s remaining hinge.

A woman yelped in fear, as the door fell towards him and crashed against the concrete floor of the warehouse. On the other side of the half-ruined door was the redheaded mercenary. She had half a dozen bolts from Destiny's crossbow in her. They were sticking out of her right knee, left elbow and bicep. She had holes in her left cheek and in both her shoulders, which were still bleeding. Exodus noted that none of them were very deep.

“Enhanced?” He asked her, as she settled back against the wall. While he waited for her answer, he followed the path of the blood trail with his eyes. It continued down the hall and then into a side room.

“Nope… Some sweet sixteen I got. I blew out the candles, and then blew up the cake… The next morning while I was away at school, my parents bagged up my stuff and changed the locks on the door…” She looked past him and then asked. “That asshole still out there?”

He shook his head, before floating on by. The knight took a breath, before turning the corner. In the middle of the destroyed office was Mystique. She was holding the dead body of Destiny to her body as she quietly cried. A couple of feet from the crying woman was the seer’s charred and severed arm. While the shape-shifter's legs were stretched out and clearly shot up.

The knight didn’t want his enhanced vision, as his gaze drifted over the body. He could see that the old woman had been hit multiple times by the very deadly rifle that the cyborg wielded. Much of her chest organs were both, burned and melted together, making for a terrible sight, even for him.

“What do you…” Exodus started to ask.

Mystique glared at him, her normally white eyes, suddenly very red. “She’s coming with us.” The broken woman growled at him.

He just nodded and floated back the way he came. The knight stopped just past the broken door and asked the cowering woman. "How are you still alive?"

“He wasn’t aiming for me?” The mercenary guessed.

“I meant the bolts, that one that was in your face, should have killed you.” He pointed out.

The lithe woman shrugged before saying. "Oh, my powers aren't just blowing things up, somewhere along the way I also became more durable too. Probably so I don't accidentally blow myself up. Not that I think I am tough enough to survive whatever it was he was shooting. Guess it was just my luck that I didn't get hit." As she talked, Exodus could tell that she was getting over the fear that crippled her.

‘Or Destiny put you somewhere out of the way.’ the knight thought as he moved to go back outside.

The lights of the freighter had been turned on, granting him enough light to generate an extra sight. Off to the side, the three teenagers were waiting. A tied-up Copycat slept beside the pile of the family's bags.

The three kids must have heard the cyborg admit to killing someone, that they waited for him, showed some level of control on their part to obey when it was needed. ‘Good discipline.’ He thought before admitting. “Destiny is dead.”

He reformed the orb of light into a hand and tried to grab the boy. However, he wasn’t fast enough, as the blue boy teleported into the warehouse. Hoping the boy hadn’t jumped all the way to her, Exodus shouted. “You don’t want to see her like that!”

He willed his extra sight into the warehouse, and his hopes were answered as he saw the boy standing in the middle of the large space, stunned, but unmoving. Then he saw the two girls, actually hug each other, before they started to cry.

After a moment of their bonding, Exodus saw two Murmurs weaping before him.

The sound of sirens in the distance made him pull his extra sight to look for their source. Several police cars were blocking the exit of the docks, but the officers themselves seemed to be waiting. ‘Regardless, we need to get out of here.’ He thought but didn't voice it. Because he still had the hurdle of moving Destiny's body before they could leave.

When he saw the large furry walking towards up the door, the knight noticed that the large metal case he held one handed. Exodus then reformed the hand construct into a great sword, especially when the large man too heard the sirens, before he started to run towards him.

“Here, it’s not perfect, but it will hold whoever you lost, till you get outta here and away from the cops," Grizzly said as he offered the case. When Exodus only watched the large man and didn’t say anything. The big man placed it on the ground and unclasped the pair of locks at the head and foot of the case, before lifting the lid.

The case was more than large enough to hold Destiny’s body. That the man found and brought it to them was what surprised the knight, so he asked. “What was in it before?” after noticing the pile of hay inside of it.

“A pair of heavy machine guns. Boss, figured you didn’t want your fallen to be out in the elements. So he had me dump the heaters in this crate, and had me bring ya the case.” The large man answered, before returning the lid atop of the case. After he stood up, he pulled out something from his cargo pants. “Oh and here. It’s already got a burner of ours in its memory, so if the boss decides to go your way, because we can’t trust metal man, we can reach you, or you us.”

Exodus frowned when his extra sight spotted armored vans joining the barricade, yet as SWAT joined them, the police still were not entering the area where they were. “What are the police waiting for?”

“Probably their Enhanced, they got two on their payroll. They kind of need them for this town.” The larger man guessed.

Exodus reformed the large sword back into a hand, before he picked up the case, and will it towards Mystique. Then he nodded to the large man and took the phone he offered, before floating back inside and joining the grieving woman. The knight tapped the boy on the shoulder for support as he passed.

She hadn’t moved from where he had left her, and as much as he would love to let her sit and greave. They just didn’t have the time to do so.

Exodus told her to her straight. “Police have surrounded the docks, they are waiting for their Enhanced, and then they will likely start to sweep the place. So unless you want your kids to get the same bounties and warrants that the rest of us have, we need to go.”

He watched as her face shifted and altered. It was subtle, but all signs that she had been crying were gone from her face. Then she asked. "Would you help me move her?" He nodded, and removed the lid, before moving to stand at Destiny's head. As they reached down to lift her she asked. "How are we getting to this new base of ours? I doubt you can carry us all the way there like you did to get us here."

Exodus suggested a simple plan while they moved the body. "I can carry you all down south, and then tomorrow to the Florida Keys. From there we fly to Genosha, where the kids will hang out. While you and I locate and steal a plane. So that can make a trip to Maker's lab."

"That could work… Were you told to take him with us as well?" the woman asked as he retrieved the severed arm before the two of them replaced the lid.

“No, I was only told to extend an offer for him to come with, and if he wants to, bring him along.” The knight shook his head as he answered her. He then willed the light hand to carry the case out as the two of them made their way back to the kids.

When they got outside, he watched for a moment as the boy and Rogue walked over to touch the case that held the boy of their mother. Murmur on the other hand was glaring at the two mercenaries that were watching them.

The redhead woman flinched as the large man pulled the bolts out of her, but she returned the glare at the teen. “Don’t even think it.” The mercenary warned the younger woman.

"Gather up!" Mystique ordered the kids, after she moved over to the pile of bags. As they moved to obey, she reached into a bag of hers and pulled out two flash-bangs. She moved like she was going to toss them toward Exodus, but she stopped last minute.

She looked down at the still comatose Copycat, and then back at the hole into the warehouse, and she said. “Destiny said it would only work out if we had Deadpool too.”

Exodus looked at the two mercs. Grizzly just shrugged and the woman just spit out some blood, before he nodded, and willed his light hand to release the case, and sent it to retrieve the regenerator.

Once he had retrieved the also still non-responsive mercenary, she threw him the two flash-bangs. He immediately set one off, when the light manifested he willed it into a bubble around their group, and carried them away as quickly as he could.